Tuesday, December 28, 2004

I had dinner yesterday with a group of parents that lost their children in iraq.

Along with representatives of several anti-war groups, including San Francisco-based Global Exchange, CodePink, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), the parents will be distributing some US$600,000 worth of aid for the estimated 250,000 people who fled the city in advance of U.S. offensive last month in which some 2,000 Iraqis and at least 71 U.S. soldiers were killed.
(http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/100463/1/)

The parents include Fernando and Rosa Suarez of Escondido, California, whose son Jesus was killed in Iraq during the early days of the invasion March 27, 2003;

Amalia Avila, whose son, Lance Cpl Victor Gonzalez of Watsonville, California, died in Fallujah's al Anbar province on October 13 this year; and Nadia McCaffrey, whose son, Patrick of Petaluma, California, was killed last June 22.

Also traveling with the group is Adele Welty, whose son, New York City firefighter Tim Welty, died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

To date, around 1,000 residents have been permitted to return to the city which had a population of 250,000.







According to the most recent media reports, about one third of the buildings in the city were leveled in the fighting. On Thursday, three Marines reportedly were killed in clashes there that indicated to observers that the city was still not entirely secure. In addition, most services, including water and electricity, have been cut off as a result of the destruction, suggesting that the city will not be able to support its original population until major repairs have can be completed on basic infrastructure. you can see the size of destruction in this satellite image: http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/fallujah_111404_full.html











dozens of Iraqis were killed today, 55 of them were from the Iraqi police and army, the following picture is of a man checking a destroyed police station 20 kilometers south of Tikrit,today. Twelve policemen were killed when gunmen attacked the station, assasinated them then destroyed the building.



Posted by: Raed Jarrar / 11:59 PM


medea benjamin from global exchange and eman from occupation watch

Posted by: Raed Jarrar / 11:47 PM




Fernando and Rosa Suarez of Escondido, California, whose son Jesus was killed in Iraq during the early days of the invasion March 27, 2003. Rosa was crying most of the time.
Posted by: Raed Jarrar /12.50



from the left: Adele Welty, whose son, New York City firefighter Tim Welty, died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Eman from occupation watch, Marry from AFSC, and medea from global exchange

Posted by: Raed Jarrar / 12.49