Fallujah women back insurgents

[JoFerret]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=FOCUS&oid=48804By Alissa J. Rubin
LA Times News Service


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Crowded together on sagging couches in the Baghdad living room of a distant cousin, Umm Samir and 25 other female relatives and their children clamored Saturday to tell their stories of U.S. troops’ weeklong siege of Fallujah.


The women, some of whom had just fled the city that morning, spoke of small victories, such as having stockpiled enough water, and painful defeats, like the sight of neighbors shot dead in the street and ambulances pockmarked with bullet holes. But above all, they told of their support for the insurgents who are fighting tenaciously to keep U.S. Marines from taking control of their city of 300,000.


“The mujahideen are our sons,” said Umm Samir, 62, who has lived in Fallujah for 37 years. “I would become a mujahideen myself. I can’t bear to see Fallujah being bombed and do nothing about it. It makes my blood boil.”


Long a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein’s regime, Fallujah has been extremely volatile since the beginning of the occupation. But recent days, U.S. military commanders have portrayed the citizens of Fallujah as victims of the insurgents, unsupportive of their efforts to drive American soldiers out of their city, and all of Iraq.


“We are confronting and killing the evil-doers, who have a grasp on this city,” Lt. Col. Gregg Olson, who has overseen the military activity in Fallujah, said Saturday. “I like to think that the 60,000 people who left agree that the terrorists and criminals in their city have to be eliminated.”

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[slinkerwink]

1. Fallujah is a city of 300,000 people.......so the 240,000 left are

terrorists and criminals? :eyes:

[kdmorris]

2. Not to mention

that many of those 240,000 are the men that REFUSED to allow to leave. I'm pretty sure that many of those 60,000 are women who had to leave husbands, brothers and fathers behind and would, in fact, disagree with "eliminating" them.

Good grief, this is just ridiculous! :mad:

[slinkerwink]

3. and some families refused to be separated so they're still in there

[lumpy]

4. Fallujah men were not allowed to leave

the city. Evidently the US military tactic is to round up Iraq men and either kill them or incarcerate them. Sharon has the right idea(sarcasm). So did Hitler (more sarcasm).

[IndianaGreen]

5. Here is a lie in this story: Fallujah was not a Saddam stronghold

The people in Fallujah hated Saddam, despite being Sunnis, because they were from a different tribal group than Saddam. They welcomed GIs when they were liberated. Things turned sour when months later a GI opened fire with a .50 on a crowd of demonstrators. People were further incensed when an American commander showed up with money to pay for the deaths and wounded, but DID NOT APOLOGIZE as custom dictated.