Home > Inside Fallujah: one family’s diary of terror

Inside Fallujah: one family’s diary of terror

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 17 November 2004
52 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International


Last week the US launched a major offensive on Fallujah using heavy artillery,
bulldozers and tanks. The target was insurgents, but here one family reveals
the horror of being caught in the conflict

by Dahr Jamail

She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide the
shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her. “I cannot get the image
out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body.”

Muna Salim’s sister, Artica, was seven months’ pregnant when two rockets from
US warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1. “My sister Selma and
I only survived because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night,” Muna
continued, unable to reconcile her survival while eight members of her family
perished during the pre-assault bombing of Fallujah that had dragged on for weeks.

Khalid, one of their brothers who was also killed in the attack, has left behind a wife and five young children.

“There were no fighters in our area, so I don’t know why they bombed our home,” said Muna. “When it began there were full assaults from the air and tanks attacking the city, so we left from the eastern side of Fallujah and came to Baghdad.”

Selma, Muna’s 41-year-old sister, told of horrific scenes in the city which has become the centre of resistance in Iraq over the last few months. She described houses that had been razed by countless US air strikes, where the stench of decaying bodies swirled around the city on the dry, dusty winds.

“The bombed houses had collapsed and covered the bodies, and nobody could get to them because people were too afraid to drive a bulldozer,” she explained, throwing her hands into the air in despair.

“Even for people to walk out of their houses is impossible in Fallujah because of the snipers.”

Both sisters described a nightmarish existence inside the city where fighters controlled many areas, food and medicine were often in short supply, and the thumping concussions of US bombs had become a daily reality.

Water also was often in short supply, and electricity a rarity. Like many families cowered down inside Fallujah they ran a small generator when they could afford the fuel.

“Even when the bombs were far away, glasses would fall off our shelves and break,” said Muna. “None of us could sleep as during the night it was worse.”

While going to the market in the middle of the day to find food, the sisters said they felt terrorised by US warplanes, which often roared over the sprawling city. “The jets flew over so much,” said Selma, “but we never knew when they would strike the city.”

The women described a scene of closed shops, mostly empty streets, and terrorised residents wandering around the city not knowing what to do.

“Fallujah was like a ghost town most of the time,” described Muna. “Most families stayed inside their houses all the time, only going out for food when they had to.”

Tanks often attacked the outskirts of the city in skirmishes with resistance fighters, adding to the chaos and unrest. Attack helicopters rattling low over the desert were especially terrifying, criss-crossing over the city and firing rockets into the centre.

While recounting their family’s traumatic experiences over the last few weeks, from their uncle’s home in Baghdad, each of the sisters often paused, staring at the ground as if lost in the images before adding more detail. Their 65-year-old mother, Hadima, was killed in the bombing, as was their brother Khalid, who was an Iraqi police captain. Their sister Ka’ahla and her 22-year-old son also died.

“Our situation was like so many in Fallujah,” said Selma, continuing, her voice now almost emotionless and matter of fact. The months of living in terror are etched on her face.

“So many people could not leave because they had nowhere to go, and no money.”

Adhra’a, another of their sisters, and Samr, Artica’s husband, were also among the victims. Samr had a PhD in religious studies. Artica and Samr had a four-year-old son, Amorad, who died with his parents and his unborn brother or sister.

The two sisters managed to flee the city from the eastern side, carefully making their way through the US military cordon which, for the most part, encircled the area. As they left, they witnessed a scene that was full assaults on their city from US warplanes and tanks .

“Why was our family bombed?” pleaded Muna, tears streaming down her cheeks, “There were never any fighters in our area.”

http://www.sundayherald.com/46056

Forum posts

  • nanananana k t a a l g s t o !

  • Still winning hearts and minds eh??? and I bet Bush and co. sleep like fucking babies. Murdering bastards.

    • It is sad to know this, but we have to know the truth. Most of The U.S. does not know this because they dont hear or want to hear Iraqs’ story. They think that U.S. is too great to be doing anything harmful and that the soldiers are just trying to protect us and protect them. Its all lies and we need to bring them out NOW. Look at the U.S. just taking everything for granted here when everyone is living in fear and dieing over there. Its horrible. -Kaoru

    • Only those Americans who seek to know the truth of the horrors taking place in Iraq — by listening to international radio or searching the Internet for stories like this unfortunate family’s diary — have even an incling of the devastation being caused by our government in our name. This is regretable, yet it is a fact. Most of the media here spend a great deal of time reporting on the war, but those reports are so biased that I can only consider them useless. In those reports, Iraqis are always "insurgents" and the so called coalition is most certainly usually described as liberators. Who will be left to liberate when the bombing stops? A deep sense of shame does not begin to describe the heartache I feel over the many innocents who are being slaughtered by Americans in a place where we do not belong. I am an American by birth and I have always known that we, as a country, have not always lived up to the ideals we claim to cherish. That was bad enough, but this ... these stories, this war, and the lies are worse than I could have ever imagined. I know many like minded individuals. I know that many Americans feel as I do. They must! How could they not? We know that this war is wrong. Despite my belief in the goodness of our people (the regular families striving to live peacful, fruitful lives), there is no denying that, as a country, under George Bush, we are evil. May God forgive us.

      Ramon
      Pennsylvania, USA

    • Oh, and I guess you sleep well because you support insurgents who like to shoot blindfolded women on the back of their heads.

    • Somehow, I don’t think that this family has shot any blindfolded women lately.

      Insurgent: rising in opposition to governmental or political authority.
      It’s not our gevernment — we have no moral authority in Iraq!

      Enjoy your sleep. Clearly, you haven’t openned your eyes in quite some time.

    • And clearly you have chosen to turn a blind eye to the insurgents who have kidnapped, killed, and terrorised ordinary iraqis. You shouldn’t always believe everything is so one-sided. The writer was obviously manipulating you. You should think a little bit.

    • This is war unfortunately. You should think a little bit too. An eye for an eye does a blind man make. The U.S. Media has a blackout on the truth and the rest of the worlds knows it. Is it any wonder that the lowest SAT scores in the country are in the red states. George Bush’s America is not mine.

    • Again, you are mistaken. This is not an eye for an eye. What the US is trying to do is prevent a taliban-like group from establishing a beachhead. Why can’t you get that in your head. As for the lower SAT scores, our economy is still in much better condition than yours. You guys may be more book smart but you don’t have a lot of common sense.

    • You assume quite a bit. This is not the only story I have read, nor is it my only source of information. My post was meant to be an expression of my feelings on the Iraqi war in its’ entirety — our reason for being there, what has already occurred, and the direction that my country is headed. I’m sorry if I appear to be "one-sided" because I empathise with innocent lives being wasted — ours as well as theirs. I apologize that I have not allowed myself to be properly "manipulated" by what I see on FOX News. Clearly, despite your objection to my sentiments, you too seek counter opinions, balance, and perhaps meaning in this mess of a situation, Why else would you have happenned accross this story and my subsequent posting? I see this as a positive. We can only gain from having open minds. But the central issue is that people are dying. Does this not bother you? Why do you appear so eager to continue the carnage? What is to be gained? I read the 9/11 report. Have you? Was this also a work of fiction? Iraq did not attack us. I imagine foreign troops marching down my street. Would I be an insurgent if I took up arms against the invader? Would doing so make my life less worthy? No one is on the side of the insurgents you describe. But we should not lump the entire population of that country into this very narrow and self-serving classification. I doubt that even a suppoter of the war would suggest otherwise.

    • ps The SAT post wasn’t mine.

      Be well.
      Ramon

    • You are one-sided and manipulated otherwise, you would have some empathy for the US and Iraqi soldiers as well, their lives have been at risk trying to defend the city. Many have died but this does not seem to bother you. As for the death of insurgents, if most of them die I will not lose sleep over it. Also, this has nothing to do with 9/11 so why are YOU bringing it up.
      What started this was saddam hussein who has threatened the US, has tried to build nuclear programs and his stubborn non transparency regarding complying with UN resolutions.

      You really need to redefine the insurgent. An insurgent is not a defender of the city, he seeks to destabilize the control of the interim government which was accepted by the majority of iraqi groups. It was the interim government that gave permission to the soldiers to go into fallujah and wrest control of it from the insurgents. Do you get that? And the entire population is not being lumped with insurgents, but do know that during a battle innocent people get hurt, and our soldiers try to minimize that as much as possible. The article’s writer did not include the bombings and crimes that have been commited by the insurgents. How do you know that members of that family haven’t been killed by insurgent bombs? Frankly, your comment has been judgmental and you don’t have enough information to do that.

    • I don’t think the last author is one sided, but maybe you need to look further into it with an open mind. You are obviously fairly open minded to access this site. Firstly; the ’insurgents’ are only people defending their homeland from invaders dressed like WW2 Waffen SS troops in the Warsaw ghetto. I’m sure the poster does have empathy for the poor US teenagers who were drafted and killed. Most just joined the military as there was no other future, or to pay for their college education. Basically just expendable tools of a greedy government. Just as you would defend Wichita or Wyoming fron hoards of Arabs who wanted to steal your corn or hogs whatever. Secondly; Saddam never threatened the US, Rumsfeld sold him weapons to fight Iran. Madeleine Albright, in 1989 the then Secretary of State, told Saddam ’’..the US has no problem with your claim over Kuwait’’ therby condoning the Iraqi invasive action. Thirdly; the Iraqi ’interim govt’ is nothing more than a US creation, with Allawi being ex CIA. As I said you obviously have a thirst for knowledge, having accessed this site and I commend you for this.

    • You really don’t get it. Insurgents are not defending their homeland, see the second paragraph of my post. They are terrorists. They are trying to take control from the interim government. The government that has been recognized by the various Iraqi groups. This is a bunch of terrorists attacking ordinary Iraqis and trying to destabilize the Iraqi government. Why do you persist in romanticizing these lawbreakers. Are you guys just too dense or too stupid?

    • Look, if you want to believe all that shit go back to Fox/CNN. For Fucks sake I will try to spell it out for you THEIR COUNTRY HAS BEEN INVADED BY ANOTHER, IF THIS HAPPENED IN YOUR COUNTRY -YOU presumably would fight back ????? YOU presumably would kill any Yank ’collaborating’ with the Arabs???? and YOU would be called a TERRORIST by the Arab media. Try and see it from another persons perspective ???

    • Listen, I know your brain is small but there is a difference between an insurgent and a citizen defending his country. The situation you are describing is not reality.

    • OK, OK you’re drinking your Bud, watching American Gladiators, Oprah whatever. You’re country is invaded by loads of Arabs -and you in your wisdom? decide to fight back against the Arabs AND against your compatriots that are with the Arabs. NOW, are you a ’citizen’ or an ’insurgent’ ????

    • Dude if my president acted like saddam hussein and actually started nuking everyone because he felt like it, by all means, somebody stop him and invade the US and set up an interim government that is a prelude to new elections. If I were to go against the interim gov’t, I’d be an INSURGENT. Got it?!

    • Yeah, yeah!! Now we’re getting somewhere, and you can see where those Iraqis are coming from, and I would kill as many invaders as possible as well. They could call me an insurgent/terrorist/citizen whatever they fucking wanted, the point is I would be defending my manor. Saddam was no threat, and I’m not defending him. You know the real tragedy ? American conscripts and Iraqi insurgents have probably more in common with each other than they have with those cunts Saddam/Bush/Blair.

    • Man, you really are dense. An insurgent is a bad thing. Lefties just really love tyrants, dictators, and terrorists. Here’s a suggestion why don’t you go the middle east and live under one.

    • For just one minute there I thought one of your brain cells had been freed. Never mind go back to your trailer, switch on Jerry Springer, have a burger and revel in your ignorance.

    • There are, perhaps, a few thousand insurgants in a city of 300,000. Can you really say you are justified in attacking all these innocent citizens because of the actions of a very small number? There is probably a similar number of lawless people in your city or town. How would you feel if police started arresting and killing members of your family because some people in your neighborhood broke the law?

      This whole thing started because about 3000 innocent people were killed by a terrorist attack. Bush has responded by attacking Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with that attack, and killing tens of thousands of innocent citizens there.

      This is not justice.

      This is not even revenge.

      This is simply a stupid criminal act.

      :-/

      John Mullen

    • The media does a very bad job of portraying the attack on Fallujah. They always like to make the american soldiers look bad. From what I’ve heard from various sources, half the Fallujans left the city. The other half stayed in their houses and didn’t venture to go out but sort of hunkered down. Everyone else is an insurgent roaming around fallujah and have taken over the city. So far according to the US military, they’ve killed over 1,000 insurgents. If they only had 2000 insurgents, you’re saying that the US kill ratio is more than 1 in 2. The insurgents can’t be that stupid and inept. What’s more likely is that there were thousands of insurgents and as the US and Iraqi soldiers have moved in the insurgents turn chicken and run.

      Also, this whole thing did not start with 9/11. It started way before that. It wasn’t until 9/11 when the US struck back.

    • people could and would and want to invade the US but are too scared and know that the US has got a lot of power because it is rich,greedy and INVADES other countries all the fucking time

    • You really should take time to read articles and posts before responding to them.

      I said a few thousand.

      Actually, about 90 percent of the residents left to live with relatives or in tents in freezing weather. That still leaves about 30,000 people living in the city.

      If you read the article, you would see how redicilous your claims are. The homes are not bomb proof. People need to get food, so they need to go out. The woulded need medical attention, or they die. Somebody needs to move to treat the wounded.

      John Mullen

    • People in fallujah knew this was coming. When they chose to ride it out, they didn’t do so unprepared. As for the bombing, again you are being misled or being deliberately obtuse. The US and the Iraqis were targetting specific sites. If the insurgents used a house that was abandoned, the US is going to flush them out by destroying it. Do you think the insurgents cared that people would return to that house? Do you think insurgents cared that they used mosques as hiding places instead of leaving it alone and respecting its purpose? NO! Again most of the people dead are insurgents, and I hope they kill more of them.

    • Well, if you choose to ignore the facts, then there is no point in discussing further.

      John P. Mullen

    • Again your facts are questionable.

    • IF INSURGENTS ARE A BAD THING,IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BAD FOR THEM TO OVERTHROW SADDAM,AS HE WAS THE GOVERNMENT AT THE TIME.AND DONT TRY AND SAY THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERNENT,COZ IT IS NO DIFFERENT.

    • It seems you just want to stay in your comfort zone and are too frightened to question anything. You’re the sort of person who sided with the school bully out if fear.

    • It scares the shit out of me that there is a single soul in this country that can still be in support of George W. Bush. See, I joined the Army because of what happened on September 11th. I was all about going after the terrorists responsible for attacking us and I still am supportive of going after people like Usama Bin Laden. But the situation in Iraq is flat out wrong.

      When we invaded Iraq I was still stateside and I was all for it because I like to trust people and I would especially like to trust my commander in chief. Luckily I saw the light, it’s just unfortunate that my older brother, who joined after me for the same reasons, and I went to Iraq a month apart from each other. We would write each other quite frequently and he said to me in his first letter that it is our mere presence why the Iraqis are attacking us. We thought we were going to do a good thing and it didn’t take long for us to change our minds. He saw soldiers being blown up by roadside bombs and I was more fortunate because I only had to deal with constant mortars and rockets landing all around my camp night after night. But through this all, we did fulfill our duty and we never disobeyed our commander in chief despite him being a greedy, lying son of a bitch.

      Oh yeah, and he’s a criminal and a murderer! It makes me sick thinking about it all, how does he sleep and night knowing what he’s done? I guess when you consider the fact that he probably can’t read maybe he just doesn’t know how many people he’s killing. We need some change now, because I can’t watch my family worry about my brother again when he goes back over seas. He just came home September 12th, and they expect him to go back soon. Isn’t taking a year from someone’s life enough? Now they want to take another year from him. He already has one Purple Heart and he doesn’t need to risk getting a second or third for another mans ignorance.

      Our soldiers need to get on with their lives and if they have to protect our country when it matters, then I know damn well that they will. My brother has a beautiful wife and they can’t even enjoy their marriage or start a family because of all the bullshit, thanks to the Bush administration.

      I’m going to go out on a limb here; I don’t think too many soldiers deployed have faith in shit right now. And if they do, there is some serious brain washing going on. If anybody want’s to offer their support to the war I suggest you enlist.

    • There is a veterans site called veterans for common sense. org that you should seek out on the internet. They have lots of vets like yourself who have been there and done that and know what is happening in Iraq is wrong for the military and wrong for the country. It might be a place you can find some understanding because you will find little here. The people on this site support Bush and his immoral war in Iraq, they have never been in your shoes and as long as people like you are willing to do the dirty work, they will remain supporters for the war. They are just chicken shits that would never go over there for this war and have never been in the military or intend to be, they are military wanna bes as long as they can watch a sanitized version of it on t.v. there are even a few here that like the horror and gore watching soldiers murder people etc.

    • You must be a complete idiot....the economy is tanking dude...go ask Alan Greenspan who came out the other day and said we can not sustain the economy here much longer with borrowing money in record numbers to pay off our mammoth twin debts...our country has never been in worse financial shape since the great depression which we are headed for again, then people like you will say why didn’t anyone tell us that the economy was tanking...the dollar is at record lows and we are squandering our borrowed money on Halliburton et.al.....no wonder this country is in such bad shape, people like you believe any lie that Bush tells you.

    • Do some research on Saddam Hussein...he was our guy our CIA kept him in power and supplied him with WMD biological weapons of the most horrible kind...while the British supplied him with chemical weapons...he never had a nuclear weapons program even though Fox news has continued to broadcast that out of respect for Dick Cheney. Point is Saddam was no threat to us and the information reports that Bush based his war on were "cooked" or fabricated and passed off as CIA work....history will not be kind to Bush fro his misdeeds and you will go down in history in the paragraph about how many Americans chose to believe lies because they could not face the truth of what we are doing over there killing thousands and thousands (more than 100,000 plus to date) of innocent citizens of a country that never did anything to the US....a war fought by an evil cartel for oil.

    • The only president nuking anyone is Bush what are you going to do about that?

    • We have no right to be in Iraq....anymore than they would have a right to come to this country and attack us....the media has done a splendid job of not saying that which is just the simple truth nothing more.

    • Finally you are correct about one thing this whole thing did start long beofre 9/11...it started years before when the CIA backed Saddam in his war against Iran. During these years Rumsfeld who was working for the oil companies tried to make a deal with Saddam about a pipeline running through Iraq from Afghanistan, the deal never could be closed for various reasons. Then in 1990 Saddam invaded Kuwait which used to be part of Iraq, he went there to reclaim the oil rich country. Enter daddy Bush ex-CIA (if you can ever be ex with the CIA like the Maffia you are a member for life) and he decided Saddam was grabbing too much power and oil for himself and since he wouldn’t play ball anymore for the CIA who had kept him in power for all of those years...they considered him a double crosser and he had to be isolated and punished, no thought for the poor Iraqi citizerns 1 million children died of malnutrition and lack of medicine during the years from daddy Bush to Georgie Bush...so you are correct this whole mess started long ago with a bunch of crooks and some double crossing that they would not stand for. And we are all a bunch of suckers for paying for these oil barons to steal more oil and wealth...meanwhile they don’t give a shit about you, you can pay for the war and pay dearly for the gasoline your money is helping to secure....might as well be a sucker to the end.

    • Listen kid, you know nothing about the economy. All you’re doing is repeating what Greenspan specifically said on the trade deficit and overreacting. If you listened to his whole report he said that the current economic conditions were THE BEST IN HIS LIFETIME. That does not sound like the economy tanking you ignoramus. Then he followed it with several warnings regarding the wealth effect, high expectation regarding the stock market, rising trade deficit and a shrinking labor market. Warnings are indicators so we still have time to do something about it. Stop acting like chicken little.

    • You should check your sources. It is true that between Iran and Iraq, the US sided with Iraq. Would you have preferred the option of Iran winning and a fundamentalist islamic government spreading over the middle east? That was a better choice give the circumstances then. It doesn’t apply now so why do you keep bringing that up? Things don’t remain the same. And you expect the US to predict the effects of current events. It’s ridiculous.

      Frankly, you are hardly of any caliber to assess the effect of George Bush in history. It still remains to be seen.

    • Your profound ignorance of history amazes me. The Saudis and other members of the Arab League asked Bush the Elder to stop Saddam when he invaded Kuwait. They were afraid he was going to destabilize the region. They were so afraid that the Saudis and the other members financed the whole war. And Bush didn’t go in there like a gangster, he went to the UN and got a coalition together.

      Talking to you lefties is like talking to an empty house, there’s nothing there.

    • They would have every right to come to this country to attack us if we threatened them. Well the Iraqis were unfortunate to have Saddam who was stupid enought to threaten us and he deserved to be run down like a fox in his sad little hole.

    • Bush didn’t release a nuclear missile in Fallujah or anywhere in Iraq. You’re an idiot, no one can do anything about that. Sadly.

    • Just carry on believing your right wing fairy tales....

    • If the current economic conditions are the best in Alan Greenspan’s life then I’m Batman and Robin....we have mammoth twin deficits....if the economy was doing so great we would not be borrowing money from the commies to pay the bills...duh...get it, no money have to borrow,,,most in history,,,,can you understand simple concepts...or are you soooo stupid?

    • Facts are funny things...they keep hanging around even long after time goes by...when Bush goes down as the worst president in our history remember I told you so.
      Also it is you who really needs to check out the facts...Saddam was our CIA shill, he can never be tried because he knows too much...he will never be allowed to speak out...there will be no trial of Saddam Hussien...and when Fox makes up a reason why he will not be tried...you will go around repeating it.
      Rumsfelf used to work for the oil companies he tried to get Saddam (sometime in the 80’s) to help get a pipeline from Afghanistan....you said this whole thing started before 9/11 and I agreed with you now go look up Rumsfeld’s connection to Saddam and you will have a little more information to add to why. The CIA has just been caught trying to depose the president of Venesuala to grab the oil...anywhere there is oil, the CIA is not far behind.
      When are Americans going to connect the dots and figure out why we are the world’s biggest target for terror, we terrorize, they terrorize back, we terrorize, they terrorize back....action=reaction.....

    • Hey moron...where did you hear that Saddam threatened us???

    • So we were not talking about that anyway but since you brought it up no one here is disputing it so what is your point?

    • Hey moron! They were shooting at our jets for 10 years. The jets that were enforcing no fly zones imposed by the same UN you’ve sold your soul and sovereignty to.

    • Thanks for the link.

      John P. Mullen
      Former E6, USN.

    • Although the US and UK claimed the "no fly zones" were authorized under Security Council Resolution 688, the UN never actually authorized the Zones. Technically, the US and UK flights were intrusions into Iraqi airspace and, as such. liable to be targeted.

      John Mullen

    • Nice try, but the Security Council is where all the real decisions get made, every other part of the UN is just all talk.

    • Bush is responsible for depleted uranium being used in Iraq (nuclear waste) NUKULAR waste to you...you "freakin moron"...it contaminates everything and everyone that comes in contact with it...try to educate yourself (probably not possible/stupid like Bush) this poisons the US soldiers who are exposed to it first, the civilian population of Iraq who have to live in the pollution or the nuclear waste and the whole country which will have the lasting effects of Bush’s NUKULAR brain.