Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

  1. The plundering of      health care centers and their destruction by bombing as has taken place in the "Taleb Al-Janabi" hospital      and in the Central Clinic. Further the Central Hospital was occupied; the staff and everyone in the      hospital at that time were arrested. Ambulances in the city have been bombed and the rescue teams were      hindered from entering the city, among them the convoy of the Ministry of Health, despite of the fact that      more than 50,000 civilians still remained in the city. 

                2. Internationally      prohibited weapons were used in the bombing of the city, such as phosphoric weapons, Napalm, bombs      containing unknown gases, causing the blood to explode out of bodies. 24 carbonized bodies have been found      in the area of the military neighbourhood. Surviving civilian eyewitnesses stated that the soldiers of the      occupation forces entered the area wearing gas masks. Furthermore, cases of deformed newly born increased      as a consequence of the use of such weapons. In a press conference, which took place during the battle, Mr.      Khaled Al-Sheikhali, official of the Ministry of Health, confirmed the use of such weapons. 

                3. More than 280      missing persons are reported from among the inhabitants of the city of Fallujah. Their fate is still      unknown. These persons are officially registered by names and by photo at the local authorities in the      city. It is further estimated that the total number of missing persons exceeds 500. 

                4. Rescue teams, who      were allowed to free the city from corpses, to prevent diseases to spread among the soldiers, affirmed that      there was a great number of civilian corpses lying in areas, indicating that they were neither armed nor      resisting when they were attacked. Bodies were found in beds, kitchens or on chairs, bodies of children      near those of their fathers. Further they found bodies of women, their dresses torn, their features      disfigured. Many of the dead showed head wounds, which indicate that they were murdered from short distance      and in the manner of executions. 

                5. The existence of a      mass grave with approximately 400 bodies in the "Sajar" area, an area protected by the US Forces, shooting      anyone approaching it. The US Officials responsible for burying the dead in the city, admitted to one      rescue team, that they had buried 380 bodies in this area after the end of the battle, and that these      bodies had previously been stored in a refrigerator originally used for the storage of potatoes. 

                6. The dogs in      Fallujah are infected with different diseases as a result of their eating corpses, and are now endangering      the health of the citizens. 

                7. Arrested civilians      were forced to participate in cleaning the city from the remains of the battle and what has been used in      it. In one of the disposal sites of these remains, bodies of fighters and civilians, among them women and      children were found. The entrance to these areas is prohibited. 

                8. Information on the      whereabouts of some of prisoners, who were transferred to the "Buka" prison in Basra, is lost although they      had been seen by other prisoners who were released later. One case is that of Sheikh Shaker Hamdan Abdullah      Fayyad Al-Kabeesi, who was arrested on the 11th October 2004 in Fallujah, carrying "Buka" prisoner's number      165251, and who was supposed to be released on the 22nd of December 2004 but still remains missing. 

                9. Many civilians      trying to escape the hell of shell firing were victims of snipers, who were following US orders to shoot at      anyone who moves, even at children. Many civilian eyewitnesses affirmed that the streets of their      neighborhoods were full of dead civilians, killed on their way to take refuge in the nearest mosques,      following US appeals to do so. M.A. states that his father was wounded by a bullet that penetrated his nick      and his mother was killed by snipers as they were on their way to the mosque. He states that he dragged his      wounded father to the "Al-Hadra Al- Mohammadiya" mosque, were they were arrested but released a few days      later. He does not know what has become of his mother's body. 

                10. Survivors of the      battle assure that US Forces killed the wounded resistance fighters in the sport field of "Sumud" Club.      This explains the refusal of the US Forces to see or transport the bodies of the mass graves in "Sajar" and      those bodies left in the heaps of rubble. 

                11. Eyewitnesses      confirm that 4 persons of the civilians seeking refuge at the "Al-Hadra Al-Mohammadiya" mosque, were led to      a near wall, with their hands tied and their eyes covered, and were then executed there by US and Iraqi      Forces, on the grounds of suspecting them to be fighters. 

                12. Despite the fact      that more than 30,000 houses and buildings were destroyed in the battle, the US Forces continued to destroy      empty houses before their inhabitants could return. US Forces destroyed in one day 20 houses in the "Shurta"      neighborhood. These houses connected 2 schools, which were taken as military bases. The inhabitants of      these houses confirm that they had seen their houses in good conditions only a few days before. The reason      for the demolition was to secure clear vision on the surrounding areas. 

                13. The crimes      committed against humanity in the city of Fallujah are still ongoing. The city has been turned into a big      prison; its 350,000 citizens are not allowed to neither leave nor enter without undergoing abusive and      despotic procedures, standing in contrast to the basic rules of Human Rights. Living conditions are      extremely hard in many aspects of public life, in addition to transgressions by US soldiers, thereby      increasing the suffering of the citizens of Fallujah. 

                14. The brutality of      the crimes is most obvious in the case of the killing of injured and unarmed civilians in a mosque on the      hands of a US soldier. Although there were many witnesses to this incident, the military court in which      this case was later handled declared that the accused did not violate the security procedures, and was      therefore found not guilty of any charge. 

               

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