Violence
In Baghdad,
Wordplay In Falluja
By Dahr Jamail
04 June, 2004
The
New Standard
A
rumbling explosion just let off near my hotel. This not too long after
getting back from Adhamiya where I was talking to witnesses at the scene
of yet another car bomb; the third in as many days here in Baghdad.
At the scene in
Adhamiya the scorched, crumpled shell of the car was pushed off to the
side of the road. A brick wall nearby bore pockmark scars from the shrapnel.
Store windows 50 meters away were shattered. I passed a dried pool of
blood on the sidewalk near the small bomb crater while walking slowly
to a nearby shop where I met Abdel Halik Al-Samarri, a real estate broker
who witnessed the attack.
Two armored
vehicles passed up and down the street four times, then two Land Cruisers
of the Americans passed by the parked car, said Abdel, still shaky
hours after the bombing. Just as they passed the car it exploded.
Ismail Obeidy, a
lawyer who works at the real estate office with Abdel, ran towards the
burning car to assist a woman who had had pieces of shrapnel lodged
in her legs. I carried her across the street, and put her in a
car which took her to the hospital, he said. Just three minutes
after the first blast as scores of people had congregated around the
burning car to survey the damage, a second, much larger explosion erupted
which killed several people and injured many more.
If the Americans
will stop invading our streets, no explosions will happen, cried
Ismail in frustration and anger. He went on to say that a small crowd
gathered and began yelling anti-American slogans at US troops when they
cordoned off the area.
Car bombs are becoming
a daily occurrence in Baghdad, and there is nothing the locals can do
about it.
Both men told me
that Abu Hanifa mosque had immediately issued a plea for donations of
blood, and was promptly besieged with donors.
Hopefully the dual
explosions were a bomb malfunction, and not intentional. I keep dreading
the horrific strategy used in Beirut, where a second car bomb would
arrive to the scene of the first after the ambulances showed up.
Just prior to my
visit to the scene of the car bomb, seven mortar blasts shook the US
base in Adhamiya. Also this afternoon three mortars landed near a US
base near Palestine Street, wounding at least one Iraqi.
Baghdad is a war
zone, and the stress in the air is palpable. The randomness of the attacks
is the worst part. Nobody is safe here.
Earlier this morning
I ventured out to Fallujah. While driving west out of Baghdad with my
trusty fixer Abu Talat I noticed an overpass which had graffiti sloppily
written which read, Come back to your home, and, Youre
just monkeys, and a telling line which read, We will ****love
you. I had read it before when going to Fallujah during the siege
in April... the scratched out word used to read kill.
According to members
of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) at their headquarters in Fallujah,
U.S. Marines who are at the main checkpoint will be withdrawing this
week. Several of the ICDC I spoke with were exceedingly pleased with
the fact that there were only two token US patrols into their city per
month. These, according the ICDC, resembled the symbolic first patrol
after the siege of April had come to a close, when several armored US
vehicles with ICDC and police protection rumbled a little over a mile
down the main street to the mayors office for a 30-minute pause
behind the concrete barriers which surround the building -- then exited
in similar fashion.
Ali Abed, a 25 year-old
member of the ICDC, said, We are happy now because it is so much
better than before. Fallujah is secure now and you can stay out late
because it is safe.
He and several of
other ICDC troops sat relaxed inside their headquarters, drinking soda
and laughing from time to time. Ali turned to me and added, As
long as the Americans stay out, it is calm here.
Things have certainly
changed in Fallujah. Journalists are now required to go to the Al-Hadrah
Al-Mohamudia mosque in the city in order to obtain a press pass. Even
with that, all of the ICDC who drove me and Abu Talat to the mosque
in their GMC were worried for me. My cousin works for Al-Arabiya
television, and his camera was smashed just yesterday, said an
ICDC member. And yesterday two German journalists were beaten
because the people here are very angry with foreigners.
Inside the mosque,
with two armed ICDC on either side of me, Khassem Mohammed Abdel Satar,
the Vice Chairman for the chamber of the city, told me the anger stems
from the fact that nearly every family in Fallujah suffered a member
killed during the April assault. In some cases, entire families
were killed, he said somberly.
He issued me a press
pass, but told me I would conduct my interviews with the ICDC in his
office then I should go. All of them repeated that they were worried
for my safety.
Mr. Satar referred
to the US soldiers as invasion troops and told me that Fallujah
is so much better off without them in the city. We have Fallujah
completely under control now with the Iraqi Police and the ICDC,
he said. The security in Fallujah hasnt been this good since
the dawn of Baghdad.
He stated that he
was proud that Fallujah is the first city in Iraq where the US military
has left because of the fighting, rather than through negotiations.
We hope all cities in Iraq are liberated as Fallujah is,
he said.
According to Mr.
Satar, the new clampdown on the press in Fallujah was for our own security,
and they were hard at work on a system which will allow better access
for the media inside the city. It was obvious to me that this hadnt
quite been sorted out. I certainly didnt see any other reporters
traveling inside GMCs with 5 armed ICDC accompanying them.
We have clear
information that the Americans are sending spies in to cause problems
between groups in Fallujah, added Mr. Satar, but we have
this under good control.
Dhasin Jassim Hamadi,
a major in the ICDC, told me that inside the city they are fully independent
and have no relations with the US military now. During April the
Americans bombed our headquarters and killed three men, he said
angrily. But now we work under the supervision of the mayor and
conduct joint patrols with the police.
We demanded
independence from the Americans, he added with a large smile.
And we got it.
Another ICDC member
smugly told me that the last US patrol to the mayors office only
stayed for 20 of the 30 allotted minutes.
All of them claimed
they have more respect from the people of Fallujah now that the US military
are gone from the city. It is obviously better here without them,
so of course the people respect us more, said Amin, a 28 year-old
member of the ICDC.
He went on to say
that after June 30th, if the US military is still in Iraq, nothing will
change as far as the ongoing fighting outside of Fallujah.
The subject of terrorism
was breached, and Amin grew quickly frustrated. He felt the US was being
hypocritical in calling Arabs who fight against them terrorists. They
are fighting to protect their city... why dont the Americans call
soldiers from Honduras here terrorists? He continued, They
are fighting Iraqis
but they are not called terrorists? What is
the difference?
The difference continues
to be in the choice of words. Even today the AP referred to the city
as the guerilla stronghold of Fallujah, while the CPA continues
to go to great lengths to show that the US military are working in conjunction
with the ICDC and mayor of Fallujah to insure security.
But then, the military
operations in Fallujah during April were said to be carried out with
the goal of pacifying the city... a city today where the
mayor and ICDC claim it is the calmest and most secure it has ever been.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dahr Jamail is Baghdad
correspondent for The NewStandard. He is an Alaskan devoted to covering
the untold stories from occupied Iraq. You can help Dahr continue his
crucial work in Iraq by making donations. For more information or to
donate to Dahr, visit The
NewStandard.
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