Letter From Fallujah...

I have a very bad feeling about this new assault...

--ryan



Letter from the people of Fallujah to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

"IT IS more than evident that US forces are committing daily acts of
genocide in Iraq. As we write, these crimes are being perpetrated
against the city of Fallujah. US war planes are launching their most
powerful bombs against the civilian population, killing and wounding
hundreds of innocent people. Their tanks are pounding the city with
heavy artillery.

As you know, there is no military presence in the city. There have
been no actions by the resistance in Fallujah in the last few weeks
because negotiations are in progress between representatives of the
city and the Allawi government.

The new bombardment by the US has begun while the people are fasting during the celebration of Ramadan. Now many of them are trapped in the ruins of their homes and cut off from any outside assistance.

On the night of 13 October a single US bombardment destroyed 50 houses and their inhabitants. Is this a crime of genocide or a lesson about US democracy? The US is committing acts of terror against the people of Fallujah for only one reason to force them to accept the occupation.

Your excellency and the whole world know that the US and their allies
have destroyed our country on the pretext of the threat of weapons of
mass destruction. Now, after their own mass destruction and the
killing of thousands of civilians, they have admitted that they have
not found any. But they have said nothing about the crimes they have
committed. The whole world is silent, and even the killing of Iraqi
civilians is not condemned. Will the US be paying compensation, as it
made Iraq do after the 1991 Gulf War?

We know that we live in a world of double standards. In Fallujah the
US has created a new and shadowy target: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Zarqawi is a new excuse to justify the US's criminal actions. A
year has passed since this new excuse was dreamed up, and every time they attack homes, mosques and restaurants, killing women and
children, they say "we have launched a successful operation against
al-Zarqawi". They will never say they have killed him, because he does
not exist.

The people of Fallujah assure you that this person is not in the city,
nor probably anywhere else in Iraq. Many times the people of Fallujah
have asked that if anyone sees al-Zarqawi they should kill him. We
know now that he is nothing but a phantom created by the US. Our
representatives have repeatedly denounced kidnapping and killing of
civilians. We have nothing to do with any group that acts in an
inhumane manner.

We call on you and the leaders of the world to exert the greatest
pressure on the Bush administration to end its crimes against Fallujah
and pull its army back from the city. When they left a while ago, the
city had peace and tranquillity. There was no disorder in the city.
The civil administration here functioned well, despite the lack of
resources.

Our offence is simply that we did not welcome the forces of
occupation. This is our right according to UN Charter, according to
international law and according to the norms of humanity.
It is very urgent that you, along with other world leaders, intervene
immediately to prevent another massacre. We have tried to contact UN
representatives in Iraq to ask them to do this but, as you know, they
are sealed off in the maximum security Green Zone in Baghdad and we
are not allowed access to them.

We want the UN to take a stand on the situation in Fallujah.

Best wishes, in the name of the people of Fallujah, the Shura council
of Fallujah, the Trade Union Association, the Teachers Union, and the
Council of Tribal Leaders; Kassim Abdullsattar al-Jumaily: President,
The Study Center of Human Rights & Democracy, on behalf of the people of Fallujah and for: Al-Fallujah Shura Council, The Bar Association, The Teacher Union, Council of Tribes Leaders, The House of Fatwa & Religious Education