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Unrest Surfaces in Fallujah Again
by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail
Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, despite U.S. military claims.
Local militias supported by U.S. forces claim to have "cleansed" the city, 70 km to the west of Baghdad, of all insurgency. But the sudden resignation of the city's chief of police, Colonel Fayssal al-Zoba'i, has appeared as one recent sign of growing unrest.
FALLUJAH, Jul 16 (IPS) - Authorities may have controlled the media better than the violence.
"Assassinations
never stopped in Fallujah, but the media seems unwilling to cover the
actual situation here," a human rights activist in Fallujah, speaking
on terms of anonymity given the tense situation, told IPS. "The two
bomb blasts that killed six policemen earlier this month and another
two that killed three on the weekend seem to have terminated the
silence."
People in Fallujah say they still suffer despite the
relative improvement in the security situation. 'Relative' is the key
word here, because the improvement is measured against two massive U.S.
military operations in 2004 that killed thousands in the city, and
displaced hundreds of thousands.
"Fallujah was slaughtered by
the Americans when her people decided to fight, and then were
suffocated when they decided to reduce the fighting against the
occupiers," former intelligence officer Major Ahmed al-Alwani told IPS.
"There was strong resistance against American occupation forces since
May 2003, but it was the Americans who pointed their guns at the
innocent civilians and their houses.
"When the American military
plans failed, they decided to hire local tribal militias to do the job
for them," Alwani said, referring to the 'Awakening Group' militia
created by the U.S. military. "Those also failed, despite the
executions and the crimes they committed against people."
Many
people throughout Iraq complain of the brutality and unlawful behaviour
of these Awakening Groups. Members of these groups are paid 300 dollars
per month by the U.S. military.
IPS talked to Sheikh Wussam
al-Hardan, known as the 'engineer' of the Awakening Forces of Anbar
Province. He blamed the Islamic Party for abuses carried out against
civilians in Fallujah.
"We had a very limited role in Fallujah,
and the police force was in charge of all security operations there,"
Hardan said. "We know that all detentions and executions were committed
in our name, but people of Fallujah now know that it was the Islamic
Party that controlled the police force that was active since January
2007."
On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council
meeting of local tribal sheikhs affiliated with Awakening Groups and
military officials. Three Marines, two interpreters and 20 Iraqis died
in the attack. Among the Iraqis killed were the mayor of nearby Karmah
town and three leading sheikhs. The sons of two sheikhs and the brother
of the third also died. All were members of the local Awakening
Council, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.
"Security
events take place all over Iraq and people get killed," Captain Jamal
of the Fallujah police told IPS. "But we wonder why all this huge echo
for two incidents in a city that exiled the U.S. marines with all their
military machine."
According to a survey conducted in March for
several news organisations by D3 Systems of Virginia in the U.S. and KA
Research Ltd. of Istanbul, most Iraqis blame the U.S. military for the
worsening security situation.
The majority of Iraqis surveyed
disapproved of U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, most
disapproved of the Iraqi government, and most felt that all occupation
forces should leave Iraq immediately.
The police forces are
particularly unpopular.
"The police force mainly consists of young men
from surrounding villages who are loyal to their tribal chiefs," Rammy
al-Rawi, a university student who lives in Fallujah told IPS.
"We
believe it is a fight between the Islamic Party and the Awakening
Groups of the tribes who are both collaborating with the Americans for
money and power."
(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.)
Dahr Jamail's new book, /Beyond the Green Zone/ is NOW AVAILABLE!
"International journalism at its best." --Stephen Kinzer, former bureau chief, New York Times; author /All the Shah's Men/
"Essential
reading for anybody who wants to know what is really happening in
Iraq." --Patrick Cockburn, Middle East correspondent for The
Independent; author of /The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq/
Order /Beyond the Green Zone/ today!
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/bookpage
Winner of the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Jounalism!
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(c)2008 Dahr Jamail.
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