Vital Signs of a Ruined Falluja Grow Stronger

[True_Blue]

FALLUJA, Iraq, March 20 - Four months after American bombs and guns pounded much of this city into ruins, some signs of life are returning. A kebab shop and a bakery have reopened on the bullet-scarred main boulevard. About a third of the city's 250,000 residents have trickled back since early January. American marines and Iraqi police officers patrol the streets, and there has been little violence.

But the safety has come at a high price. To enter Falluja, residents must wait about four hours to get through the rigid military checkpoints, and there are strict nightly curfews. That has stunted the renascent economy and the reconstruction effort. It has also frustrated the residents, who are still coming to grips with their shattered streets and houses. Many have jobs or relatives outside the city.

"Falluja is safe," said Hadima Khalifa Abed, 42, who returned to her ruined home in January with her husband and 10 children. "But it is safe like a prison."

American military officials here say they face a difficult choice. Easing the harsh security measures might help revive the economy and cut the 50 percent unemployment rate; it could also allow the return of the insurgents who ran Falluja from last April until the American intervention in November. Even now, insurgents lob occasional mortar shells into the city, and a number of contractors have been killed here.

more....
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/26/international/middleeast/26falluja.html?

[wtmusic]

1. A truly heartwarming story

Could we like, give them frozen chickens or something? They've been through SO much

[bemildred]

2. Can a McDonald's be far behind? Perhaps a WalMart? nt

[madrchsod]

4. super dupper walmart

the biggest walmart in the world...can a big box home center be next? got alot of rebuilding to do!

[Barrett808]

3. More NYT propaganda on "the safest city in Iraq" n/t

[Barrett808]

5. "There has been little violence" -- explain this story

Fresh fighting in Fallujah
Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=39287

Clashes erupted Thursday between Iraqi forces and rebels in the former rebel citadel of Fallujah, while a friendly fire incident near the Syrian border between Iraqi police and army left five dead.

"There are clashes between the army and police and insurgents, but we don't have a toll yet," the defense ministry official said.

An AFP reporter said shots were heard from the city's northwestern Jolan district and Iraqi police sealed off the district around 1:30 pm (1030 GMT).

At the Jolan district's medical centre, hospital clerk Abbas Ahmed said four dead Iraqi soldiers were brought to the facility, but the defense ministry could not confirm the toll.

US forces assaulted the city in November, driving out insurgents who had turned it into their nerve centre for attacks across Iraq.

In a tragic friendly fire incident, Iraqi police and army opened fire on one another in Rabia, 130 kilometres (100 miles) northwest of Mosul, leaving three soldiers and two police dead, Major General Mohamed al-Jaburi told.

The incident happened at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) when the soldiers opened fire on police thinking they were rebels in the area rife with insurgent activity, Jaburi said.

NYT is pushing pure, uncut propaganda from the Bush regime.

[Robbien]

6. Roundup Iraqi news: "Violence also broke out in Fallujah"

An Iraqi peace officer was killed when his vehicle came under fire, witnesses said, and afterward U.S. and Iraqi forces imposed an early curfew, forcing residents to return to their homes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/26/MNGLLBVA521.DTL

also in the report:

Maj. Gen. Salman Muhammad, who commanded an Iraqi national guard division in the southern city of Basra, was assassinated Friday in Baghdad, the capital, as he and his two sons were driving to a funeral, a source in the Iraqi government said. The assailants, firing from another car, also killed one of the general's sons and wounded the other.

On Thursday, suicide bombings killed at least 10 Iraqi police officers in the cities of Ramadi and Iskandariya. In addition, five women employed as cleaners at a U.S. Army base near Baghdad were gunned down as they drove home from work.

In southern Baghdad, the five cleaning women were shot dead Thursday afternoon as they drove home together, Interior Ministry officials said. The attackers drove up in an Opel sedan and opened fire on the group, made up of three sisters and two friends. Many civilians working for Americans or for the Iraqi interim government have been killed in recent months, including a large number of women. In some cases, their bodies have been found with the word "collaborator" pinned to them.

Southeast of the capital, gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks loaded with steel on Friday morning, seizing one truck and killing the driver, Interior Ministry officials said. The remaining trucks escaped to Baghdad.

[Barrett808]

7. A third have returned? Juan Cole puts the lie to this claim

http://www.juancole.com/2005_03_01_juancole_archive.html

Almost all the 300,000 inhabitants of the city fled during the attack. On 11 January, the UN High Commission for Refugees said, as summarized by AFSC:

' Approximately 85,000 residents have passed through Fallujah’s checkpoints as of January 9. However, only 3,000 to 8,000 people remain in the city overnight, due to the harsh conditions that include a lack of adequate shelter, electricity, water, and health care, as well as curfews and restrictions on movement. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that only 40 percent of the population in the city is receiving assistance.

Returning residents find a city that has been ravaged. Massive destruction to infrastructure and housing has been reported. It is estimated that 40 percent of the buildings were completely destroyed, 20 percent had major damage, and 40 percent had significant damage. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported on December 23 that three of the city’s water purification plants had been destroyed and the fourth was badly damaged. The water distribution network was destroyed. It will take a long time to restore basic services. '

Hamid Fahd Su'ud, 40, the father of 7 daughters, said, "We now live off charity, since most of the shops and factories in the city are closed." Su'ud lost his son, Omar, while attempting to flee the battles, but has never recovered a body. "I praise God that we have this tent, and all I want is for my son Omar to be alive and being fed."

Iraqi authorities have increased security measures and patrols of the city to prevent the return of the guerrillas and a repeat of what happened in Fallujah.

Cole: Readers often write in for an update on Fallujah. I am sorry to say that there is no Fallujah to update. The city appears to be in ruins and perhaps uninhabitable in the near future. Of 300,000 residents, only about 9,000 seem to have returned, and apparently some of those are living in tents above the ruins of their homes. The rest of the Fallujans are scattered in refugee camps of hastily erected tents at several sites, including one near Habbaniyyah, or are staying with relatives in other cities, including Baghdad.

The scale of this human tragedy-- the dispossession and displacement of 300,000 persons-- is hard to imagine. Unlike the victims of the tsunami who were left homeless, moreover, the Fallujans have witnessed no outpouring of world sympathy. While there were undeniably bad characters in the city, most residents had done nothing wrong and did not deserve to be made object lessons--which was the point Rumsfeld was making with this assault. He hoped to convince Ramadi and Mosul to fall quiet lest the same thing happen to them. He failed, since the second Fallujah campaign threw the Sunni Arab heartland into much more chaos than ever before. People forget how quiet Mosul had been. And, the campaign was the death knell for proper Sunni participation in the Jan. 30 elections (Sunnis, with 20 percent of the population, have only 6 seats in the 275 member parliament).

However much a cliche it might be to say it, the US military really did destroy Fallujah to save it.