The War Is Over,
But The Killings Go On
By Abbas Ahmed
Ibrahim
20 November, 2004
The
Independent
This
is a strange time in Fallujah. They say the war is over, but there is
no peace. Every day there is shooting, and there are still killings
going on. There is very little left of the town now, everywhere there
are buildings which have been destroyed.
There is also a
terrible smell. We know what it is - it is the smell of dead bodies.
Many have now been cleared away, but the smell does not go away, it
will stay with us for a long time. The Americans say they are just finishing
off the insurgents, but then they have been saying that for a few days
now, so people here ask "who have they got left to finish off?"
We hear of things like American soldiers killing wounded prisoners in
a mosque, but that news is recycled to us from people outside. It is
not possible to go out and find out what is going on.
I am not staying
in Fallujah out of choice. But I am afraid to try to leave. I am 36
years old, The American troops have been arresting any males between
the ages of 15 and 45 who have attempted to leave. They say civilians
were told to get out of Fall- ujah, so any man who stayed behind must
be in the mujahedin.
There are Iraqi
men, with their faces hidden by scarves, with the American troops. These
are the informers. If they point you out as an insurgent then there
is no chance of proving that you are innocent. There are people who
are settling personal or tribal grudges like this. You do not know who
will denounce you.
The reason I stayed
behind is the same as many of the other remaining men here, to protect
my house. My wife and parents begged me to go with them when I sent
them away to Amiriyah, but I would not listen. I now realise what a
mistake that was. I am staying with relations, and my house has probably
been destroyed. The Americans were shooting everywhere, from the air
and the ground, when they came into the town. The house I am staying
in was hit by machine-gun fire. Those days and nights were very frightening.
Their shells and bombs would make everything shake, and it seemed to
go on day and night. That has stopped now. But there is also a lot of
damage being caused when they carry out searches of houses. There are
very few of us - civilians - left inside Fallujah now, I do not know
how many because people do not go out. We are staying in little groups,
not really going out much beyond our streets, because it is still very
dangerous. I do not know if my cousin's family are all right, although,
in a normal time, their home would only be 10 minutes' drive away. Most
of the families here have someone who has been injured, arrested, and,
sometimes, killed.
Things are very
bad here, but then they have been bad for such a long time now that
one forgets what normal life was like. There is no power or water, and
very little food left, and there is simply no medicine left. People
I know are very ill, mainly from bad water, but they are not getting
treatment.
We were told that
the Red Crescent and other aid organisations wanted to send food and
medicine into the town, but it was stopped on the orders of Allawi (Iyad
Allawi, Iraq's interim Prime Minister). This has made people even more
angry. It makes them think he is taking the side of the Americans against
his own people.
The Americans say
that they have set up centres for distributing food and medicine. They
also say that Fallujah hospital has now been open again for more than
a week.
This is true in
both cases. But the problem is that getting to them is very risky. You
can get arrested by the Americans or you might get killed. Two women
were shot trying to get food for their families. The Americans say the
mujahedin shot them. Most people think it was the Americans themselves
who did this. But I do not think that is the case. It probably was the
mujahedin. But why is this happening if the Americans are in control
of Fallujah?
I do not know what
is going to happen to us over the next few days. I have news that my
family is all right, so a big worry has been lifted. Maybe things will
be safer when other civilians start coming back into Fallujah.