Mujahidin terrorised Fallujah, residents say

The Times (UK) ^ | 11/15/04 | Times Online and AFP

[saquin]

Mutilated bodies dumped on Fallujah's bombed out streets today painted a harrowing picture of eight months of rebel rule.

As US and Iraqi troops mopped up the last vestiges of resistance in the city after a week of bombardment and fighting, residents who stayed on through last week's offensive were emerging and telling harrowing tales of the brutality they endured.

Flyposters still litter the walls bearing all manner of decrees from insurgent commanders, to be heeded on pain of death. Amid the rubble of the main shopping street, one decree bearing the insurgents' insignia - two Kalashnikovs propped together - and dated November 1 gives vendors three days to remove nine market stalls from outside the city's library or face execution.

The pretext given is that the rebels wanted to convert the building into a headquarters for the "Mujahidin Advisory Council" through which they ran the city.

Another poster in the ruins of the souk bears testament to the strict brand of Sunni Islam imposed by the council, fronted by hardline cleric Abdullah Junabi. The decree warns all women that they must cover up from head to toe outdoors, or face execution by the armed militants who controlled the streets.

Two female bodies found yesterday suggest such threats were far from idle. An Arab woman, in a violet nightdress, lay in a post-mortem embrace with a male corpse in the middle of the street. Both bodies had died from bullets to the head.

Just six metres away on the same street lay the decomposing corpse of a blonde-haired white woman, too disfigured for swift identification but presumed to be the body of one of the many foreign hostages kidnapped by the rebels.

It was initially thought to be either the body of Margaret Hassan, the Dublin-born aid worker with dual British and Iraqi nationality who was kidnapped last month, or a Polish woman kidnapped two weeks ago. A Polish official said today there was no evidence to suggest that the body was that of the kidnapped Pole.

Although the US military says it is now in control of the Sunni Muslim city, US forces were today attacking diehard rebel positions in the south of Fallujah, including an underground bunker complex of steel-reinforced tunnels containing weapons including an anti-aircraft artillery gun.

"What you’re seeing now are some of the hardliners, they seem to be better equipped than some of the earlier ones, we’ve seen flak jackets on some of them," Major General Richard Natonski, the Marine general who commanded the Fallujah offensive, told the BBC.

"I think they’re probably willing to lay down their lives in the fight. But we’re more determined and we’re going to wipe them out," he said.

The Iraqi Red Crescent today abandoned plans to take an aid convoy into the city after being refused entry by US forces who deny that there is any humanitarian emergency. The seven-truck convoy was instead heading to nearby villages, where tens of thousands of refugees from Fallujah are camped out.

Meanwhile International Red Cross spokesman today claimed that in the hours before the attack began, US troops had been preventing Iraqi males of military age from leaving Fallujah. Ahmed Ravi told the ITV News Channel: "There are still civilians inside Fallujah who are in serious need for any kind of help. Also, the water treatment plan, under control of Iraqi and American troops, is not functioning right now."

At least 38 US soldiers, five Iraqi soldiers and 1,200 insurgents are thought to have been killed during the week-long offensive, but civilian casualties are unclear - except for an implausible denial from Iyad Allawi, the acting Iraqi Prime Minister, that there are any.

Witness accounts appeared to contradict him. A member of an Iraqi relief committee told al-Jazeera television he saw 22 bodies buried in rubble in Fallujah’s northern Jolan district yesterday.

"Of the 22 bodies, five were found in one house as well as two children whose ages did not exceed 15 and a man with an artificial leg," Mohammed Farhan Awad said."Some of the bodies we found had been eaten by stray dogs and cats. It was a very painful sight."

A source close to Dr Allawi said this morning that two of the Prime Minister's female relatives abducted last week were freed last night. But Dr Allawi's 75-year-old cousin was still being held.

A previously unknown rebel group last week threatened to behead Dr Allawi's cousin, his wife and their heavily pregnant daughter-in-law unless the assault on Fallujah was stopped.

Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.

A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.

"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants.

Another elderly man, who did not want his name used for fear the rebels would one day return and restore their draconian rule, said he was detained by the militants last Tuesday and held for four days before being freed. He described how he had then sought refuge in a friend's house where they had huddled together clutching Korans in silent prayer for their lives as the massive US bombardment put the insurgents to flight.

"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings.

"But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."

The same story of arbitrary executions was told by another resident, found by US troops cowering in his home with his brother and his family.

"They would wear black masks, carry rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, and search streets and alleys," said Iyad Assam, 24. "I would hear stories, about how they executed five men one day and seven another for collaborating with the Americans. They made checkpoints on the roads. They put announcements on walls banning music and telling women to wear the veil from head to toe."

It was not just pedlars of alcohol or Western videos and women deemed improperly dressed who faced the militants' wrath. Even residents who regard themselves as observant Muslims lived in fear because they did not share the puritan brand of Sunni Islam that the insurgents enforced.

One devotee of a Sufi sect, followers of a mystical form of worship deemed herectical by the hardliners, told how he and other members of his order had lived in terror inside their homes for fear of retribution.

"It was a very hard life. We couldn't move. We could not work," said the man sporting the white robe and skullcap prescribed by his faith. "If they had any issue with a person, they would kill him or throw him in jail."

[rocksblues]

and a man with an artificial leg,"

HMMM?

[mlbford2]

Michael Moore said these guys were like our Minutemen from the American Revolution.

[pissant]

We just sacrificed 40 US soldiers to FREE the citizens of Fallujah from their grotesque nightmare. But what will the MSM focus on? THe few civilians who were caught in the crossfire and the fact that all of the Sunni triangle is not 100% terrorist free. We need to start a paper to compete daily with the USA today. A paper that celebrates our history, our good works throughout the world and our military. With a good sports section, it would become the best selling paper in the country.

[buffyt]

Yet the Liberals claim we should not be in Iraq at all.


Seems to me that anyone who thinks we should not be helping these people, is condoning the rape, murder, torture, and mutilation they have been enduring....

[SMARTY]

"The seven-truck convoy was instead heading to nearby villages, where tens of thousands of refugees from Fallujah are camped out."

That makes more sense. What the hell do they want to go into the city for??? They would risk their lives and all the aid supplies to help a few 'supposed' non combatants instead of going where thousands of refugees clearly need help??? How stupid these people are!

[pissant]

For fat turd Moore, the difference is that he really does love the Iraqi "insurgents" and hates everything our valiant minutemen from yesteryear stand for.

[SlowBoat407]

Sounds like Afghanistan all over again.

[buffyt]

God bless our wonderful soldiers~!!!!

[Scythian]

How can we get this information to the Iraqi masses in Bagdad and elsewhere? Surely this is not how the command man and women intend to live, they better rally to the US forces in masse and turn in the terrorists or else live under their rule, we must get this kind of information out. Things can be even worse than Saddam made them.

[B Knotts]

Well, this story, at least, is a good start to telling the real story of Fallujah, and how most of the average people there were terrorized by the so-called "insurgents."

[bubman]

this is why we need to fight. this vermin needs to be eradicated. the marines do their part abroad, we need to do our part at home. support the fighting men and women of the us armed forces.

[It's me]

Yes, but I read that the "few citizens caught in the crossfire" were very happy that the Americans came and freed them.

One "complaint" of the Americans was that they didn't come soon enough.

"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said...

Did I read something different than you did?

[pissant]

I should have clarified. This article from the UK times is good one. It is much better than the vast majority of NYT, Boston Globe, LAT, and USA Today articles, where we need to read between the anti-US propaganda to gleen the good news.

[FreeReign]

Well, this story, at least, is a good start to telling the real story of Fallujah, and how most of the average people there were terrorized by the so-called "insurgents."

Yes, past the three thousand "rebels" of various sorts are the several hundred thousand people of Fallujah who share more in common with you and I.

"I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months," he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants. "

"It was horrible," he told an AFP reporter."We suffered from the bombings. Innocent people died or were wounded by the bombings. "But we were happy you did what you did because Fallujah had been suffocated by the Mujahidin. Anyone considered suspicious would be slaughtered. We would see unknown corpses around the city all the time."

"It was a very hard life. We couldn't move. We could not work,"

[AmericanInTokyo]

"Amid the rubble of the main shopping street, one decree bearing the insurgents' insignia - two Kalashnikovs propped together - and dated November 1 gives vendors three days to remove nine market stalls from outside the city's library or face execution..."

Wow! What a bunch of hard asses!

You mean to tell me, the GFCC (Greater Fallujah Chamber of Commerce) didn't stand up to them!

[Oblongata]

"and a man with an artificial leg,"

HMMM?"

That's what I said. Likely just a coincidence though. There are lots of Iraqi men with artificial legs from all the wars in recent history.

[unbalanced but fair]

I have friends with family in Iraq. The workers and soldiers all say the same thing. The majority of people, including the terrorists, have no idea what is really happening. There is no TV or news yet in many areas and even radios can only get Arab propaganda.
Some of the soldiers said that the enemy they captured were stunned by the numbers of our soldiers and our firepower. They had no concept of what they were really up against. Most have been isolated by their leaders and don't know anything about the world or the USA. Others were made to believe that the Americans were not that powerful and would leave as soon as they were opposed.
Coalition workers have said that outside of the larger cities, people are shocked by the amount of aid and knowledge given by the workers. Many had only heard of but never seen what we consider conveniences.

[Billthedrill]

Some interesting sidelights here. Saddam - and presumably the bulk of the local insurgents who worked for him - ran a more secular police state than this. This level of religious fanaticism suggests foreign involvement, even foreign sponsorship. We've shaken this particular tree pretty well now and it will be interesting to see what falls out.

[spodefly]

Mutilated bodies dumped on Fallujah's bombed out streets today painted a harrowing picture of eight months of rebel rule.

Flyposters still litter the walls bearing all manner of decrees from insurgent commanders, to be heeded on pain of death.

The decree warns all women that they must cover up from head to toe outdoors, or face execution by the armed militants who controlled the streets. Two female bodies found yesterday suggest such threats were far from idle. An Arab woman, in a violet nightdress, lay in a post-mortem embrace with a male corpse in the middle of the street. Both bodies had died from bullets to the head.

Just six metres away on the same street lay the decomposing corpse of a blonde-haired white woman, too disfigured for swift identification but presumed to be the body of one of the many foreign hostages kidnapped by the rebels.

A previously unknown rebel group last week threatened to behead Dr Allawi's cousin, his wife and their heavily pregnant daughter-in-law unless the assault on Fallujah was stopped.

"They would wear black masks, carry rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, and search streets and alleys," said Iyad Assam, 24. "I would hear stories, about how they executed five men one day and seven another for collaborating with the Americans. They made checkpoints on the roads. They put announcements on walls banning music and telling women to wear the veil from head to toe."

"It was a very hard life. We couldn't move. We could not work," said the man sporting the white robe and skullcap prescribed by his faith. "If they had any issue with a person, they would kill him or throw him in jail."
“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘The Enemy.’ They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow—and they will win.” - Michael Moore, 4/14/2004