Greetings,

The escalation of the conflict in Iraq has not reached the major US media
to the extent that seems warranted. Below is a compilation of recent
first-person accounts of the nightmare there that continues to unfold.

Mary Anne

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 20:15:04
-0500 From: Not In Our NameSeattle <seattle@...> Reply-To:
bounce-live-964657324-15923201@... To:
mamercer@... Subject: Massacres of Iraqi Civilians and Call
for Solidarity with the
Iraqi People

"What I can report from Fallujah is that there is no ceasefire, and
apparently there never was. Iraqi women and children are being shot by
American snipers. Over 600 Iraqis have now been killed by American
aggression, and the residents have turned two football fields into
graveyards. Ambulances are being shot by the Americans. And now they are
preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of the city." - Dahr Jamail,
Baghdad correspondent for The NewStandard.

Please forward these messages and help however you can to make sure that
the truth about what is happening in Fallujah and all over Iraq is heard.

Stay tuned for Seattle action plans to take place this week.

Contents: 1. Call for International Solidarity from the Iraqi People 2.
Messages from people in Iraq to Another World is Possible, a delegation of
American women from Seattle who traveled to Iraq last Fall. 3. Message
from a Japanese peace activist who is a friend of one of the Japanese
hostages in Iraq. 4. Eyewitness weblog account from journalist Dahr Jamail
of The NewStandard

1.EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE April 8, 2004 By
Eman Ahmed Khammas Director, International Occupation Watch Center
Occupied Baghdad

To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United
Nations:

The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist attacks
by US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed
to terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.

According to reports, in Fallujah alone, over three hundred Iraqis have
been killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April
4. There is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of
Sadr, Adaamiya, Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Fallujah,
Ramadi, Basrah, Nasiriya, Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya,
Balad, and Baquba. Residences, hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to
transport the injured are being bombed and fired at by Occupation
Forces’ guns and tanks.

Fallujah and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation
Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding
civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to
sufficient medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood
supplies. In Fallujah, the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers
forcing doctors to establish field hospitals in private homes. Blood
donors are not allowed to enter; consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and
Falluja are collecting blood for the injured. Water and electricity have
been cut off for the past several days.

In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas
destroying homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US
soldiers have made a practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find moving
through the streets after dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6 people
were killed in this way. US forces continue to occupy and surround all the
police stations and the Sadr municipal offices.

While these attacks have escalated sharply over the past week, they are in
no way a new phenomenon in occupied Iraq. The indiscriminate killing of
civilians and the refusal to provide people with security, electricity and
decent medical infrastructure have characterized the ‘freedom’ that
Occupation Authorities have brought to Iraq.

We call on the international community, civil society and the
anti-war/anti-occupation movements to respond to this US-led war of terror
with tangible displays of solidarity and support for Iraqi people facing
this gruesome manifestation of the occupation.

Please take to the streets to demand an end to the US-led aggression.
Organize protests in front of US consulates and embassies around the world
and demand: an immediate end to this massacre; an immediate end to the
siege of Iraqi cities and neighborhoods; immediate access to humanitarian
and medical aid organizations seeking to provide assistance to Iraqi
people who are living under attack; and an end to the occupation of our
nation.

Cities in which demonstrations have already been organized include Milan,
Montreal, Tokyo, Istanbul, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington
D.C. and New York City.

To contact the International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, please
call 001 914 360-9079 or 001 914 360-9080. You can also email
eman@...

2. Another World Is Possible (a delegation of Americans) traveled to Iraq
this fall. Yesterday morning we received a phone call from a dear friend
in Fallujah, asking for support from the American people. He spoke
surrounded by tanks and under US gunship fire in his home. His message
follows below. Yesterday afternoon we also received an email from an
activist we met in Baghdad. She has spent the past three days with fellow
activists ferrying bodies out of Fallujah. The last message included is a
letter written today by a peace activist in Japan, a friend of one of the
hostages, also a peace activist, facing execution if his country’s
troops do not withdraw.

MESSAGE FROM A FRIEND IN FALLUJAH Saturday, April 10 "Listen ______ or
______. This is ______ from Baghdad. This is important. There is something
going on very wrong in Fallujah. We are surrounded in here. We are
trapped. So please, help. Anything you can do. A call for Fallujah,
anything please, a demonstration, whatever. Just try to help. Bye bye."

Message from an activist who is in Fallujah today and for the past few
days: We've been seeing it with our own eyes. People were told to leave
Fallujah and now there are thousands trapped in the Desert. There is a 13
km long convoy of people trying to reach Baghdad. The Americans are firing
bombs, everything, everything they have on them. They are firing on
Families! They are all children, old men and women in the dessert. Other
Iraqi people are trying to help them. In Fallujah they (Americans) have
been bombing hospitals. Children are being evacuated to Baghdad. There is
a child now, a baby, he had 25 members of his family killed, he's in the
hospital and someone needs to be with him, why isn't anyone there to stay
with him, he just lost 25 from his family!??? The Americans are dropping
cluster bombs and new mortars, which jump 3-4 metres. They are bombing
from the air. There are people lying dead in the streets. They said
there'd be a ceasefire and then they flew in, I saw them, and they began
to bomb. They are fighting back and they are fighting well in Fallujah.
But we are expecting the big attack in 24-48 hours. It will be the main
attack. They will be taking the town street by street and searching and
attacking. They did this already in a village nearby, I forget the name,
but they will be doing this in Fallujah. Please get help, get people to !
protest, get them to go to the Embassies, get them out, get them to do
something. There is a massacre.

3. LETTER FROM JAPANESE ACTIVIST Sunday, April 11 Dear Friends, The
captors of my Japanese friends in Iraq just announced now that they will
kill the hostage if Japan does not withdraw the Self Defence Force. They
changed their mind (decided to kill them) after hearing Japanese
government's statement on TV that the captors were releasing the hostage
because Japanese government was firm and didn't negotiate with
"terrorists". What all the citizens of the world tried days and nights
were wasted because of such irresponsible statements by Japanese
government and media. None of them are released by now and one will be
killed within 24 hours. I am sending this to you to share my sorrow, and
to declare my commitment to make more peaceful and sustainable world. 500+
Iraqi people are killed in Falluja this week and many were children and
babies as seen in the photos below. Think about the sorrow of the mothers
and fathers. If you do not want to face what the US does in foreign
countries straight, you can never change it. "How many times must a m!
an turn his head pretending he just doesn't see...." Disturbing photos of
young Iraqi civilian casualties are posted at:
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8CB7C17E-F69E-48A2-8034-DEA425192815.htm

Later: Japanese hostages are not released as I write this, and 3 hours to
go. What has happened in Falluja triggered the kidnapping of foreigners in
Iraq? Iraqi Resistance want the occupation to end. They want foreign
troops to go home. I am almost certain that US soldiers also want to go
home safely and hug their family. So must be the Japanese soldiers......
All Iraqi people are asking is,"Please leave our country with all your
weapons". "Stop killing our children"."Stop polluting our land forever
with radioactive weapons" Is it too much to ask? love, Yumi

4. Americans Slaughtering Civilians in Falluja Weblog Entry by Dahr
Jamail, The NewStandard

I knew there was very little media coverage in Falluja, and the entire
city had been sealed and was suffering from collective punishment in the
form of no water or electricity for several days now. With only two
journalists there that I'd read and heard reports from, I felt pulled to
go and witness the atrocities that were surely being committed.

With the help of some friends, we joined a small group of internationals
to ride a large bus there carrying a load of humanitarian supplies, and
with the hopes of bringing some of the wounded out prior to the next
American onslaught, which was due to kick off at any time now.

Even leaving Baghdad now is dangerous. The military has shut down the main
highway between here and Jordan. The highway, even while just outside
Baghdad, is desolate and littered with destroyed fuel tanker trucks –
their smoldering shells littered the highway. We rolled past a large M-1
Tank that was still burning under an overpass which had just been hit by
the resistance.

At the first U.S. checkpoint the soldiers said they'd been there for 30
hours straight. After being searched, we continued along bumpy dirt roads,
winding our way through parts of Abu Ghraib, steadily but slowly making
our way towards besieged Falluja. While we were passing one of the small
homes in Abu Ghraib, a small child yelled at the bus, "We will be
mujahedeen until we die!"

We slowly worked our way back onto the highway. It was strewn with smoking
fuel tankers, destroyed military tanks and armored personnel carriers, and
a lorry that had been hit that was currently being looted by a nearby
village, people running to and from the highway carrying away boxes. It
was a scene of pure devastation, with barely any other cars on the road.

Once we turned off the highway, which the U.S. was perilously holding
onto, there was no U.S. military presence visible at all as we were in
mujahedeen-controlled territory. Our bus wound its way through farm roads,
and each time we passed someone they would yell, "God bless you for going
to Falluja!" Everyone we passed was flashing us the victory sign, waving,
and giving the thumbs-up.

As we neared Falluja, there were groups of children on the sides of the
road handing out water and bread to people coming into Falluja. They began
literally throwing stacks of flat bread into the bus. The fellowship and
community spirit was unbelievable. Everyone was yelling for us, cheering
us on, groups speckled along the road.

As we neared Falluja a huge mushroom caused by a large U.S. bomb rose from
the city. So much for the cease fire.

The closer we got to the city, the more mujahedeen checkpoints we passed
-- at one, men with kefir around their faces holding Kalashnikovs began
shooting their guns in the air, showing their eagerness to fight.

The city itself was virtually empty, aside from groups of mujahedeen
standing on every other street corner. It was a city at war. We rolled
towards the one small clinic where we were to deliver our medical supplies
from INTERSOS, an Italian NGO. The small clinic is managed by Mr. Maki
Al-Nazzal, who was hired just 4 days ago to do so. He is not a doctor.

He hadn't slept much, along with all of the doctors at the small clinic.
It started with just three doctors, but since the Americans bombed one of
the hospitals, and were currently sniping people as they attempted to
enter/exit the main hospital, effectively there were only 2 small clinics
treating all of Falluja. The other has been set up in a car garage.

As I was there, an endless stream of women and children who'd been sniped
by the Americans were being raced into the dirty clinic, the cars speeding
over the curb out front as their wailing family members carried them in.

One woman and small child had been shot through the neck -- the woman was
making breathy gurgling noises as the doctors frantically worked on her
amongst her muffled moaning.

The small child, his eyes glazed and staring into space, continually
vomited as the doctors raced to save his life.

After 30 minutes, it appeared as though neither of them would survive.

One victim of American aggression after another was brought into the
clinic, nearly all of them women and children.

This scene continued, off and on, into the night as the sniping continued.
As evening approached the nearby mosque loudspeaker announced that the
mujehadeen had completely destroyed a U.S. convoy. Gunfire filled the
streets, along with jubilant yelling. As the mosque began blaring prayers,
the determination and confidence of the area was palpable.

One small boy of 11, his face covered by a kefir and toting around a
Kalashnikov that was nearly as big as he was, patrolled areas around the
clinic, making sure they were secure. He was confident and very eager for
battle. I wondered how the U.S. soldiers would feel about fighting an 11
year-old child? For the next day, on the way out of Falluja, I saw several
groups of children fighting as mujahedeen.

After we delivered the aid, three of my friends agreed to ride out on the
one functioning ambulance for the clinic to retrieve the wounded. Although
the ambulance already had three bullet holes from a U.S. sniper through
the front windshield on the driver's side, having westerners on board was
the only hope that soldiers would allow them to retrieve more wounded
Iraqis. The previous driver was wounded when one of the sniper's shots
grazed his head.

Bombs were heard sporadically exploding around the city, along with random
gunfire.

It grew dark, so we ended up spending the night with one of the local men
who had filmed the atrocities. He showed us footage of a dead baby who he
claimed was torn from his mother's chest by Marines. Other horrendous
footage of slain Iraqis was shown to us as well.

My entire time in Falluja there was the constant buzzing of military
drones. As we walked through the empty streets towards the house where we
would sleep, a plane flew over us and dropped several flares. We ran for a
nearby wall to hunker down, afraid it was dropping cluster bombs. There
had been reports of this, as two of the last victims that arrived at the
clinic were reported by the locals to have been hit by cluster bombs --
they were horribly burned and their bodies shredded.

It was a long night-between being sick from drinking unfiltered water and
the nagging concern of the full invasion beginning, I didn't sleep. Each
time I would begin to slip into sleep, a jet would fly over and I wondered
if the full scale bombing would commence. Meanwhile, the drones continued
to buzz throughout Falluja.

The next morning we walked back to the clinic, and the mujahedeen in the
area were extremely edgy, expecting the invasion anytime. They were taking
up positions to fight. One of my friends who'd done another ambulance run
to collect two bodies said that a Marine she encountered had told them to
leave, because the military was about to use air support to begin
'clearing the city.' One of the bodies they brought to the clinic was that
of an old man who was shot by a sniper outside of his home, while his wife
and children sat wailing inside.

The family couldn't reach his body, for fear of being sniped by the
Americans themselves. His stiff body was carried into the clinic with
flies swarming above it.

The already insane situation continued to degrade, and by the time the
wounded from the clinic were loaded onto our bus and we prepared to leave,
everyone felt the invasion was looming near. American bombs continued to
fall not far from us, and sporadic gunfire continued. Jets were circling
the outskirts of the city.

We drove out, past loads of mujahedeen at their posts along the streets.
In a long line of vehicles loaded with families, we slowly crept out of
the embattled city, passing several military vehicles on the outskirts
town. When we took a wrong turn at one point and tried to go down a road
controlled by a different group of mujeheen, we were promptly surrounded
by men cocking their weapons and aiming them at us. The doctors and
patients on board explained to them we were coming from Falluja and on a
humanitarian aid mission, so they let us go.

The trip back to Baghdad was slow, but relatively uneventful. We passed
several more smoking shells of vehicles destroyed by the freedom fighters;
more fuel tankers, more military vehicles destroyed.

What I can report from Falluja is that there is no ceasefire, and
apparently there never was. Iraqi women and children are being shot by
American snipers. Over 600 Iraqis have now been killed by American
aggression, and the residents have turned two football fields into
graveyards. Ambulances are being shot by the Americans. And now they are
preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of the city.

All of which is occurring under the guise of catching the people who
killed the four Blackwater Security personnel and hung two of their bodies
from a bridge. ---------------------------------------------- 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, an
archive of Dah’rs writings and photos or to donate to Dahr, visit
newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches



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