We are receiving little good news from Falluja. It seems that the mainstream press is presenting an even more one-sided than usual version of the events in Iraq. Presented here is a compilation of articles, eyewitness acounts, audio from Democracy Now, and photos.

We hear of a ‘cease-fire’ which is not corroborated by the eyewitness accounts we’ve received of violence directed at Fallujan civilians by the US military. Jo Wilding, a British peace activist and a friend of Voices, writes:

“Snipers are causing not just carnage but also the paralysis of the ambulance and evacuation services. The biggest hospital after the main one was bombed is in US territory and cut off from the clinic by snipers. The ambulance has been repaired four times after bullet damage. Bodies are lying in the streets because no one can go to collect them without being shot…..”

Please read it for the most up-to-date eyewitness account of what’s going on in Falluja. Her account contradicts the idea that there is a ‘cease-fire’ in Falluja and the falsehood that the violence is only coming from Iraqi insurgents who are breaking the ‘cease-fire.’

Continue Reading Jo Wilding’s article “Falluja”

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Soon after Jo Wilding returned to Baghdad, we learned that she had been held hostage temporarily in Falluja and we learned more from her about the violence on the streets there:

Shots rip down the street, two bangs and a zipping noise uncomfortably close. The ambulance springs back into the side road like it’s on a piece of elastic and we dart into the yard of the corner house, out through the side gate so we’re back beside the vehicle.

This time we walk away from the hospital towards the marines, just us and the loudspeaker, no ambulance, to try and talk to them properly. Slowly, slowly, we take steps, shouting that we’re unarmed, that we’re a relief team, that we’re trying to get supplies to the hospital.

Another two shots dissuade us. I’m furious. From behind the wall I inform them that their actions are in breach of the Geneva Conventions. “How would you feel if it was your sister in that hospital unable to get treated because some man with a gun wouldn’t let the medical supplies through.” David takes me away as I’m about to call down a plague of warts on their trigger fingers.

Continue Reading Jo Wilding’s article “Falluja, Held Hostage”

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David Martinez was with Jo Wilding in Falluja. He writes…

“If we carefully look through cracks in the brick wall that leads to the street, we can see them. Three soldiers in shooting positions, aiming straight down the way toward the victim. The situation is further complicated by a car that stands abandoned behind the prone man, all four doors hanging open as if the occupants have suddenly fled. Around it are scattered several RPG’s and rockets. So if we attempt to do anything, the Americans will assume we are enemy fighters.”

Continue Reading David Martinez’s article “The Kill Zone: Moving Wounded in Fallujah”

Report from Fallujah – Destroying a Town in Order to Save it
Published on Monday, April 12.
by Rahul Mahajan
from Empire Notes

A gentle, urbane man who spoke fluent English, Al-Nazzal was beside himself with fury at the Americans’ actions (when I asked him if it was all right to use his full name, he said, “It’s ok. It’s all ok now. Let the bastards do what they want.”) With the “ceasefire,” large-scale bombing was rare. With a halt in major bombing, the Americans were attacking with heavy artillery but primarily with snipers.

Al-Nazzal told us about ambulances being hit by snipers, women and children being shot. Describing the horror that the siege of Fallujah had become, he said, “I have been a fool for 47 years. I used to believe in European and American civilization.”

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Americans Slaughtering Civilians in Falluja
by Dahr Jamail
on Electronic Iraq

One small boy of 11, his face covered by a kefir and toting around a Kalashnikov that was nearly as big as he was, patrolled areas around the clinic, making sure they were secure. He was confident and very eager for battle. I wondered how the U.S. soldiers would feel about fighting an 11 year-old child? For the next day, on the way out of Falluja, I saw several groups of children fighting as mujahedeen.

Read more reports by Dahr Jamail at on The NewStandard

• Winning Hearts and Minds
• No End in Sight for Fallujah

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When Kathy Kelly visited Falluja in 1999, she witnessed firsthand the planting of the seeds of the resistance to US military violence in the anger of a young boy. She writes:

“In 1999, I returned to the Fallujah marketplace, this time with our friend Ahmed, a US citizen, born in the Sinai, who translated for us as we encountered a very similar scene. I spotted a child staring at me. He seemed about 11 years of age, quite poor, extremely intense. “Ahmed, please,” I asked, “ask this young man what he is thinking.” The young boy squared his shoulders and said, “I am a scholar of the faith.” Ahmed posed my question again. This time the answer was direct. “Tell her that I am thinking about how I will become a fighter pilot when I grow up,” said the boy, whose gaze never swerved from mine, “so that I can bomb the United States.” Then Ahmed said, “Kathy, look, pay attention to this man,” pointing to an elderly, balding fellow with huge jowls and white whiskers who had observed my encounter with the youngster. Large tears rolled down his cheeks.”

Continue reading Kathy Kelly’s article,“Pacification: Worth the Price?”

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Fallujah Is Realm of Snipers on Both Sides

“…Haqi Ismail was shot dead by an American sniper just after leaving his house for prayers at a nearby mosque, said his cousin Ismail Hamada. “His wife could not move forward to help him because she would have been killed too. She stood crying as he bled to death,” Hamada told The Associated Press in Baghdad, where he fled with his family. The Marine offensive to crush Sunni insurgents in this Euphrates River city has killed five Marines and more than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, according to hospital sources. The push was stopped on April 9 to allow for negotiations.”

Continue reading “Fallujah Is Realm of Snipers on Both Sides”

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• Falluja Timeline from the Washington Post

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Photos from Falluja
Portland Independent Media Center

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Audio Reports from Democracy Now

“Fear is Transmuting Into Anger” - Rahul Mahajan Reports on Resistance in Iraq

We speak with author and antiwar activist Rahul Mahajan in Baghdad who was one of the only western reporters in Fallujah during the U.S. siege. He says: “The United States has completely lost control, and even the mildest of people are now absolutely enraged at what is being done in Fallujah, and want the United States out…anyone that didn’t have a gun today could pick up a gun tomorrow.”

• transcript and audio

Fallujah Refugees Describe Horrors of U.S. Siege

We get a report from Baghdad with Free Speech Radio News’ Aaron Glantz who speaks with Fallujah residents fleeing the besieged town. They describe digging mass graves, snipers and bombers killing people inside their homes, attacks on ambulances and the increasing anger and resentment towards U.S. occupying forces.

• transcript and audio