Doctor Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah last month. This is his story of how the US murdered a city
IT WAS the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen—bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs.
A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault.
The accounts I heard over the next few days will live with me forever. You may think you know what happened in Fallujah. But the truth is worse than you could possibly have imagined.
In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, we found a 17 year old woman. “I am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the Jolan district of Fallujah,” she told me. “Five of us, including a 55 year old neighbour, were trapped together in our house in Fallujah when the siege began.
“On 9 November American marines came to our house. My father and the neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought we had nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were going to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair uncovered.
“This saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly.
LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 18 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
TITLE |
AUTHOR |
DATE |
atrocities by US forces |
Meyer London |
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 at 5:47 PM |
fresca |
well |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 1:57 AM |
yeah, f$#k fresca and the little eichmanns |
fresca killer |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 2:17 AM |
fresca |
Lol! |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 3:31 AM |
"we might still get a shot at syria and iran" |
The gerbil in your ass, fresca |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 4:48 AM |
fresca |
Oh c'mon |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 6:50 AM |
"author: fresca killer" |
fads |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 1:00 PM |
leading the assault from his keyboard |
Meyer London |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 5:46 PM |
fresca |
hey... |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 6:42 PM |
Meyer |
Sheepdog |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 7:05 PM |
fresca |
uh, ya think? |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 7:26 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 7:40 PM |
well actually... |
Sheepdog |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 9:18 PM |
I made a mistake |
Sheepdog |
Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 at 9:21 PM |
Don't mind poor Fresca. |
Meyer London |
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005 at 1:30 AM |
fresca |
Absolutely |
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005 at 5:18 AM |
fresca |
Actually not, dummy |
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005 at 5:24 AM |
C'mon lay off sheepdog |
Memebot |
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2005 at 1:54 PM |
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