Refugees describe absolute destruction

November 10, 2004

Iraqis who fled Falluja ahead of the US assault have described a city deserted and already badly damaged by weeks of bombing.

At least 200,000 people are thought to have poured out of the city, many heading to nearby suburbs of western Baghdad, where they are sheltering with relatives. Thousands more remain in Falluja to sit out the attack.

Although American and Iraqi officials insist they are fighting with the support of ordinary Fallujans, residents spoke of their hostility to the US operation.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni political group, in the Amariya district in western Baghdad, has found housing for fleeing families and is providing them with food and money.

At the party's office, Abu Mohammad al-Shamari, an unemployed computer engineer, said: "When you go to Falluja what grabs your attention is the destruction. You see destruction everywhere." Mr Shamari, 28, left the city on Friday with his wife and two-year-old son, and is staying with relatives.

"We know the Americans are a major power and that the Iraqi Government has no will. They just receive instructions. Yet they will not control Falluja."

Many men in the crowd cited examples of other Sunni cities in Iraq attacked by the US military. Last month the military seized control of Samarra in what it said was a model operation, but in recent days there have been a string of suicide bombings in the city, suggesting that people who fled the attack have simply regrouped and returned.

"Even if we accept what they are saying about terrorists, what is the fault of the people of Falluja? If the government cannot control Falluja how can we control the terrorists and hand them over for trial?" Mr Shamari asked.

Standing next to him, Hudaifa al-Ani, a lecturer at Baghdad University, who also left the city on Friday, said the city's streets were deserted.

"Falluja is dead after 4pm. You cannot see anyone around. Sometimes you see a man by himself staying to protect his house or his shop from being looted. Before it was a prosperous, crowded city. Now it is completely destroyed."

The streets are controlled by armed groups.

"The mujahideen of Falluja are people with a cause," Mr Ani said. "We believe in them, regardless of the fact that sometimes they commit unreasonable acts.

"But I don't believe in fighting inside a city ... it means destruction for all."

Several thousand civilians remain in the city, despite weeks of warnings of the attack.

"They refuse to leave their homes. They say death with honour is better than walking the streets looking for cover," said Sheik Mohammad Bashir al-Faidhi of the Muslim Clerics Association, a Sunni group in Baghdad linked to the resistance.

The Guardian