brusselLs TRIBUNAL DOSSIER on Fallujah [PDF]

 

FLASHBACKS:  Fallujah 1920: A history lesson about the town they have destroyed

                                  It all started in april 2003, after the US invasion....

                                  Fallujah: the April 2004 Siege (Jo Wilding)                                

                                  Dahr Jamail's reports of the April 2004 Siege

                                  List of Iraqi civilians killed in Fallujah in the assault on the city in April 2004

                                  In memory of Fallujah (Inge Van De Merlen, 24 June 2006)

                                  About the use of White Phosphorous. Click here to read more.

Recent news and articles about fallujah

fotos: april 2003

JOHN PILGER: I think the resistance in Iraq is incredibly important for all of us. I think that we depend on the resistance to win, so that other countries might not be attacked, so that our world in a sense becomes more secure. Now, I don't like resistances that produce the kind of terrible civilian atrocities that this one has, but that is true for all resistances. And this one is a resistance against a rapacious power, that if it is not stopped in Iraq will go on to North Korea where Mr. Cheney and others are just chomping at the bit to have a crack at that country. So, what the outcome of this resistance is, is terribly important for the rest of the world. I think if the United States' military machine and the Bush administration can suffer a defeat in Iraq, they could be stopped. (Wednesday, December 31st, 2003)

A Bridge Across Tears For Iraq
A Statement of Solidarity in Suffering

To the People of the World who profit from our tears
To the People of the World who care not of our tears
To the People of the World who know not of our tears
To the People of the World who live also with our tears

We speak to you, in whispers and in screams; in despair and in hope; in defeat and in struggle; to reclaim our humanity.

With the violated people of Iraq, we stand in solidarity, our arms joined in this bridge across tears.

We learn everyday of the killing, plunder, destruction and humiliation that takes place in Iraq.

We have heard the tired justifications of Power many times over - security, freedom, democracy, reconstruction - these are words that are not alien to us; they haunt us everyday as we tread upon our earths.

100,000 lives, of children, women and men, in Iraq have been the latest price to be paid for the betterment of civilisation.

Innocence is no protection. We know.

For each one of the 100,000 lives sacrificed at the altar of Power, united in death rests the remains of 100,000 more of our sisters and brothers of many names upon that same altar.

The tanks, the bullets, the airstrikes, the depleted uranium, the torture, the collective punishments, these that have been the weapons of vengeance against the people of Iraq, are all kin to the hunger, the destitution, the 'structural adjustment programmes', the poisoned rivers and lands, the suffocating clouds of 'progress', the police truncheon, the barbed wires, that have been and are our scourge.

We name all as violation.

As we shed our tears for our losses, our tears fall also on the lands of Iraq.

Though Power seeks to blind us with their lies, our eyes remain ablaze with the fire of life that we carry of all our dead.

And we denounce Power with its many faces of violence.

For theirs is not a 'Security' in which we are secure.

Theirs is not a 'Freedom' in which we are free.

Theirs is not a 'Civilisation' in which we are dignified as humans.

This we say as we build a Bridge Across Tears:

To Power:

We notify you that we, the peoples of the global south, stand together with the people of Iraq in resisting your cruelty. Be aware.

We demand of the US-UK led 'Coalition' the cessation of violence against the people of Iraq, the withdrawal of all the occupying forces from Iraqi lands, and the restoration of the will of the Iraqi people for genuine self-determination.

We demand that those who call themselves leaders of nations act as leaders in halting the impunity of the Occupation in Iraq by mobilising themselves against the US-UK led 'Coalition' in Iraq.

We demand of the United Nations immediate action to withdraw support for the on-going Occupation of Iraq, and to initiate an international process of judgement against the illegal and criminal use of force against the people of Iraq.

We affirm our common humanity in struggle, with the people of Iraq against the invading forces, and with sisters and brothers everywhere against the invasions upon their lives, livelihoods and dignity.

We pledge that ours is a common struggle for peace, justice and humanity.

To the People of the World,

We call on you to be a Bridge Across Tears so that Humanity may prevail over the cruelties of Power.



Jayan Nayar
Coordinator
Peoples' Law Programme

This poem was written a few days before the invasion began and updated it the day of the invasion. May it circulate widely!

Freedom carol
Nedhal Abbas*

Ah
I'll say it again:
There are few things
On which we all agree;
Sooner or later
You'll be free.

Democracy is new for you
But never mind
We will teach you

Marines;
Move forward
Go on
This is what you trained for
You are the hunter
You are the predator
Freedom is beautiful
Do you hear?

Soldiers march,
On natives bodies
Battling a stench
They chant
Freedom is beautiful

By tanks
By warplanes,
Apache, Kiowa, marine cobra.
Smoke grenades
By Sniper shots
We'll end your demise

They deliver.
Wrapped in democracy,
Coloured in freedom,
Packages of
Un- named mutilated naked burned
Blown apart un-counted bodies

We receive
137,000
Men women and children

Mohamed, Ali, Omar, Jawad
Selma, Nadia, Fatima, Suhad
Hussein, Ahmed, Salam, Azad
Aysha, Amal, Maysoon, Nuhad
Faisal, Raad, Zaid, Widad
Nuha, Haifaa, Kifah, Souad

From a distance'
Chorus of freedom recite:

Ah
We'll say it again;
Can't you understand?
It's our mission
To put an end
To your demise.

Nedhal Abbas: Iraqi poet. She published her first book of poetry "Dreams of invisible pleasures", in Arabic, in 1999.

This poem has been translated by Haifa Zangana. (first published on http://www.idao.org/freedom-carol.html )

Fallujah: Shock and  Awe 

Ken Coates, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation.

            It was on April 26^th 1937 that the name of Guernica was immortalised.  A little town, home to 7000 people, Guernica was the local market place for a cluster of hill villages.  It straddled a valley only ten kilometres from the sea, and thirty from Bilbao.  It was a cultural centre for the Basque country, with a hallowed oak tree upon which for centuries the public power in Spain has been obliged recurrently to affirm an oath to respect the rights of the Basque people.

April 26^th was a Monday, market day. It went ahead peaceably, although the Civil War was raging thirty kilometres away.  The air raid was not announced (by an urgent call from the Church bells) until half past four in the afternoon.  Ten minutes later Heinkels arrived, scattering their bombs across the town, and then machine gunning the streets.  Following the Heinkels came the Junkers.  The German Air Force was celebrating a major practice run.  When the people ran away, they, too, were machine-gunned.  One thousand six hundred and fifty-four people were killed, and eight hundred and eighty-nine were wounded.  The town centre was destroyed, and Europe received its first baptism of aerial bombardment on a modern scale.

            The shock reverberated far beyond the Basque country.  Spain was not a remote colony like Iraq, from which news could take an age to travel.  Within a week Picasso began his painting, his masterpiece which is at present installed in a special gallery attached to the Prado.  In preparation for this, he feverishly prepared a desperately poignant series of sketches and cartoons, one of which we feature on our cover.  Picasso gave us a portrait of naked horror.  Europe was soon to learn the face of that horror at first hand.  It is said that when some German officers visited Picasso in his studio in occupied France, they said of Guernica, drawings from which were hung in the room, “Did you do this?”  The master is said to have replied:  “No, you did”.

But it was not only the German Air Force which tore away at the fabric of European cities.  Coventry and London pale into insignificance when compared with Hamburg and Dresden.  It was an American soldier, Kurt Vonnegut, who was to create a memorial to Dresden, in his extraordinary work Slaughterhouse Five.  Slaughterhouses, since, we have seen in profusion.  Before the incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was the massive “conventional” air raid on Tokyo which killed many tens of thousands of people.  Then we lived through the Cold War, and the nuclear arms race, until we entered, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, into the age of Full Spectrum Dominance from Washington.  Now the centre of that domination sits in Iraq, and for the time being the carnage radiates out from the city of Falluja.

            We are told that Falluja had to be destroyed, in order to carry out elections to an Iraqi constituent assembly on the 27^th January 2005.  We will see whether any elections take place.  There are those among us who doubt whether such elections were actually intended in any more than a fictional exit strategy for the purposes of another election, in the United States.  Mr. Bush has won that, and may not need the one in Iraq.  It is greatly to be doubted whether the conditions for an election exist in the aftermath of the destruction of Falluja.

            Kofi Annan warned Bush, Blair, and their puppet, Iyad Allawi, that elections required “a broader spectrum of Iraqis to join the political process” and the persuasion of “elements who are currently alienated from, or sceptical about, the transition process”.  He expressed his “increasing concern at the prospect of an escalation in violence, which I fear could be very disruptive for Iraq’s political transition”.

            Kofi Annan was entirely specific. 

“I have in mind not only the risk of increased insurgent violence, but also reports of major military offensives being planned by the multinational force in key localities such as Falluja.  I wish to express to you my particular concern about the safety and protection of civilians.   Fighting is likely to take place mostly in densely populated urban areas, with an obvious risk of civilian casualties …  The threat or actual use of force not only risks deepening the sense of alienation of certain communities, but would also reinforce perceptions among the Iraqi population of a continued military occupation.”

            Guernica was struck down out of a clear sky, and none of the victims expected it.  But Falluja was planned in great detail for months before the culmination of the American election made it possible to risk the criticism of domestic public opinion.  Indeed the British allies were redeployed to seal off what was eloquently described as the “rat run” from Falluja, in spite of the consternation in Scotland, whose Black Watch soldiers were put at very dire risk.  All that took time.  It took time, up to two months, to cut off the water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra, and Falluja.  We publish in our dossier a careful report by Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq, which describes how this was done, in breach of international humanitarian law, and without consultation with any of the allies.  Towards the end of a week of remorseless bombing and bombardment, the Red Crescent succeeded in sending a convoy of food and medicines into the outskirts of Falluja.  American forces denied them the right to move beyond a hospital on the outskirts of the town.

            As happened before, during the invasion by coalition forces, news has been comprehensively and carefully managed, so that we cannot tell what the true level of casualties has been.  At the end of the first week, the Americans were reported as having sustained 38 deaths and to have suffered 275 other casualties.  They also claim to have killed, variously, 1000 or 1600 insurgents and to have captured between 450 and 550 others.  But the insurgents claim vastly smaller casualties.  Al-Dulaimi said that the number of Falluja’s defenders, “martyrs who were killed”, did not exceed 100.  “We lost 15 of our men”, he said.  Nobody, but nobody, can offer any credible figures about the civilian death toll.  We shall not be able to calculate anything approaching the true mortality for some time, just as it took more than a year before The Lancet was able to publish research about the true human cost of the occupation.

What is absolutely clear is that large swathes of Falluja have been literally pulverised, ground to powder by the kind of destructive machine that Hermann Goering could hardly imagine.  Just as we do not know how many innocents have been massacred, neither do the Iraqi people.  But they know about the moral depth of this atrocity.  They know that Iraqi lives do not count for the coalition, nor for its servants in the Iraqi detachments of American intelligence, who now call themselves Ministers.

            The highest Shia authority in Baghdad, Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi al-Khalissi, condemned the assault on Falluja as an “aggression and dirty war”, and said:

 “No matter how powerful the occupation forces are, they will be driven out of Iraq sooner or later.  The current savage military attack on Falluja by US occupation forces and the US appointed Iraqi Government is an act of mass murder and a crime of war”.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni powerhouse, proclaimed a Fatwa prohibiting Iraqis from joining in the American attack.  Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew the support of his movement for the January elections.  His aide declared:

 “There has been a chance for a peaceful solution, but the Government always chooses the military solution because the United States wants that”.

            Meantime, open insurgency rages in Kirkuk, Tikrit, Samarra, Baiji, and in Iraq’s third largest city, Mosul.  Other towns have given refuge to fighters fleeing from Falluja itself, as has Ar Ramadi.

The official story put out by the coalition is that strong contingents of foreign fighters and supporters of the old regime constitute tightly knit minorities who can be hunted down, to the relief of the majority of peace loving Iraqis.  The destruction of Falluja will destroy this myth.  The American occupation stands revealed, red in tooth and claw.  It does not intend to go away   It would like to establish economically viable bases, for sure, and to withdraw many soldiers for deployment elsewhere.  But it does not intend to relinquish control of the resources it had thought it had won.  Oil remains very high on the agenda.

            Quite why Tony Blair supports these brigands is very difficult to understand.  There may not be many spoils of war for him.  But he has earned a due share of the opprobrium which attaches to war criminals.  A brave attempt to impeach him has been made on the initiative of Plaid Cymru’s MP Adam Price, and we have published the magisterial indictment prepared by Glen Rangwala and Dan Plesch. The impeachment concerns the lies that were told in preparation for the invasion.  More lies are following all the time, and they are more desperately told, as the truth about this illegal war, and this incredibly brutal occupation, begins to make itself plain.  Unlike President Bush, the Prime Minister’s election is in front of him.  It is difficult to see how anyone with a conscience will be able to support the renewal of his mandate. 

Editorial: The Spokesman no.84, Journal of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (www.russfound.org)

 This Night In Fallujah: Lailat Al Qadr In Ramadan
© Copyright 2004 Sam Hamod

Tonight, in Fallujah 
We wait 
For the known 
For the follow-up 
To the fighter planes 
To the rockets 
To the long days of shelling 
To the depleted uranium killing us slowly, 
We wait 
To see their tanks 
Their tanks will come first 
They remind us of the Israelis 
They remind us American planes killed our cousins 
In Palestine 
Killed them with American rockets, 
Now 
They have come for us 

We were living
Just living our lives,
With our wives and children,
Just like the Americans
They went to school, they did their lessons
They ran innocently
In the schoolyards
And on weekends the boys
Would tease the girls
In the marketplace, but
Dare not let the mother or
Father of the girl see, the girls
Would twist their
Hair, their smiles
And blush
Away from the eyes
Of their mothers

We were just living
Not looking to fight, just
Wanting to be
Left alone
But they came
Hunting us, like
Animals, like wild
Things, they came
Shooting, randomly,
Dropping 500 pound bombs
Destroying our mosques, our
Churches, our schools, our
Hospitals, our water, our
Electricity—they bombed
Us back 300 years

But, we
Just wanted to live
Just wanted to pray each day
In our mosques, raise our
Children, take care of our
Wives, our old fathers and
Mothers, we are not for
Fighting—but now
There is no
Choice—what good
Would it be to run
To be shot down
Like an animal on the run,
Now it is time, even with
The small weapons
We have, we shall stand now
To protect what we have
To claim our own homes, to claim
Our own peace

They are strange
These Christians, not like
My cousin’s wife
Who is Christian, in our
Christian churches, they say
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,”
“God’s greatest gift is mercy,”
but these men come
with large crosses on their chests,
their ministers teach them songs about
killing and killing for Jesus, these
Americans are strange, we had
Always heard
They were peaceful people, people
Who wanted what we wanted,
Peace, life, justice,
Decency, education,
We had heard----

So now they come,
Loudspeakers on their jeeps, loudspeakers
And louder music, drums banging,
They tell us to surrender or die, they have
Iraqi slaves among them, some of whom
Will, at the last minute, turn on these
Americans, kill some
And themselves be killed,
We have on our side, Allah
We have on our side, our families,
Our homes, our thousands of years
Of having to defend ourselves
From Persians, from Greeks, from
Romans, from Mongols, from Crusaders,
From Turks, from British—now
This new evil, this new devil
Flying their flags, red, white and blue,
Blaring their music and harsh words,
We see their eyes now,
They are young, like
Us, they are afraid, yet
They want to kill us, we
Are “ragheads,” “we are animals,”
We are “assholes,” “we are terrorists”
And every other name you can think of
And they have come to kill us
To wipe our city off the maps of the world,
Off the map of Iraq, they say
They come at the order of the exile
The Americans sent to rule us, Iyad
Allawi, Iyad the whore, Iyad the munafik,
Iyad the devil—and yes,
We shall die, but Allah knows
Who is the evil one
And who is the one who fights in his name,
There is always that short term victory
For the devils
But their long run is not long
And they too shall die

We do not want to die, but
We understand dying is only
Part of living, death is always
Waiting, sometimes
Patiently, other times
Takes us swiftly, but we understand
This is the will of Allah
Some of us must die
So that others will
Understand
Just what is going on
So that others will see
So that others will resist even more

Our deaths will echo in Saudi Arabia,
In Kuwait, in the Muslim halls of the world, in
The cries of our women, in the history of our
Muslim people, in the Khutba’s on Friday’s
Prayers—they know
That we die during Ramadan, they know
We die gloriously at the hand of the heathens, at
The hands of the unbelievers, for the sake of
What the Qur’an taught us,
To protect our families, our homes, our country and
Most of all to protect our mosques
And Islam

So we have stayed to fight
And die during Ramadan, this
Most holy of months, this Ramadan
That requires so much
Discipline and faith, this Ramadan
That is the month of our sign of commitment
To Allah, it is a glorious month
In which to fight, and if necessary
To die

No, we are not mad
We do not wish to die
We have more desire to live
Than these devils who have invaded our land
Attacked our fathers and mothers, who
Have raped our women, who have
Tortured our cousins and brothers in their
Prisons, all in the name of
“democracy,” and “liberty,” and “freedom”—
how hollow their words
how hollow their lies
how hollow their attacks on us

they do not realize
we do not die, we
live, we live
on now, as martyrs, as
heroes, as men who
were not afraid to die, as men
who believed in the Deen, in Allah,
in the same God they proclaim but do not truly follow—
but his wrath is coming
his wrath shall be coming upon them—
if they survive our fight, they
are being poisoned, just as we have been poisoned,
the depleted uranium has poisoned their blood,
has poisoned the eggs in their sperm,
has poisoned their lives
so when they have deformed children, the
children will be witnesses to their killing
us, to their killing of their own souls,
to their killing their own families, and
what of those who will go mad, whose
nightmares will not let them ever sleep
another peaceful night

and what will their faces tell them
when they look in the mirror
when they look on their dressers
and see the pieces of metal
they were given for killing us
in our own homes, in own cities, in
our own mosques and churches,
what will their eyes say,
what will they say when their twisted
lies are uncovered, when the rest of the
world speaks of their massacres of
women and children, of old men, of
bombing hospitals, what will they
do when they see the smirking face
of their presidents, their senators, their
leaders who have allowed them to do this,
have ordered them to do this

—and
what will they say to Jesus
when he speaks to them on Judgement Day
when he asks why they killed—
why they did not say, NO
why they did not prefer prison over killing of innocent
civilians, and to the pilots who
fly freely, without concern of any reprisal, F16s rocketing
our city day after day, night after night, surely
they will not fly with the angels, but
shall burn even worse than the rest—

and so we hear the rockets and hear the bombs
during our maghrib prayer, we have heard since our fajr
prayers, we do not much feel like iftar, the food
has lost some of its taste, no one wants to die,
no one wants to leave their wife and children,
no one wants never to see their father or mother again,
no one wants to have to fight, just to live,
no one wants to have to kill another human being—at least
none of us,
we were living peacefully in our city,
we did not attack anyone, we
did not do anything worse than defend ourselves,
and for that
now we know we must die, we
know that unless Allah produces a miracle
or sends legions of angels to protect us
that the planes will attack
with the tanks that will crush us
with the rockets and snipers who
will split our bodies into pieces, whose
concussions will split our heads open,
whose noise will puncture our eardrums
until we bleed
and like our blessed Prophet Jesus, who came
before our blessed Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,
we shall die, just as Jesus
was martyred—we shall be martyred
by the new Roman, the new crusader army,
on this Night of Power, where Allah’s message of
righteousness and courage is clear, where
we renew our commitment to our God,
where we know he gives us everlasting life
though we may die tonight on the earth,
we shall live forever, in Allah’s hands,

We shall live
in history, and the world, yea
the world will remember
we stood and fought this day,
knowing we would die
but knowing that death is only a moment
in God’s time, in Allah’s time
and that those who kill us today
may live long and tortured lives
when they realize what evil they have done
and those evil men
who ordered them on, Allawi, Bush,
Cheney, Wolfowitz, Abizaid, Myers and the rest,
Allah will take care of them
On the earth and on Judgement Day,
And the men who did not have the courage to
Say, No,
They will suffer each hour, each day
For the rest of their earthly days,
For it is written, that whosoever kills a believer
During Ramadan, will suffer hellfire and damnation
For eternity

So we choose to stand, to die if we must,
But during this blessed month of Ramadan
There is no death to the believer
Only the knowledge that Allah’s ways
Are beyond our understanding—we may not
Be on the earth to see what will happen
but we will be looking
Down from Heaven
And we shall see Allah visit his wrath
On those who come to kill us in our homes,
In our city, in our country, in our churches, in
Our mosques—and though we may die,
Like these days of our battle,
Our spirits
Will live forever

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lailat Al Qadr: The Night of Power where God’s message is clear to the world, where God/Allah blesses the righteous and condemns the evil ones.
Ramadan: The Muslim Holy Month of fasting, prayer and renewed commitment to God/Allah (Allah is the Arabic word for God, used by Muslims and Christians alike in the Middle East).
Qhutba: The Muslim sermon on prayer days in the mosques.

Fallujah: the April 2004 Siege

Dahr Jamail's reports of the april 2004 Siege

In memory of Fallujah

Inge Van De Merlen, 24 June 2006.

Fallujah, 2004 - According to the occupation powers Fallujah must be cleared of foreign terrorists.  The residents believe they are subjected to collective punishment because they persistently denounce the occupation.  

Fallujah was a city of between 300,000 and 500,000 inhabitants situated about 70 km west of Baghdad in the Anbar province.  The citizens of this “City of Mosques” did not initially resist their foreign invaders, however, opposition to the invasion emerged already early in the occupation.  When on April 28^th, 2003, American soldiers fired at peaceful protesters in the city, the first seeds of the Fallujan resistance were sown.  Fifteen civilians were killed in the incident, three of whom were teenagers.  Two days later, a similar incident occurred.  The total, then, was three civilian casualties.  The residents of Fallujah were enraged.

During fire fights on March 26^th, 2004, in the Al-Askari district 15 ‘rebels’ were killed, among them three children and a freelance cameraman, who worked for ABC News.  A few days later, after resistance fighters killed four mercenaries from Blackwater Security[1], residents vented their rage on the bodies of these soldiers of fortune.  The images of their mutilated and charred bodies hanging from a bridge over the Euphrates went around the world.  The media referred to these mercenaries, who belonged to elite units that consist mostly of former soldiers, as if they had been merely American civilians.  The air raids and ground battles that followed throughout that April cost the lives of countless Iraqi civilians.  The spokesperson for Fallujah’s governing council, Mohamed Tareq, spoke of at least 800 deaths, Fallujah General Hospital registered 736 deadly victims and the Ministry of health, which has an American advisor, estimated the death toll at 271.  Several aid workers, who brought medical supplies to the city distributed their testimonies on the web.[2]  

Immediately after the American presidential elections of November 2004, Fallujah came under massive fire a second time.  A hurricane of 10,000 American and 2000 Iraqi soldiers with artillery, tanks, air bombers and helicopter gunships raged over Fallujah.  60 schools, 65 religious buildings and almost three quarters of the 50,000 homes were destroyed during the attack.  The US authorities assert that 2000 people were killed in the attack, most of them fighters, but Iraqi NGOs and medical staff within the city estimate 4000 to 6000 primarily civilian deaths.[3]  The true number of victims will probably never be brought to light.  In the first weeks of the assault on Fallujah, no journalists and aid workers were allowed into the city.  Every civilian remaining in the city constituted a potential target for the army troops.  Dr. Salam Ismael, who managed to enter Fallujah with a team of physicians during both sieges, since then testified on the war crimes that were committed by the American army and about the suffering of the population. 

In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, we found a 17 year old woman. “I am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the Jolan district of Fallujah,” she told me. “Five of us, including a 55 year old neighbour, were trapped together in our house in Fallujah when the siege began.”

“On 9 November American marines came to our house. My father and the neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought we had nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were going to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair uncovered.”

“This saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly.”

“Me and my 13 year old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridge. The soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Then they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before they had destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father’s pocket.”

Hudda told me how she comforted her dying sister by reading verses from the Koran. After four hours her sister died. For three days Hudda and her brother stayed with their murdered relatives. But they were thirsty and had only a few dates to eat. They feared the troops would return and decided to try to flee the city. But they were spotted by a US sniper.

Hudda was shot in the leg, her brother ran but was shot in the back and died instantly. “I prepared myself to die,” she told me. “But I was found by an American woman soldier, and she took me to hospital.” She was eventually reunited with the surviving members of her family.” [4] 

Dahr Jamail visited the refugee camps and spoke to several survivors of the attack: 

“The American warplanes came continuously through the night and bombed everywhere in Fallujah! It did not stop even for a moment! If the American forces did not find a target to bomb, they used sound bombs just to terrorize the people and children. The city stayed in fear; I cannot give a picture of how panicked everyone was.” [5] 

An aid worker, who entered the city with the first Red Crescent convoy permitted on November 28^th told Jamail: “I need another heart and eyes to bear it because my own are not enough to bear what I saw. Nothing justifies what was done to this city. I didn’t see a house or mosque that wasn’t destroyed.” [6] 

“They kicked all the journalists out of Fallujah so they could do whatever they want,” says Kassem Mohammed Ahmed, who just escaped from Fallujah three days ago, “The first thing they did is they bombed the hospitals because that is where the wounded have to go. Now we see that wounded people are in the street and the soldiers are rolling over them with tanks. This happened so many times. What you see on the TV is nothing-that is just one camera. What you cannot see is so much.” [7] 

Journalists, who investigated human rights violations in Fallujah, faced all kinds of obstacles.  Two reporters of Al-Arabiya were arrested by the Iraqi police, who confiscated their video tapes.  Enzo Baldoni was reporting on Fallujah, when he was kidnapped in August, 2004.  A short time later, he was killed by his abductors.  The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed the murder, asserting that Baldoni was a spy.[8]  Some critics, however, suspect that something about the abduction doesn’t add up.[9]  The enigma was never solved and the case has since been closed. 

Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, was also working on a report about Fallujah at the time of her abduction.  Thanks to intensive negotiations by intelligence agent Nicola Calipari she was released, but on the road to the airport a rain of bullets from an American checkpoint riddled their car.  By amazing good fortune, Sgrena survived the attack, but Calipari died on the spot.  The American Army attributes this lamentable ‘accident’ to the high speed of the victims’ vehicle and their disregard for warning signs.  The Italian authorities deny that the car had been driving at high speed and the survivors testified that no warning was given prior to the shooting.  It’s very possible that Sgrena was the actual target, but no hard evidence for this assertion is available.[10] 

In January, 2005, American filmmaker, Mark Manning, spent two weeks in Fallujah.  During his stay, he recorded about 25 hours of film material with numerous interviews of residents who remained in the city.  Immediately upon his return to California, someone stole all of his tapes of Fallujah from his hotel room, but left his expensive film and computer equipment untouched.  Just a short time later, the thief contacted Manning.  “You thought you had the goods on George Bush, didn’t you?” said the man, “You’ve been sandbagged, boy.”  Somehow, it seems as if the events of Fallujah must remain hidden to the world.[11] 

One year after the second major offensive against Fallujah, the Italian TV channel, RAI 24, broadcasted for the first time the documentary of Sigfrido Ranucci, wherein an American soldier testifies how they dropped white phosphorous and napalm on Fallujah in November, 2004.  These are internationally banned chemical weapons. 

The film can be watched here.

Fallujah Fears a “Genocidal Strategy” (March 30, 2007)
This Inter Press Service article points out that the US and Iraqi forces are carrying out a “genocidal strategy” in Fallujah, killing people seized during house-searches and patrols. According to Yasse, a resident of Fallujah, “seventeen young men were found executed after they were arrested by US troops and Fallujah police.” Further, other residents reported that US forces allow Shia militias to raid Sunni neighborhoods, fueling the sectarian violence. With the deterioration of the security situation and the increase of the US backed-violence, most Iraqis now support attacks against the occupation forces.

Fallujah Once Again Beset by Violence (November 6, 2006)
Despite security controls that limit access to the city to only six checkpoints, Fallujah remains a breeding ground for violence in Iraq. This McClatchy Washington Bureau piece details the effects of rigid security on the residents of Fallujah, who must subject themselves to regular fingerprinting and retina scans, and carry bar-coded identification cards whilst moving about the city. Although the US and Iraqi forces maintain a strong presence in Fallujah, Lieutenant Colonel James Teeples, the senior US adviser to the Iraqi army, says that the Iraqi security forces “don’t have the manpower to maintain surveillance on the entire city.”

US Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' in Iraq (September 18, 2006)
In the al-Anbar province of western Iraq residents claim that US military forces regularly cut their water and electricity supplies in an attempt to stem violent resistance to the occupation. Yet civilians suffer the greatest consequences from these acts of “collective punishment.” Tactics such as routine vehicle checks, house raids and threats of violence by US armed forces further alienate civilians and only strengthen the cause of the resistance fighters. (Inter Press Service)

Voices: Life in Samarra and Falluja (August 22, 2006)
US military assaults on Samarra and Fallujah may have ceased but their humanitarian consequences continue to disrupt daily life in Iraq. Residents must endure constant blackouts, poor quality drinking water, rising gas prices and a failing healthcare system. As this BBC interview with four Iraqis living under the US occupation reveals, many citizens believe the sustained presence of Multinational Forces causes this disruption and places their lives in jeopardy.

‘It Looked Weird and Felt Wrong’ (July 24, 2006)
This Washington Post article highlights the often aggressive, indiscriminate and misguided tactics of US army units in Iraq. Heavy armored divisions frequently round up all “military-age males,” “grabbing whole villages” and taking hostages in cordon-and-sweep operations. Such tactics may pacify areas of the country in the short term, but serve to further alienate large parts of the population.

Rebuilding? Not for Fallujah (June 25, 2006)
One and a half years after the US military launched Operation Phantom Fury against the city of Fallujah, residents tell Inter Press Service of ongoing suffering, lack of jobs, little reconstruction and continuing violence. Iraqis lack medical supplies and equipment and have poor access to water, electricity, fuel, and telephone services. One third of the city’s residents remain displaced in the outskirts of Fallujah, “living in abandoned schools and government buildings.” In addition, security has “eaten up as much as 25 percent of reconstruction funding,” and corruption and overcharging by US contractors has reportedly siphoned off even more.

Willy Peter (January 2006)
This article examines the US military’s use of white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon commonly known as “Willy Peter,” in the November 2004 attacks on Fallujah. Though white phosphorous munitions are banned under the 1980 Geneva Convention on Biological and Chemical Weapons, the US has not signed the agreement and instead classifies white phosphorous as a “psychological” weapon. As ZMag points out, there is nothing psychological about a weapon that melts skin to the bone while damaging the nervous system and blocking the circulation of blood.

US Admits Using White Phosphorous in Fallujah (November 16, 2005)
Despite initial denials, the US has admitted to using white phosphorus, a powerful burn-inducing chemical, as a weapon during the November 2004 assault on Fallujah. US officials had previously claimed that white phosphorus was only used to provide smokescreens and illumination. Though not directly listed as a chemical weapon, some experts say the explicit use of white phosphorus against people would classify it as a chemical weapon. The US-led invasion of Iraq was largely justified on the grounds that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed and used chemical weapons. (Guardian)

A Name that Lives in Infamy (November 10, 2005)
In November 2004, US forces led a massive assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah. While the US claims that the majority of the estimated 2,000 casualties were insurgents, Iraqi NGOs and medical workers say that the offensive killed as many as 6,000 civilians. In addition, US-led forces cut off water, food, and power supplies to the city, bombed the main hospital, and used incendiary weapons such as white phosphorous. As the Guardian points out, the atrocities committed in Fallujah are “a symbol of unconscionable brutality.”

US 'Uses Incendiary Arms' in Iraq (November 8, 2005)
An Italian news report provides evidence that US forces dropped massive quantities of white phosphorous on the city of Fallujah during the November 2004 assault. The chemical, which US officials claim was used to illuminate the night sky, produces serious burns capable of dissolving flesh. As a US soldier stationed in Fallujah at the time noted, “anyone within a radius of 150 meters is done for.” Though Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits the use of white phosphorous as a weapon, the US is not a signatory. (BBC)

Fallujah Recovers Its Sense of Everyday Life (October 17, 2005)
Fallujah is gradually returning to normality. The city was largely destroyed during a concentrated US assault in which most residents fled. Sixty percent of the city’s residents have now returned, as have schools, mosques and a modest police force. Nonetheless, much of the city remains in ruins and reconstruction has been stifled by a lack of funds. (Los Angeles Times)

“We Regard Falluja as a Large Prison” (July 27, 2005)
This article describes what daily life is like for Fallujans, eight months after the US laid siege to the city in November 2004. US military and the Iraqi national guard have imposed a nightly curfew and have set up checkpoints that severely curtail movement around the city. Skirmishes between US troops and insurgents occur daily, and Fallujans say that coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians since they took over the city. (Mother Jones)

Eight Months after US-Led Siege, Insurgents Rise Again in Fallujah (July 15, 2005)
Harsh conditions in Fallujah have led to a resurgence of guerilla attacks. The US siege of the town in November 2004 has evidently not put an end to popular support for the insurgency, and even residents who were previously unsympathetic to local fighters are now “beginning to chafe under the occupation.” Fallujans are impatient with the slow pace of reconstruction in the town. Many buildings need repairs and blackouts occur regularly, but Prime Minister Jaafari has not disbursed any of the money earmarked for reconstruction since he took office in April. (New York Times)

US Strategy in Iraq: Is It Working? (June 21, 2005)
Analysts say that "by any metric of tactical military success," US military operations against insurgents in Iraq are working. However, using another measure of success--the reduction of attacks--US and Iraqi operations have failed. Though US forces have killed and captured thousands of insurgents and reduced such "insurgent strongholds" as Fallujah to rubble, attacks and US and Iraqi forces continue unabated. In Fallujah, "once thought to be decisively won by the US," three firefights broke out on one Sunday resulting in 15 insurgents killed. (Christian Science Monitor)

The Failed Siege of Fallujah (June 3, 2005)
Promises by the US and Iraqi governments to rebuild Fallujah remain unfulfilled. Though an estimated 80% of the city's residents have returned, "most people continue to live in tents, or amid the rubble of their homes." The situation is exacerbated by stoppages in the delivery of aid to the city, creating shortages of medical supplies and water. According to one doctor, "people are living as refugees inside their city - so we have lack of lean water and hygiene, so there is rampant spreading of typhoid." He added that things will only get worse during the summer heat. (Asia Times)

Slow Progress in Battered Falluja (April 19, 2005)
Five months after the second US attack on Falluja, students attend classes in tents, more than 100,000 residents still live in refugee camps, and a curfew lasting nearly half the day remains in place. US and Iraqi forces use undamaged schools as bases. Meanwhile, NGOs "are finding it difficult to help Falluja residents because of restrictions on entering the city." (Institute for War & Peace Reporting)

Focus on Situation in Fallujah (February 17, 2005)
Fallujah suffers from poor sanitation and a lack of electricity, water, and adequate housing for the thousands of returning residents who fled the city during intense fighting at the end of 2004. Those who have returned rely heavily on NGO aid, particularly for drinking water. Furthermore, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that an estimated 100,000 local children risk losing an entire academic school year due to the fact that none of the 95 schools inside Fallujah are open. (Integrated Regional Information Networks)

City of Ghosts (January 11, 2005)

This Guardian and Channel 4 News investigation of what really happened in Fallujah details the enormous destruction in a city rendered uninhabitable following the US assault. Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil tries to find an answer to the key question surrounding the Fallujah siege: where did all the insurgents go? The investigation debunks a popular US myth that the attack was "a huge success, killing 1200 insurgents."

2004

Denial of Water to Iraqi Cities (November 2004)
The US has violated the Geneva Convention by cutting off water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah for several days in September and October 2004, denying up to 750,000 civilians access to water. The US further breached international law when forces refused to let the Red Cross deliver water to Fallujah the in hopes that dwindling supplies of food and water would eventually cause the insurgents to surrender. (Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq)

New York Times Rewrites Fallujah History (November 16, 2004)
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) charges the New York Times with maintaining a double standard in its accounts of civilian deaths in the US attack on Fallujah. The paper repeatedly dismissed reports of "large civilian casualties" as "unconfirmed," but in the run-up to the offensive the Times informed its readers that “70 percent to 90 percent of civilians had fled.” In its estimates of civilian deaths, FAIR says, “the Times has signed up on the side of the Pentagon.”

Fallujah Battle Deepens Divide in Iraq (November 15, 2004)
The US attack on Fallujah will likely widen the gap between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites. The Head of a conservative Sunni organization charged that Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi had launched “a war on Sunnis" in Fallujah. Allawi brushed aside suggestions of a divided Iraqi people, claiming that "there is no problem of Sunnis or Shiites, this is all Iraqis against the terrorists.” (Associated Press)

Fallujah 101 (November 12, 2004)
After years of British domination, the US has taken over as the colonial power in Iraq. The bombing of Fallujah resembles the British bombing of the country in 1920 to regain control of the region, and foreign ownership of valuable resources dates back to the early 20th century when large Western oil companies controlled Iraqi oil. This article ties the resistance in Fallujah to the long struggle against foreign troops on Iraqi soil. (In These Times)

Falluja Facing Humanitarian Crisis (November 11, 2004)
The attack on Fallujah has created a humanitarian disaster because medical help cannot reach wounded civilians. At least 2,200 families have already fled the city and others are trapped with no water, food or medicine. (Aljazeera)

After the Fallujah Fight, Then What? (November 10, 2004)
Although Pentagon officials see the assault on Fallujah as an essential stage in the run-up to elections in January 2005, observers doubt whether the attack will bring the insurgency to an end. A former CIA official argues that “stomping on Fallujah is, in fact, exactly the opposite of what the US should do if it wants to lure Sunnis into the Iraqi political process.” If Washington really wants to deal with the resistance, it should send a clear signal to Sunnis, guaranteeing them a significant role in a new Iraq. (Christian Science Monitor)

America Failing Test of History as Offensive Compared to Terror Tactics of Pariah States (November 9, 2004)
The Independent draws a parallel between the insurgency in Fallujah and the insurgency in the Syrian city of Hama in 1982. The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood seized Hama in its struggle against the Baathist regime and the Syrian government responded with tactics very similar to those used by the US in its effort to rid Fallujah of terrorists. In 1982 the US condemned Syria for the assault on Hama. Today it employs the same strategy for Fallujah.

Sunni Party Leaves Iraqi Government Over Falluja Attack (November 9, 2004)
The Iraqi Islamic Party, which the US held up as a model for Sunni participation in a future Iraqi government, has withdrawn from the interim government in protest against the attacks on Fallujah. The move represents a first step towards a major Sunni boycott of elections scheduled for January 2005 and could undermine the legitimacy of a newly elected government. (New York Times)

Allawi Declares State of Emergency Ahead of Fallujah Offensive (November 8, 2004)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has declared a state of emergency for 60 days in the country. The interim government hopes repressive measures such as curfews, bans on meetings and tapping communications will root out insurgents. But the measures ominously recall the Saddam era. (Daily Star)

Fallujah and the Reality of War (November 8, 2004)
As the assault on Fallujah begins, the US faces a “stronger, better-armed, and better-organized” resistance than it did in April. Rahul Mahajan, who experienced the April siege, describes how US forces violated the laws of war and calls on the antiwar movement to assume its responsibility now that Fallujah is under attack again. (ZNet)

We Had To Destroy Fallujah in Order to Save It (November 8, 2004)
As the attacks against insurgents rage on, the Iraq War bears more and more of a resemblance to the Vietnam War. Both wars involved heavy civilian casualties, abuse of prisoners, and the installation of a puppet government by the occupying power. Washington’s fierce commitment to its occupation in Vietnam long delayed a withdrawal of US forces. (ZNet)

Annan Warns Against Fallujah Offensive (November 6, 2004)
In a letter to the US, British and Iraqi governments, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that an attack on Fallujah would likely create even greater chaos in the country and damage the road to elections in January 2005. British Home Secretary David Blunkett contested the statement and said Annan was “entirely wrong.” He stressed that “terrorists need to be rooted out” before Iraq can organize elections. (CBC)

Military Assault in Falluja Is Likely, US Officers Say (October 27, 2004)
Senior officers have confirmed that they could launch a large military offensive to crush the insurgency in Falluja and Ramadi within just weeks. With US President George Bush close to possible reelection, the decision blurs the line between Bush’s electoral and military campaign. Commanders insist that the US elections have not influenced planning for the offensive. (New York Times)

Falluja's Fighters Dig in for the Final Onslaught (October 24, 2004)
As US forces prepare themselves for what they hope will be a final attack on the insurgency stronghold of Falluja, the Observer notes that fighting may cause huge civilian loss without impacting the insurgency. The battle in the deeply religious and conservative city could represent a turning point for Iraqis who are sick of US occupation, and also possibly determine how the elections unfold.

Inside the Iraqi Resistance (July 15 – 24, 2004)
In this seven-part series, Nir Rosen examines the resistance against US forces in Fallujah from the outset of war to the withdrawal of US forces from the city in May 2004. Rosen argues that the city stands out from the rest of Iraq because of its rigid religious conservatism, strong tribal traditions, and a fierce loyalty to Saddam Hussein. (Asia Times)

New Face for Security in Fallujah (May 5, 2004)
A deal to end the fighting between the US military and resistance fighters sees Iraqi forces, headed by a Saddam Hussein-era General, assume control of Fallujah. Clashes between the two sides in April 2004 has yielded over 100 US military and over 600 reported Iraqi fatalities, with hundreds more wounded. (Christian Science Monitor)

Americans Around Falluja are Deaf to Humanitarian Emergency (April 19, 2004)
Assistant Secretary General of the Iraqi Red Crescent, Mohamed Ibrahim Abbas, highlights the severity of the restrictions humanitarian organizations encounter while trying to deliver aid goods in Iraq. Abbas reports that the US Marines banned most NGOs from accessing Falluja, accusing them of transporting hidden weapons in their aid cargoes. (Liberation)

Inside the Fire (April 13, 2004)
US military commanders in Iraq claim that marines are only engaging rebel insurgents operating in Fallujah. This eyewitness report from inside the besieged city paints a different picture of events contending that civilians, including women and children, are the targets of US snipers stationed inside Fallujah. (OpenDemocracy)

Fallujah Horror Points to Iraq’s Deteriorating Security Situation (April 1, 2004)
Robert Fisk examines the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and assesses the possible fallout from the March 31, 2004 attacks on four US contractors in Fallujah. Fisk weighs the Coalition’s Provisional Authority’s assessment of violence in the country and how the CPA distinguishes between attacks by insurgents and attacks by terrorists on coalition forces and Iraqi civilians. (Independent)

2003

US Account of Fallujah Killings Contradicted by Rights Group (June 17, 2003)
Human Rights Watch challenges the military’s contention that its troops came under direct fire in protests that resulted in civilian casualties. It calls for an independent and impartial investigation by US authorities into the two incidents in al-Fallujah in central Iraq. (OneWorld)