15 Nov 2004
US Troops Shot Civilians Escaping From Fallujah
Sun Nov 14, 2004
By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the weeks before the crushing military assault on his hometown, Bilal Hussein sent his parents and brother away from Fallujah to stay with relatives.
AP Photo
The 33-year-old Associated Press photographer stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of the former insurgent stronghold.
"Everyone in Fallujah knew it was coming. I had been taking pictures for days," he said. "I thought I could go on doing it."
In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous artillery shelling turned Hussein's northern Jolan neighborhood into a zone of rubble and death. The walls of his house were pockmarked by coalition fire.
"Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. Even the civilians who stayed in Fallujah were too afraid to go out," he said.
"There was no medicine, water, no electricity nor food for days."
By Tuesday afternoon, as U.S. forces and Iraqi rebels engaged in fierce clashes in the heart of his neighborhood, Hussein snapped.
"U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house," he said.
Hussein said he panicked, seizing on a plan to escape across the Euphrates River, which flows on the western side of the city
"I wasn't really thinking," he said. "Suddenly, I just had to get out. I didn't think there was any other choice."
In the rush, Hussein left behind his camera lens and a satellite telephone for transmitting his images. His lens, marked with the distinctive AP logo, was discovered two days later by U.S. Marines next to a dead man's body in a house in Jolan.
AP colleagues in the Baghdad bureau, who by then had not heard from Hussein in 48 hours, became even more worried.
Hussein moved from house to house — dodging gunfire — and reached the river.
"I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."
He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. Then, he "helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands."
"I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim. I quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours through orchards."
He met a peasant family, who gave him refuge in their house for two days. Hussein knew a driver in the region and sent a message to another AP colleague, Ali Ahmed, in nearby Ramadi.
Ahmed relayed the news that Hussein was alive to AP's Baghdad bureau. He sent a second message back to Hussein that a fisherman in nearby Habaniyah would ferry the photographer to safety by boat.
"At the end of the boat ride, Ali was waiting for me. He took me to Baghdad, to my office."
Sitting safely in the AP's offices, a haggard-looking Hussein offered a tired smile of relief.
"It was a terrible experience in which I learned that life is precious," he said. "I am happy that I am still alive after being close to death during these past days."
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/911982.htm RELATED:
Gen. John Abizaid says vast majority of Iraqis are enemy, to be killed or captured [Or, at least that's what his words mean].
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/911921.htm 
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Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Really? Show us the pictures?
16.11.2004 01:57
I don't suppose he managed to get a picture of this happening? Hey?
It would make a nice change from the "resistance" fighters sawing off people's heads.
just a thought
snappy tom
Correction for the Historical Amnesia
16.11.2004 03:46
Let's see. There were no beheadings until after hundreds of men, women, and children were tortured, some tortured to death, at Abu Ghraib. The Iraqis and the world can see who the oppressor is here. And it's clear to the world who is struggling against an occupation army.
Viva Fallujah!
Good luck to Iraq's freedom fighters! May they rid their country of its foreign occupiers.
American Citizen
another crime
16.11.2004 03:59
Video shows US soldier killing wounded insurgent in cold blood
also in gardyan
I am afraid the US army are now like the nazis in their behaviour.Of course there were nice nazis too I am sure who the locals fraternised with.
sil
Hooray for the Freedom Fighters
16.11.2004 04:34
Hooray! Good luck to the Iraqi resistance from the British peace movement!
Did she scream and struggle as you sawed through her bones? Hooray! Wonderful!
This is what we support! If we were there, we'd do it too.
We are peace protestors! Hooray! Whoopee!
snowball
Hooray for the Coalition
16.11.2004 07:07
But none of them were blonde! So, Hooray! Good luck to the brave warriors from the USA!
Did the little children scream and struggle as you melted them to their own beds? Hooray!
Wonderful!
This is what we support! If we were there, we'd do it too.
If you're not for us, you're against us! Hooray! Whoopee!
snowball
Opposing to Allawi government!! - punishment Death! How to establish democracy!
17.11.2004 03:04
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Murmuring "God is great," two dozen Iraqi men collected corpses Tuesday in a U.S. Marine-directed effort to rid Fallujah of festering bodies in keeping with Muslim burial principles
"This exemplifies the horrors of war," said Marine Capt. P.J. Batty, from Park City, Utah, of the body pickup. "We don't wish this upon anyone, but everyone needs to understand there are consequences for not following the Iraqi government."
VerveUK