At Home In the Rubble: Fallujah Reborn as Giant Gated Community

[chlamor]

Iraq


May 19, 2005

At home in the rubble: siege city reborn as giant gated community
By Richard Beeston
Fallujah was devastated by a US offensive six months ago


BY THE standards of most of the inhabitants of the Askari neighbourhood in Fallujah, Majid Ahmad should consider himself lucky. His house may have been looted of all its valuables, the windows smashed and several walls punched through by large chunks of shrapnel, but at least he still has a roof over his head.

“It’s not much, but I’m better off than my neighbours,” he said, pointing at the huge piles of rubble either side of his home, which workers were clearing with their bare hands in the baking sun yesterday. “I plan to move back in here tomorrow and then maybe my wife and children can follow. Being a refugee is worse.”

<snip>

Yet, with the controls in place, it is not clear that the city will ever recover properly. Only about half of Fallujah’s 250,000 population have returned home; large residential and commercial areas lie in ruins and basic services such as water and electricity are patchy at best. For those who do live in Fallujah, life is made even more difficult by the draconian security measures that make it difficult to conduct business and trade, the lifeblood of the city.

Each resident must obtain a security pass from the US military. The pass contains the holder’s names, other personal details, a photograph, fingerprints and an iris scan, which is fed into a computer and can be cross-checked with the names of suspected insurgents and former detainees. The cutting-edge biometic technology may give the Americans a security edge, but it has won them few friends.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1618080,00.html

[Kipling]

1. Clearly a lefty conspiracy...

Newsweek bio-engineered this "Majid Ahmad" person then programmed him to walk around Iraq whinging. And they say there's no liberal bias in the press.:mad:

[chelsea0011]

2. One of the most ignored stories by MSM

MSM's take was the offensive to rid the city of deadenders. Now where is MSM to photograph the complete destruction of a large city and displacement of 150,000 people. Not to mention the slaughter of people who had nothing to do with the armed citizens. But the citizens have been ignored all along. Haven't they? 100,000 dead.

[Sparkman]

3. Ghetto's brought by the oppressor. Looks like Bantustans, Palistine...

Even urban inner city sites in the U.S., keep hope alive.

[rigel434]

4. Scary ....

It's scary to think what a basket case Iraq will be once we finally leave. Assuming we do at some point.

[0007]

5. Democracy at gun point

The hatred is building past the boiling point that will soon exceed superheat.