CPT Iraq - Human Rights Testimonies
Omar is a barber from Falluja. He gave the following testimony on February 27, 2005, to a delegation organized by Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. The events are told from Omar's perspective.
Falluja is a place of tradition, where religious and tribal leaders work with the mayor to govern the city. It is known as the city of a hundred mosques. “I and my brother against my cousin; I and my cousin against the stranger” is a proverb used to describe the strong familial bonds that characterize local culture. The family's honor and land are both very important, as is the tradition of blood payment: a system of retribution whereby a family pays compensation in money or blood if one of its members commits a crime. Omar said that “it was a difficult city for Saddam; even he did not mess with it.”
During the 2003 invasion, Coalition Forces did not bomb Falluja or nearby Ramadi.
In the early days of the occupation, religious and tribal leaders in Falluja had an unwritten agreement with the U.S. forces that Fallujans would not attack the U.S. soldiers as long as the U.S. military did not enter the city. The religious leaders felt that to have American soldiers in the city, able to observe the women, would be a violation of honor.
In late April 2003 the U.S. military were occupying the Al Ka'ed School. Fallujan residents considered this occupation a violation of their unwritten agreement and asked the troops to leave the school. When the troops failed to do so, religious and tribal leaders, merchants, teachers and residents staged a non-violent demonstration calling for the troops to leave and the school to be used as a school again. Some demonstrators threw rocks at the soldiers. The soldiers responded by opening fire, killing eighteen people, including three women who were inside their houses and were not participating in the demonstration. One of those killed was Omar's cousin. The soldiers shot at ambulances, medics and others trying to help the wounded.
As a result of this, the people felt that the U.S. forces were acting without honor. The imams began calling for the expulsion of the troops from the city, and also for blood payment.
The presence of U.S. contractors in the city was seen as a further violation of the unwritten agreement, because they were there to build military bases. Four contractors were killed at the beginning of April 2004 and their bodies hung on a bridge. The killers filmed the killings and showed the film in the markets to prove that appropriate revenge had been taken for the deaths at the school and that the matter was at an end.
Even after the April 2004 assault on Falluja, U.S. military forces still occasionally shot at civilian houses on the pretext that the Jordanian Al Qaeda leader Al Zarqawi was hiding there. Troops would tell the local people that they needed to leave and thus the locals fled. They left with whatever money they had; when their money ran out they went back to the city to work. Then they were told by loudspeakers that they had to leave the city again. This became a pattern that continued between April and November 2004.
Between April and November 2004 the US troops bombed about 20% of the houses in Falluja. Each time they bombed a house they made an excuse for doing so and then apologized for their mistake.
When they were told to evacuate, some people were unable to leave Falluja for a variety of reasons; many of them were arrested. If an imam prayed for someone who had spoken out against the occupation he was harassed by the U.S. military.
The brother, father and uncle of Omar's friend used to travel outside Falluja to buy vegetables which they would then sell in Falluja markets. One day they had a problem with their car and stopped at the side of the road to try to fix the car. Some U.S. soldiers suspected that they were terrorists with a car bomb, and shot them all dead.
Omar had left Falluja during previous attacks, but returned to his Fallujan home for the month of Ramadan. A new bombing campaign began at that time. Fallujans believed that the U.S. military chose this time frame on purpose because Islam forbids fighting during Ramadan. The U.S. troops bombed whole streets in response to single gunshots. Omar reported that the U.S. forces said that they were ready to wipe out the whole city, and that they considered everyone to be combatants, shooting even women and children.
Prompt burial of the dead is important within Islamic culture. Some Fallujan fighters put down their weapons to bury the dead. U.S. soldiers shot at and bombed them and others while they were carrying out these burials, even in cemeteries. According to Omar, every garden in Falluja has at least one or two bodies buried there because it was not possible to transport them to the cemetery.
Fallujans had some assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Omar reported that some Fallujans told the American troops to leave their planes, come in with their humvees and tanks and meet the resistance face-to-face like men.
Omar saw three Fallujan men who had been handcuffed behind their backs, blindfolded and shot dead.
He estimated that after the November 2004 bombing campaign approximately 75% of the houses in Falluja were destroyed.
Omar's house had been damaged, with two rooms and the reception hall destroyed. Omar and some friends were staying in another house. One day they heard injured people in the street crying for help. Omar and others went out to help but a former Iraqi army officer told them to go inside. The U.S. military had said that no one was allowed out on the street, even to help the injured.
After seven days U.S. soldiers started calling on loudspeakers, “Your families are waiting for you at Al Furkan mosque.” So Omar and others left the house they had been hiding in for three days without food; not only had it been the period of fasting for Ramadan but also they did not have any food. The mosque was a mile away. People were told to drop their weapons but they had no weapons. They did not see how the families could have got to the mosque, because the soldiers kept shooting; they suspected it was a plot against them. A friend of Omar's suggested that they should carry white flags. They walked along in the shelter of the wall until they came to an intersection. They crossed it one at a time carrying white flags; they were shot at but not hit.
On their way they saw a man in front of his gate crying. His mother had a physical disability and could not walk. They suggested carrying her, but she told them to just leave her and go. “Just take my son away from here,” she said. As they continued, soldiers at the end of each street shot at them six times.
They saw a woman and child (with a white flag), a woman and two children (no flag) and an old woman (with a white flag), all of whom had been killed by bombs.
Their group, including the son of the woman with a disability, reached the mosque. The ING and U.S. soldiers told them to raise their hands and go forward one by one. Omar tried to talk to an ING officer about the disabled woman, but an American soldier told him to shut up and hit him with his assault rifle.
They were told to sit down with their heads between their legs and had to stay in that position for an hour. An American officer told the ING to take them six at a time. Two in his group passed out from hunger and thirst; an American officer ordered two bottles of water for the six.
They were handcuffed in twos and put in trucks. They were in rows with their legs splayed. They were transferred to the railway station. On the journey American soldiers hit them and some ING hit them, called them terrorists and cursed their families and religious leaders. One of the detainees told a soldier it was a dishonor to curse the religious leaders, and he was surrounded by soldiers and beaten. Some of the men tried to explain that they were civilians who just wanted to survive, but soldiers said that they were terrorists. The detainees tried to open their handcuffs, because the cuffs were cutting off circulation. Some got them open and some burned them off (they were plastic flexicuffs). Six still had cuffs on, and they asked to have them removed.
At the railway station, they were taken into a warehouse and put in a small room. They saw people lying covered in blood, and thought that they would be executed. They started praying. They saw soldiers dancing, laughing and chewing tobacco. The American soldiers removed their handcuffs and soldiers started writing numbers on their hands and necks. Soldiers searched them and took from Omar his mobile, $200US, and 6,000 Iraqi dinar; they gave him receipts.
Soldiers handcuffed them again, but separately this time. They were told that they would have to wait for transport, and they had to carry the injured men. One U.S. soldier told them in Arabic to hurry up. At the warehouse gate they had to stand for an hour. A man who was injured was bleeding and told the interpreter that he couldn't keep standing up. They were blindfolded again and separated from the injured. They were put in rows on the truck and told to keep their heads down between their legs or they would be beaten. It was very dusty. They were taken to a former Saddam farm, which is now a military base. This was less than a mile away, but every hundred yards or so they stopped for an hour and they had to stay in the same position, which hurt their backs. They were driven in circles for what seemed like twelve hours in the desert. They thought that they were being taken to Camp Bucca, which is several hours south.
They were taken off the trucks, still blindfolded and handcuffed, and told to sit on the stony ground. One detainee who knew that the soil at Bucca was sand touched the ground and told the others that they were not at Bucca. The soldiers threw thin blankets to them; it was cold. When their blindfolds were removed it was dawn. They were stripped to their underwear, weighed, given an eye scan, had their blood types tested, and had six photographs taken. They were given red jumpsuits to wear, which is how they knew they were being detained.
Omar did not have documents and so the interpreter told him that he was not Iraqi but either Syrian or Saudi. Soldiers put them in small cages and interrogated them every six hours. During the interrogations they were handcuffed and shackled and a soldier trained a gun on them. It was a Marine who questioned them. The interrogators switched interpreters. Omar assumed that the interpreter was Christian because he was wearing earrings (which are forbidden for Muslim men). The soldiers did not let them sleep; they took them to the bathroom six times at night. They were given three to four crackers twice a day but they did not eat them until dusk as they still wanted to observe the Ramadan fast.
After three days of interrogation, the soldiers told Omar that they knew he was not a terrorist. They asked him where his house was. They brought a map and asked him to tell where the fighters' and terrorists' houses were. But he did not know and asked them whether they wanted him to lie. He told them he agreed with the resistance. The marine hit the desk and then Omar and told him that they would kill anyone who did not cooperate.
The soldiers then told them they would be released, and put them in larger cages (1.25m x 3m x 3m) with 11 to 12 men in each cage. The ground was dust. One wall was made of metal mesh and the others of wood. They got a thin mat and a piece of blanket. They could not lie down properly because the ground was stony. The soldiers used to disturb them by kicking up dust. One soldier picked up a handful of dust and said that Falluja had become like dust. Near the cages there was a tower with a guard. They were not allowed to talk. They were kept like that for 35 days. The interpreter told them that Ramadan was over. They were given military rations but the soldiers took out the good food such as candies. Omar once received a meal sack that still had candy in it: when he began to eat the candy a soldier saw and shook him until he spat the candy out; then the soldier took away the entire meal.
After 35 days, soldiers returned their clothes and told them they would be released. Soldiers took them into the yard and handcuffed them. Several times the soldiers took them back to jail with some excuse that the release was not ready yet. They were told to listen out for their ISN numbers; his was 2221. He was afraid that he might never get home but was told that since he had his own clothes he would definitely be released. Finally, they were all put in humvees as part of a convoy on a dangerous road. “We felt like we were being used as human shields,” Omar said.
At a location in the desert, they were lined up in front of the commanding officer who told them that they were being released. They asked about their property. The commander said that the detention center was not responsible for their property. Each detainee was given $20 for the journey home. The men were almost naked when they were released. Detainees' families regularly waited at the place where they were released for news of their relatives.
Omar and some others decided to return to Baghdad. The only way there was to walk across a bridge. Along the bridge were U.S. soldiers with weapons; the released men were afraid that they would be shot as they crossed the bridge. “We weren't killed in the war. We weren't killed in the prison. There's a good chance we won't be killed here so let's try our luck,” Omar said. They walked across the bridge. Soldiers did fire shots in the air, but Omar thought that this was just to scare them. They made it safely to Baghdad.
Omar's family had been convinced that he was dead. When his mother saw that he was alive, she was so overwhelmed that she lost consciousness for three days.
In order to get into Falluja people now have to go through multiple checkpoints that have both ING and U.S. soldiers. At each checkpoint people go through the same procedure with repeated searches. The soldiers are deployed in such a way that the ING soldiers are on the outskirts and so are more vulnerable to attack. It takes up to six hours to get through all the checkpoints. A resident must have his ID card and food ration card. The city is still under intense occupation and “looks like a large military base.” However, Fallujans would rather live in what is left of their houses than in refugee camp tents, and so many have chosen to return to their damaged homes.
Omar estimated that 75% of the houses are destroyed. He reported that there is no working hospital and the only medical provision is an aid station outside Falluja, beyond the checkpoints. Omar has not seen the Red Crescent in the city although others reported that the Red Crescent has set up an aid station. Food is limited and scarce. Water is only accessible by digging through the ground to reach the supply pipes.
The house of the woman with a physical disability has been destroyed and she has not been seen. Omar believes that her body is still under the rubble of her house. Omar considers himself lucky because only two rooms and the reception hall of his house have been destroyed, and the rest is still standing.
“Please, tell your U.S. military families what their children are being ordered to do in Falluja and Iraq,” said Omar.
* Name has been changed