FALLUJAH: A CITY UNDER SEIGE

Fallujah: A city still under siege
By Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil

FALLUJAH, Iraq - One and a half years after the US assault on Fallujah, residents tell of ongoing suffering, lack of jobs, little reconstruction and continuing violence.

The US Marines Corps launched Operation Phantom Fury against the city of Fallujah in November 2004, destroying an estimated 70% of the buildings, homes and shops, and killing between 4,000 and 6,000 people, according to the Fallujah-based non-governmental organization (NGO) the Study Center for Human Rights and Democracy (SCHRD).

Inter Press Service (IPS) found that the city remains under draconian, biometric security, with retina scans, fingerprinting and X-raying required for anyone entering the city. Fallujah remains an island: not even the residents of the surrounding towns and villages such as Karma, Habbaniya, Khalidiya, which fall under Fallujah's administrative jurisdiction, are allowed in.

Read the whole story here after you've submitted to the retina scan.

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