Iraqis
Declare Victory Over
U.S. In Falluja
By Reuters
02 May, 2004
Eight-year-old
Anas Mohamed wept as his father picked through the rubble where their
family house once stood in the besieged Iraqi town of Falluja.
"My books have
been burned so how will I study?," he asked. "Where will we
live? Where will we live?" he cried.
Anas, his two sisters,
parents and aunt, were among thousands of residents of Falluja, besieged
by U.S. forces for nearly one month, who returned home on Saturday.
The family blamed
the destruction on U.S. forces, who this week launched an aerial bombardment
on the Golan district where the rubble of their house now lay.
Many returning Falluja
residents found their homes damaged or destroyed, but saw the absence
of American soldiers in their city as a victory over the U.S.-led forces
occupying Iraq.
Across the Arab
world, Falluja has become a symbol of resistance to the new U.S.-led
order in Iraq. Falluja doctors say 600 of the city's residents were
killed in fighting during the siege.
Surveying the damaged
walls and foundations of his house, Mohamed Shakir, father of two, said
maintaining Falluja's Islamic integrity by keeping U.S. forces out of
the town was worth paying the price.
"Reputations
are not maintained without sacrifice," he said.
AMERICAN "DEFEAT"
Hammad Makhlas,
who returned home for the first time since the start of the siege, said:
"Praise God. The most important thing is that the town's dignity
has been preserved with the defeat of the Americans."
U.S. forces on Friday
pulled back from some positions on the outskirts of the city, among
the most loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, and entrusted security
in the city center to a former general in the former Iraqi army.
A mosque minaret
in central Falluja hailed the "victory" of insurgents in the
city over U.S. forces.
"God has given
this town victory over the Americans," loud speakers from the mosque's
minaret announced across the roof tops. "This victory came by the
acts of the brave Mujahideen of Falluja who vanquished the American
troops."
Gunmen holding their
weapons aloft celebrated in the center of the city, where U.S. forces
say they still want to root out guerrillas, foreign fighters, heavy
weapons and those who killed and mutilated the bodies of four American
contractors.
"I'm certain
that the Americans will not come back to the town after the people of
Falluja taught them some lessons," said Falluja resident Fawaq
Jabbar.
"I feel Falluja
will live in peace in the presence of the Iraqi police, the Iraqi Civil
Defense Corps and the new Iraqi army," he said, referring to a
new brigade of former Iraqi troops commanded by ex-General Jasim Mohamed
Saleh which began patrols in Falluja.
But Safaa Mohamed,
father of seven children, has to rebuild his home in the Golan district
before his family can get on with their lives.
Standing on the
rubble of their home, his wife raised her hands to the sky and called
on God to take revenge on President Bush.
"Why did they
come thousands of miles to destroy our homes, kill our sons and drive
out our families? Their war is against Muslims," she said.
© Copyright
2004 Reuters Ltd