WAR: Fallujah Residents Angry Over Destruction

Many Iraqis returning to war torn Fallujah following U.S. efforts to drive out insurgents are simply unable to recognize the city. Despite the fact that work teams have cleared most of the rubble, many homes are damaged and residents are angry. So far according to the Iraqi government some 60,000 people have returned to the city. The government has indicated that each family will get immediate financial aid of $100 and that more aid worth $500 will be given later. Residents whose homes were damaged will get up to $10,000, the government said.




It was necessary to root out the insurgency that occupied Fallujah. More to the point a lot of these angry citizens were helping or may have been insurgents themselves. That being said, if I returned home and found my home destroyed I would be angry as well. The Iraqi government and the U.S. need to make good on their promise to rebuild the city.


[edit on 1/11/05 by FredT]

Basically a repeat of a question I posed in another post. I was watchnig some videos of recent American "fighting" in Fallujah and the place looked like ground zero. Not a single building intact. Whatever happened to the entire town ? Where are the families ? Where are the children. Truly ground zero. What is gonna be the rebuilding cost ? Even worse than the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh after the Khmer Rouge committed human genocide for years.

Does anyone know where the money to compensate these people is coming from?

The article below makkes it seem like the government of Iraq will be paying for it:

The New Nation
Iraq's government has said it will pay $2,000 compensation for partial damage to homes, $4,000 for substantial damage and $10,000 to those whose homes were completely destroyed -- far less than Iraqis say they would need to rebuild their homes.

Shopkeepers will receive $1,500-$3,000 based on the size of their shop and what they sell. But that may not be enough to assuage the anger of many. Asked Satar: "Is this freedom and democracy that they brought to Falluja?"

The money for compensation payments in the past came from MEU and CERP funds. The CERP funds came form siezed Iraqi assets and Oil for Food money and money earned under current oil sales.

usmc.mil
Condolence payments, known as solatia, are meant to express sympathy or condolence to those who were injured, or to family members who lost a loved one.

One of the first condolence and collateral damage repair payments was made on Sept. 27, and the MEU expects to make these payments a weekly event. The MEU is offering to compensate Iraqis for damage ranging from property damage to personal injury and death of a family member.

The Iraqi government is sifting through the thousands of claims for legitimacy, and approved ones will be paid out of the MEU's solatia funds or Commander's Emergency Response Program. CERP funds will be used to refurbish different areas of the city and rebuild infrastructure damaged in the fighting.

I wonder who is going to be cleaning up the tons of radioactive uranium dust we spread through the reigon, a high ranking US general has already told them we have no intentions to do so, yet it would seem to me that this is a serious health risk to the Iraqi People. There were lost of reports from independent organizations of birth defects and other problems caused there by DU weapons in the first gulf war. Given our grandoise humanitarian reasons we put forth for invading Iraq in the first place (since it wasn't thier connections to alqeada, and it wasn't their Niger Uranium, and it wasn't their WMD's, etc. ad nauseum) then we damn well owe it to the citizens of that country to clean up our mess rather than radiating them.

The residents harbored, encouraged, and aided the terrorists
who were murdering other Iraqis around the country. If their
town got damaged ... they have only themselves to blame.
Tough luck. It's war. They picked the loosing side to back.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
The residents harbored, encouraged, and aided the terrorists
who were murdering other Iraqis around the country. If their
town got damaged ... they have only themselves to blame.
Tough luck. It's war. They picked the loosing side to back.

Thank you for demonstrating to us all, ignorance at it's finest.

Well people more money of our hard earned ones to be used for anything else but for us that need it more than anything else.

Next time you pay taxes just remember what the Bush "war on terror" is doing to our wallets.

Originally posted by marg6043
Well people more money of our hard earned ones to be used for anything else but for us that need it more than anything else.

Next time you pay taxes just remember what the Bush "war on terror" is doing to our wallets.

Perhaps you should remember what the Islamic extremists did to the people in the WTC and in Madrid among other places, next time you think whether or not we should be going after every islamic extremist cell.

Originally posted by Muaddib
Perhaps you should remember what the Islamic extremists did to the people in the WTC and in Madrid among other places, next time you think whether or not we should be going after every islamic extremist cell.

We did Muaddib we did, US took revenge in Afghanistan and they paid dearly with their lives one live for a live or should I said more than one for an american life.

But the Iraqis? why they had to suffer for the mistakes of the administration, the destruction of their city at the hands of US bombs.



[edit on 11-1-2005 by marg6043]

I heard from several Jugoslavian expatriots that similar destruction was carried out upon many towns there as well. Not to mention Panama. What does the US military have against other peoples houses exactly? I know that house to house fighting can be bitter and costly but leveling towns is not going to win you any friends either.

Originally posted by marg6043
We did Muaddib we did, US took revenge in Afghanistan and they paid dearly with their lives one live for a live or should I said more than one for an american life.

But the Iraqis? why they had to suffer for the mistakes of the administration, the destruction of their city at the hands of US bombs.

Marg we have already covered why we went to Iraq in many past threads, and you were one of the posters in many of them. Yes, there are/were extremist cells in Iraq, which is part of why we are there. Fallujah was/is an insurgent town.... we found, and the Iraqi army, slaughter houses where hostages had been taken and murdered by insurgents in Fallujah. We even found at least one Iraqi civilian and one Iranian (i think it was Iranian) civilian also that were held as hostages by the insurgents, luckily both were alive. You should also remember the body of the caucasian woman that was found in the streets of Fallujah dismembered....

[edit on 12-1-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by FlyersFan
The residents harbored, encouraged, and aided the terrorists
who were murdering other Iraqis around the country. If their
town got damaged ... they have only themselves to blame.
Tough luck. It's war. They picked the loosing side to back.

Why are to so many inbred americans on this forum... Foir once and for all there are no terrorists in iraq, they are freedom fighters, resistance, I love it how america can illegal invade a country then start calling its defenders terrorists to justify what its doing... gold

Yes P Amaru, you do seem to be inbred. What else could explain
the ignorance you displayed by calling the insurgants ... 'freedom
fighters and a resistance'. They murder their own. They blow up
their own oil lines, thus further hurting Iraq. If they were true
freedom fighters they'd be fighting to make sure that the free
elections take place, rather then trying desperately to stop them
and to hang on to their pathetic murderous past roles.

The more the insurants murder Iraqis, the longer America will
have to be in the country. Those idiots, and those that support
them, are just making the situation drag on. It's their fault we
are still there. They have no one to blame but themselves.

Your comment that America invaded 'illegally' is a joke. Illegal
according to who, the UN? Yeah right. They don't run the world,
but they sure do have their own illegal operations going on all
over the place, don't they?

Originally posted by Kriz_4
Thank you for demonstrating to us all, ignorance at it's finest.

The only ignorance demonstrated here is yours. I spoke the truth.
You can either educate yourself on this and deal with it, or continue
to wallow in whatever muck you are wallowing in that has clogged
your thought process.

The residents harbored, encouraged, and aided the terrorists
who were murdering other Iraqis around the country. If their
town got damaged ... they have only themselves to blame.
Tough luck. It's war. They picked the loosing side to back.

Whine whine whine. Next time they won't harbor terrorists,
will they? Nope. Hopefully they learned their lesson. Don't
back the insurgents, back the new free elections, and then
the Coalition can go home and leave them all to make their
own future - be it good or bad - they will have a fresh start
and the it will be on their heads what they make of it.





[edit on 1/12/2005 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by Muaddib

we found, and the Iraqi army, slaughter houses where hostages had been taken and murdered by insurgents in Fallujah. We even found at least one Iraqi civilian and one Iranian (i think it was Iranian) civilian also that were held as hostages by the insurgents, luckily both were alive. You should also remember the body of the caucasian woman that was found in the streets of Fallujah dismembered....

[edit on 12-1-2005 by Muaddib]

Muaddib most of these insurgents and terrorist came across the open borders after the invasion, control of the country immediately after invasion was a plus, but civilians were allowed to rank sack and loot at will, not control.

Now is just completely uncontrollable.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Yes P Amaru, you do seem to be inbred. What else could explain
the ignorance you displayed by calling the insurgants ... 'freedom
fighters and a resistance'. They murder their own. They blow up
their own oil lines, thus further hurting Iraq. If they were true
freedom fighters they'd be fighting to make sure that the free
elections take place, rather then trying desperately to stop them
and to hang on to their pathetic murderous past roles.

The more the insurants murder Iraqis, the longer America will
have to be in the country. Those idiots, and those that support
them, are just making the situation drag on. It's their fault we
are still there. They have no one to blame but themselves.

Your comment that America invaded 'illegally' is a joke. Illegal
according to who, the UN? Yeah right. They don't run the world,
but they sure do have their own illegal operations going on all
over the place, don't they?

If my countries oil was being stole to help the great evil NWO i would burn it rather then hand it over to them too.... And yes it is illegal, but we dont have to worry about that now, America has set its own destiny, it can never be at peace now and will always be under attack until its definite collapse and believe me i long for this day so you evil crusaders can stop your killing and looting spree

Originally posted by marg6043
Muaddib most of these insurgents and terrorist came across the open borders after the invasion, control of the country immediately after invasion was a plus, but civilians were allowed to rank sack and loot at will, not control.

Now is just completely uncontrollable.

Actually you are wrong, Fallujah has been a haven for terrorists and simpathizers of Saddam well before the war started. Let me give you a link which has "facts" about what has been happening in Fallujah. Yes, there were good Iraqis in Fallujah, but most if not all left before the war started.

Click on the link that says "Click here for a powerpoint presentation of what really happened in Fallujah."

www.gulf1.com...

BTW, before you start saying that children are being killed, which is true, you should find out why so many children have actually been dying in Iraq. In case you didn't know Saddam had children trained as troops also, as well as women have been armed in those regions, it is really sad, but it is true, many if not all those children that have died in Iraq were trained as troops. The youngest children that Saddam's troops had were 10 years old. This is how terrorists and simpathizers of Saddam were made, by training their soldiers since childhood.

Existing Iraqi law perpetuates the use of children as soldiers, as it has for many years. Children are believed to have been used during the 1991 Gulf War and the Iran-Iraq War. Current Iraqi law allows voluntary recruits at age 15, and during war allows conscription of those younger than age 18. Currently, approximately 1,000 children are believed to be in the official Iraqi government armed forces. However, Iraq doesn’t just rely on traditional recruits or conscripts to fill its military ranks.

For decades Iraq has developed several military training programs to prepare youths for war and militarize Iraqi society and culture. Both boys and girls participate in these military programs, some as young as 10. Some of the best known of these programs include: “Raad” and “Al Anfal,” which have trained over 23,000 children, and “Saddam Cubs,” military training camps for 8,000 Iraqi children. In these three-week programs for children aged 10 to 15, children are trained to rappel from helicopters, take part in hand-to-hand combat, infantry tactics, and small arms use. Some of these programs are known to last up to 14 hours a day, and according to the State Department’s Human Rights Report on Iraq, families that refused to enroll their children in these programs were threatened with the loss of their food ration cards. In other cases, the State Department reported that children were denied school examination results if they hadn’t registered in one particular program, the Fedyayeen Saddam (Saddam’s Martyrs). This particular unit is reported to be made up entirely of children and contains between 18,000 and 40,000 troops. These children report to the Presidential Palace (not the government army) and undertake patrolling and anti-smuggling responsibilities.

Excerpted from.
www.cdi.org...

Iraq is not the only place where children are used and trained for open conflicts. It is believed by humanitarian groups that up to 500,000 children, some figures state 300,000, are serving as troops all over the world.

Thousands of Children Fight, Killed in Conflicts Around the Globe
November 17, 2004

Tens of thousands of children continue to be used as "armed pawns" in more than 20 conflicts around the world, said the U.S. Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers today. The U.S. Campaign's remarks came in conjunction with the release of the international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers' global survey of child soldiers. The report states that children under the age of 18 are fighting in almost every major conflict, in both government and opposition forces.

Excerpted from.
www.cdi.org...

Now, the fact is that Fallujah is and was a stronghold of insurgents and simpathizers of Saddam, and even before the war they used their terrorist tactics against their own people, taking as hostages and torturing other Iraqis that did not agree with Saddam's regime.






[edit on 12-1-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by P Amaru

If my countries oil was being stole to help the great evil NWO i would burn it rather then hand it over to them too.... And yes it is illegal, but we dont have to worry about that now, America has set its own destiny, it can never be at peace now and will always be under attack until its definite collapse

and believe me i long for this day so you evil crusaders can stop your killing and looting spree

Your so called "freedom fighters", terrorists, are just a bunch of cowards, hiding in your sacred mosques and hospitals and attacking from there. Out of 100 mosques in Fallujah, 60 of them are used as bunkers by your beloved terrorists. Let's not forget that your so beloved terrorists have used their murderous ways with many Iraqi citizens...

I wouldn't be so certain if i were you of who is going to collapse...your friends are not doing so well as you are making it believe.

Originally posted by P Amaru
Why are to so many inbred americans on this forum... Foir once and for all there are no terrorists in iraq, they are freedom fighters,

Yes the brave freedom fighters. No doubt Margret Hassan who was against the war and for the Iraqi people was killed for thier cause. As put beofre, they hide is mosques and preach nothing but hatred and the like. What are they exactly? Terrorists and Jihadists. At any rate, they need to be hunted down and eliminated

OK Flyersfan, prove your ignorance some more.

SHow evidence of all the citizens harbouring militants, terrorists or whatever you prefer to call them.

COme on dare you to put your money where your mouth is.