Fallujah residents left displaced and bitter

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050115/FALLUJAH15/TPInternational/Africa

BAGHDAD -- Wafat Hassan is at hope's end, her tale a long stream of woe that has all but dried out her tear ducts.

After losing her husband, her house and her hometown, she and her five children wound up at a mosque in Baghdad that has been turned into a makeshift refugee camp for 930 Fallujans who've reached the end of the line.

"What have we done to deserve this?" she cries. "When can we move back to our homes? Shall we be away from our homes forever?"

Two months after their city became a major battleground between U.S. forces and insurgents, the lives of Ms. Hassan and many Fallujans who fled continue to flounder.

The U.S.-led ground invasion of the city was supposed to secure it so that Iraq's national election could go forward, but for Fallujans, that logic seems a universe away.

more

[TwentyFive]

1. What the hell are we doing over there?

We're ruining these people lives and killing their families. It's costing us billions. We're creating new terrorists faster than we can kill them. There are no winners.

What kind of a country are we?

[Vincardog]

2. we are becoming a corrupt evil empire ruled by the Mad King george.

[madison2000]

3. This is a heartbreaking story

and they haven't even seen the destruction yet. It seems like we are the ones who should be helping them, but now they hate us and will never trust us again.

It almost sounds like a silly board game: everyone gets to start out with $100, a fifth of a house, and a few dead relatives- lets see who can build a normal life the fastest. :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[Supersedeas]

6. Hearts and Minds

[mediaman007]

4. What happened to those fabulous rebuilding programs. I thought

that materials and tools would be available for the Iraqis to make Falluja a bustling center of democracy and free enterprise. Silly me!

[uppityperson]

5. Can you say quagmire? I can change my mind with new info

I have always believed this invasion was wrong. However, I used to think that the USA needed to stay and clean up the mess, rather than just destabilizing and leaving as usual. I whole think was wrong, but wronger was to just f* it up and get out. However, I now believe that staying would be worse than leaving. It's going to be bad, no matter what, but my government needs to support our soldiers, and do what is best overall.

[NYC]

7. That woman assumes she still has a home to return to.

"What have we done to deserve this?" she cries. "When can we move back to our homes? Shall we be away from our homes forever?"

I doubt she does have a house. Not much was left standing in Fallujah, from what I read.

Will she be voting in the newly imposed democracy? I doubt it. I read yesterday that some people didn't even receive voter registration forms. (Too dangerous to hand them out.)

[CoffeeCat]

8. When will the American MSM report this truth?!

I'm so sick and tired of reading the truth about Iraq from foreign media sources.

I see this link is from the Globe and Mail--Canada right?

What the hell is wrong with our MSM????

Don't they see that they are co-conspirators when they keep the truth from the American public?

It's truly a crime!

America needs to know the devastation we have caused. America needs to know that their tax dollars are paying to displace, kill, and shatter the lives of the Iraqi people.

We are NOT helping these people. We are terrorizing them and the situation has steadily worsened.

Will the MSM EVER do the right thing?

[Senator Lamb]

9. uhh 2/3 or al Qaeda is destroyed

too bad we are making so many more in the process in a country that al Qaeda wasnt even in the first place! how many more people will wake up and want our destruction?