In “Open Democracy” Dahr Jamail reports from Baghdad that the assault on Fallujah is inflicting great political as well as humanitarian damage.
Refugees fleeing Fallujah report horrendous stories. At 3.30am on 1 November, Artica Salim, seven months pregnant, was killed while she slept when two rockets from US warplanes struck her home. “I can’t get the image out of my mind”, says her 45 year-old sister Muna, now in Baghdad. “The other problem is that me and my sister Selma survived only because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night.”
Muna and Selma Salim have lost their other eight family members, including a 4-year-old child. “There were no fighters in our area, so I don’t know why they bombed our home,” cried Muna. “When this happened their were full assaults from the air and tanks attacking our city, so we left from the eastern side of Fallujah and came to Baghdad.”
The reaction of Iraqis in Baghdad to the events in Fallujah is most often dominated by anger and sympathy for the civilians there. “So many people in Fallujah are poor and cannot leave. Land and houses in Baghdad are both very expensive”, said Aziz Obeidy, an unemployed computer programmer. “The Americans are doing what they did last time - taking control of the main hospital and not letting the hospitals and clinics and ambulances function. They are killing civilians, just like before.”
The United Nations refugee agency, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent have all expressed fears over civilians’ safety in Fallujah. The Iraqi government itself announced that some of the tens of thousands who have fled the city are ill and living in severely difficult conditions. The humanitarian as well as the political effects of the assault on Fallujah may continue long after the immediate crisis has passed.
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