[R-G] Fallujah's flames rekindled

[Anthony Fenton]

Jul 18, 2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JG18Ak01.html
Fallujah's flames rekindled
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail

FALLUJAH - Security has collapsed again in Fallujah, despite United  
States military claims.

Local militias supported by US forces claim to have "cleansed" the  
city, 70 kilometers 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.

Authorities may have controlled the media better than the violence.

"Assassinations never stopped in Fallujah, but the media seem  
unwilling to cover the actual situation here," a human-rights activist  
in Fallujah, speaking on terms of anonymity given the tense situation,  
told Inter Press Service (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  
because the improvement is measured against two massive US 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 US military. "Those also  
failed, despite the executions and the crimes they committed against  
people."

Many people throughout Iraq complain of the brutality and unlawful  
behavior of these Awakening Groups. Members of these groups are paid US 
$300 per month by the US military.

IPS talked to Sheikh Wussam al-Hardan, known as the "engineer" of the  
Awakening Forces of al-Anbar province. He blamed the Islamic Party for  
abuses carried out against civilians in Fallujah. (The Islamic Party -  
Hizb al-Islami al-Airaqi - is a Sunni Islamist political party  
originating from the Arab region. It is part of the government of  
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.)

"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 June 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting of local  
tribal sheikhs affiliated with Awakening Groups and military  
officials. Three US 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 US 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 US Marines  
with all their military machine."

According to a survey conducted in March for several news  
organizations by D3 Systems of Virginia in the US and KA Research Ltd  
of Istanbul, most Iraqis blame the US military for the worsening  
security situation.

The majority of Iraqis surveyed disapproved of US-backed 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, IPS's correspondent in Baghdad, works in close  
collaboration with Dahr Jamail, IPS's US-based specialist writer on  
Iraq who travels extensively in the region.

(Inter Press Service)