Western media hasn't reported much on what's been happening in Fallujah since Saddam's Republican Guard took over, and for good reason, it seems, after reading Daniel Williams' unbelievable piece in today's Post that says things aren't A-OK there: Despite Agreement, Insurgents Rule Fallujah
Fallujah byways are a hell of roadside bombs and ambushes. On Friday, an armored sport-utility vehicle carrying this Washington Post reporter and his driver was attacked close to Fallujah on the main highway to Baghdad. Four men in an orange-and-white taxi pumped dozens of bullets from AK-47 assault rifles into the vehicle for more than two minutes, each round causing a loud thump on the vehicle's metal plating and reinforced windows. They shot from behind, from in front and from the sides, where their determined frowns and mustached faces were clearly visible, as they and we weaved down the highway at 90 mph. The fusillade stopped when the SUV, its back tires missing and its rear windows shattered, spun out of control. The gunmen sped down the road, evidently thinking their mission was accomplished. Neither the driver nor the reporter was injured.
and:
In Fallujah on Friday, neither police nor the brigade showed any eagerness to clear the streets of masked men. Their inaction made for a nerve-wracking trip. When my driver and I approached four policemen who were sitting in a squad car and asked them to escort us out of the city, one answered, "If we did that, they would kill us as spies, and kill you, too."
UPDATE: Daniel Williams discusses his ordeal on Monday's edition of All Things Considered.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Even better, Daniel Williams writes a great article about his ordeal in Tuesday's edition of the Post. He's covered conflicts all over the world, and been shot at all over the world, but writes, "...rarely have I been in a place where danger arrives from so many directions as in Iraq."
posted by dack