Aid trickling in to desperate Fallujans

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/00349EFE-6579-4F43-860B-85E7AF65B72F.htm

~snip~

A Red Crescent team delivered food and water to five families in a battered northern Falluja neighbourhood on Thursday after US marines patrolling the area found them hiding in their homes.

The organisation estimates that only 150 to 175 families stayed in Falluja after the start of the US-led offensive on 8 November, and civilians living in the ruined city have become desperate for water and blankets.

Red Crescent officials met on Thursday with US marine Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Montgomery to discuss coperative aid efforts.

Aid convoys were able to enter Falluja on Wednesday and Monday, but only toured the town, and were unable to move freely and find any of the civilians who needed assistance

For third day, US bans as-Saqlawiyah residents from
collecting bodies in al-Fallujah.

A correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported on
Wednesday that for the third straight day US forces have
refused to let the people of as-Saqlawiyah enter the nearby city
of al-Fallujah to collect the bodies of people killed and lying
in the streets there for burial in the cemetery located between
the two towns. Last week US forces had supervised
repeated trips by as-Saqlawiyah residents into al-Fallujah
for just this purpose.

Now the US forces are saying that the group of as-
Saqlawiyah residents who had been undertaking the work
are not to be allowed into al-Fallujah. One of the US
military commanders told the people that “we are not going to
let you enter al-Fallujah to spread criminals around there.”
By “criminals” he was apparently referring to Resistance
fighters.

Mafkarat al-Islam’s correspondent said that the American
ban actually reflects the situation in the al-Jawlan
neighborhood of northwestern al-Fallujah, the main entry
way into the city, where the Resistance now has a
strong presence after breakthroughs by Resistance
fighters through US siege lines into the city.

http://www.uruknet.info/.?p=m7561

I would say happy Thanksgiving but it is not as long as the illegal occupation continues. Thanks for the link!

Canges in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.
-Jimmy B

from injuries received in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=25671

US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries

By Rick Kelly
20 November 2004

According to official figures, the Iraq war has so far seen
9,000 (The above StarsStripes makes this #outdated, as well
as below #killed)
US soldiers wounded in action, in addition to the more
than 1,200 (9000 is to 1200 as 20,802 is to ?) troops
killed. These wounded, whose numbers may well
be underestimated, include those with gunshot and
shrapnel wounds, lost limbs and other injuries caused
by landmines and bombs. Less well known, however, is
the terrible toll enacted through brain and psychological
injuries, which frequently have devastating and
permanent effects.

The war has seen unusually high rates of traumatic brain
injury (TBI)
ABC News reported last month on the situation in one
Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, California. “The majority
of , they’re incontinent, both bowel and bladder,
so we have to retrain them when to use the toilet, how to use
the toilet,” nurse manager Stephanie Alvarez
said.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/sold-n20.shtml

how the fuck could anyone vote for that war criminal?

:(

"The organisation estimates that only 150 to 175 families stayed in Falluja after the start of the US-led offensive on 8 November"

Really? How many people would that represent? About 2000?

That's hard to believe. There were 300k people living in Fallujah. I was given to understand that about 200k fled, leaving about 100k there.

What's with these numbers?

No one is looking at the people exiled from their homes because of the US bombardment and assault.

But they can't afford to let the Red Crescent or any independent observer into the city. It would impede the flood of anti Resistance propaganda out of Fallujah - like that rubbish about the weapons stores and laboratories. The presence of people concerned about the fate of Fallujan civilians would (a) remind people that they exist and (b) erode the credibility of these highly spun reports.

and it is not pretty.... :(

~snip~
Meanwhile, there are increasing concerns for Falluja residents who left the town before the devastating US offensive.

Shaikh Muhammad Shawki al-Abdali, who lives in a cluster of hamlets just outside Falluja, said many of the 250 families who sought refuge in his village do not even have shelter.

The villagers of nearby al-Subaihat say they welcomed the displaced with open arms.

"Friends of mine gave these poor people a room in their house, other gave them mattresses and food," 25-year-old Khalid Jiad said.

"But now there isn't much we can still do for them because we barely have any sugar, flour and rice left. We are almost in the same state as them."