Last stand in Fallujah
Dying Iraqi insurgent describes battle
By HALA JABER / The Sunday Times
BAGHDAD - Wounded, probably dying, Abu Jarrah is an Iraqi insurgent hiding somewhere inside the hell of Falluja. On Friday I was put in contact with him by telephone through other insurgents who had fled the city but were still in touch with fighters holed up inside.
In a desperate, bitter call, Jarrah described how he had led a band of 18 men who had been sent into the city to resist the American attack - and how nearly all of them had been wiped out.
Though weak and at times choking with tears, he remained defiant. "We die with dignity and honour," he said, "whereas their (American) soldiers die in a dishonourable manner because they are the attackers and wrongdoers."
Jarrah and his band of young Iraqi men, some Sunni, some Shi'ite, had been dispatched to Falluja a week last Saturday. They were mostly in their 20s and came from different towns, including Mosul and Kirkuk.
One was a teacher who had turned down the chance to become an officer in the new Iraqi National Guard. Instead of a job with good pay, he chose to fight the Americans.
Another was a man called Abu Qais, who had arrived in Iraq only a week earlier from Austria where he had been living and working for five years.
The emir or senior commander of the insurgent group was called Abu Omar; he ordered Jarrah and his band into the Jolan district of Falluja, an area that would be one of the first to be targeted by U.S. forces. But they believed they were protected by a front line of fighters ahead of them.
The group was assigned two houses to which they were meant to retreat when not fighting in the streets.
After the arrangements were made, Omar left the city and took up a position a short distance away. The insurgents had a three-pronged plan: resistance inside Falluja; harrying the surrounding American lines from behind; and a wave of attacks in other cities.
By 10 p.m. on the evening of the assault, an air of confidence still persisted among the insurgents in Jolan. But by 1 a.m. Jarrah and his group suddenly found themselves alone. Other cells that had been in the area seemed to have melted away.
"All the others appeared to have withdrawn without even warning us," said Jarrah. "So we split up and retreated to the two houses and decided to have our sohoor (a last meal before fasting) and stay put until morning.
"The next thing we knew something was very wrong was when a shell landed in our midst."
The young teacher who had forsaken his chance in the Iraqi National Guard was sitting next to Jarrah. He keeled over, mortally wounded. "He whispered, 'There is no God but God', as he slumped on my chest where I heard his last gasp before he died," said Jarrah.
"I started calling 'Allahu akbar.' There was a lot of smoke in the air and I was searching for the others, but they were all dead."
Jarrah ran to the second house where he found two other members of the group, called Sofian and Sami. "The three of us agreed to go out and try to attack the tank which had fired on our house and killed our friends.
"We took what weapons we needed but as we tried to advance to attack the tank a sniper shot at Sofian and Sami. Sofian was killed instantly, a bullet in the head, he fell to the ground.
"Sami was also injured and he and I crawled to a ditch on the side of the road and lay in it, water and all, to avoid the sniper's fire.
"A bomb was fired at us and I heard more shooting. Sami was killed, too.
"I left the ditch and started to run in retreat. A sniper shot me in the thigh, shoulder and lower abdomen."
Badly wounded, Jarrah lay by the side of the road until about 9 a.m. Then he managed to get himself into a nearby house where an old civilian man was hiding with his younger son.
They treated his wounds: one bullet had gone through his shoulder and out the other side; another bullet had lodged in his thigh; the wound in his stomach had, by Friday, become infected. It was making Jarrah feel feverish. He refused to name those who had abandoned him and his group in the face of the American onslaught. But he believed it had been an act of treachery.
His plight is grim, judging by the scene inside the city described by an ordinary resident whom I also managed to contact late on Friday.
The man, who asked not to be named for his own safety, had sent his wife and children out of Fallujah weeks ago, but stayed with his father to protect their family homes. The pall and devastation of battle were horrific, he said.
"We are unable to breathe," he said. "The stench of gunfire is mixed with the stench of dead bodies."
The dead are either in the streets or the houses where they were killed.
Though the Americans still call upon the civilians to leave the city, the man does not dare step outside his door for fear of the snipers.
He does not even dare to go into his garden to retrieve a bottle of gas for his stove: the snipers are all around.
The man said he and his father had not heard from his wife and family since the start of the battle.
As the battle continued and the Americans cornered the last insurgents in the south of the city, he asked me: "Can you find my wife and children - and tell them that we are still alive?"
Sounds to me like this article is sympathetic to the "terrible" plight the the big-bad-meany Americans are creating for them by killing the terrorist SOB's. Heck, who needs enemies when you've got "allies" like these b*****ds.
RE: Is this Halifax news paper actually supportive of the TERRORISTS?! You decide.
I agree. The funny thing is how they got attacked and destroyed without even firing, as though they were innocent civilians or something. I guess it's another case of the whacko Americans indiscrminantly shooting up civilian houses and happen to hit insurgents! The only thing I think is sad about that article is that Abu Jarrah may still be alive!
RE: Is this Halifax news paper actually supportive of the TERRORISTS?! You decide.
I didn't detect the negativism or pro-terrorist tenor y'all did. It may be that merely describing this guy dispassionately, as a suffering human being, decoupled from his quest to kill all Americans -- the Jihad -- is intrinsically pro-terrorist or anti-American. When you consider this description of this guys suffering, however, remember what these guys to to their own people -- blowing them up with suicide bombs or worse, as in the case of the 50 Iraqi policement killed several weeks back. Also think about the hostages who these guys behead. Excuse me if I don't feel sympathetic to this #$*(%&^!@ guy being gut shot and suffering probably gangrene.
When I read this it occured to me that an argument could be made that it really doesn't matter where the US military strikes in its war on terror. Where we are is a magnet to the crazy Al Qaedda fighters -- witness the guy from Austria who left to go to Falluga -- who will butt heads with out military and get killed. Much better poorly armed, disorganized Al Qaedda fighters confronting our organized, well armed, coordinated soldiers in Iraq than at their leisure attacking civilian populations in the US.
Remember in the Iran-Iraq war (Iraq invaded Iran) the Iranians defended themselves with massive human wave attacks of totally clueless soldiers who died in absurd numbers, mowed down by the well armed Iraqi forces. It doesn't strike me as a very well informed strategy just to throw your soldiers at the enemy with no consideration given to how they are to survive or inflict harm on the enemy. So it seems that little thought was invested by the leadership of the insurgency to how to apply these guys reported on to any positive effect -- positive from point of view of supporting the insurgency. And yet brainwashed lackeys flock to the insurgents. Why not buy US ammunition, shoot yourself in the head while claiming victory because by sacrificing your life you have denied the use of that round to the great Satan, the US military? That would make as much sense.
Well, anyway, I personally didn't find the article pro-terrorist, though I can see your point in that the writer has artfully led us to look at this enemy as a suffering human being, presumably to ellicit our sympathy. Maybe that works on liberal Canadians (not all Canadians . . . I'm selecting the liberal ones!!!) and they will say, "Oh, the poor thin wretch! Oh how horrible and unnecessary!" It doesn't work on me, and I took pleasure in reading about how easily this viper hole was identified and destroyed.
RE: Is this Halifax news paper actually supportive of the TERRORISTS?! You decide.
Quote:
The only thing I think is sad about that article is that Abu Jarrah may still be alive!
Yep!
Bad job choice abu,But none the less your choice to murder Americans.
And what did you think was gona happen then ?[&:]
You dont see your buds who left ya or bin or al standing around attacking tanks& well armed troops do ya?[&:]
Honorable freedoom fighters? Couldnt be farther from the truth(run out of womon& children to hide behind?)
Dumb as a donkey/sheep puppetman.
yep
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RE: Is this Halifax news paper actually supportive of the TERRORISTS?! You decide.
Sounds like a lot of the terrorists are rethinking the feasibility of being a terrorist. It also sounds like our guys are doing a great job at finding and killing the terrorists, even in their safe houses.
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Is this Halifax news paper actually supportive of the TERRORISTS?! You decide.
