|
A Town Becomes a Prison
By Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed
01/20/06 "IPS" -- -- SINIYAH, Iraq, Jan 20 - People of Siniyah
town 200 km north of Baghdad are angry over a six-mile long sand
wall constructed by the U.S. military to check attacks by
rebels.
"Our city has become a battlefield," 35 year-old engineer Fuad
Al-Mohandis told IPS at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the
city. "So many of our houses have been destroyed, and the
Americans are placing landmines in areas where they think there
might be fighters, even though most of the time it is near the
homes of innocent civilians."
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division have been coming under
nearly daily attack from roadside bombs.
Fuad said the U.S. military was now enforcing a curfew from 5pm.
He said "so many explosions occur now which terrify our
children."
The U.S. military began to use bulldozers Jan. 7 to build a
large sand barrier around the town in an effort to isolate
fighters who have been attacking U.S. patrols. Oil pipelines
from the area which lead to Turkey have been regularly sabotaged
by resistance groups.
The drastic measures have enraged many of the 3,000 residents of
the town.
"They think by these measures they can stop the resistance,"
Amer, a 43-year-old clerk at the nearby Beji oil refinery told
IPS. "But the Americans are creating more resistance by doing
these things. The resistance will not stop attacking them unless
they pull out of our country."
The clerk said he had not been able to leave his house for
several days, and was unable to work or to visit family members
outside Siniyah.
The U.S. military has named the project of building the huge
sand wall 'Operation Verdun' after a battle from World War I.
Occupation forces believe the city has become the main launching
pad for attacks on their patrols, as well as mortar attacks on
their nearby Summerall Base.
Checkpoints have been set up near the town, with U.S. and Iraqi
security forces checking every car for weapons and explosives.
"We can't work any more, our income depends on distributing
fuel," truck driver Abdul Qadr told IPS at one of the
checkpoints. "We are in a very bad situation. The city is
isolated now and they are putting barricades everywhere to stop
the fighters. Our houses are raided daily while they are
searching for foreigners, yet they can't find any of them."
Abdul Qadr, who grew up in Siniyah, told IPS he and his
neighbours felt they were in a "concentration camp". That is
also how residents of Fallujah and Samarra have described their
towns after U.S. forces built similar walls around them.
An 18km long wall has been constructed by the U.S. military in
Samarra, while Israeli-style military checkpoints remain in
place in Fallujah. The occupation forces have imposed similar
measures also in other towns such as Al-Qa'im, Haditha, Ramadi,
Balad, and Abu Hishma.
While such security measures have been in place for some time in
several towns, the attacks on security forces have only risen,
to an average of more than 100 a day over recent months.
"The Americans think the fighters are coming from outside Iraq,"
said Qadr. "But they are not. Can't they see the only real
solution is to let the people of a country rule themselves?"
(END/2006)
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
