War Crime Commission Hearing: Statutory Declaration by Abbas Zaid Obaid

I, ABBAS ZAID OBAID (Iraqi Passport No. G2077826) of full age and a citizen of Iraq do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare as follows:

1. I am 45 years old.

2. I now live in Iraq.

3. The purpose of making this declaration is to highlight the destruction in Fallujah city in Iraq.

4. The American military operations started in Fallujah about four months after the entry of invading forces to Iraq, when they tried very hard to establish a foothold in the city but the people of Fallujah try to defend it and make it a symbol of resistance. Also there were defenders coming from neighboring cities to join them.

5. Location of the city was suitable for the invading forces from all aspects to achieve easy victory. It was a land that cannot be defended by regular armies due to its geographical location surrounded by river and highway from 3 sides. And how can civilians defend it with only simple guns? The invading forces aimed to devastate this city and to make it a lesson (discipline) for the rest of Iraqi cities and for all who may think to oppose and resist the invading US forces, this monster is rampant, particularly when they consider and believe that Muslims are the new enemy of America after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

6. There is an Arabic saying that “calculations of the field cannot be identical with the calculations of the production” because what resulted after the first battle of Fallujah was a glorious victory which was achieved by the defenders. Humiliation and shame was the only gain of the invading forces, furthermore, the invading troops begged the defenders to allow the invading forces to enter the city only as a symbolic procession in order to safeguard their face after the had pounding of the city by the most recent military weapons produced by factories and laboratories developments designed for mass killing of people, such as depleted uranium, white phosphorus. Destroying the houses, streets and infrastructure of the city.

7. Families who were living in the city returned to it after the cooling down of the intensity of military operations and were taken to remove the consequences of aggression while they are keeping in mind that the coming event would be more severe because the Americans with their cowboy mentality did not accept the defeat which forced their troops to a desperate situation beyond their worst calculations.

8. For a period of more than six months the invading forces mobilize and expand all its efforts and capabilities to the extent that they call for British troops to replace them in southern Baghdad, to pounding the city with all what they have in store with ammunition, bombs and missiles. (Only ALLAH the merciful the greatest have the power to know it). Bombers ( B-52 bombers) bombarding the city daily,even one inch in the city was not spared, destruction was everywhere making the city to become a large cemetery for burial of bodies of defenders in its gardens and playgrounds. Many houses collapsed that led to even homes to become a cemetery for their owners.

9. Here a question comes to mind after all this devastation to this city with a limited area, who knew that it could tolerate all this huge amounts of shelling and air bombardments? One wonders when one knows that the total area targeted in the bombing was no more than thirty-five square kilometers!

10. I can summarize the results of the military operations that took place in the city as follows:

A. Destruction of roads.

-North and east of the city was surrounded by the high way, which is established according to the latest global requirements, this road is fully destroyed and there is no median, sidewalks fences, protective fence, parking resting locations and no traffic signs, the asphalt is fully with a pits and holes so the road is not suitable for vehicles.
- The road network linked the city to the suburbs and other cities before the invasion was valid for trucks and vehicles use, turned by military operations due to the passage of heavy military vehicles to roads full of holes and bumps.
- Military operations destroy the entire interior of the streets in the city.

B. Destruction of electric power network

Electricity network suffered the most severe destruction by military operations which destroy everything.

- Destruction of processing power lines to homes, shops, workshops and cutting wires, many towers are damaged or removed and most of transformers are destroyed.
- Lighting network of internal roads in fully destroyed.
- Destruction of power transmission lines, high tension and transition lines which pass nearby the city which is a part of the national high tension distribution network.

C-Destruction of water system network supply

The network of water supply has been totally destroyed.

- The passage of heavy military vehicles destroyed the network supplying water.
- Destruction of all roads, streets and alleys to crushed most of the pipes buried under the ground for the processing of pure water for homes and commercial and industrial shops.
- Destruction of the only water processing plant installed on the Euphrates River, which was equipped with the supply of clean water.
- Destruction of the only water purification plant installed unit on the Euphrates River, which was equipped with the debtor of clean water.

D. Destruction of the sewerage system

- The sewage system as much as experienced by the network processing of pure water has been completely destroyed.

E-Destruction of the educational system

The education system was the hardest hit by the military operations and was the first to be targeted by the invading forces as follows:

- Schools were being occupied by the invading forces and the teaching staff were prevented from working and also the students were sent home so that the whole system of education would collapse.
- The destruction of many schools, colleges and educational institutions was a result of indiscriminate shelling between school, hospital, homes and the site of resistance.
- They breaking into a lot of schools under the pretext of tracking resistance.
- Intimidate and prevent students from further studying because the schools were often targets of choice for machine gun fire at random.
- Prevention of teaching staff and students to come to schools because of banditry which last for several days
- The lack of access to school books and material, forcing the school administrations to use old ones.
- Failure to provide the necessary protection for schools and teaching staff from abuse.
- As for the students and their families, they are the first victims of this dirty war
-So many students left school and stopped learning and become illiterate and their families sent them to work in heavy jobs to earn money for a living.

F. Destruction of hospitals and health institutions

Health institutions have suffered so much because of the brutal aggression of the invading forces, especially when it needs to work in such conditions in its full capacity. The damage done to these institutions are as follows

- destruction of all small clinics that provide medical services.
- closing and destroying all the private clinics in the city.
- closing and destroying most of the pharmacies in the city.
- blockade of the road leading to the only hospital in the city and shooting over the heads of those who are coming to the hospital by foot.
- destruction of most of the ambulances in the city.
- the damage to major transportation routes affect emergency cases.

G. Destruction of shops and the industrial zone

Shops were destroyed together with the industrial zone by invading forces which stormed the shops and broke the locks and looted it. This led to a rise of unemployment leaving many were families without any source of livelihood.

H. Destruction of agricultural areas around the city

The agricultural areas surrounding the city were destroyed by the invading forces which did not care about the farm, homes and irrigation canals. The use of tanks and armored vehicles destroyed any plants like wheat vegetables crops at the farms. This resulted in the destruction of most of the irrigation canals and thus leaving farms without water.

I.Destruction of mosques and places of worship

Mosques received special attention from the invading forces which invoked their hatred as they believed that mosques are the headquarters for the presence of the resistance who take up position in the minarets to monitor and snipe invading forces. This resulted in the invading forces destroying 90 % of mosques in the city. And the destruction of 35% of the minarets and 65% of the imams, Ktabaiha, moathens (those who call people to prayers), guards and servants were killed.

And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declaration Act 1960.

Subscribed and solemnly declared by the above named

ABBAS ZAID OBAID on ___ October 2009 at _______.