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Estimates of civilians remaining in Fallujah on 7 Nov. varied from 100,000 (US military, FT, 9 Nov., p. 10) to 60,000 (Sunni group, Independent, 10 Nov., p. 5). Estimates for the number of fighters left in Falluja before the assault varied ‘from 600 to 6,000,’ meaning that the overwhelming majority of people in Fallujah were thought to be non-combatants. It was reported that ‘Anyone still in the city will be regarded as a potential insurgent.’ (Observer, 7 Nov., p. 18) A threat to kill every human being in Fallujah.
At a hospital in Baghdad, the families of civilian victims evacuated from Fallujah "claimed that US forces were bombing outlying villages where refugees have regrouped as well as the city." (Times, 11 Nov., p. 9)
Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the main Falluja hospital who escaped arrest when it was taken on Monday, said the city was running out of supplies and only a few clinics remained open. "There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can’t move." (FT, 10 Nov., p. 9) Having destroyed one clinic before the assault (Observer, 7 Nov., p. 2), US forces reportedly destroyed an emergency hospital after taking the main hospital: "Twenty Iraqi doctors and dozens of civilians were killed in a US airstrike that hit a clinic in Fallujah, according to an Iraqi doctor who said he survived the strike." (Independent, 11 Nov., p. 4)
One thing that snipers were very discriminating about every single ambulance I saw had bullet holes in it. Two I inspected bore clear evidence of specific, deliberate sniping. Friends of mine who went out to gather in wounded people were shot at. When we first reported this fact, we came in for near-universal execration. Many just refused to believe it. Some asked me how I knew that it wasn't the mujaheddin. Interesting question. Had, say, Brownsville, Texas, been encircled by the Vietnamese and bombarded ...and Brownsville ambulances been shot up, the question of whether the residents were shooting at their own ambulances, I somehow guess, would not have come up. Later, our reports were confirmed by the Iraqi Ministry of Health and even by the U.S. military.
+
The best estimates are that roughly 900-1000 people were killed directly, blown up, burnt, or shot. Of them, my guess, based on news reports and personal observation, is that 2/3 to [3/4] were noncombatants. - Fallujah and the Reality of War, By RAHUL MAHAJAN, CounterPunch, November 6, 2004
A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja. Witnesses said only the facade remained of the small Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the centre of the city. ... A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were damaged as US forces continued preparing the ground for an expected major assault. US strikes raze Falluja hospital, BBC, Saturday, 6 November, 2004
+On Wednesday and Thursday, American troops sunk boats being used to ferry people across the river.
+"I'm supposed to shoot into the houses before our troops go in," said Marine Cpl Will Porter.
+"Before they left, they killed all of our chickens," added Fatima's mother.
33-year-old Associated Press photographer [Bilal Hussein] stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of [Falluja] ... In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous artillery shelling turned Hussein's northern Jolan neighborhood into a zone of rubble and death. The walls of his house were pockmarked by coalition fire.
+
"Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. ... "U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house," he said. ... Hussein moved from house to house?dodging gunfire?and reached the river. ... "I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."
+
He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. ..."I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim." AP Photographer Flees Fallujah, By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News, Sun Nov 14, 1:19 PM ET
You read about precision strikes, and it's true that America's GPS-guided bombs are very accurate when they're not malfunctioning, the 80 or 85% of the time that they work, their targeting radius is 10 meters, i.e., they hit within 10 meters of the target. Even the smallest of them, however, the 500-pound bomb, has a blast radius of 400 meters. CounterPunch, November 6, 2004
At a hospital in Baghdad, the families of civilian victims evacuated from Fallujah "claimed that US forces were bombing outlying villages where refugees have regrouped as well as the city." (Times, 11 Nov., p. 9)
Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at the main Falluja hospital who escaped arrest when it was taken on Monday, said the city was running out of supplies and only a few clinics remained open. "There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can’t move." (FT, 10 Nov., p. 9) Having destroyed one clinic before the assault (Observer, 7 Nov., p. 2), US forces reportedly destroyed an emergency hospital after taking the main hospital: "Twenty Iraqi doctors and dozens of civilians were killed in a US airstrike that hit a clinic in Fallujah, according to an Iraqi doctor who said he survived the strike." (Independent, 11 Nov., p. 4)
One thing that snipers were very discriminating about every single ambulance I saw had bullet holes in it. Two I inspected bore clear evidence of specific, deliberate sniping. Friends of mine who went out to gather in wounded people were shot at. When we first reported this fact, we came in for near-universal execration. Many just refused to believe it. Some asked me how I knew that it wasn't the mujaheddin. Interesting question. Had, say, Brownsville, Texas, been encircled by the Vietnamese and bombarded ...and Brownsville ambulances been shot up, the question of whether the residents were shooting at their own ambulances, I somehow guess, would not have come up. Later, our reports were confirmed by the Iraqi Ministry of Health and even by the U.S. military.
+
The best estimates are that roughly 900-1000 people were killed directly, blown up, burnt, or shot. Of them, my guess, based on news reports and personal observation, is that 2/3 to [3/4] were noncombatants. - Fallujah and the Reality of War, By RAHUL MAHAJAN, CounterPunch, November 6, 2004
A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja. Witnesses said only the facade remained of the small Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the centre of the city. ... A nearby medical supplies storeroom and dozens of houses were damaged as US forces continued preparing the ground for an expected major assault. US strikes raze Falluja hospital, BBC, Saturday, 6 November, 2004
+On Wednesday and Thursday, American troops sunk boats being used to ferry people across the river.
+"I'm supposed to shoot into the houses before our troops go in," said Marine Cpl Will Porter.
+"Before they left, they killed all of our chickens," added Fatima's mother.
33-year-old Associated Press photographer [Bilal Hussein] stayed behind to capture insider images during the siege of [Falluja] ... In the hours and days that followed, heavy bombing raids and thunderous artillery shelling turned Hussein's northern Jolan neighborhood into a zone of rubble and death. The walls of his house were pockmarked by coalition fire.
+
"Destruction was everywhere. I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. ... "U.S. soldiers began to open fire on the houses, so I decided that it was very dangerous to stay in my house," he said. ... Hussein moved from house to house?dodging gunfire?and reached the river. ... "I decided to swim ... but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."
+
He watched horrified as a family of five was shot dead as they tried to cross. ..."I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim." AP Photographer Flees Fallujah, By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo News, Sun Nov 14, 1:19 PM ET
You read about precision strikes, and it's true that America's GPS-guided bombs are very accurate when they're not malfunctioning, the 80 or 85% of the time that they work, their targeting radius is 10 meters, i.e., they hit within 10 meters of the target. Even the smallest of them, however, the 500-pound bomb, has a blast radius of 400 meters. CounterPunch, November 6, 2004
