Civilians are fleeing Sadr City just as they left Fallijah.
How can our country just keep on doing this? Where are the grown-ups who will stop the madness?
Baghdad suburb residents flee after US raidsSome residents of the mainly Shia Baghdad suburb of Sadr City are fleeing their homes - apparently scared of reprisals by US troops searching the area for militants.
The US raids, which started on 30 June, led to the deaths of 26 people and dozens were injured, according to government officials. Schools, government offices and many shops have been closed, and eye-witnesses said houses and shops had been damaged.
"I'm fleeing my home today and won't take anything with me. I cannot see my children dying. We need protection and we cannot get it in Sadr City any more. US troops are invading our houses, shooting at our doors and killing innocent people and I don't want my loved ones to be the next victims," said Mamun Ali, 45.
"They made it clear during their raid on 30 June that they were going to return to finish the militants and surely dozens of innocent Iraqis are going to die just for remaining in their homes," Ali said. "We are going to Najaf today with the hope of finding a camp for the displaced to stay in and save our lives."
The rest of the article tells how the other cities don't want the refugees coming to them. It is so heartbreaking to read how they are running out of medical supplies.
Dahr Jamail tells more about the medical situation in this article. The doctor sounds heartbroken. They must feel hopeless.
Civilian Death Toll rises in Sadr CityThey are in fear of the US raiding their hospitals.
According to Dr. Ali Jumali at Khadasiyah Hospital, the only facility in Sadr City with a morgue, 221 residents from the area who died as a result of the fighting were brought to the morgue between May 4 and May 31. Dr. Jumali said another 100 bodies were sent to Adnan Hospital in central Baghdad during the same time frame.
"We don’t receive the fighters’ bodies," Jumali said, "because we are afraid the American military will raid the hospital as they’ve done in the past." Jumali also said the hospital cannot even provide emergency care to men thought to have been resisting US patrols, for fear the Army will raid the facility in search of suspects. According to Jumali, during that four-week period in May, well over 300 civilians, many of them children, died during the clashes.
...""Even as a doctor, I can’t look at the children’s bodies," he said quietly. "The biggest problem we have now is the Americans are using a different bullet which shreds them, and we are left with performing so many amputations now."
Remember what they told the people of Fallujah? They said anyone who remained would be considered an enemy combatant. Fallujah only had about a quarter million. There are 2 million in Sadr City....where will they go? Who will feed them and give them medical care?
Here's what the people of Fallujah were told.
Leave or risk dyingPrior to the second siege in November, its citizens were given two choices: leave the city or risk dying as enemy insurgents.
..."...."What of the estimated 50,000 residents who did not leave Falluja? The US military suggested there were a couple of thousand insurgents in the city before the siege, but in the end chose to treat all the remaining inhabitants as enemy combatants.
I have called congress people so many times, we have protested this war at rallies. There is nothing else I can do but write about it.
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