Humanitarian crisis in Falluja

Falluja is now a shattered wasteland following the American assault on the Iraqi city. Remaining residents have been left without food, water or electricity as the battle rages in the streets around them: not to mention family members and homes. The streets are littered with bodies, many of them those of women and children residents who couldn't escape the city.

Thank God for the BBC who we can always rely on for unbiased daily information about the conflict. Each day they've been publishing reports from Iraqi journalist Fadhil Badrani who lives in the city. It's both refreshing and devastating in equal measure to read about what's happening there from the other side - far away from the media portrayals that we're used to, talking of the city being a seething cauldron of insurgency and 'evil terrorists (tm)' . It breaks my heart to read these but it's information that we have to know.

Read Fadhil Badrani's reports here...

i'm normally not this cruel but screw 'em, plenty of aid workers and volunteers went to iraq but all they just got shot at and even beheaded.

even if the normal population needs the aid, those guys who kill aid workers are hiding amongst them so they can do something about that if they want aid.

Dude, the Americans won't even let the Iraqi aid workers into the city.

Screw the insurgents fair enough but screw the people??. That's bullshit. How would you feel if Enschende was devastated and the corpses of your family and friends littered the streets? It's all fucked.

Remember - Iraq isn't full of masked men waiting to behead the next person to walk down the street. Our western media plays on that shit more than you imagine.

This assuault is just an exercise in futility to begin with. The Adminisration gave the insurgants weeks of notice that they were going to be assaulted and then did not seal the city off until something like four days before the attack, so most of them got the hell out. Hopefully most of the people did too.

I just wonder, this morning CNN said that there had been about 1000 insurgents killed yesterday (I think it was yesterday, not since the start of the assault), and I am wondering how many of that number were actually "bad guys."

My guess is that most of the people who are fighting are residents who are behaving exactly like Americans would if there hometown was invaded and that the actual Insurgents are in the hills planning their next step.

Discussing this yesterday with some people, we were having a hard time coming up with a reason for this attack other than just saving face and for the Administration to be able to say that they were actually doing something to provide security in Iraq.

all i'm saying is that the aid organisations actually pulled out of iraq last month because the country was so incredibly hostile to them.
not hostile to soldiers but to people who are risking their lifes in some godforsaken piece of desert to help them and in return are getting killed for that.
you realise that there's aid workers even in the nastiest, most horrible warzones of africa but these people decided to pull out of iraq because they're being actively targeted for their kindness.

please the BBC has been serving nearly as biased and anti-american tripe as the Guardian. BTW tell the readers of the Guardian that wrote to that county in Ohio that those of us who support our president offer our sincere thanks. Thier meddling may have given W just the nudge he needed

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 by Tannhauser]

Many Americans paid money to NORAID, and only the most naive could have thought than none of that money went to support terrorism.

I wonder what America would have though if England had sought to root out terrorism in Belfast in a similar manner to the methods being used in Fallujah?

But... but... FREEEDOM IS ON THE MARCH!

There was a recent study done by a sociologist, and then quoted by I think Freedman, or maybe David Brooks. It found that something like 85% of Bush's supporters were "dangerously out of touch with reality."

It was done in a pretty non-biased way to. Things like

Interviewer:

"Does war kill both good people and bad people?"

Bush Supporter:

"No, it only kills bad people."

My favorite thing about the nut jobs that support the president of this country is that they don't even realise how much of a global minority they are. They are blind sheep, walking closely to the edge of an abyss that there leader is hoping to push them over the edge of.

And all the time, they turn, and point their fingers at the people bright enough to not walk blindly into the night...

Wake UP!

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 by heresy200]

well, you know, it did an awful good job of replacing the election theft in the media...

Exactly... I call DUH on myself!

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 by mastvam]

If 'the people' were so worried about their safety, they had two choices: leave, or turn out the insurgents they were supporting.

If I noticed my neighbors were stockpiling stolen televisions in their garage, I wouldn't go ask them for a flat screen, or offer my garage as another storage spot. I'd call the cops.

Hmmm. 54" flat screen for under a grand? You can't really knock that can you

On a more serious note, if your neighbours were masked Chechens etc. with AK-47s and you wanted to get of the city but some GIs are preventing you from leaving due to a curfew what the fuck are you going to do? If you 'turn in' the insurgents (a) who do you turn them in to? (b) you do anything apart from what these guys say you become a traitor in their eyes - you're every bit as fucked. These are innocent people caught between two warring factions controlled by fuking lunatics. They're probably too scared to even begin knowing what to do apart from keep their heads down and pray.

PS - apologies for the language - it's my Celtic blood I tells ya

[Edited on Nov 13, 2004 by Doplex]

What would you think if the cops blew up your house and left you homeless, with no compensation, while dealing with your hypothetical neighbours.

Sure they could leave, but what will be left?

Another option is for the United States to stop creating humanitarian disasters in the first place.

These are the same 'innocents' that dragged the bodies of 4 dead Americans to a bridge, strung them up, and set fire to them. Excuse me for being blunt, but I could care less about casualties. The people of this twon fully supported Saddam, they have provided safe haven for people who want to destabilize Iraq, and they have had ample time to get the fuck out of Dodge.

They are not innocent. They have had ample time to walk away, or to co-operate with us. If they are being held hostage in their own town, then it is their responsibility to make use of the help offered to them. This town, as a whole, has failed to do that FOR MONTHS, and in doing so they have to take responsibility for their inaction.

So... you're blaming these people for not entirely being happy about being invaded?

No, I'm blaming them for not accepting that they lost, for providing aid and sanctuary to the people who are actively trying to kill our troops, and for failing to act in their own best interest.

all the aid workers pulled out of iraq last week
because the fighting keeps up
it happens
but its just a sign of what a clusterfuck iraq is
thanks Dubbya

"They lost"? The citizens of Iraq? Who did they lose to? Us? Or the "insurgents"? Was this actually a war against the Iraqi people? Are you saying this was actually an imperialistic move to subjugate the people of Iraq and not a humanitarian mission or the toppling of a threatening regime?

At least someone's admitting it.

According to CNN, 90% of the residents left, Zarqawi escaped, 1000 insurgents died, and we captured 200 more. So, let's do the math...300,000 - 90% = 30,000 - 1200 = ~28,800 'innocent' people who are either homeless victims or freed hostages, depending on your political views.

Do you read anything other than the CE boards? Under Saddam, Fallujah was a economic and political center for the Ba'ath party and friends of Saddam. The people there are resisting those who removed Saddam and are siding with those who they think will return them to power and prominence. These are not the liberals in Iraq, these are the fat cats who lived well off the labors (and at the expense) of the lower classes. They are not fighting an occupation, they are fighting to restore the old order.

I actually very rarely read the CE boards.

And there was a misunderstanding and we are talking about two completely different things so let's stop right now.