| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Our city has become a dead city. |
| 2007-04-27 |
| Asia Times so apply lots of salt! DAMASCUS - Refugees from Baquba city who have found shelter in Damascus describe their hometown as a "dead city" where armed men roam the streets and al-Qaeda reigns. Baquba, capital city of Iraq's Diyala province is located 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad on the Diyala river. In 2002 the estimated population was 280,000. The city has been inhabited continuously since pre-Islamic times and is the trade center for Iraq's commercial orange groves. The city became a hot spot of resistance early on in the occupation. It has been torn apart in fighting between occupation forces and the Iraqi resistance - and also between various militia groups and al-Qaeda, which has emerged as a distinct new group, its fleeing residents say. By the end of 2006, the city was largely under the control of Sunni resistance groups, but by early 2007 residents report that al-Qaeda had formed a larger presence in the city. As a result, more than half the people in the city have fled, refugees say. "Life in Baquba nowadays is unbearable," Aziz Abdulla, an unemployed university professor who arrived in Damascus last week, told Inter Press Service (IPS). "There is no security at all. Violence is increasing day after day because there is no control from the government and no real existence of coalition forces there. Terrorists and other fighters rule the city. Baquba is a city of terror." Abdulla said that killing and kidnapping are rampant. "We have all become used to seeing dead bodies in the streets. I've seen too many. When we see them, nobody touches the body because if you do you are killed by gunmen. They watch for who touches the body, and kill that person right then or later." "I think well over half of our city has left, and those who remain never leave their homes," Abdulla said. "Those who are left sit in their homes and wait for their death. They may take their fate from a terrorist entering their house, or a car bomb, or a shooting." Baquba General Hospital is in a state of collapse, refugees say. Ahmed Shibad, a 30-year-old doctor from the hospital, fled Baquba a month ago and now lives in the al-Qudsiya neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus with tens of thousands of other Iraqi refugees. "I left Baquba because of the terrorists and the Iraqi Army. The conditions at my hospital were very, very bad," he told IPS. "We had no supplies, and the Iraqi forces occupied the hospital and used it as an observation post and used the roof as a sniper platform." He, like Abdulla, said al-Qaeda is largely in control of the city, and that US forces are doing little to stop them. But his main complaint is about the Iraqi forces. "The Iraqi forces determine who enters the hospital or not, and this causes a big problem for the doctors," he said. "They take many innocent people from the hospital. Our morgue can holds 12 corpses, but it is always overfilled." Shibad said prior to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Diyala province had 600 doctors. The last he knew, he said, there were only 124, and the number is decreasing each month. One of the bases in the city is referred to as Camp Boom by the US soldiers stationed there because it takes so many hits from armed groups, refugees said. Another US Forward Operating Base (FOB) called FOB Scunion is separated from the larger Camp Freedom by a highway known as "RPG [rocket propelled grenade] Alley" because of the many attacks against coalition forces there. "Americans only control one kilometer of road, which is the main road where the governor's office and court building are in central Baquba, and they rarely run patrols in the city because they are attacked every time," a refugee who had just arrived from Baquba told IPS. He asked to be referred to as Haida for fear of reprisal attacks from armed groups, al-Qaeda or US forces. "Every day we see attacks against the Americans. This is because the coalition forces created their own enemies by being so rough on the people of Baquba since the beginning of the occupation." Haida said that control of the city is shared between Iraqi resistance groups who are fighting coalition forces, and "the other group is al-Qaeda". Either way, he said, men carrying guns control most of Baquba. Despite its small size, Diyala province has seen the sixth-largest number of US troops killed in Iraq among the 18 provinces in the country. According to the Department of Defense, at least 144 troops have been killed there, 44 of them this year. Haida and Abdulla, who come from different areas of Baquba, told IPS separately that the city has almost completely shut down now. No markets are open and those who remain live on locally grown vegetables and fruit. "There is nothing transported from Baghdad because there is no way to travel there due to the unofficial checkpoints controlled by militias," said Haida. "If you pass through one and you are the wrong sect of Islam, you are killed immediately. People have stopped going to Baghdad. We are cut off." Abdulla said gasoline is too expensive for most people, and inflation is "out of control". In any case, gas is rarely available since "tankers can no longer reach the city from Baghdad". Money counts for little, he said. "There is no money at the banks because bringing the money from Baghdad to Baquba is too dangerous. The government cannot control it, and the money will be stolen by so many different groups of people. Our city has become a dead city." |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #15 Not according to Harry Reid and his ilk. Harry never said they were nice. He said they wupped our collective butt |
| Posted by: kelly 2007-04-27 18:28 |
| #14 This description of an empty town is consistent with what Michael Yon wrote in his latest dispatch. Seems like all of the Sunni-dominated areas have to go through this pain before realizing that Al Q means only death. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-04-27 15:43 |
| #13 But first seal off all escape routes and sewer pipes. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-04-27 12:58 |
| #12 I agree with those above, if this town is truly so deserted, this would be the perfect time and place to finally get all Medieval. Rubblize the whole damn town and send photos of it to our next hot-spot. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-27 10:57 |
| #11 Could it be these guys aren't the nicest people to be around? Not according to Harry Reid and his ilk. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-04-27 10:43 |
| #10 This article reminds me of the stories coming out of Falluja before the Marines went in. Funny how where ever Al Qaeda takes over, these stories follow them. Could it be these guys aren't the nicest people to be around? Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-04-27 09:56 |
| #9 Raze the city and remove the scum that are there. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-04-27 09:36 |
| #8 Now that the city is "dead" and only terrorists are there, how about several MOABs and fuel air explosives to finish off the job? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-04-27 09:13 |
| #7 Yeah, self-described refugees in Damascus giving po-faced the sky-is-falling-in-Baquba interviews to international media are unimpeachable witnesses to be accepted without the slightest sodium uptake. Or, you know, not. The whole article reeks of "look how successful Not that it might not be true. But the slant is definitely towards insurgent propaganda. Bragging about how impossible they've made the situation through "refugee" cutouts. Who refuse to give their real names, despite having fled to Damascus. What, you aren't safe in Assad's capital? Whyever not? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2007-04-27 08:53 |
| #6 Wasn't this one of the first areas given over to Iraqi administration a few years ago? Too soon, it would seem. Harbinger of what the Dems want for the whole country? Haven't we been reading recently about Coalition brigade(s) deployed to Diyala, even at the expense of the Baghdad 'surge', to address the status of Baquba as the new refuge of AQ? With more on the way? It is the logical place for AQ 'leadership' to go - and likely the focus of Iranian support to the Sunni side of the AIF (Basra/Najaf for the Shia side). If this article is largely correct, the 'good' guys have already left. So we should pull our forces out, block the exits, and fumigate the place with a powerful pesticide. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-04-27 07:51 |
| #5 A glimpse of the MME' future. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-04-27 05:36 |
| #4 Consider FOX NEWS > USA > Several individuals in major US City arrested for manufacturing up to 70 IED-type explosives similar to what insurgents use agz US milfors in Iraq. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-27 02:41 |
| #3 Babuqa is only 30 miles from the Iranian border and 20 miles from the reportedly IRG controlled salient of Iraqi territory between Kurdistan and Iran. Curious that. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-04-27 01:14 |
| #2 Hey, Zen, tell us how you really feel! ;-) |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-04-27 00:22 |
| #1 Refugees from Baquba city who have found shelter in Damascus describe their hometown as a "dead city" where armed men roam the streets and al-Qaeda reigns. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Islamic Terrorism™ you stupid shits. Maybe you should have devoted more time to blowing away the real enemy instead of thwarting the Coalition's efforts. You get what you deserve. Let me know when you get up the courage to begin tearing al Qaeda a new one. Then, I'll applaud. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-27 00:11 |