Fallujans return - sort of

Regardless of the reality, BushCo will not negotiate with itself - Fallujans are being returned.

There was anger, frustration and resentment among Iraqis who returned to Falluja on Friday as many discovered their homes in rubble and their livelihoods ruined following a U.S. offensive.

"I saw the city and al-Andalus destroyed," said Ali Mahmood, 35, referring to the district of the city he returned to briefly on Thursday but now plans to leave after seeing the destruction.

[...]

While those who fled were at pains to say they had nothing to do with the rebels who made Falluja their stronghold, many of them have since become angry and militant as a result of the offensive.

"Would Allah want us to return to a city that animals can't live in?" said Yasser Satar as he saw his destroyed home.

"Even animals who have no human sense and feelings can not live here," he said, crying.

"What do they want from Falluja? This is the crime of the century. They want to destroy Islam and Muslims. But our anger and resistance will increase."

[...]

Aid workers said 200,000 people fled Falluja before the assault and have spent the past seven weeks living in nearby towns and villages or in tented refugee camps nearby.

[...]

The Iraqi interim government and the U.S. military this week announced that around 2,000 heads of household would be allowed to return to the Andalus district of Falluja, considered one of the more secure, from Thursday.

Some 900 people, mostly men, made the journey, going through intense security checks before being allowed to enter, including the fingerprinting and iris scanning of "suspicious military-age men" by the U.S. military to ensure insurgents do not filter back in.

[...]

But they will be without water and electricity as basic services and communications were knocked out in the assault.

Iraq Net article

Actually, the conditions being imposed upon those who return may be worse than the conditions of their homes.

But, for a spot of light in this darkness:

Families of US troops killed in the offensive on the Iraqi city of Fallujah are to travel to Jordan [December 26] with 600,000 dollars worth of humanitarian aid for refugees of the attack.

The November assault on Fallujah left 71 US military dead, according to the families, and the Iraqi government said more than 2,000 Iraqis were killed.

"This delegation is a way for me to express my sympathy and support for the Iraqi people," said Rosa Suarez of Escondido in California.

"The Iraq war took away my son's life, and it has taken away the lives of so many innocent Iraqis. It is time to stop the killing and to help the children of Iraq," she added in a statement released by the families.

Iraq Net article

I'm impressed.

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