Monday, November 07, 2005

Operation "Steel Curtain"

There is a huge US military operation once again targeting the Al-Qa'im area of Iraq, this one named "Steel Curtain."

As tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of the massacre in Fallujah, the US military pushes on with house to house fighting in the small down of Husaybah, near Al-Qa'im.

According to Al-Jazeera: "Falih Abd al-Karim, an Iraqi journalist, told Aljazeera that US and Iraqi forces were positioned in al-Sikak neighbourhood and north and south of 12 Rabia al-Awal neighbourhood in central Husaybah.

This came after US warplanes on Sunday evening targeted al-Jamahir, al-Risala and other neighbourhoods in the town, destroying houses, and killing and injuring dozens of people, he said.

The bodies remained under the debris of the houses because US forces do not allow burials or transfer of the injured to hospitals, Abd al-Karim added.

The US shelling has demolished government buildings, including al-Jamahir primary school, al-Qaim preparatory school for boys, the educational supervision building, al-Qaim post office and communication centre, al-Qaim education directorate and two mosques in the city, he said."

Once again, the effects of this on the civilian population are either under-reported or not reported at all in most mainstream outlets in the US. The following is a first-person account from journalist Sabah Ali who ventured into the besieged area very recently. This is some of the only information available from an independent source regarding the ongoing assault. The following is his piece written on November 6: Read Full Article