IRAQ: Braving snipers, Falluja residents walk past demolished homes to an aid distribution centre, but American granola bars and breakfast cereals fail to raise hopes of a brighter future
"We have no water and this is the only food we get. We still have the feeling that our homes can be bombed at any time," said Muhammad Ali (58) yesterday, one of the few civilians who stayed in Falluja during this month's US-led offensive against rebels.
"How can our life improve? The Americans are back and the guerrillas and the people of Falluja will not accept them, so we will have more death."
The American assault, which crushed insurgents and foreign Muslim militants, was designed to help the Iraqi interim government stabilise Falluja, Iraq's most rebellious city, 50 km west of Baghdad. "We will never accept the Americans in Falluja. It will never be calm as long as they are here," said plumber Bilal Guthman (23).
Most of Falluja's 350,000 people fled before the offensive began on November 8th. Those who stayed were mostly men who wanted to protect their homes against theft. Some of them gather daily at the aid station and leave with a bag of cereals, granola bars and bagel chips.
Marine lawyer Maj Tim Hansen promised compensation for houses damaged in the fierce offensive. "We will do our best to help the Iraqi people," he said, adding that the Americans were hiring local people to clean the streets, creating jobs around the aid centre.
But Maj Hansen was bombarded with questions by Iraqis still worried about their every step in a dangerous city.
"There are dead dogs in front of our homes. They stink. Do we have the right to move away?" asked one man. "Are a group of friends allowed to gather in one home at night to feel safer?" asked another. A third elderly man who said his house was completely destroyed walked away shaking his head when he was told to ask a marine lawyer in his neighbourhood about compensation.
Marines have imposed a curfew during all hours except for 8 a.m. to noon, but some Iraqis complain that is not enough time carry out important tasks.
"How can I move around Falluja and the snipers to try and find out if my relatives across town are still alive?" asked Abdullah Taha, who is unemployed.
Others who sent their wives and children away to safety are lonely in a city that seems like a ghost town, aside from sporadic blasts and bursts of gunfire.
Security was the main US priority, according to one officer, Capt Read Omohundro. "Our focus is eliminating the rest of the weapon caches that the insurgents are using against us and primarily to help transitions, so that the Iraqi government can take control of Falluja, put in the Iraqi security forces, the new police and continue governing Falluja."
A member of the US-backed New Iraqi Army said there was only one way to pacify Falluja. "As soon as the Americans leave, Falluja will be a happy city," he said declining to give his name.
The Americans are unlikely to leave any time soon, though, and Falluja residents say anti-US resentment will only deepen when people return to homes reduced to rubble or damaged in aggressive weapons searches. - (Reuters)