A day after an American airstrike destroyed six homes in this flashpoint city, a senior Iraqi official said today that 23 of 26 people killed in the attack were foreign terrorists, including men from Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
| The rest, of course, were innocent women, children, lovable old grampies with fuzzy beards and wry smiles, grannies who make marvelous felafel, puppies, kittens, baby ducks, fluffy bunnies, and nuns who were delivering much-needed medicine... |
American officials had justified the strike on Saturday, the first major military action in Falluja since United States forces pulled out of the city in early May, by saying that the homes that were targeted were being used by agents of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. On Saturday, people pulling bodies out of the debris had said women and children were among the victims.
| ... along with lovable old grampies, etc., etc. |
The Iraqi official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that three Iraqis were among those killed and that two Iraqis were injured, but did not provide further details. He said it was not clear if Mr. Zarqawi himself was inside the small concrete-block homes when they were smashed to rubble by three 500-pound bombs dropped from an American warplane. But he said that American intelligence was accurate and the homes did not house civilians but terrorists.
| So there's still hope he's titzup? |
"The Americans had very good information," the official said. "It was like trying to catch a sparrow. They had a small moment to catch the fighters in those houses and they did." The official said one reason why Falluja was relatively calm today, despite the potential for revenge killings or other strife, was because the city’s residents had little love for the foreign terrorists.
| "Nope. We never liked them, never joined the Party..." |
Several residents agreed today. Their actions, or inactions, spoke even louder. There were no serious mortar attacks against American forces today, no fiery sermons at the mosques, no marches in the street. Instead, Falluja, a battered city that just weeks ago was the scene of some of the most intense urban combat in Iraq since the occupation began, was functioning normally, with police manning checkpoints, traffic flowing smoothly and boys selling roasted cashews on the sidewalk. "Fallujans are in no mood to fight," said Mahmood Shaker al-Falahee, a retired government official.
| "Not when there's a good chance you'll eat a Hellfire..." |
"We know people come from the outside to try to raise a conflict between us and the Americans. They come here because our borders are so open."
| "It was all their fault! Really!" |
As for the bomb strike, Mr. Falahee was almost dismissive. "Something like this," he said, "will be passed and soon forgotten."
| "Kinda like a bad plate of falafel, y'know?" |
Some Falluja residents said today that the American air strike had broken the truce. "They gave us their word and they violated it," said Qasim Mohammed Abdul Satar, who sits on Falluja’s shura council, a body of town elders. "In spite of this, the people of Falluja won’t breach the truce. But more trouble may come to the surface. We’ll see."
Falluja has been rife with mixed signals the past several weeks. Masked insurgents continue to operate openly in some quarters of town, even dispensing their own brand of Islamic justice, including an episode last month when four whiskey sellers were lashed with whips and paraded through the streets. At the same time, Marine commanders say there have been fewer attacks around the area and that a semblance of security is returning. Marine officers point to a successful, three-hour meeting they held in the center of town last week with Falluja’s leaders, including some imams who had previously shunned them. "I’m not sure what’s going to happen in Falluja, or for that matter, the rest of Iraq," Col. Larry Brown said in a recent interview. "With the range of options being Jeffersonian democracy on one end and civil war on the other, we’re probably going to end up somewhere in the middle." |