Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily, Inter Press Service, October 31:
Increased violence is being countered by harsh new measures across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say.
“Thousands have been killed here by the Multi-National Forces (MNF) and Iraqi allies, and the situation is getting worse every day,” a member of the Fallujah city council speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. “We have no role to play because the Americans always prefer violent solutions that have led from one disaster to another.”
The violence appears to be affecting the civilian population far more than it is stifling the resistance. The suffering of people in Fallujah increases by the day, and the number of resistance snipers appears to be increasing in response to the U.S. use of snipers against civilians.
“In fact it is many more snipers now, considering the number of incidents that have taken place,” Sebri Ahmed from the local police told IPS. “Our men are terrified, and the majority of them have quit after serious threats of getting killed, like our three main leaders.”
General Hudhairi Abbas, former deputy police chief of Fallujah was killed two months ago. Colonel Ahmed Dirii was killed soon after, and last week the police leader of al-Anbar, General Shaaban al-Janabi, was assassinated in front of his family house in Fallujah.
There are now no police patrols on the streets of Fallujah, and the only policemen around remain inside their main station.…