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Iraq-Jordan
Beeb Reporter: 'Watching tragedy engulf my city' (Breathless)
2004-11-10
US and Iraqi forces are locked in desperate street battles against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja. The BBC News website spoke by phone to Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in Falluja who reports for the BBC World Service in Arabic.
Say this breathlessly, with stirred (not shaken) emotion, and enough spin to escape Earth's gravity well - and you'll have it, I'll bet.
"I am surrounded by thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil. There was a big explosion a few minutes ago and now I can hear gunfire. A US armoured vehicle has been parked on the street outside my house in the centre of the city. From my window, I can see US soldiers moving around on foot near it. They tried to go from house to house but they kept coming under fire. Now they are firing back at the houses, at anything that moves. It is war on the streets. The American troops look like they have given up trying to go into buildings for now and are just trying to control the main roads. I am sitting here on my own, watching tragedy engulf my city."
...

Oh my. It's called war, Fadhil. And you obviously ain't seen shit, yet.
Posted by:.com

#13  Some of the stuff the BBC chooses to publish at that link is truly gut turning and grossly uninfomed. This is not a small issue. To many in the west just don't get it at all.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-11-10 5:54:21 PM  

#12  I followed the link and read all the posts. Freedom of Speach is a great thing but what was written there truely saddens me. The only reason we didnt finish the job in April was due to the UN asking for an Iraqi force to govern there. Well, the Falluja Brigade was an overwhelming failure. Now we are back where we started... at least we will get it done this time.

Can't help think of George Orwell when reading posts of those people on the BBC site. The quote "People sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on their behalf".

Also, my condolences to our UK readers on the loss of the fine soldiers from the venerable "Black Watch" in these last few days.
Posted by: Pissed off Army   2004-11-10 11:41:37 AM  

#11  RJB - me too. The comments were sadly pathetic.

They critisize us for not being sensitive to the civilians and then they critisize us for giving the insurgents too much time to get away before the attack. I wonder if they bothered to realize that the reason we spent so much time "building up" was to give the civilians enough time to get out. Stupid idiots. Like Sarge said, if they decided to stay they are at their own risk. I would not hesitate to level any building I was taking sniper fire from to include any shrine, mosque or out-house.
Posted by: Jarhead   2004-11-10 9:42:25 AM  

#10  I am surrounded by thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil.

Dude! Pull your head AWAY FROM THE EXHAUST PIPE!
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-11-10 9:23:56 AM  

#9  I'll add this also, I hope like hell that Allawi has enough guts and sense to see this through. It's the Iraqi peoples only chance!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO   2004-11-10 9:21:58 AM  

#8  Good lord,

I followed Sock's link to the BBC discussion board and couldn't believe some of the nonsense being spewed by people who frankly should know better.

I guess I underestimated how many decendants Neville Chamberland has.

We are rooting out al Qaeda and former Baathists and nothing more.

After Falluja we need to remain villigent and hit them hard in the next location they pop up.

It shouldn't take that long to destroy them or chase them from Iraq if we keep the pressure on them!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO   2004-11-10 9:19:46 AM  

#7  Screw them! They had a chance to join a peaceful goverment and they choose terrorism. If I were a politician in UK I would run on a platform to rid the world of Aljezera in the UK. At least take them off the dole and make them compete in a freee market.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2004-11-10 8:25:15 AM  

#6  Interesting. I thought that the non combatants
had been asked to leave the city. Should we be inferring something?
Posted by: Brutus   2004-11-10 7:06:35 AM  

#5  What, Howard, you haven't been here? (BTE the current photo being displayed is an oil fire od some sort and totally unrelated to the question at hand.) I really think you ought to go see how enlightend they are and what kind of feedback they are getting.

I hope every days we will see a story where some fed up person just beats the holy hell out of a BBC reporter and it's not reported as a mugging.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-11-10 6:41:13 AM  

#4  True - football without adverts still weighs heavily in its favour tho' - I think they need a complete clear out of the newsrooms more than anything - Oh and John Humphrey's head on a pike would be nice.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-11-10 5:09:42 AM  

#3  Not what I'd call getting my money's worth either, Howard. That's why the Beeb needs the plug pulled on its outdated extortion racket. It lives on a form of welfare and its irresponsibility now reflects that. Their brand of traitorous propaganda wouldn't survive a year were it to have to compete in an open market. Its news and politics coverage would see its market share shrivel in the face of fair competition from the likes of Sky or a British Fox.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-11-10 4:17:01 AM  

#2  God, I wrote an absolute tome about this on the Beeb feedback form.. be thankful you don't have to suffer the bias of BBC radio news.. it was predictably all kittens and baby ducks/ bombing mosques and hospitals this morning.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-11-10 3:55:14 AM  

#1  "I look at the devastation around me and ask - why?"

Because these asshats have been making life in the rest of Iraq hell. The murder they carry out daily on innocent Iraqis just trying to live out their lives has to stop. Quit your crying. You brought this hell down on yourself. You should have handed these criminals over to the government. You didn't and now you may die along with them. Cry me a river. No one gives a damm.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-11-10 1:05:23 AM  

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