On 8th November 2004 the US – with British assistance – launched a massive assault against the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Hundreds of civilians were killed, tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes and white phosphorus – a substance that burns down to the bone – used as a weapon.
This October, a month of activities - culminating in a weekend of
nonviolent civil disobedience against the occupation - will mark the
anniversary of that attack.
This October, a month of activities - culminating in a weekend of
nonviolent civil disobedience against the occupation - will mark the
anniversary of that attack.
“I cannot forgive the American crimes when they bombed my town. An entire family made up of 18 members, which used to live nearby, was killed” – Fallujah teacher Ishraq Shakir Mohammadi (BBC, 22 Aug 06).
OPERATION THANKSGIVING MASSACRE
The original US codename for the assault – “Thanksgiving Massacre” –
turned out to be all too accurate. Fallujah was placed under a strict
night-time shoot-to-kill curfew, male refugees were prevented from leaving
the combat zone and US aircraft attacked the city with more than 500 bombs
and missiles.
Over 700 bodies – including more than 500 women and children – were subsequently recovered from the rubble in just 9 of the cities 27 neighbourhoods, and the US State Department later estimated that 50% of Fallujah’s housing had been severely damaged or rendered uninhabitable.
AFTER FALLUJAH
Since then the US has continued to attack other towns and cities in Iraq – eg. Qaim, Haditha, Karabila, Ramadi, Hit, Baghdadi, Haqlaniya, Barwana and Tal Afar – whilst Fallujah’s devastation has continued to generate rage and hatred both inside and outside Iraq.
Thus, in the video released by al-Qaeda on 6th July 2006, the British suicide
bomber Shehzad Tanweer – who killed seven other people when he blew
himself up on a tube that had just left Liverpool Street station -
explicitly cited the UK’s support for “the genocide .of … innocent Muslims
in Fallujah” as part of the reason for his actions.
Likewise the December 2004 prediction by Ali Fadhil – whose Channel 4
documentary about the aftermath of the November 2004 attack won an award from Amnesty International – that ‘by completely destroying this Sunni city, with the help of a mostly Shia National Guard, the US military has fanned the seeds of a civil war that is definitely coming,’ has proven all too accurate.
Today, as the Independent's Middle East Correspondent Patrick Cockburn has
observed, ‘[e]nding [the occupation] is essential if this war is to be
brought to an end.’
A MONTH OF ACTION
The "No More Fallujahs" month of action against war and occupation begins
on 6 Oct at Housmans bookshop with the book launch of "Don’t Shoot the
Clowns" by Jo Wilding, eyewitness to the April 2004 siege of Fallujah. It
continues with a public meeting on 13 Oct, an Iraq film screening with Jo
Wilding at the Curzon Soho on 15 Oct, and nonviolent direct action
workshops on 8 and 28 Oct. A peace journey from Britain's military nerve
centre at Northwood will also take place on 28 Oct and a 24-hour
"unauthorised" peace camp will start at 12 noon in Parliament Square on
Sunday 29 Oct. For more info see www.rememberfallujah.org.
OPERATION THANKSGIVING MASSACRE
The original US codename for the assault – “Thanksgiving Massacre” –
turned out to be all too accurate. Fallujah was placed under a strict
night-time shoot-to-kill curfew, male refugees were prevented from leaving
the combat zone and US aircraft attacked the city with more than 500 bombs
and missiles.
Over 700 bodies – including more than 500 women and children – were subsequently recovered from the rubble in just 9 of the cities 27 neighbourhoods, and the US State Department later estimated that 50% of Fallujah’s housing had been severely damaged or rendered uninhabitable.
AFTER FALLUJAH
Since then the US has continued to attack other towns and cities in Iraq – eg. Qaim, Haditha, Karabila, Ramadi, Hit, Baghdadi, Haqlaniya, Barwana and Tal Afar – whilst Fallujah’s devastation has continued to generate rage and hatred both inside and outside Iraq.
Thus, in the video released by al-Qaeda on 6th July 2006, the British suicide
bomber Shehzad Tanweer – who killed seven other people when he blew
himself up on a tube that had just left Liverpool Street station -
explicitly cited the UK’s support for “the genocide .of … innocent Muslims
in Fallujah” as part of the reason for his actions.
Likewise the December 2004 prediction by Ali Fadhil – whose Channel 4
documentary about the aftermath of the November 2004 attack won an award from Amnesty International – that ‘by completely destroying this Sunni city, with the help of a mostly Shia National Guard, the US military has fanned the seeds of a civil war that is definitely coming,’ has proven all too accurate.
Today, as the Independent's Middle East Correspondent Patrick Cockburn has
observed, ‘[e]nding [the occupation] is essential if this war is to be
brought to an end.’
A MONTH OF ACTION
The "No More Fallujahs" month of action against war and occupation begins
on 6 Oct at Housmans bookshop with the book launch of "Don’t Shoot the
Clowns" by Jo Wilding, eyewitness to the April 2004 siege of Fallujah. It
continues with a public meeting on 13 Oct, an Iraq film screening with Jo
Wilding at the Curzon Soho on 15 Oct, and nonviolent direct action
workshops on 8 and 28 Oct. A peace journey from Britain's military nerve
centre at Northwood will also take place on 28 Oct and a 24-hour
"unauthorised" peace camp will start at 12 noon in Parliament Square on
Sunday 29 Oct. For more info see www.rememberfallujah.org.
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