London Indymedia

Story from Fallujah

Paul O'Hanlon | 14.01.2006 18:18 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Repression | London | World

This is a 500 word article about the awful civilian suffering in Iraq, especially in the city of Fallujah.
















Story from Fallujah

The destruction of the Iraqi city of Fallujah was a `grim necessity` according to journalist David Aaronovitch when he appeared on Radio 4’s `Any Questions` on Friday November 12th 2004. This `grim necessity` resulted in over a thousand deaths.

Some background information on the city of Fallujah from `Wikipedia`

Fallujah (Arabic: ÇáÝáæÌÉ; sometimes transliterated as Fallujah or Fallouja) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly 69km (43 miles) west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries. The city grew from an unimportant town in 1947 to a pre-war population of about 350,000 inhabitants in 2003. The current population is unknown but estimated at less than 200,000. Within Iraq, it is known as the "city of mosques" for the more than 200 mosques found in the city and surrounding villages. It is one of the most important places to Sunni Islam in the region. The war has reportedly damaged 60% of the city's buildings, with 20% totally destroyed including 60 of the city's mosques

Fallujah is thus a city of some 350,000 people - roughly the same size as Cardiff or Coventry or intermediate in size between Aberdeen and Edinburgh. It had to be destroyed to save it or rather to save the elections. Imagine a city the size of Cardiff being destroyed so that elections could be held – what would the term be - canvassing?

Why was it necessary to bomb the city so ruthlessly? The Guardian’s Madeleine Bunting put it well when she said: “Assaults on cities serve symbolic purposes: they are set showpieces to demonstrate resolve and inculcate fear. To that end, large numbers of casualties are required: they are not an accidental by product but the aim. That was the thinking behind 9/11, and Fallujah risks becoming a horrible mirror image of that atrocity. Only by the shores of that dusty lake in Dreamland would it be possible to believe that the ruination of this city will do anything to enhance the legitimacy of the Iraqi government it appointed.”

Death tolls are always rationalised as unintentional and unnecessary - `collateral damage` when in fact the real objective in bombing countries is to kill and maim as many people as possible.


Some of the surviving victims of George Bush’s `compassionate conservatism` from Iraq include a three year old girl called Alaa from Al Qaim (near the Syrian/Iraq border) who lost 9 members of her family. She lost two brothers, two uncles, and other relations.

Fallujah produced many tragic stories and in Amman I met Abdoalhakim, a small boy of 7 and his father Ismail who were both victims of violence in Fallujah and photos of them and little Alaa are enclosed. Little Abdoalhakim’s home was hit by a mortar, which also seriously injured his mother causing her to abort.

Sadly, the violence in Iraq goes on. “The oil is our curse” as the Iraqi people say.





14 labelled photos are attached








Paul O'Hanlon
- e-mail: o_hanlon@hotmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

When Blair murdered the City of Fallujah, WE were the target

14.01.2006 23:46

A jewish journalist, David Aaronovitch, claimed that the genocide of a muslim city was a `grim necessity`- well knock me over with a feather. Here's a clue- this racist psychopath will also claim that Blair's coming genocide of millions in Iran is a 'grim necessity' too, using the self same logic that Hitler used for each of his crimes against humanity. Evil was NOT defeated at the end of WW2. While certain lesser evils were destroyed or suppressed, a much greater evil began its main spurt of growth.

However, the truth of Fallujah is not contained in the racist horror of those that support Israel and its aims. They are merely the vicious servants. No, the extermination of Fallujah was the victory of Blair. It will be conveniently (and purposely) forgotten by western journalists working for Mass Media publications (even when they appear to condemn the atrocity) that it was Blair, and Blair alone who worked tirelessly to ensure the slaughter took place (for reasons that I will explain below). Fallujah was destroyed in the second attack, just after Bush's re-election. However, this was not the original intended timing. Blair had been moving 'heaven and earth' to get Bush to agree to attack Fallujah BEFORE his election battle. Every possible pressure was exerted on the Americans. In the end, so desperate was Blair that he set up that famous psyops when he moved a useless (in military significance) batch of british soldiers to the region of Fallujah, in order to attempt to increase psycholgical pressure on Bush. Even this tactic did not work- Bush may be stupid, but NOT even he proved THAT stupid.

It is a matter of speculation WHY Blair was so insistant on having Bush butcher Fallujah BEFORE his election. Myself, I believe that the intent was to have Bush LOSE his election. Why- because a democratic party victor would have proved FAR more acceptable to public opinion in Europe (and other parts of the World), when they allied with Blair in the next stage of his plans, namely the genocide war with Iran. Remember, it is vastly easier for an EFFECTIVE psychopath war leader to emerge from the 'left' than from the 'right'. Blair is another perfect ecxample of this.

Today, with Bush still in power (and actively loathed by vast numbers of people within his own nation), coalitions between the US and, say France and Germany, look phoney as hell, and are in danger of exposing the true power structures in those countries to populations that have had the truth kept from them since WW2 (France and Germany were/are active participants in Israel's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, for instance). A democratic US leader would have been much more comforting to the people of France and Germany, as he seconded Blair's various future war plans.

Anyway, back to the other reason Fallujah was so important to Blair, and the reason the subject of Fallujah returns again and again, namely the genocide of a city using such obscene means that Rose West was no doubt green with envy.

Our modern civilisation has values that severely limit the ability of our leaders to use force effectively. The US maintains/restores the death penalty, imprisons an extraordinary proportion of its population in vile conditions, tries and executes kids etc., in an attempt to maintain a level of daily visible brutality that gives the nation its 'edge' when it comes to being the World's no.1 bully/aggressor. This is standard Human psychology, whether used to train thugs or thug nations. Blair, of course, is ramping up EXACTLY the same program within the UK (temporarily constrained by commitments to a European vision of Human Rights). For us, new laws are being passed at an every increasing rate, more laws than every before involve prison, and when people do go to prison, it is for an ever increasing length of time. Blair has insisted that he MUST have the power to send disabled kids to prison for THREE YEARS for the offence of looking into their neighbour's garden. Likewise, citizens of the UK are informed that the state has THE RIGHT to monitor EVERY aspect of their daily lives, including the tracking of all journeys (foot, rail, car and plane), all acts of communication, all acts of spending, and all acts of family life. Most of this information gathered by Blair is of no interest to him or his goons whatsoever- instead it is all about the psychological effects of a population forced to live in the ultimate oppressive society. Think of it like a father conditioning his young daughters for the day when he intends to start raping them. His early acts of bullying and affection are merely a means to an end. Blair is engaged in an identical program against us.

All this control is in danger of making us passive. At the same time Blair requires that we will be his future 'cannon fodder', happily prepared to carry out/cheer any act in the name of Blair, no matter how foul. To take that useful example again, Hitler faced the self same contradiction with the population of Nazi Germany. Of course, Hitler like Blair, used as many 'proxy' forces as possible to keep the hands of the German people 'clean' for as long as possible. Blair, by using the brutish murder machines of Russia, US and Iran (Iran invaded Afghanistan and Iraq side by side with the US, and was/is responsible for many of the atrocities- this fact will increasingly be used by Blair in his anti-Iranian propaganda in the run up to the 'war' against Iran), allows the British people to feel the same sense of moral superiority that the German people had through much of WW2 (remember where Hitler kept his 'death camps').

So, Blair needs to condition us to fully accept (or at worst tolerate/rationalise) the worst acts of evil that one group of humans can subject another group of humans to. Did any of you see the Derren Brown Channel4 TV show called 'The Heist'? If not, can i humbly recommend that you try hard to get a copy, regardless of what you have thought about this guy in the past. Though, be warned, after watching the program, you may have to do a certain amount of reading/research to fully understand what you have just seen- he makes no effort to explain the history/significance of his techniques, and the online commentary I have read shows that most people are without a clue when it comes to the psychological science of conditioning/'brain-washing'.

Basically, Mr Derren Brown gives a perfect example of how, when you control 'the message', and have some limited opportunity to control the activities of people, many of them can be made to think or do things 'willingly' that the self-same people would have sworn earlier were TOTALLY against their nature.

Fallujah was the equivalent to the 'sweet shop' segment of the show (NOT the reconstruction of the 'Milgram Experiment' ). To explain, Mr Brown has his 'guests' 'steal' some sweets from a convenience store.
- they feel it, at least, is a 'naughty' act
- they feel that doing it will give them a thrill because of this
- they probably haven't indulged in shoplifting as adults
- they are aware that shoplifting will establish a 'power relationship' between themselves and those that serve in the shop' (master/slave)
- they are trying hard not to actively think that this first act of shop theft will make similar acts easier in the future
- if an act becomes more likely for a person, they will almost always adjust their moral perspective to justify it more in the future
- after the act, those that have stolen will 'power-bond' with the other 'thieves' (a classic example of group reinforcement), and those that stole the greatest amount will become 'hero' figures, will at least temporary enhanced status. The less successful thieves may well 'aspire' subconsciously to this level of 'celebrity'.

(BTW, for those who don't know what I am talking about, Brown brainwashes a group of people to carry out an armed robbery (of a security guy taking money to a van) of their 'own' free will- sounds totally implausible...prepare to be shocked)

The parallel to the Fallujah city-extermination is hardly exact, but the conditioning purpose is very similar. Blair wants the immediate ability to NUKE tens of thousands of humans to death with EACH of his 'tactical' 'battlefield' nuclear bombs (weapons that in reality have existed since the 50's, but are constantly being refined- it should be obvious why 'big' nukes are considered worthy of very little research these days). Blair loses if the first time he nukes somebody, we hang him.

Humans aren't stupid, but most people can both KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that something is WRONG, and yet justify that same act at the same time. Sometimes, a tragic accident of circumstance creates this situation. Far more likely, however, is that an outside influence has conspired to use their authority to CREATE that circumstance. Crime that is organised to any degree is a curse exactly because of this phenomenon. Aggressive war of the kind persued by Blair (and his NeoCon allies Putin, and the crew that pulls Bush's strings) is the ultimate and most evil and despicable form of organised crime. We are in Blair's gang, and Blair is going to make damned certain that he can rely on us.

A growing number of us only refer to Blair's mouthpieces (BBC/ITN/Reuters/AP/AFP/Times/Guardian etc, etc, etc) to see which way the propaganda wind is blowing. Like many, I followed the daily Mafkarat al-Islam reports that detailed Blair's slaughter in Fallujah. We knew of Blair's use of chemical weapons against the children, women, and men of Fallujah less than a day after it happened. We heard of Blair's ring of steel that prevented all males from leaving Fallujah before the Isreali trained extermination squads were sent in as it happened. We heard of Blair's targetting of Fallujah medical staff, his blowing apart of ambulances, his raiding of one hospital (leaving patients on operating tables to die), and his sickening destruction of another hospital, bombed to rubble with its patients, nurses and doctors still inside, while the laughter of Blair, and his British NeoCons Mandelson, Straw, and Goldsmith was still ringing out.

Months later, Blair's goon, George Monbiot, launched into a foul tirade against the Italian documentary that illuminated the tinest part of Blair's warcrimes, saying how dare they take the word of dark-skinned humans that witnessed the events in Fallujah. Of course, his point was that the ONLY truth that we should believe is that spoken by the US butchers themselves. (the context, of course, was that the embedded MI6 agent that presented himself as a BBC journalist covering the genocide had claimed nightly on BBC newsprograms that the US had never killed any civilians (whatever that word means when a terrorist force is engaged in exterminating your city), and had never used chemical weapons). Later, US gunnery forces were discovered crowing online about how they had used burning phosphorus to roast alive those citizens of Fallujah that the US didn't feel brave enough to murder up close and face-to-face. Monbiot loudly stated that the BBC reporting was to be taken as gospel up until the moment US forces themselves contradicted it, and that anyone who had previously and accurately detailed the atrocities in Fallujah was a liar, because their knowledge was ONLY based on eye witness accounts from those sub-humans, the actual dark-skinned victims themselves. (Was any Nazi newspaper EVER as racist as the Guardian and its 'journalists'?)

Monbiot's tactic is as old as atrocity itself. Those that serve the lords of atrocity state loudly that you are NEVER to trust the word of the victims, only the words of the aggressors.

-as with the Serbs in Srebrenica, Blair prevented the male residents (children and adults) from leaving Fallujah before his attack
-as with Hitler and Stalingrad, Blair subjected the whole of the city to mass bombing, reducing it to ruins
-as with the Israelis in any of their 'conflicts', Blair had snipers mass murder children, women, and men when they appeared on the streets for food, medical attention, or attempted to escape the city.
-Blair had human shields tied to US tanks, and used tanks to crush wounded citizens placed in the streets for this purpose.
-Blair butchered unarmed wounded prisoners in the most holy mosques of Fallujah, and used these places as military bases, destroying and defacing the holy items within.
-Blair had extermination squads freely roam the whole city, often storming into homes and butchering every male within
-Because the citizens of Fallujah dared to put up a fight, Blair ordered that all weapon systems should be made available, including extensive use of chemical weapons that go far beyond the quick and dirty perversion of white phosphorus
-The attack on Fallujah was initiated with the destruction of ALL essential services, including water, sewerage and power. All warehouses in Fallujah containing known supplies of medicine or food were bombed by Blair to total obliteration.
-Blair ordered all hospital facilities to be 'neutralised'. The main hospital within reach of the US forces was invaded and turned into a support facility for Blair's genocide. Blair ordered all other medical facilities serving the people of Fallujah to be totally destroyed, and the operation carried out at such a time to maximise the murder of patients and medical staff. Blair gave the order for ALL ambulances and other medical vehicles to be destroyed on sight, with a priority placed on ensuring the murder of the medical personel within.

Now here is the trick. Even the people that hate Blair to the very marrow in their bones are reluctant to accept the list of atrocities above. Guess what? Hitler and Stalin rose to and maintained their murderous power because even their worst enemies within the state could NOT bring themselves to believe the worst that was stated about these monsters, and as it turned out, their crimes were FAR worse than anything that had been speculated at the time. The trick to being the very WORST monster is to be without limit when it comes to evil. Your people, even those that think they oppose you, are aware that THEY bear some responsibility for your evil deeds, and cannot stand the consequences of this thought.

In other words, make people an accomplice in the very worst atrocity imaginable. A crime so disgusting and appalling and far reaching that any sane moral judgement clearly condemns to the harshest penalty ANY and ALL humans that played any part in its commision, or application. In these circumstances, the people of the UK, just like the people of Nazi Germany, have a growing awareness that justice would punish their brother, or sister, or mother, or father, or son, or daughter, or cousin, or friends, or family member of a friend or loved one, for their involvement in the sickening war crimes of Blair, and the thought of this is unbearable. Blair NEEDS people to feel the blood on their hands, or notice the blood on the hands of another. Blair needs a people bonded in atrocity, so guilty that they no longer dare require a world that is just, decent and fair.

How many times has this happened in the history of the Human Race? How many monsters have risen to command their tribe, bonding them with the blood spilt by innocent victims of other tribes, so that a war of conquest and atrocity could follow.

These monsters of elder times did not have Blair's control of Mass Media propaganda, were not able to monitor our daily computer conversations, did not possess massive stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, did not track the exact movement of their people, did not have the benefit of a modern arms industry churning out unthinkable amounts of war machines and ammunition.

We frequently refer to our home as a blue and green planet. When Blair has finished, the Earth will be as red and lifeless as Mars.

twilight


No criticism intended

15.01.2006 01:57

Hiya Paul,

Just out of personal interest, did you finally manage to reach Falluja or did you get these photos second-hand ? I think we bumped into each other once briefly so I have more than a slight curiousity in the risks you run for your reportage, more than a passing interest in the lessons you have learned along the way.

Danny


Dear Danny

16.01.2006 16:42

Dear Danny,
Thank you for your kind comments about my piece on Fallujah. I don’t actually remember meeting you – I go to meetings of Edinburgh Stop the War (Edinburgh Stop the War – www.edinburghstw.org.uk). I was in the Middle East for 9 weeks – I went to Syria which I really liked (see my report:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328101.html) and I went on to Amman, Jordan where I made innumerable attempts to get a visa for Iraq – about 10 altogether but no luck. No actual reason was given but I feel my countless anti-war reports on Indymedia may have something to do with it.

I stayed at the Al Monzer Hotel in Amman (quite a good budget hotel if you ever go there – mention my name and you’ll get a discount).

I met a lot of Iraqis when I was in Jordan including some refugees who I mentioned in my report on Fallujah. To see the disfigured little boy and orphaned little girl makes you feel very angry.

Those photos of the children were taken by me – the ones of Fallujah being bombed were off the website but I feel they are still quite valid in the context of my story

I have been to Iraq once before –in January 2001 with an organisation called the IAC (WWW.IACENTER.ORG) I wrote a report about Samarra – then and now and took some of the photos then along with web photos of the 2004 bombing:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/298683.html.

You can also see some of my photos of Iraq (all taken by me) in the article I wrote about the London bombing of 2005:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/07/318414.html (All photos of London, New York and Baghdad were taken by me)

I have just back from the Middle East and I’m very tired. Nice to hear from you though and why not write a few articles for Indymedia yourself?

Best from Edinburgh, Paul.

Paul O'Hanlon
mail e-mail: o_hanlon@hotmail.com


Buggles

17.01.2006 21:37

'No actual reason was given but I feel my countless anti-war reports on Indymedia may have something to do with it....
...Nice to hear from you though and why not write a few articles for Indymedia yourself?'

Thats's one reason right there - I bet you regret being so upfront with your name on the web. Still, attributing articles could equally save your neck someday in different circumstances. I never read Indymedia that long ago so thanks for pointing out your January 2001 report. Do you know if anyone crosses West to Iraq from Iran on EU passports nowadays ?


'To see the disfigured little boy and orphaned little girl makes you feel very angry.'
And to know that your family and friends paid for that bomb makes you anti-social or active, I'm glad you chose well. Too few people see any images from Iraq except of US soldiers acting beset upon. Someone said to me at Hogmanay 'but the war ended ages ago'. Mainstream media has to be circumvented like the blockage it is, direct links to independent media in the west to Iraqis like an 'Indymedia Iraq'. The odd horrendous photo on the internet won't enduce empathy as much as regular video footage, that's just the way Westerners are. If you are ever heading back then again I'll show you how to set up a videolink.

Danny


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