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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 11

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 11

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
9:01 PM (UK)
-
ABDUL-QADER SAADI
-
FALLUJAH DEATH TOLL FOR WEEK MORE THAN 600
Specific incidents / deaths

 

Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in Fallujah since Marines began a siege against Sunni insurgents in the city a week ago, most of them women, children and the elderly, the head of the city's hospital said Sunday.

Statistics and names of the dead were gathered from four main clinics around the city and from Fallujah General Hospital, said hospital's director Rafie al-Issawi.

Bodies were being buried in two soccer fields, one of which was visited by an Associated Press reporter. It was filled with row after row of graves.

The death toll from the siege, which started early last Monday, may be even higher than the hospital's tally

"We have reports of an unknown number of dead being buried in people's homes without coming to the clinics," al-Issawi said.

...

Residents started burying bodies in the soccer fields starting Friday, when there was a pause in fighting to allow people to tend to the dead.

At one of the fields, which residents dubbed the "Graveyard of the Martyrs," an AP reporter saw rows of freshly dug graves with wooden planks for headstones over an area about 30 yards wide and 100 yards long.

Some headstones bore the names of women; others had markings indicating the dead were children.

Khalaf al-Jumaili, a volunteer helping bury bodies, said more than 300 people had been interred in the field. Other volunteers were seen carrying bodies in blankets and lowering them into graves while bystanders shouted, "Martyr, martyr!"

It was not known how many were buried at the other soccer field.

Date range? 5th-11th 
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter

"Most" civilian -IBC's definition of "most"=60%, so 360+/240+

"Some headstones bore the names of women; others had markings indicating the dead were children."

"an unknown number of dead being buried in people's homes" 

Selected info, comment, analysis

Marines say insurgents have used at least one mosque as a firebase to attack American troops. Witnesses in the city have reported Marine snipers firing from another mosque's minaret on insurgents below.

US/military viewpoint

Asked about the report of 600 dead, Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said: "What I think you will find is 95 percent of those were military age males that were killed in the fighting."

"The Marines are trained to be precise in their firepower .... The fact that there are 600 goes back to the fact that the Marines are very good at what they do," he said.

A day earlier, Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, said his battalion - one of three in or around the city - had confirmed 40 Iraqi insurgents were killed and 19 others were likely dead throughout the entire campaign.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Gulf News
-
IRAQI CHILDREN BEING SHOT IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths

The dead include small children, women, a new-born baby. Beside the corpses, there is a pile of body parts that no one has had time to deal with.

Date killed? 5th-9th?
Total 1 (new-born baby)
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

An assessment by five international non-governmental organisations on Friday said 470 people had been killed in Fallujah. Of 1,200 injured, 243 were women and 200 children. The groups said their estimate may be conservative.

Date range? 5th-9th
Total 470
[1200 injured]
Civilian / Fighter (37% of injured were women and children)
Selected info, comment, analysis

There were too many dead and wounded for hospital workers in the besieged town to deal with.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Cox News Service
-
Larry Kaplow
-
IRAQ BROTHERS SEE FALLUJAH CARNAGE
Specific incidents / deaths

He said he also saw a home that had collapsed after a bomb hit a generator shed nearby, killing about a dozen people, including a 3-year-old.

"They found only part of his body," al-Tai said. The bomb also killed the boy's father, a schoolteacher.

Another bomb in a neighbor's house killed a 50-year-old father and injured his 18-year-old son. The father was buried in the family's yard.

Talab al-Ta'i said five men were killed on his street by a bomb that struck at 1 a.m. Asked why they were out on the street at that hour, he said with nonchalance that they were "doing something with the resistance."

Date killed? before 9th
Total 12 (incl. 3-yr-old and his schoolteacher father in home next to generator shed) +1 (50-yr-old grandfather) +5 (men assisting 'resistance')
=18
Civilian / Fighter 13/5 (est.)
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
Deborah Pasmantier
-
FALLUJAH: A GHOST TOWN WHERE SCARED RESIDENTS BURY THEIR DEAD IN THEIR YARDS
Specific incidents / deaths

"When US soldiers are in trouble, they call for air support. There are also bombardments in the center. Several of my friends died in their homes," he added.

Date killed?  
Total "several" in homes; other plurals used
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 400 Iraqis have been killed and over 1,000 wounded during the fighting, according to an Iraqi official.

Date range?  
Total 400+ [1000 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

"As soon as the Americans see a group of people in the streets, they shoot at them, people venture out only if their homes risk being bombarded or if they must carry the dead or wounded to the city's clinics," said Abbas Ibrahim, a 30-year-old Fallujah resident who was able to escape the city Friday.

"They put them in blankets and dart through the streets."

...

Families were only able to leave the town from Friday, following the US marines' assault from Monday to flush out rebels responsible for last week's brutal murder of four US contractors.

...

"Surgeons lack anesthetics and post-surgery medication," said Mohammed Ibrahim Abbas of the Red Crescent.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
DANIEL COONEY
-
TWO DIE WHEN U.S. COPTER DOWNED IN IRAQ
Specific incidents / deaths Sporadic battles in Fallujah wounded two Marines, and the bodies of 11 Iraqis were brought to a mosque being used as a clinic.
Date killed? 11th
Total 11
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 600 Iraqis, mostly women, children and elderly, have been killed in a week of fighting in Fallujah, Rafie al-Issawi, the director of the city hospital, told The Associated Press. But a Marine commander said most of the dead were probably insurgents.

Fallujah residents took advantage of the lull in fighting to bury their dead in two soccer fields. One of the fields had rows of freshly dug graves, some marked on headstones as children or with the names of women.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter "mostly women, children and elderly" - Rafie al-Issawi, the director of the city hospital

"most of the dead were probably insurgents" - Marine commander
Selected info, comment, analysis At least three convoys of food and medicine were brought into the mostly Sunni city, including one organized by Shiite leaders in Baghdad as a sign of unity.
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
New Standard
-
Dahr Jamail
-
NO END IN SIGHT AS FALLUJAH DEATH TOLL APPROACHES 700
Specific incidents / deaths

Two of the victims, woman and small child, were brought in simultaneously. Both had been shot in the neck by what witnesses said was a US sniper. Medical personnel expected neither to survive the injuries.

Date killed? 11th (or died later)
Total

2 (woman and small child shot by US sniper)

Civilian / Fighter 2/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

United States Marines have killed more than 600 Iraqis in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah, according to reports gathered from local clinics. The reports do not appear to be disputed by occupation authorities or other US officials.

Local medical authorities say over 600 bodies have actually been counted at area emergency facilities, but it is widely believed that a significant number of victims have been buried without ever receiving care at a clinic or hospital. Locals say two entire football fields have been converted into cemeteries and mass funerals have been conducted during brief, local lulls in the fighting.

...

On Saturday, US Marine battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne put the number of Iraqi deaths during the week's fighting at around just 60 combatants, according to the Associated Press. A day later, however, Byrne said 95 percent of the more than 600 Iraqis his and two other battalions had killed were male fighters of military age and remarked that Marines are trained to be "precise" in combat. Byrne added, "The fact that there are 600 [Iraqi dead] goes back to the fact that the Marines are very good at what they do."

Rafie Al-Issawi, head of the Fallujah hospital, said most of the dead and wounded seen at area medical facilities were women and children. The Associated Press reported Al-Issawi refused to give specific numbers, saying he didn't want to imply that all of the men of military age who have been killed or wounded have been fighters.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+ counted
Civilian / Fighter "most" - (360/240)
Selected info, comment, analysis

There have been very few reporters on the ground in Fallujah since the siege began a week ago, with the exception of an Arab news crew and some correspondents embedded in the rear areas of invading units. Locals say the Marines have had a free hand to slaughter them because the Western press is nowhere to be found.

Additionally, Fallujah residents say Marines are opening fire randomly on unarmed civilians and have attacked clearly marked ambulances, both violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which the United States is a signatory. Aid workers angrily pointed out bullet holes in the driver's side windshield of one ambulance, saying its operator had been lightly wounded by US troops firing as the emergency vehicle passed.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
SHAKY TRUCE HOLDS IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Hundreds of Iraqis have died including many civilians. Hospital officials say more than a thousand people have been wounded, including hundreds of women and children.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total "hundreds"
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The guerrillas want US forces to withdraw from the town and for the siege around Fallujah to be lifted. The US military wants the insurgents to give themselves up and town leaders to hand over those responsible for killing the four Americans.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
SHAKY CEASEFIRE UNDERWAY IN FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths And at least one Iraqi -  a 75-year old man - was killed by sniper fire, Aljazeera's correspondent said.
Date killed? 10th
Total 1 (75-yr-old man)
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Late on Saturday, mediators said resistance fighters, US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) members and US-led occupation authorities had agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire beginning on Sunday at 06:00 GMT after six days of fierce clashes which claimed the lives of more than 450 people and injured more than 1000.

...

More than 450 have been killed in Falluja in six days of siege

Date range? 5th-10th
Total 450+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis Two people were injured as several bombs were dropped on different parts of the town.
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
US, FALLUJAH REBELS AGREE 12-HOUR CEASEFIRE
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

"The two sides have agreed to observe a 12-hour ceasefire tomorrow Sunday at 10:00 am," or 0600 GMT, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Hatem al-Husseini, told AFP.

...

Battles raged in Fallujah throughout the day despite the efforts to broker a peace and a marine was killed and another wounded, a marine statement said.

...

The US-installed Governing Council issued a statement denouncing the onslaught as amounting to "collective punishment of innocent civilians" as well as insurgents.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
FALLUJA FIGHTERS AGREE TO A 12-HOUR TRUCE
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis Iraqi resistance fighters in the flashpoint town of Falluja have agreed to observe a ceasefire.

...

The US-led occupation authorities has "asked for a ceasefire, for handing over those who took part in the mutilation and repeated riots."

"The demands of the two parties are logical and should be easy to satisfy," he said.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
IRAQI CHILDREN LIE WOUNDED IN FALLUJA CLINIC
Specific incidents / deaths

"We went close to Abdulaziz mosque and evacuated some wounded, when a sniper fired at us," he said. "Our driver was killed and some of the wounded died."

Date killed? 5th-9th?
Total 3 (one driver evacuating wounded, 'some' wounded also killed - min. est. of 2)
Civilian / Fighter 3/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Hundreds have been killed in the fighting, and attempts at a ceasefire have so far failed to halt the bloodshed.

...

An assessment by five international non-governmental organisations on Friday said 470 people had been killed in Falluja. Of 1,200 injured, it said 243 were women and 200 children. The groups said their estimate may be conservative.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total "hundreds"
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

"We were driving in the car and we got wounded, me in the shoulder, her in the head, her in the hand," said one small girl, pointing to other wounded children sitting around her in the clinic.

"Why are they doing this to us? We are a family, they shouldn't treat us like this."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Daily Telegraph
-
Sean Rayment
-
US TACTICS CONDEMNED BY BRITISH OFFICERS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

British rules of engagement only allow troops to open fire when attacked, using the minimum force necessary and only at identified targets.

The American approach was markedly different: "When US troops are attacked with mortars in Baghdad, they use mortar-locating radar to find the firing point and then attack the general area with artillery, even though the area they are attacking may be in the middle of a densely populated residential area.

"They may well kill the terrorists in the barrage but they will also kill and maim innocent civilians. That has been their response on a number of occasions. It is trite, but American troops do shoot first and ask questions later. They are very concerned about taking casualties and have even trained their guns on British troops, which has led to some confrontations between soldiers.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
Hamza Hendawi
-
FRIENDS OF U.S. POLICY IN IRAQ HAVE DOUBTS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Fallujah since Marines began the siege against insurgents in the city a week ago, the head of the city's hospital told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The Fallujah offensive has become an anti-American rallying cry across Iraq, with mosques on Sunday urging the faithful in Baghdad to donate food, blood, medicine - and white coffin shrouds - for the turbulent city.

Some members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council blame a series of bad calls by American officials in Iraq for the situation, by far the lowest point of the 1-year-old occupation of Iraq.

Critics say the military has used excessive force in moving to put down this past week's Shiite and Sunni uprisings and U.S. administrators have underestimated the depth of Iraqis' suspicion of American intentions.

U.S. handling, they say, has played into the hands of U.S. opponents in Iraq, raising the profile of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as well as the insurgents at a time when the focus should have been on the scheduled June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis.

"Everything points to the failure of the Americans' security policy in Iraq," said Mahmoud Othman, an outspoken member of the U.S.-backed Governing Council. "The Americans cannot solve the problems of Iraq because of their ignorance of the language, customs and traditions."

"It did not come as a big surprise to me that they are trying to settle problems with more than one party through military means," Othman, a Sunni Kurd, said Sunday.

U.S. occupation authorities say they had no choice but to act decisively to eliminate what they say was a threat to future Iraqi democracy - Sunni insurgents, who killed and mutilated four American civilians in Fallujah on March 31, and al-Sadr, who has repeatedly challenged the authority of the Americans and their Iraqi allies.

...

But some Iraqi politicians have condemned U.S. military tactics in Fallujah in unusually strong language.

"It was not right to punish all the people of Fallujah, and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal," said senior Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, one of the United States' closest allies in Iraq.

...

Relief convoys carrying donations from Iraqis, including Shiites, have been arriving at the mainly Sunni city, reflecting a broadening sympathy for the insurgents and the city's inhabitants.

"No Iraqi likes to see an imperial power like the United States beating up on people who are essentially their cousins," said Juan R. Cole, a University of Michigan lecturer and a prominent expert on Iraqi affairs. "There is a danger that the vindictive attitude of the Americans ... will push the whole country to hate them. A hated occupier is powerless even with all the firepower in the world," he said.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
20:04 (UK)
-
AROUND 600 IRAQIS KILLED IN FALLUJA  
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Falluja since U.S. forces launched an offensive against Sunni guerrillas in the town a week ago, the head of the main hospital says.

"I would say more than 600 have been killed, but the number may not be absolutely accurate because many families have already buried their dead in their gardens," Rafa Hayad al-Issawi, the director of Falluja's hospital, told Reuters on Sunday.

As well as the dead, al-Issawi estimated that around 1,200 people had been injured in the fighting, some of the fiercest that Iraq has seen since U.S.-led forces invaded the country last March to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total  600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The Marines conducting the week-long operation in Falluja have been accused of firing indiscriminately on people in the city, killing women and children.

U.S. military spokesmen have strenuously denied those accusations, saying troops are trained to ensure all their actions are extremely precise and only combatants are killed.

A shaky ceasefire has held in Falluja for the past day, allowing tens of thousands of women and children to flee the besieged town for safety. Falluja has a population of around 250,000.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Los Angeles Times
-
Alissa J. Rubin
-
FALLOUJA RESIDENTS CALL U.S. TACTICS OPPRESSIVE
Specific incidents / deaths

Asked if she could imagine a cordial relationship with the Americans some time in the future, Umm Marwan's look turned disdainful.

"At one house they bombed they killed a family of 25 - the entire family except for a 1 1/2-year-old boy," she said.

"How can I look at people who have done that?"

Date killed? 5th-11th?
Total (family of) 25
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Those who have fled Fallouja, however, painted a picture of a city made unbearable by U.S. military tactics, and a populace ever more sympathetic to the armed uprising.

After months of house searches, arrests and slayings by U.S. forces targeting insurgents, the city was cordoned off by Marines last Sunday. Under siege, Fallouja has been battered by bombs and strafed with gunfire. Thousands of women, children and disabled people have streamed out in the last two days.

Families who reached Baghdad appeared in shock. Some were angry. Some wept. Others displayed no emotion at all.

...

Marines vowed to pacify Fallouja about 10 days ago, after four U.S. security contractors were attacked by insurgents and a mob burned and mutilated their bodies.

In recounting the incident, Marwa indicated that it was the crowd's behavior - and not that of the killers - that she found questionable.

"The mujahedin killed them and left them alone," she said. "It was some of the mob that was there that pulled them apart."

Some of the women with whom she fled, though, said even the mutilation was understandable.

"Those people who dragged the Americans' bodies through the streets, they certainly had had a brother or a father killed by the Americans; they had burnt hearts," Umm Samir said.

...

Numerous witnesses said U.S. forces made it impossible for many of the injured to reach the city's main hospitals, shot up ambulances and stopped people from burying their dead at the main cemetery; Marines have said the insurgents took up positions in mosques and used ambulances to ferry in weapons and fighters.

"You see when the mujahedin saw all the attacks, many, many men began becoming mujahedin," Marwa said. "The place is now filled with mujahedin; there is not a neighborhood in Fallouja that doesn't have mujahedin."

While the Americans blast instructions over loudspeakers, the local fighters have benefited from a dialogue with residents.

On Wednesday, insurgents came to Umm Marwan's door and told her to leave because they were taking up positions in the house behind hers and planned to fire on the Marines. That, the insurgents anticipated, would draw retaliatory fire and there was the chance that rockets could hit Umm Marwan's house.

The family rushed to find somewhere to go, but many relatives' houses were full. When the family explained the situation to the insurgents, they agreed to move their position.

Such small incidents create bonds and build support for the insurgents' cause. "We feel safe when we see the mujahedin," said Marwa as she adjusted her pale green headscarf.

US/military viewpoint

"We are confronting and killing the evil-doers who have a grasp on this city," Lt. Col. Gregg Olson, who has overseen the military activity in Fallouja, said Saturday. "I like to think that the 60,000 people who left agree that the terrorists and criminals in their city have to be eliminated."

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said earlier in the week: "We are horrified by the fact that the insurgents are trying to conduct their operations amongst the population that doesn't support them."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
TIME
-
Mark Thompson
-
HOW TO SQUEEZE A CITY
Specific incidents / deaths On Wednesday, a U.S. air strike killed 40 people at the Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque, according to the Islamic clerics Group located next to it, but Marine officers said only insurgents had been killed.
Date killed? 7th
Total 40
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] In the first five days of fighting alone, as many as 300 civilians died in block-to-block combat, according to doctors at Fallujah's main hospital.

...

Iraqi casualties were heavy: locals said hundreds of civilians have been killed, though the U.S. says most of the dead are insurgents.
Date range? 5th-9th
Total 300 (civilians only)
Civilian / Fighter

"300 civilians" according to doctors; "U.S. says most of the dead are insurgents" (insurgents not included in figure of 300, however)

Selected info, comment, analysis

City combat blunts the Marines' chief advantages: speed and awareness of what is ahead. Buildings create vast "dead spaces" where the enemy can hide. The cityscape hinders communications and prevents anything that flies low, like helicopters, spy drones and warplanes, from assisting friendly forces on the ground for very long. Life-and-death decisions must be made instantly: 90% of the targets are less than 50 yds. away and seen for only seconds. "When they start zinging RPGs in here, you can't really do anything about it," says Staff Sergeant Mike Conran. "It's really just dumb luck if you get hit."

US/military viewpoint In some neighborhoods, the Marines say, anyone they spot in the streets is considered a "bad guy." Says Marine Major Larry Kaifesh: "It is hard to differentiate between people who are insurgents or civilians. You just have to go with your gut feeling."
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
IslamOnline
-
Sara Korshid
-
PACIFY FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths

"Many of the families who were with us died, entire families were burnt."

...

Sadly, many of the people trying to make their way out of Fallujah didn't survive. "Trying to leave, we were bombed by US forces. As a result, many of the families who were with us died, entire families were burnt� on our way, we frequently passed by ashes, the remains of dead bodies� bodies of women, children and elderly people."

...

Perhaps Umm Shahd's story of one of her in-laws best portrays the scale of the tragedy in the sealed town: "My father-in-law's wife was in the ninth month of pregnancy, but due to the curfew imposed by US authorities, she couldn't leave her house, she couldn't go to the doctor to give birth, which resulted in the intrauterine death of the baby."

"Where is the Red Cross? We haven't seen any international organization help us in Fallujah."

The baby was never born because the mother was unable to get out of her house, thanks to the US-imposed curfew.

...

According to Dr. Mustafa, the only pharmacist who provided medication to the people of Fallujah under the siege was killed two days ago in his pharmacy during the bombing of the city.

Date killed? 9th and earlier
Total

1 (intrauterine death of baby) + 1 (pharmacist) =2

(Also "many of the families... entire families" who were fleeing killed: IBC's conservative definition of "family is "3" but "many" is undefined - impossible to estimate meaningfully from this, better left to cumulative stats)

Civilian / Fighter 2/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Fleeing what she describes as a "massacre" that killed hundreds of Iraqis, Umm Muhanned left Fallujah two days ago with her husband and six kids. On their way to Baghdad, they were accompanied by several other families who also had no choice but to leave, at the risk of their lives, as the occupation forces were sealing off the town, allowing no one to enter or flee.

...

Umm Muhanned was incapable of describing the life in the beleaguered city. "There are no words by which I can explain to you the situation we fled in Fallujah. Water and electricity are cut. No food. Nothing. Aid convoys were prevented from delivering supplies to us, except for a very little amount that was by no means enough, by no means proportionate to our needs, to the humanitarian tragedy in Fallujah."

...

The United States' actions are allegedly in retaliation to the killing and mutilation of the four contractors, three of whom were Americans, who, according to Umm Muhanned, Dr. Ali, and many other Iraqis, were not civilians. "Even if we assume they were civilians," Umm Muhanned reflects, "thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed by the occupation forces, but no one has moved to condemn their death� as though the lives of American civilians are valuable while the lives of Iraqi civilians are worthless."

Forgotten are nine Iraqis, including three children and an ABC News cameraman, who were killed in a US raid on Fallujah, five days before the killing of the four contractors.

US/military viewpoint  

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