Civilians Killed In US Night Raid In Fallujah

Two weeks after President Barack Obama proclaimed the end of the US “combat mission” in Iraq, a night raid by US troops in the city of Fallujah has claimed the lives of at least eight Iraqi civilians. So much for the Peace of Obama's speechwriters.

Wednesday’s raid provided one more indication that the US occupation of Iraq continues and American troops are still battling to suppress Iraqi resistance. While the US military has reduced its deployment in the country, the nearly 50,000 troops that remain are prepared for and are engaged in combat, the August 31 official deadline for an end to combat operations notwithstanding.

American military officials claim that the raid was aimed at killing or capturing a leading member of Al Qaeda of Mesopotamia, an insurgent group. Those killed, they say, were insurgents who fired on the joint US-Iraqi raiding party as it approached a house where the targeted individual was believed to be.

Both residents and local officials, however, strongly dispute this account. Fallujah’s police chief Brig. Gen. Faisal al Essawi told the AFP news agency that eight civilians were killed, including two women and two children. The casualties were confirmed by a local hospital.

The New York Times cited Iraqi police and area residents reporting that “Four of the dead were brothers between the ages of 10 and 18.”

Iraqi police said that four US Army helicopters provided support during the 1 a.m. operation.

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Local residents reported a scene of “chaos and fear as American soldiers and Iraqi security officers moved through the area in the darkness,” the Times reported. “They accused the Iraqis of firing indiscriminately at people who represented no threat.”

“I was sleeping when I was awakened by gunfire and explosions,” a resident told the Times. “I went out to see what was happening and they shot at me. They missed, but I went back inside and stayed there.”

Fallujah, 43 miles west of Baghdad, is located in the predominantly Sunni Anbar Province, a center of resistance to the US occupation since the 2003 invasion. In November 2004, the US military subjected Fallujah to a brutal siege, in which thousands were killed and more than half of the city’s buildings reduced to rubble. The population of 600,000 was reduced by half due to the killings and the forced exodus of those who fled the assault.

The siege involved some of the worst war crimes of the US occupation, including the summary execution of prisoners and the use of white phosphorus shells to burn insurgents and unarmed civilians alive.

This week’s murderous raid has reawakened the deep-seated rage of the local population over the suffering inflicted by the US occupation forces.

“The security situation in Fallujah may deteriorate because of what happened today,” Abdulfattah Izghear, a city council member, told the Washington Post. “We asked US troops and the Iraqi government to explain this unjustified action and this naked aggression against civilians.”

On Thursday, the city’s Municipal Council declared three days of mourning for the victims of the raid. 

From Iraq Today.