Operation New Market Commences in
Haditha
by Bill Roggio at May 25, 2005 04:14 PM
American Marines
currently garrison the Haditha Dam, but do not maintain a presence in the
city itself. Over 1,000 Marines are involved in New Market, and while
the force size is similar to that of Operation Matador, initial reports
indicate New Market is not similar in scope. It appears New
Market is a designed as cordon-and-search operation, where a region the
city is surrounded and methodically searched for enemy fighters, weapons and
support structures.
In Haditha, helicopters swept down near palm tree groves dropping off
Marines who blocked off one side of the town, while other troops on foot and
in armored vehicles established checkpoints and moved toward the center of
this city, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. U.S.
warplanes circled overhead.
No significant arrests or casualties have been reported. Iraqi security
force participation is minimal, as “a small reconnaissance unit of Iraqi
soldiers is participating in the attack.” A good estimate for the size of the
Iraqi unit would be a platoon or company. The Chicago Sun-Times
states “Haditha has no functioning police force, and U.S.
military officials acknowledge that their presence has been light in
the city but say Iraqi troops are expected to arrive soon.”
Haditha is more closely situated to the American and Iraqi concentration of
forces in the Sunni Triangle, and the real question will be is if this a
a “search and
destroy” or a “clear and hold” mission. The question will be answered if
Iraqi security forces do indeed arrive and garrison the city.
HADITHA, Iraq May 25, 2005
— Helicopters swept down near palm tree groves and armored vehicles
roared into this Euphrates River city before dawn Wednesday as 1,000 U.S. troops
launched the second major offensive in less than a month aimed at uprooting
insurgents.
Fierce gunbattles broke out and six insurgents were killed in central Haditha
including one man identified as a cleric who was firing an automatic weapon, the
U.S. military said, adding that another four were killed in separate clashes.
Marines brought by helicopters blocked one side of Haditha, while other
troops on foot and in armored vehicles established checkpoints and moved toward
the city's center. U.S. warplanes circled overhead.
Two Marines were wounded and evacuated, Capt. Christopher Toland told an
Associated Press reporter embedded with U.S. forces.
Also Wednesday, an Islamic militant Web site statement claimed that Abu-Musab
al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's point man in Iraq, has fled to an unidentified
"neighboring country" with two Arab doctors treating him for gunshot wounds to
his lung. The claim could not be authenticated and messages on another Web site
quickly denounced it as untrue and unauthorized by the terror group.
The assault, called Operation New Market, focused on this city of about
90,000 people, where the U.S. military says fighters are using increasingly
sophisticated tactics. Insurgents have killed more than 620 people since a new
Iraqi government was announced on April 28.
Haditha,
140 miles northwest of Baghdad, lies along a major highway used by
travelers moving from western Iraq to major cities such as Mosul and Baghdad in
the central and northern parts of the country.
Earlier this month, fighters operating from a Haditha hospital killed four
U.S. troops in a well-coordinated ambush that included a suicide car bomber, a
roadside bomb and gunfire. The hospital was partially destroyed in the attack.
Several other attacks have occurred in Haditha this year, including the
April 17 killing of a police chief and
the discovery three days later of the bodies of 19 fishermen. U.S.
military officials say it's unclear if the fishermen were killed in a tribal
dispute or by insurgents.
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Iraqi Civilian Life Not
Disrupted by 'Operation
New Market'
American Forces Press Service
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WASHINGTON,
May 29,
2005
–
Marines, sailors, and Iraqi
security forces are capturing and detaining terrorists throughout
the Iraqi city of
Haditha. However,
officials said, for ordinary Iraqis, life there continues
essentially unchanged.
Indeed, U.S. military
officials in Baghdad reported, no essential civilian services have
been disrupted as a result of
Operation New
Market. Water and
power services apparently have not been affected. Hospital services,
though, are still degraded due to a May 8 suicide car-bomb attack.
U.S. Marines from the 3rd
Battalion, 25th Marines, and Iraqi security forces working in tandem
initiated
Operation New
Market on May 24. The
intent, officials said, is to keep terrorists on the run and on the
defensive.
Operation
Matador, they noted, took place May 7-14 in western Iraq.
Operation New
Market is a
continuation of that earlier effort.
The troops have since
killed 14 terrorists while detaining more than 30 terrorist suspects.
Routine patrols have unveiled four machine guns in a neighborhood
school and numerous weapons caches, including 313 mortar rounds, two
155 mm artillery rounds, five machine guns, and
rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and ammunition.
Regimental Combat Team 2
initiated a precision air strike on May 26 against terrorists who
were firing at them from an occupied building. One laser-guided bomb
was dropped on the building, leveling it to rubble and killing the
terrorists inside.
In other news from Iraq,
a U.S. Marine assigned to 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward),
2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed when the
vehicle he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device about
six miles from
Haqlaniyah May 28.
The name of the deceased
is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
In western
Anbar
province, Marines and Iraqi Security Forces returned to a safe house
in Ubaydi
an Iraqi man whom foreign fighters had taken hostage and tortured.
Out of concern for his
safety, the man asked not be identified. He had been severely
beaten, and military doctors treated him for his wounds.
Officials say coalition
and Iraqi security forces are working diligently to end the campaign
of intimidation that is being waged against the people of Iraq,
especially the hard-hit citizens of
Anbar
province.
Elsewhere, a suspected
weapons smuggler detained by troops from Task Force Liberty led
soldiers to a pair of hidden caches near
Tuz
May 28, officials said. Soldiers from the 278th Regimental Combat
Team then reportedly recovered 75 60 mm mortar rounds, two 81 mm
mortar rounds, two mortar tubes, one rocket-propelled-grenade
launcher, 17 RPG rounds, and five anti-tank mines.
The suspected weapons
smuggler reportedly was detained after being found May 27 with
another suspected weapons smuggler. Officials said the two
individuals were sitting on a donkey outside of
Tuz,
in the Diyala
province. They were said to be in possession of weapons and
materials used to make
IEDs.
Two mortar tubes, two RPG
anti-tank rounds, four mines, and a large number of devices used to
trigger IEDs
were packed onto the donkey, officials said. |
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A day earlier, three Marines and
a sailor were killed during a battle with insurgents who were using a
Haditha hospital
to attack U.S. forces, the military said.
Marines responding to small arms
fire near Haditha
Dam were attacked by a suicide car bomber who hit a nearby building, officials
with the Marines said. The building was destroyed, and the adjacent
hospital
caught fire.
Marines searching the
hospital
found that windows had been fortified. "A number of insurgents" were also
killed, the Marines said.
Haditha
is about 150 miles west of Baghdad
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3/25 conducts Operation New Market
disrupting insurgent activity in Iraq
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Submitted by:
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2nd Marine Division |
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Story by:
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Computed Name: Cpl. Ken Melton |
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Story Identification #:
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20056934919 |
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HADITHA, AL ANBAR, Iraq(May
26, 2005) -- Marines with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine
Regiment participated in day and night patrols along with other elements
from Regimental Combat Team-2, during the
four-day Operation New Market.
The purpose of the operation was to disrupt insurgent activity in the area,
which had increased during the past few weeks.
“We are helping establish a 24-hour force presence that will throw the
insurgents off balance and hopefully lure them from hiding,” said Captain
Sean M. O’Neill, platoon commander for 1st Platoon. “We also continue to
search for weapon caches and anything else that looks suspicious.”
The Marines landed by helicopter on the eastside of the Euphrates River as
other forces pushed in from different directions.
“We searched the island, secured a bridge and made sure that the insurgents
could not escape,” said the 1994 graduate of Quaker Valley High School.
“From there we secured a base of operations amongst the trees and waited for
nightfall to continue with the rest of our mission.”
As darkness engulfed the region, the Marines began to patrol the streets
while remaining aware of their surroundings as they worked their way to the
next objective.
“While operating in the dark, we have the advantage of working under cooler
temperatures,” said the 1998 Bethany College graduate. “This way we worry
less about the heat and confronting innocent civilians and more about the
insurgents’ activity at night.”
During their patrol, the Marines studied the town’s infrastructures for
future civil-military operations and searched houses to obtain information
on the insurgents’ whereabouts.
“Most people are happy to see us even at such at an odd hour,” said the
28-year-old. “Some of the people are willing to help, while others remain
hesitant because they are uncertain if the insurgents will return to hurt
them.”
As the morning approached, the squads of Company K had returned to the
staging point and began to prepare for the next mission objective.
“We are accomplishing our part in this mission without any problems and we
are happy to be here doing so,” O’Neill said. “The main reason why this
mission has been so successful is because of our great NCO leadership. I can
honestly say this is one of the best platoons I’ve ever been with and this
has been one of the most successful missions in my career.”
The Marines with Company K wrapped up their part of the mission by returning
to the east side of the river and completing another clearing mission.
“This is the first time in a year that any U.S. forces have operated on both
sides of the river,” O’Neill said. “We have completed this mission so
successfully that the insurgents will know that they are not safe anytime or
anywhere.”
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HADITHA, Iraq — More than 1,000 U.S. troops on Wednesday swept into this
city on the road to Syria (search)
to root out insurgents — including those loyal to terrorist mastermind Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi — after rebels damaged the hospital, knocked out the electricity and
prevented police from entering.
The American troops killed at least 10 suspected militants in Haditha
(search), a Euphrates River city
of 90,000 people — one of whom told the Marines that insurgents had recently
killed her husband.
Speaking inside her home through a military interpreter, the woman moved her
finger across her throat as she begged that her name not be used, indicating she
could be killed for talking to U.S. forces. She later helped cook a breakfast of
eggs and bread for the handful of Iraqi soldiers helping guard the street.
"People have always been nice to us. But you can tell the (insurgents) have
been doing some damage because people are real scared," said Marine Capt.
Christopher Toland (search),
of Austin, Texas, a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment.
Marine Col. Stephen Davis, commander of the Haditha operation, said in a
televised interview that al-Zarqawi "clearly is an influence out here. There are
clearly links to him and to his elements out here in western Iraq."
Wednesday's offensive, the second on a road to Damascus in less than a month,
came as the Iraqi government demanded that Syria block insurgents from crossing
the border. Iraq also asked the U.N. Security Council to renew its mandate for
the 160,000 troops in the U.S.-led multinational force, saying it cannot fully
defend itself alone.
The offensives are aimed at uprooting insurgents who have killed more than
620 people since a new Iraqi government was announced April 28.
Just before dawn, U.S. Marines, sailors and soldiers encircled this city 140
miles northwest of Baghdad in troubled Anbar province.
Helicopters swept down near palm tree groves to drop off Marines who blocked
off one side of Haditha, while other troops on foot and in armored vehicles
established checkpoints and moved toward the city center. U.S. warplanes circled
overhead.
American troops walked down city streets in neat lines, whispering
instructions to each other. Except for dogs baying in the pre-dawn darkness, the
city was quiet — until a large explosion shook the neighborhood.
Marines crouched with guns pointed, while others ran for cover, their ears
still ringing from the explosion. One group ran through a front yard, rushing by
a porch swing and a grove of trees. Sounds of battle and gunfire broke out
around the city.
The Marines said six insurgents were killed in central Haditha — including
one man identified as a cleric who allegedly was firing an automatic weapon.
Four others were killed in separate incidents, the Marines said in a statement.
"Local citizens identified one of the attackers killed as an imam. The imam
was firing on Marines and Iraqi Security Forces with an AK-47 assault rifle,"
the statement said.
The first glimmer of dawn saw troops walking unimpeded, until a white sedan
with four men appeared. The Marines quickly surrounded it and the men got out,
including one with a blood-soaked shirt who said he was shot after walking out
of his home.
A medic, HM1 John Jenkins of Bellefontaine, Ohio, of the 3rd Battalion, 25th
Marine Regiment, quickly treated him as Marines tested the hands of the others
for gunfire residue. The three were positive, but the wounded man could not be
tested as his hands were caked in his blood.
"I need the interpreter!" Jenkins yelled. "I'm going to put this needle in
his chest and I don't want him to hit me!"
A small Iraqi reconnaissance unit took part in the attack, said Lt. Col.
Lionel Urquhart, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.
Iraq's inability to fight the insurgency on its own was reflected in a letter
that its foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, submitted to the United Nations.
"Despite continuing efforts to build up our security forces, these forces
cannot as yet assume full responsibility for maintaining our national security
and defending our borders," he wrote in the letter circulated in New York on
Wednesday.
Haditha is a prime example. It has no functioning police force, and U.S.
military officials acknowledge the American presence has been light.
Wednesday's assault, called Operation New Market, focused on this city where
the U.S. military says insurgents have been using increasingly sophisticated
tactics.
Earlier this month, militants launched a well-coordinated attack from a
Haditha hospital, killing four U.S. troops in an ambush that included a suicide
car bomber, a roadside bomb and gunfire. The hospital was partially destroyed.
On May 7, American forces launched a weeklong operation in the city of Qaim
and other Iraqi towns near the Syrian border. The goal was to root out militants
allied to al-Zarqawi and to destroy their smuggling routes into Syria. At least
125 militants and nine U.S. Marines were killed in that operation, the military
said.
Syria is under intense pressure from the United States and the Iraqi
government to stop foreign fighters entering Iraq across their porous nearly
400-mile border.
"There are responsibilities of the Syrian government to hamper and prevent
this flow of terrorists from coming across," Zebari said at a joint Baghdad news
conference with visiting Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini.
Shortly before the U.S. assault began, insurgents fired a mortar at a
hydroelectric dam facility near Haditha where hundreds of Marines are based.
"Hold on, we'll be there in a minute," yelled Marine Sgt. Shawn Bryan, of
Albuquerque, N.M., from a platform on the dam as Marines scrambled into vehicles
to try to locate the attackers.
U.S. officials said they hoped their presence would allow residents to feel
safe enough to provide tips to the military.
"The people out there know who wrecked the hospital and those who target
their power source," Urquhart said, referring to the dam that is said to provide
about a third of Iraq's electricity.
Separately, Iraqi security forces killed Sabhan Ahmad Ramadan, a senior al-Zarqawi
aide in northern Iraq, the government said. The announcement came a day after a
Web statement in the name of al-Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq group said its leader
had been wounded. U.S. officials cautioned they did not know if the posting was
authentic.
Hospital attack
"Operation Quick
Strike" ....8/5/2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S.-Iraqi force of some 1,000 troops battled
insurgents on Friday around the rebel hotbed of Haditha in western
Iraq where 14 American Marines were killed by a roadside bomb earlier
this week, the U.S. military said.
"Operation Quick Strike began on Aug. 3 with Iraqi soldiers and Marines. The
objectives are to interdict and disrupt the insurgents and foreign terrorists in
Haditha, Haqlaniya and the Barwanah area," a spokesman said.
It is at least the third major offensive since May against rebels in the
Haditha area, a volatile region in the Euphrates river valley which has become a
heartland of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
A roadside bomb just outside Haditha, 200 km (120 miles) northwest of
Baghdad, killed 14 Marines on Wednesday, the deadliest attack of its kind since
the war began.
The attack raised questions about whether Washington has underestimated the
strength of the insurgency.
The military spokesman said Operation Quick Strike had not been launched in
response to the Haditha bomb attack.
Hospital sources in the town said at least three Iraqis died in fierce
fighting on Friday. It was not clear if they were fighters or civilians caught
in crossfire.
On Thursday a new video message from al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri
called on U.S. forces to leave Iraq immediately and accused Washington of lying
about the Iraqi quagmire, prompting vows from
President Bush to "stay the course." Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim
Jaafari set out a 12-point security plan on Thursday to fight what he called
"the worst kind of war" waged by Sunni insurgents opposed to the
Shi'ite-doninated government and its U.S. backers. But he gave few details of
how he would end daily bloodshed.
July 15, 2004
Car Bomb Kills 10 in Haditha
From
The Australian :
A car bomb has exploded near police and government buildings in the
western Iraqi city of Haditha, killing 10 people and wounding 27 others.
The attack appeared to target the main police station, said Colonel Adnan
Abdel-Rahman, the spokesman of the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Three officers
were among the dead, he said.
There were no further details on the attack in Haditha, a rural area
known as a stronghold of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime. It is located 200km
west of the capital.
[...]
Elsewhere, a second car bomb exploded 5km west of Karbala, killing two
people in the car.
Police chased the car after receiving a tip it was filled with
explosives.
"Finding themselves surrounded, the two persons inside detonated the
car while they were inside," a police spokesman said.
 |
Possible informants viewed in Iraq deaths
Iraq, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The deaths of more than 20 U.S.
Marines in Iraq in two days have some wondering if there are informants
among the Iraqi police ranks.
The Pentagon has admitted such infiltration exists, ABC said Friday, but
experts warn it is hard to prove.
"There is no question that the war in Iraq involves serious problems with
infiltration at virtually every level," said Anthony Cordesman, a military
analyst for ABC News.
But, he added, there is no way to guarantee absolute loyalty among the
173,000 personnel in the military, security and police forces and the large
mix of civilian bureaucrats and contractors.
The Pentagon expressed those concerns July 21 to Congress in a report
saying that the Iraqi "Commando" and "Special Forces" are improving, but
that border control units remain weak, with a high level of infiltration by
insurgent groups.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved. |
Haditha: A City Crushed under the Occupation
No Authority, No Security, No rights...just the Killings
Sabah Ali, BRussells Tribunal
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June 16, 2005
SOS from Haditha
In the Name of God the Most Merciful, The most Gracious,
In the name of the people of Haditha, its women, children, and old people
We call upon you, all the people of Iraq and the world: SOS
The American troops, accompanied by the Iraqi National Guards, are waging
the most ferocious attack against our town, for three days now. They
violated our blood, honor, and peaceful houses where not a single piece of
weapon, fighters, or armed men were found. They killed old people, women and
children; they bombed the houses with airplanes. We swear by the name of God
that there was not a single piece of weapon in them.
They killed Sheikh Ismael Al-Zawi,
speaker of Al-Seif mosque, while he was going to pray at dawn. They
forced families out of their houses, occupied them and used them as their
headquarters. The INGs have stolen all the houses properties, including even
children and women clothes. They closed all the roads to the town hospital,
the wounded were left un attended. They killed women and children without
any reason; there were no fighters among them. Please help the people of
Haditha; even with a word … Our sanctities, houses, women, blood, and honor
are violated by the INGs who come from the south. They swear bad words
against the Companions of the Prophet in the streets, and on the American
Tanks. They call Ahl Assunna bad words and say "This is the day of revenge
of you, Sunnis"
Ps: We have lists of victims, of killing, house damage, and thefts
………….
This message was sent from Haditha 2 weeks before we could go there early in
June. Haditha, similar to almost all the towns of upper Euphrates in Iraq,
is well known for its exceptionally beautiful landscapes, its thickly green
island, its socially and religiously conservative society…and its bitter
suffering from the occupation troops and the Iraqi National Guards.
The beautiful Haditha looked really hurt by the occupation; with the sand
storm on the day we went there, the destroyed or deserted houses, the closed
roads between one area and another, especially what is called the western
side near the Haditha Dam where the American troops are located. The tense
and prudent silence that the Hadithans insist on, suspecting any
stranger…all partly explains the SOS message above.
Mohammad was going to school
On that day, the Hadithans were
especially angry because Mohammad Aarif, the Genius as he is called,
was killed by the American. M. Aarif is a very intelligent high school boy.
Last year he finished school but got an excellent level of 92, but it
does not allow him to go to the Medical College according to the Iraqi
Higher Education System. So he decided to repeat the year to get more than
95 level required for the medical college. Mohammad was going to school that
morning when he was shot by a sniper in the head and was killed immediately.
Mohammad Omar was with his friend M. Aarif, the genius, when both
were shot inside the house. They were in the garage starting the car to go
to school. Omar was going to get his final report, he just moved to last
year high school. But Omar could not talk; he was still anesthetized in the
hospital when we arrived. A sever shot shattered his left arm, and another
one in his chest. His body was full of shrapnel.
In the same emergency room, another man, Mohammad Ibrahim, 43, a worker in
the Dam was shot in his chest. His condition looked stable, "but we are
concerned about the complications" Dr. Iyad explained. He was still bleeding
through a chest tube. Ibrahim could barely talk:" I do not know what
happened, I was driving with my friend going to work when we were shot". His
friend was still in the operation room.
The Innocent are Caught…
"This is the problem" Dr. Walid Abdul Khaliq, the Haditha General
Hospital director explained. "The innocent are being caught between the
fighters and the American troops. Two days ago, in Al-Haqlaniya (7
kilometers to the east of Haditha), the road was cut and there were military
traps that the people did not know about. A municipality employee and his
son were shot; he kept on bleeding so that when we reached him he was
already dead. An employee in this hospital who has just moved to a clinic
was shot too, we moved him to Ramadi but he died on the way. In the Dam area
2 people were killed today and 3 injured. It is true that there are fighters
here, as every where in Iraq, but the civilians who have nothing to do with
the fighting are being killed: students, children… ".
-We noticed that almost all the
shots are in the head and the chest?
*"That is unfortunately true." Dr. Walid added "The situation is very
tense. We reached the point that when we leave our families in the morning
we do not know if we are going to see them again or not, even when the
situation is relatively calm. There are no signs on the road, no amplifiers
saying that this or that area are "dangerous".
………
Abu Ammar, a citizen of Haditha, relates what happened.
"Haditha was a quiet town when the American came and occupied the Dam area.
They began to come down inside the town. Many people do not accept this and
hit them. There was resistance. Many prominent people from Haditha went to
the American and asked them to stay in their headquarters in the Dam area.
The streets and the market place of Haditha are very narrow as you can see,
they came with theirs Humvees, Hummers and armored vehicles, they crush
cars, they shot at motorcycles, on the river bank they shot a boy of
sixteen…etc They did not respond to the people's demand.
What happened last month was that
they surrounded al-Haqlaniya area. They bombed civilian districts with
airplanes, mortars, and artillery…they killed many families who have nothing
to do with the resistance, civilians, women and children…they occupied
buildings and houses, the May1 hotel for example. In one car which was
coming from Aaloosse, 10 people were killed, the majority was families. For
four days, they shoot any one who leaves his house. Water and electricity
were cut. When they entered Haditha, they began raiding houses, hitting old
people, breaking things, destroying, house and shops and exploding them
They raided Sheikh Subhi's house after he criticized them in the Friday
prayer speech. They insisted that he puts his official Islamic dress and
turban, when he did they humiliated him in front of all the people, and hit
him very badly. Every now and then they come back and hurt the people. This
has been a routine procedure. You have heard what happened in the Dam area
today.
What is the Dam area?
"It is the area where the employees' families of the Dam and the energy
station live, around 1000 families, a residential complex; most of them are
from other parts of Iraq, not from Haditha. It is called al-wastta (the
middle), many people are killed in it, all civilians. Civilian houses are
occupied, families are kept in one room, and soldiers occupy the whole house
to be used by snipers. Some families leave their houses in such situation.
They (the American) are using this area to prevent people from approaching
the military base in the Dam which is 3 kilometers to the west. This area
has been under siege for months. When they shoot they do not differentiate
between civilians and fighters, men and women, old and children…etc. And if
they look for some one, all his family and tribe are suspects.
Attalla's house was exploded and burnt
![h16g5.jpeg]()
Hajj Attalla, 80, is a retired guard in an irrigation project. He has
five sons living with him in the same house; four are married and each has
5-6 children, 25 persons live in his house. The sons work for daily payments
in different petty jobs. On May 28, about 20 American soldiers raided the
house, searched it, asked many question and left saying "thank you" after
sharing Attalla his cookies, but not his water. They even gave 5 dollars to
Farooq, a mentally retarded son of Attalla, who was happy with the visit. He
was happier that the soldiers told him that "if any other troops came tell
them that the house was already searched".
Alas,
Half an hour later another group of 30 American and Iraqi soldiers raided
the house again. They were not friendly this time. They broke the furniture,
used bad words with the women. Attalla tried to explain something to an
Iraqi soldier but he told him "shut up". They did not find any thing in the
house. They asked about one of the sons. He was at work; they arrested his
brother who is still in Al-Baghdadi military base. They threatened the women
that if the wanted son did not show up in 3 days they would come back for
the others.
They asked every one to leave the house, not allowing them to take any
thing: the documents, the money, the food, the clothes…nothing, not even the
Holy Book. Few minutes later; they blew out the house from the inside and
set it on fire. The soldiers prevented any body from trying to put out the
fire. They remained until the house was a heap of ash, then they left. (We
heard this kind of crime many times and saw many houses exploded in this
way).
Attalla the Iraqi…
"I want to know why" Hajj Attalla said crying painfully, "we are innocent
and poor, in this house there are 4 families. My house is burnt, my family
is scattered, my son is in jail, we have nothing now, and they did not find
anything in the house. Do you think if I go to the American or the Iraqi
government they would listen? Where do you think I should complain? There is
no authority here" Hajj Attalla asked sincerely.
His food ration paper was burnt, the pension ID, the house document.
Surprisingly enough one phrase was left of the document saying "Attalla the
Iraqi…". One of the daughters in law hid 500.000 ID ( $325) in the flour sac
for fear of thieves, it was burnt. Eye witnesses say that the explosion was
so strong that the roofs of the house flew in the air, and then every thing
was on fire in one second. The news satellite channels which covered the
event told Attalla and his sons to say that the house was air bombed, not
exploded and burnt, as a condition to put the news on TV. The poor family
did so, but a report was shown for few seconds, not mentioning any details
of Attalla story.
Sheikh Ismael was shot inside his house
Sheikh Ismael al-Zawi, 60, is one of the best known personalities in
Haditha. He is the Imam and Mo'athin of the Seif mosque. On May 24, at 4.20
am, he was leaving his house to the mosque to call for prayer. He was 2
meters outside the inner door when a sniper on the opposite house shot him
in the head. The bullet entered the right side of his head, went out of the
left side and made a whole on the wall inside the house. Sheikh Ismael had
nothing to do with the fighting, had no gun, not even a bullet in his house.
When a neighbor heard the noise and came to see what happened, he was shot
by the same sniper, but the injury was not fatal. The bullet hole is still
in the garden door. The same dawn
two women (Shakiba Mish'an Motlag, 45, and Madiha Fayadh Salim, 35) and an
eight year boy were killed in the same street, obviously by the same
sniper(s).
-If your father was so innocent, why do you think he was targeted? We
asked the Sheikh's son
* It is an expression of wrath and disappointment. Killing the innocent is
inexcusable. It is violation of all the meanings of human rights and freedom
which they came in its name.
Sheikh Abdul Jabbar Mi'jil:
A call for The UN and HR organizations to help lifting this injustice
Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, a retired teacher and the head of the Moslem Scholars
Association in Haditha complains of too many raids, thefts, insults,
arrests, killings of civilians. He believes that calling a Moslem a
terrorist is an insult "a Moslem can not be a terrorist".
"Destroying houses, destroying the only hospital in the town and the area,
this is terrorism. MSA office was raided three times, and completely
destroyed. Nothing was left. There is an area, it is called the death area,
Sheikh Abdul Jabbar explains, It is located between Al-Haqlaniya fuel
station and the Haditha train station. Any car there could be targeted,
especially if it stops there for any reason, a breakdown or a puncture. Many
families were killed there. A whole family coming from Rawa was killed, in
another family, a child was sitting between his father and uncle was shot in
the head, in a place called Al-Khasfa on the outskirts of Haditha. These
people are civilians, not terrorists, not even resistance which is supposed
to be legal. But the American do not listen. We had a meeting with them, we
asked them to stay out of the town, so that they can evade attacks. But they
keep on coming down. The siege was very cruel, they wanted to revenge
against the attack near the hospital, for almost a week we could not even
move a curtain in a house. After the siege, they left but the airplanes kept
on flying. The killings continue, many houses are flattened to the ground.
There is no authority here. All our rights are violated. We tell them this
enough…thank you…you have done enough of killing and destroying … go away.
We call upon the UN and the human rights organizations to help us lifting
the hurt, the injustice in which we have no guilt"
Another Example: Ibrahim Khalil Family
Ibrahim Khalil is a poor man, a farm worker. As usual he has a big family of
five sons, all married, all have many children, and all live in the same
house. More than three months ago, at 2 am the house was raided by the
American and the Iraqi troops. They were asking about some body called Isam.
There was no one called Isam in the house.
The mother told them that they can come in and search without breaking the
doors and the furniture. They would not listen. They broke the doors, the
windows…etc. They stole 450.000 ID, a hand watch, a hunting gun of 65.000ID.
They arrested all the sons, including one who is paralyzed from childhood
and moves on a wheel chair. They were arrested in their bed rooms. The wife
of the paralyzed one was 6 months pregnant, she was badly shocked and
terrified. She kept on bleeding until she gave birth to a boy. Now she can
not walk, her legs do not hold her.
The mother decided not to interfere in whatever the troops did. She was
worried about the children, the daughters, the daughters in law and the old
man who was shivering.
The sons were dragged from their beds on the ground, their eyes and hands
tied. They were taken to the Dam military base, to spend the night there and
to be moved to Al-Baghdadi base the next morning. They were taken in their
sleeping dresses only. It was very cold.
The sons were badly beaten in both prisons. They were asked about
terrorists, and especially about some body called Oqba, whom they did not
know. In Al-Baghdadi they were tortured by crushing their fingers with the
soldiers' boots, and wrapping the chest with a belt and pulling it very
tightly until the ribs crack, pushing the back with the boots. One of the
sons was hooded with 3 sacs, folded twice, making them six. The plastic hand
cuffs were tied so tightly that they went into the flesh. The strange thing
is that the American soldier told the Iraqi ones to remove the folded sacs
and to loosen the cuffs.
Three weeks later, three of the sons were released, one is kept in jail. He
is in Abu Greib now. The mother went there 5 times asking about him, she was
given wrong numbers. She had to spend the nights in the open until she found
his number. She visited him twice; he is arrested for almost four months
now, without a charge, just for suspicion.
-But why he was kept while his brothers are released?
*"He has 3 of his fingers cut" one of the sons replied. "10 years ago he was
a worker in the military industry when he injured himself and cut his
fingers. They asked why his fingers were cut and accused him of terrorism"
-This is illogical !!
|
|
www.albasrah.net |
| Iraqi Resistance
Report for events of Thursday, 10 March 2005. Translated and/or compiled
by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
Thursday, 10 March 2005.
Al-Anbar Province.
Al-Haditha.
At least 28 American troops
killed when Resistance shoots down US Chinook helicopter north of al-Hadithah
early Thursday.
Iraqi Resistance forces shot down a US Chinook helicopter on the at-Tulayhiyah
Peninsula north of al-Hadithah in western Iraq’s al-Anbar Province at 4am
Thursday morning.
Witnesses told Mafkarat al-Islam that the Resistance fired a SAM-7
anti-aircraft rocket that struck the US helicopter in the sky over the
peninsula – on which is a village of about 10,000 people bounded on three
sides by the water of the Euphrates River. The downing of the huge aircraft
left more than 28 American troops aboard it dead. The Americans were on
their way to the ‘Ayn al-Asad
airbase in al-Hadithah.
The correspondent, who arrived at the crash site Thursday morning,
reported that a number of local fishermen and villagers said that the
Resistance had set up rocket batteries in date palm groves on Wednesday
evening. There they apparently lay
in wait for the helicopter. The local fisherman said, "when we came
out at 2am this morning to lay our nets in the Euphrates we found they were
still in the groves. They hadn’t slept, and the night was rainy and cold.
But we woke up at 4am to the sound of the firing of rockets and then a huge
explosion. We ran out or our houses right after that to see the helicopter,
with fire burning all over it, plunging to the ground.
The witnesses, of whom there were more than 13, swore to the
correspondent that they personally saw American soldiers falling out of the
burning helicopter while it was still in the air. As to the number of
American casualties, a member of the puppet "Iraqi national guard" told the
correspondent Thursday morning that the US searchers had so far found 28
American bodies, including those of a number of female soldiers.
At the time the correspondent’s report – posted at 10:50am Mecca time
Thursday morning – was being compiled, US troops had encircled the village
which they only rarely go into since it is quite far from the center of al-Hadithah
and because the natural geography of the area is complicated, particularly
since the collapse of the only bridge there several months ago, cutting off
the village from nearby towns.
The correspondent noted that the Iraqi Resistance announced its
responsibility for the operation on Thursday in a communiqué posted on doors
of mosques in the city of al-Hadithah. |
