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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Visitor to Falluja Describes Hellhole |
| 2004-04-14 |
| From Jihad Unspun. Dahr Jamail is an Alaskan devoted to covering the untold stories from occupied Iraq. ... With the help of some friends, we joined a small group of internationals to ride a large bus there carrying a load of humanitarian supplies, and with the hopes of bringing some of the wounded out prior to the next American onslaught, which was due to kick off at any time now. Even leaving Baghdad now is dangerous. The military has shut down the main highway between here and Jordan. .... At the first U.S. checkpoint the soldiers said they’d been there for 30 hours straight. After being searched, we continued along bumpy dirt roads ..... While we were passing one of the small homes in Abu Ghraib, a small child yelled at the bus, "We will be mujahedeen until we die!" .... Once we turned off the highway, which the U.S. was perilously holding onto, there was no U.S. military presence visible at all as we were in mujahedeen-controlled territory. Our bus wound its way through farm roads, and each time we passed someone they would yell, "God bless you for going to Falluja!" Everyone we passed was flashing us the victory sign, waving, and giving the thumbs-up. As we neared Falluja, there were groups of children on the sides of the road handing out water and bread to people coming into Falluja. They began literally throwing stacks of flat bread into the bus. The fellowship and community spirit was unbelievable. Everyone was yelling for us, cheering us on, groups speckled along the road.... The closer we got to the city, the more mujahedeen checkpoints we passed -- at one, men with kefir around their faces holding Kalashnikovs began shooting their guns in the air, showing their eagerness to fight. The city itself was virtually empty, aside from groups of mujahedeen standing on every other street corner. It was a city at war. We rolled towards the one small clinic where we were to deliver our medical supplies from INTERSOS, an Italian NGO. The small clinic is managed by Mr. Maki Al-Nazzal, who was hired just 4 days ago to do so. He is not a doctor. He hadn’t slept much, along with all of the doctors at the small clinic. It started with just three doctors, but since the Americans bombed one of the hospitals, and were As I was there, an endless stream of women and children who’d been sniped by the One victim of After we delivered the aid, three of my friends agreed to ride out on the one functioning ambulance for the clinic to retrieve the wounded. Although the ambulance already had three bullet holes from a The next morning we walked back to the clinic, and the mujahedeen in the area were extremely edgy, expecting the invasion anytime. They were taking up positions to fight. One of my friends who’d done another ambulance run to collect two bodies said that a Marine she encountered had told them to leave, because the military was about to use air support to begin ’clearing the city.’ One of the bodies they brought to the clinic was that of an old man who was shot by a sniper outside of his home, while his wife and children sat wailing inside. The family couldn’t reach his body, for fear of being sniped by the The already insane situation continued to degrade, and by the time the wounded from the clinic were loaded onto our bus and we prepared to leave, everyone felt the invasion was looming near. ... We drove out, past loads of mujahedeen at their posts along the streets. In a long line of vehicles loaded with families, we slowly crept out of the embattled city, passing several military vehicles on the outskirts town. When we took a wrong turn at one point and tried to go down a road controlled by a different group of mujeheen, we were promptly surrounded by men cocking their weapons and aiming them at us. The doctors and patients on board explained to them we were coming from Falluja and on a humanitarian aid mission, so they let us go.... What I can report from Falluja is that there is no ceasefire, and apparently there never was. Iraqi women and children are being shot by |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #22 Remember the images of Baghdad Bob on the split screen with the Americans coming into the city? |
| Posted by: Anonymous4171 2004-04-14 5:43:51 PM |
| #21 I do fear that there is a squad of goons manufacturing "sniper victims" on some back street. Wonder how many powder burns or ligature marks are on these "sniper victims". |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-04-14 4:14:21 PM |
| #20 The city itself was virtually empty, aside from groups of mujahedeen standing on every other street corner. If this is true, how can so many women and children getting hurt? And why wouldn't we just level the place? Pure BS. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-04-14 3:51:26 PM |
| #19 BH #15 - might take a while for them to run out of ammo ... probably there are huge caches there, as elsewhere in the Sunni Triangle. I'd rather they ran out of shooters even quicker. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-04-14 3:39:03 PM |
| #18 At this point, I don't give a damn any more about the "civilians" in Fallujah. Anyone fighting against the US Marines around Fallujah, and anyone aiding and abetting them, are all lumped together as "enemy combattants and their support elements", and all deserve the same fate - total destruction. I think the sooner we do it, and the greater the firepower we use to do it with, the less trouble we'll have in the rest of the nation. If nothing else, we'll have no more trouble from Fallujah. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-04-14 3:18:37 PM |
| #17 This was posted on Indymedia. In their compendium of reports were photos, including one of a missle that had injured civilians. Unfortunately, I had to point out to them that the missle was a 1980's era French missle not used by the United States but exported to a variety of countries such as Iraq. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-04-14 3:11:31 PM |
| #16 Expect this bastard's fantasy to make the rounds of college papers, "alternate" (dope culture) gimme pubs, and various activist organizations. As far as I am concerned, pigs like Jamail are inciting not only the killing of Americans but the killing and wilfull endangerment of civilians by the jihadis themselves. Thanks to credulous reporting by collaborationist murder-tools in the media and NGOs, the jihadis have every incentive in the world to use human shields, to force civilians into dangerous circumstances, and to kill civilians themselves. How is that the snipers are only shooting innocents when these have the incentive to hide, while the jihadis openly expose themselves at checkpoints and the like? This is an old, old theme for the murder-apologist left. It was used in an Oscar winning communist propaganda film about El Salvador back in the 80s, for example. This actually stated that children were the only casualties of aerial bombing, presuming not only that they were targeted on purpose, but that there were some magical means of doing so. Of course, nobody is stupid enough to actually believe this kind of tripe, including doper leftists themselves. It is simply a device they can use to disrupt rational discussion and rationalize their support for terrorists. Rank and file peaceniks are not dupes, they are fully complicit perpetrators of terrorism and oppression and they should be treated accordingly. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-04-14 3:02:20 PM |
| #15 ...men with kefir around their faces holding Kalashnikovs began shooting their guns in the air, showing their eagerness to fight. Once the ammo's gone, this will be like shooting fish in a barrel. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-04-14 2:56:11 PM |
| #14 The only folks in this fight with a need to kill women and children are the muj's. Every non-combatant that leaves the city is one less human shield. Note that the "magic bus" had no problem at all getting into the city. It was only when they tried to leave the city that they ran into opposition from the jihadis. I'd bet you a case that if the Al Jizz reporters hadn't been on board, trying to get their story to the world, the muj's would have turned the bus back or started shooting "traitors." |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-04-14 2:13:47 PM |
| #13 there were only 2 small clinics treating all of Falluja. The other has been set up in a car garage. So when AP/CNN/BBC et al continue to quote "the Director of the Fallujah Hospital", are they forgetting to mention his $14.95 oil change special? |
| Posted by: john 2004-04-14 2:11:37 PM |
| #12 SH, great quote from 'the tap' archive. I always liked "Tonight I'm gonna rock you tonight" & "Big Bottom". |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-04-14 1:52:44 PM |
| #11 My next New Years Wish. Put out a large EMP on the Al-Jazeera transmitter and fry their circuits and then ban them from Iraq. I got a better idea. Have some operatives coke up a jihadi and tell him Al Jazeera is getting ready to knock off Islamic news in favor of Oprah. Hand him a bomb belt and let nature take its course. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-04-14 1:42:16 PM |
| #10 Our snipers are really slipping - they're not bagging nearly enough baby ducks and fluffy bunnies. (Do I really need a /sarcasm tag?) |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2004-04-14 1:39:44 PM |
| #9 This story is shit. Any muji checkpoint on that road would be splattered by a patrolling Apache. |
| Posted by: Frank 2004-04-14 1:37:39 PM |
| #8 there were only 2 small clinics treating all of Falluja. The other has been set up in a car garage. Is that the one set up with all the car batteries for the Jihadi's to provide humanitarian assistance to their kidnap victims? |
| Posted by: B 2004-04-14 1:34:28 PM |
| #7 Caps -- the "American snipers" he's talking about are almost certainly bullets coming back down after the mujis fire up into the air. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-14 1:17:35 PM |
| #6 Skimming past all of the BS, I do notice that so many reports contain references to the "american Snipers" that I can only conclude they must be doing an excellent job is not only whacking bad guys, but also in creating a nasty operating environment for the bad guys command system. Jihadis probably have to draw strawsto decide whose gonna make the Starbucks run. |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2004-04-14 1:12:06 PM |
| #5 Well whoever wrote this article must have stolen a Dimocrat script on how to misinform and distort. My next New Years Wish. Put out a large EMP on the Al-Jazeera transmitter and fry their circuits and then ban them from Iraq. |
| Posted by: Bill Nelson 2004-04-14 1:06:45 PM |
| #4 Allow me to quote a great poet, Nigel Tuffnel The window's dirty The mattress stinks This ain't no place to be a man I ain't got no future I ain't got no past And I don't think I ever can The floor is filthy The walls are thin The wind is howling in my face The rats are peeling I'm losing ground Can't seem to join the human race Yeah I'm living in a hell hole Don't want to stay in this hell hole Don't want to die in this hell hole Girl, get me out of this hell hole I rode a jetstream I hit the top I'm eating steak and lobster tails The sauna's drafty, hoo The pool's too hot The kitchen stinks of boiling snails The taxman's coming The butler quit This ain't no way to be a man I'm going back To where I started I'm flashing back into my pan Yeah, that's what I'm doing And why not? It's better in a hell hole You know where you stand in a hell hole Folks lend a hand in a hell hole Girl get me back to my hell hole |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-14 1:02:42 PM |
| #3 I keep seeing stories of women and children with head wounds...and I wonder if the entry point has been the top of the head? |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-04-14 1:00:06 PM |
| #2 what a load of crap! The closer we got to the city, the more mujahedeen checkpoints we passed so there are no marines in or around the city? if the jihadis have checkpoints all over the place where do the marines come in the picture? had three bullet holes from a mujahedeen U.S. sniper through the front windshield on the driver’s side..The previous driver was wounded when one of the sniper’s shots grazed his head. ... please - he would be dead if it were marine snipers! Iraqi women and children are being shot by mujahedeen American snipers this statement alone proves what a load of crap this is! |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-04-14 12:54:28 PM |
| #1 shooting their guns in the air Gunfire filled the streets, along with jubilant yelling. I wonder how many civilian casualties their gunsex is causing? I also have to wonder if we could get them to use up their ammo by occasionally lighting some old tires on fire and spreading rumors that it's another convoy ambush. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-14 12:52:59 PM |