_Breaking News_
11-10-2004, 11:06 PM
NY Transfer News wrote: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 War Crimes against civilians in Iraq: a round-up of today's news excerpted from Abunimah News - Nov 10, 2004 BBC News Online - 9 November 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3996111.stm 'Watching tragedy engulf my city' US and Iraqi forces are locked in desperate street battles against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja. The BBC News website spoke by phone to Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in Falluja who reports for the BBC World Service in Arabic. I am surrounded by thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil. There was a big explosion a few minutes ago and now I can hear gunfire. A US armoured vehicle has been parked on the street outside my house in the centre of the city. From my window, I can see US soldiers moving around on foot near it. They tried to go from house to house but they kept coming under fire. Now they are firing back at the houses, at anything that moves. It is war on the streets. The American troops look like they have given up trying to go into buildings for now and are just trying to control the main roads. I am sitting here on my own, watching tragedy engulf my city. Looks like Kabul I was with some of the Falluja fighters earlier. They looked tired - but their spirits were high and they were singing. Recently, many Iraqis from other parts of the country have been joining the local men against the Americans. No one has had much sleep in the past two days of heavy fighting and of course, it is still Ramadan, so no one eats during the day. I cannot say how many people have been killed but after two days of bombing, this city looks like Kabul. Large portions of it have been destroyed but it is so dangerous to leave the house that I have not been able to find out more about casualties. Mosques silent A medical dispensary in the city centre was bombed earlier. I don't know what has happened to the doctors and patients who were there. It was last place you could get medical attention because the big hospital on the outskirts of Falluja was captured by the Americans on Monday. A lot of the mosques have also been bombed. For the first time in Falluja, a city of 150 mosques, I did not hear a single call to prayer this morning. I broke my Ramadan fast yesterday with the last of our food - two potatoes and two tomatoes. The tomatoes were rotten because we have no electricity to run the fridge. My neighbours - a woman and her children - came to see me yesterday. They asked me to tell the world what is happening here. I look at the devastation around me and ask - why? Other interviews with Fadhil Badrani: Translation from Arabic by Jumbe Omari Jumbe of bbcarabic.com *** Reuters - 9 November 2004
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6762603&pageNumber=1 Fighting Prevents Falluja Wounded Getting Help By Fadel al-Badrani FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Mohammed Abboud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death at their Falluja home on Tuesday, unable to take him to hospital as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the Iraqi city. In the midst of a U.S. onslaught and hemmed in by a round-the-clock curfew, he said he had little choice but to bury his eldest son, Ghaith, in the garden. "My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn, but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Abboud, a teacher. "We buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out. We did not know how long the fighting would last." Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in 24 hours of fighting since U.S.-led forces pushed deep into the rebel- held city on Monday evening. Doctors said people brought in at least 15 dead civilians at the main clinic in Falluja on Monday. By Tuesday, there were no clinics open, residents said, and no way to count casualties. U.S. and Iraqi forces seized control of the city's main hospital, across the Euphrates river from Falluja proper, hours before the onslaught began. Overnight U.S. bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city, killing staff and patients, residents said. U.S. military authorities denied the reports. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Monday troops detained 38 insurgents entrenched at Falluja Hospital and accused doctors there of exaggerating civilian casualties. When U.S. forces last stormed Falluja in April, they pulled out several weeks later partly as a result of widespread outrage at reports of high civilian casualties. FEW DOCTORS Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at Falluja Hospital, said the city was running out of medical supplies. "There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by U.S. fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can't move," he said by telephone from a house where he had gone to help the wounded. "A 13-year-old child just died in my hands." Weekend air raids destroyed a clinic funded by an Islamic relief organization in the center of Falluja and a nearby warehouse used to store medical supplies, witnesses said. Many families fled the city of 300,000 long before the offensive began. An official from a Sunni Muslim group with links to some rebels in Falluja said on Monday only about 60,000 remained. Residents say they have no power and are using kerosene lamps at night. They say they keep to ground floors for safety. Food shops have been closed for six days. "My kids are hysterical with fear," said Farhan Saleh. "They are traumatized by the sound but there is nowhere to take them." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday he did not foresee large numbers of civilian casualties in the assault, saying U.S. forces were disciplined and precise. Those words were of little comfort to the Abboud family, sitting in a house damaged by the bomb that killed their child. "We just bandaged his stomach and gave him water, but he was losing a lot of blood. He died this afternoon," said Abboud. *** Reuters - 10 November 2004 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6768408 Red Cross Says Falluja Refugee Situation Dire BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqis who fled fighting in Falluja have been without enough food and water for days, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday. "There are thousands of elderly, women and children who need aid, including water, food, medical care and shelter," Red Cross spokesman Ahmad al-Raoui said. "They must be allowed to return home as soon as possible." He said the refugees were concentrated in the villages of Habbaniya, Amiriya and Saqlawiya, where there were an estimated 20,000 people alone. "We don't have exact figures. The last time we managed to reach the refugees was Thursday," said Raoui. He said there were an unknown number of wounded civilians and insurgents inside Falluja without care. "The Red Cross is very worried. We urge all combatants to guarantee passage to those who need medical care, regardless of whether they are friends or enemies," he said. About 300,000 people, the vast majority Sunni Muslims, lived in Falluja before U.S. forces started bombing the city a few weeks ago in preparations for an offensive launched Monday to retake the city from insurgents. An estimated 60,000 civilians remained in the city, which has been bombed heavily by U.S. planes and artillery. The U.S. military said it was careful not to cause "collateral damage" and to target only insurgent positions. Residents have spoken of scores of civilian casualties, however. U.S. warplanes launched fresh air strikes in the city Wednesday as fierce fighting continued. Military officials said the insurgents showed no signs of giving up, even though U.S. forces have reached the center of the city, west of Baghdad. http://tania.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon- 20041108/008819.html - -- ================================================== ============== NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://tania.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Public Key: http://www.blythe.org/~nyt/pub-key-ny_transfer.asc ================================================== ============== . -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iQCVAwUBQZJ+D0amV5Um0R3tAQK3YgQAsdFWROHPq9SUFbJFDq sl7WQcYX9eHFyH izAb3AHq1vmM2tBa78NYfr9Lc9d1p5jS7w19hk35O3aAXKz2Nl CppLYgbi5HYP4R g8mtDyN2K0450RoY6g+n61Gt1MBAEbw7QsSp1FuA8BGL10ZLRR +szj6WNFKvSuXj AiVxz+JFKck= =tjU2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
"I don't see any way of winning" [in Vietnam]
-- President Lyndon Johnson privately to
Defense Secretary McNamara 1965
"America wins the wars that she undertakes.
Make no mistake about it!"
-- President Lyndon Johnson public speech
1965 re: Vietnam War
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6762603&pageNumber=1 Fighting Prevents Falluja Wounded Getting Help By Fadel al-Badrani FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Mohammed Abboud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death at their Falluja home on Tuesday, unable to take him to hospital as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down on the Iraqi city. In the midst of a U.S. onslaught and hemmed in by a round-the-clock curfew, he said he had little choice but to bury his eldest son, Ghaith, in the garden. "My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn, but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Abboud, a teacher. "We buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out. We did not know how long the fighting would last." Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in 24 hours of fighting since U.S.-led forces pushed deep into the rebel- held city on Monday evening. Doctors said people brought in at least 15 dead civilians at the main clinic in Falluja on Monday. By Tuesday, there were no clinics open, residents said, and no way to count casualties. U.S. and Iraqi forces seized control of the city's main hospital, across the Euphrates river from Falluja proper, hours before the onslaught began. Overnight U.S. bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city, killing staff and patients, residents said. U.S. military authorities denied the reports. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Monday troops detained 38 insurgents entrenched at Falluja Hospital and accused doctors there of exaggerating civilian casualties. When U.S. forces last stormed Falluja in April, they pulled out several weeks later partly as a result of widespread outrage at reports of high civilian casualties. FEW DOCTORS Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at Falluja Hospital, said the city was running out of medical supplies. "There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by U.S. fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can't move," he said by telephone from a house where he had gone to help the wounded. "A 13-year-old child just died in my hands." Weekend air raids destroyed a clinic funded by an Islamic relief organization in the center of Falluja and a nearby warehouse used to store medical supplies, witnesses said. Many families fled the city of 300,000 long before the offensive began. An official from a Sunni Muslim group with links to some rebels in Falluja said on Monday only about 60,000 remained. Residents say they have no power and are using kerosene lamps at night. They say they keep to ground floors for safety. Food shops have been closed for six days. "My kids are hysterical with fear," said Farhan Saleh. "They are traumatized by the sound but there is nowhere to take them." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday he did not foresee large numbers of civilian casualties in the assault, saying U.S. forces were disciplined and precise. Those words were of little comfort to the Abboud family, sitting in a house damaged by the bomb that killed their child. "We just bandaged his stomach and gave him water, but he was losing a lot of blood. He died this afternoon," said Abboud. *** Reuters - 10 November 2004 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6768408 Red Cross Says Falluja Refugee Situation Dire BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqis who fled fighting in Falluja have been without enough food and water for days, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday. "There are thousands of elderly, women and children who need aid, including water, food, medical care and shelter," Red Cross spokesman Ahmad al-Raoui said. "They must be allowed to return home as soon as possible." He said the refugees were concentrated in the villages of Habbaniya, Amiriya and Saqlawiya, where there were an estimated 20,000 people alone. "We don't have exact figures. The last time we managed to reach the refugees was Thursday," said Raoui. He said there were an unknown number of wounded civilians and insurgents inside Falluja without care. "The Red Cross is very worried. We urge all combatants to guarantee passage to those who need medical care, regardless of whether they are friends or enemies," he said. About 300,000 people, the vast majority Sunni Muslims, lived in Falluja before U.S. forces started bombing the city a few weeks ago in preparations for an offensive launched Monday to retake the city from insurgents. An estimated 60,000 civilians remained in the city, which has been bombed heavily by U.S. planes and artillery. The U.S. military said it was careful not to cause "collateral damage" and to target only insurgent positions. Residents have spoken of scores of civilian casualties, however. U.S. warplanes launched fresh air strikes in the city Wednesday as fierce fighting continued. Military officials said the insurgents showed no signs of giving up, even though U.S. forces have reached the center of the city, west of Baghdad. http://tania.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon- 20041108/008819.html - -- ================================================== ============== NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://tania.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Public Key: http://www.blythe.org/~nyt/pub-key-ny_transfer.asc ================================================== ============== . -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iQCVAwUBQZJ+D0amV5Um0R3tAQK3YgQAsdFWROHPq9SUFbJFDq sl7WQcYX9eHFyH izAb3AHq1vmM2tBa78NYfr9Lc9d1p5jS7w19hk35O3aAXKz2Nl CppLYgbi5HYP4R g8mtDyN2K0450RoY6g+n61Gt1MBAEbw7QsSp1FuA8BGL10ZLRR +szj6WNFKvSuXj AiVxz+JFKck= =tjU2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
"I don't see any way of winning" [in Vietnam]
-- President Lyndon Johnson privately to
Defense Secretary McNamara 1965
"America wins the wars that she undertakes.
Make no mistake about it!"
-- President Lyndon Johnson public speech
1965 re: Vietnam War
