Fallujah sees limited progress toward rebuilding

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050411/ts_usatoday/fallujahseeslimitedprogresstowardrebuilding&cid=676&ncid=1473

<snip>About 32,000 homes were damaged during the fighting in November. So far, only 2,464 households have received reparations totaling $3.2 million under the joint U.S.-Iraqi payment program, Garganus said.


Coalition forces are spending $100 million more to rebuild schools, the power grid and water treatment systems. The Iraqi government has pledged another $100 million for major projects such as public housing. But the city is still devastated.


Many homes have been reduced to rubble; those that are still standing are pockmarked with bullet holes. Slightly more than half of Fallujah has had power restored to pre-November levels, Brown said. Unemployment is about 75%. Traffic into the city is tightly controlled at six U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints. Iraq's government estimates it will cost $500 million to repair all the homes. snip

The city's former mayor, Raad Hussein, has reclaimed an office. But the U.S. military seems unsure what to do about it. Hussein, who emerged as mayor shortly after the fall of Saddam, was arrested in February 2004 by coalition forces and spent eight months in Abu Ghraib prison on charges that he tipped off insurgents. "We have never recognized him to be mayor," Brown said. "We're getting reports now he's doing some things not positive in nature."


But if he is chosen by a legitimate city council, when one is established, there is little the U.S. military can do...

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[Athame]

1. Do you think that could be right? only 32,000 homes

I thought Falluja had about 300,000 residents and that it was essentially leveled during the attack. The number of homes damaged then seems way too low. Though it does not begin to describe the real devastation of lives. Who gets to go back in? I do wish that the Corporate Media would cover this in depth. We all need to see it over and over again. We should not be allowed to ignore the horror of Falluja and pretend that the USA is making it all better with a hundred million dollars.

[bemildred]

2. Translation: "Fallujah still rubble". nt