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Ewa Jasiewicz , Occupation Watch, 11 April 2004

Ewa Jasiewicz lived in Baghdad and Basra for 8 months while working with Voices in the Wilderness and Occupation Watch. On Friday April 9th, 2004, Ewa spoke to friends and colleagues currently in Iraq. The following contains excerpts from their conversations.

Paola Gaspiroli, Italian, from Occupation watch and Bridges to Baghdad:

Falluja is under siege. 470 people have been killed, and 1700 injured. There has been no ceasefire. They (Americans) told people to leave, and they have 8 hours to do so. People began to leave, but became trapped in the desert. The Americans have been bombing with B52s. Bridges to Baghdad are pulling out. We have flights booked out of Amman. Tomorrow a team will go to Sadr City to deliver medicines. 50 people have been killed there. The sheikh in Sadr City has told me I should leave. He says that even he can't control his people. Foreigners are going to be targeted. 6 new foreigners have been taken hostage. Of the six, four Italian security firm employees were kidnapped from their car. Baghdad was quiet today except for Abu Ghraib (West Baghdad, where a vast prison is located and is bursting at the seams with 12,000 prisoners). An American convoy was attacked there and 9 soldiers were injured and 27 were kidnapped. That’s right 27. None of the newswires are reporting it though.

There are people in the desert. They've left Falluja but they're not being allowed into Baghdad. They're trapped in the dessert, like refugees. It is terrible but the people, Iraqi people, are giving all they can. They’re bringing supplies. Everyone is giving all the help and support they can to Falluja. It is really, really bad. The Americans have been firing on ambulances and snipers are following them. The ambulances cannot get in.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1451.shtml

will absolutely alarm a LOT of people here is this part:

<snip>
Baghdad was quiet today except for Abu Ghraib (West Baghdad, where a vast prison is located and is bursting at the seams with 12,000 prisoners). An American convoy was attacked there and 9 soldiers were injured and 27 were kidnapped. That’s right 27. None of the newswires are reporting it though.
<snip>

I've not heard from Mari333 and have no clue how they are holding on. I surely hope and pray that her son is not among these :/

My heart goes out to all the people and soldiers in Iraq who do not want to be in this hell hole!

EDIT: I reread this and it's simply beyond horrific...the US is just bombing whatever is moving like we saw in that video clip for the planes that were raking?!? Just randomly killing anything that moves... How can people live with themselves for doing this?

"We’ve been seeing it with our own eyes. People were told to leave Falluja and now there are thousands trapped in the desert. There is a 13 km long convoy of people trying to reach Baghdad. The Americans are firing bombs, everything they have on them. They are firing on Families! They are all children, old men and women in the dessert. Other Iraqi people are trying to help them. In Falluja the Americans have been bombing hospitals. Children are being evacuated to Baghdad. There is a child, a baby, who had 25 members of his family killed. He’s in the hospital alone without anyone. The Americans are dropping cluster bombs and new mortars, which jump 3-4 meters. They are bombing from the air. There are people lying dead in the streets. They said there would be a ceasefire and then they flew in, I saw them, and they began to bomb."

EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE


by Eman Ahmed Khammas, Director of International Occupation Watch Center, International Occupation Watch Center
April 8th, 2004
Eman Ahmed Khammas
Director, International Occupation Watch Center
Occupied Baghdad

To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United Nations:

The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist attacks by US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed to terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.

According to reports, in Fallujah alone, over three hundred Iraqis have been killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April 4. There is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of Sadr, Adaamiya, Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Fallujah, Ramadi, Basrah, Nasiriya, Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya, Balad, and Baquba. Residences, hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to transport the injured are being bombed and fired at by Occupation Forces’ guns and tanks.

Fallujah and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to sufficient medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood supplies. In Fallujah, the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers forcing doctors to establish field hospitals in private homes. Blood donors are not allowed to enter; consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and Falluja are collecting blood for the injured. Water and electricity have been cut off for the past several days.

In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas destroying homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US soldiers have made a practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find moving through the streets after dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6 people were killed in this way. US forces continue to occupy and surround all the police stations and the Sadr municipal offices.

more: http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=4044

nothin's gonna get in the way of play time



Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle



Bush makes the pilgrimage to his Central Texas spread every year for Easter, when the wildflowers are in full bloom and the mesquite trees are sprouting fresh, iridescent green leaves.

Last week, the president gave a tour of the ranch to leaders of hunting rights, recreational sports and gun rights groups. He later sat down for an interview with Ladies' Home Journal.

Bush has now made 33 trips to Crawford since becoming president, bringing his total to more than 230 days at the ranch in a little more than three years, according to a tally kept by CBS News.

Add his 78 trips to Camp David and five to his family's compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, and Bush has spent all or part of 500 days -- or about 40 percent of his presidency -- at one of his three retreats.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2496305

:kick: Thanx, Seemslikeadream!