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With Donkeys for Transport, All Is Well
by Ali al-Fadhily
A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse.
Former Iraqi minister of state for foreign affairs Rafi al-Issawi visited Fallujah, 60 km west of Baghdad, Aug. 22. Issawi, who resigned Aug. 1 when the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front withdrew from the government, visited the city with other members of the Sunni Accordance Bloc, al-Tawafuq.
FALLUJAH, Sept. 5, 2007 (IPS) - The group toured the city and met with senior officials and
community leaders in a show of conversion of the city from the most
violent to the most peaceful in Iraq.
The Iraqi Islamic Party's
TV channel, al-Baghdad, accompanied Issawi on his tour and broadcast
some of the scenes from inside Fallujah. The footage exposed the
painful truth of the real situation here. The streets were deserted,
shops were closed, and people appeared with sullen faces.
"Of
course we are happy to have our city peaceful, but not this way,"
lawyer Ahmed Hammad told IPS. "The local police guided and supported by
the American Army have prevented car movement for nearly three months
now. They should not be proud of having the city quiet in a way that
kills everybody with hunger and disease."
Hammad referred to the vehicle ban which was imposed by the U.S. military in Fallujah in May.
Some residents in Fallujah praised the police, others described policemen as savages.
"Those
who are not Fallujah citizens in the force must be expelled and
replaced by our own men," Nassir al-Dulaymi, a former police officer,
told IPS. "They swear at people in the street and arrest people as they
please, and of course there is no real government to hold them
accountable for their crimes. Probably they would be rewarded for their
savage acts."
An article titled 'Fallujah Catches Its Breath' in
the independent Salon.com magazine Aug. 21 described the improving
situation in Fallujah.
"Fallujah, once the symbol of everything
gone wrong with the American mission in Iraq, seems to be breathing
again," wrote David Morris, a former Marine who works as an embedded
reporter with U.S. forces in Iraq. "About half the shops are open.
Groups of children wave heartily at American convoys driving by."
A
journalist who lives in Fallujah told IPS that several local
journalists had been detained and warned of trouble for them if they
reported anything other than "good news" about Fallujah.
"The
media in the west are lying about Fallujah by saying everything is
well," said the journalist. "What is so good about a city that lives
with no electricity, no water, no fuel, very expensive life
necessities, and most important, with no vehicles? Moreover the
unemployment is incredibly high."
Others said members of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic party and the Sunni Accordance Bloc are weak and self-interested politicians.
"The
Islamic Party and its allies convinced us that the situation would be
much improved after the elections, and we fell for it," 60-year-old
shopkeeper Sulayman Mahmood told IPS. "All they did was give cover to
the sectarian government as well as getting rich, and having thousands
of bodyguards."
A tour of the city on foot gives the impression of the dark ages. People are back to riding donkeys.
Everyone
IPS spoke with complained of the extremely high price of basic goods,
and a lack of work that could raise money to meet those needs.
"A
cylinder of cooking gas costs 22 dollars, and it is less than half
full," said Um Ali from the Shurta district west of the city.
"Groceries are too expensive, and we do not know what to eat,
especially since the food ration is practically nothing. Our sons are
either unemployed or in jail."
A report released by Oxfam
International Jul. 30 said eight million Iraqis (in a population of 24
million) are in need of emergency aid.
"Iraqis are suffering
from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, healthcare,
education, and employment," the report said. "Of the four million
Iraqis who are dependent on food assistance, only 60 percent currently
have access to rations through the government-run Public Distribution
System (PDS), down from 96 percent in 2004."
The report said 43 percent of Iraqis suffer from "absolute poverty", and over half the population are unemployed.
The
city has also been affected by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities'
dependence on tribes in Fallujah and throughout Iraq's western al-Anbar
province. Sheikhs are the real leaders now.
"They are taking us
back to the British occupation period when the British gave power to
ignorant sheikhs of tribes instead of politicians and academics,"
Shakir Ahmed, a historian in Fallujah told IPS. "This is a terrible
conception that will take us back to the dark ages instead of the
promised progress and prosperity. These men are highly respected for
being what they are, but never to lead a city, a province and a
country."
Ali al-Fadhily our
correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr
Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region.
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A brave new attempt is under way to project that all is well now with Fallujah. Residents know better -- or worse.
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