Iraqi Journalist: The People of Falluja Left the City Before the Fighting Began

The following are excerpts from an interview with Iraqi journalistMuhammd 'Abd Al-Jabar:

Presenter, Amr Nassef: Peace upon you and may you have a good year. This is what we say: "May you have a good year," even though there is nothing good about the condition of the Arabs and Muslims. What good is there in what we see in Iraq? What good can we expect from the Sharm Al-Sheikh conference about Iraq, which will take place in a few days?

Have you seen Colonel Michael Regner, the operations commander of the Marines, and did you hear what he said? He stood in front of the ruins of Falluja, amidst hundreds of bodies strewn about the roads, and said: "This is the path of Iraq. Democracy begins here."

Oh Arabs, rejoice, the clouds have dispersed. Democracy can only be through killing children, women, and the elderly. Freedom can only be achieved by getting rid of those who take shelter in mosques. Culture can only prevail through the violation of religious teachings and the laws of mercy decreed by God and Man.

Muhammd 'Abd Al-Jabar editor, Iraqi Al-Sabah: Before I even begin, I think I must say that I am not convinced that you are capable of leading an objective and neutral debate on this program, because and excuse me for saying so – you opened this program with a prejudiced political and ideological monologue. You are looking at reality from the outside and you have presented biased questions, as though you want to direct the viewer to a certain point outlined in your mind, as the host of this program. I believe that at least from a media perspective, the entire picture should be presented to the viewers, with maximal neutrality and objectivity.

My dear, you work in a television station with resources, which can send cameramen to where the people of Fallujah fled, and then you will be able to see… Excuse me I'm answering your question. Then you will be able to see and confirm that some 200,000 Falllujah people fled the city and live in camps put up on advance, or by their relatives and families in other cities in Iraq. If you are not aware of this, it is your own problem, my brother, since you work in media and present such a program. You are supposed to make your best effort to investigate what happened to the people of the city, who had to leave before the military activity, a week ago.