By Joe Carr
Christian Peacemaker Teams

• View the full set of photos that go with this report: Fallujah, May 2005

Today, I did what few internationals have dared to do, I went to Fallujah.

Fallujah is completely surrounded by US Forces, the only way in or out is through one of four very restrictive checkpoints. People normally have to wait hours, but since we had our magic US passports, we made it through in about 45 minutes. We did not observe them searching any cars, soldiers just held-up traffic and slowly checked IDs. Like Palestine, these checkpoints seem to have little to do with security and more to do with harassment and intimidation.