Fallujah park created in girl’s memory

[unhappycamper]

Fallujah park created in girl’s memory
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, February 6, 2008

FALLUJAH, Iraq — It was Ayah’s first day of school. Her father put the 7-year-old on the bus for her first day in the Iraqi school system, thinking it safer than having her walk the Fallujah streets.

The men of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines had been on the ground for just a few weeks as of Oct. 26, the day Ayah’s school bus passed a Company L convoy.

A Humvee gunner repeatedly motioned for the bus driver to stop, according to company commander Capt. Steve Eastin. The driver did not stop, and the gunner fired a warning shot into the ground in front of Ayah’s bus.

The bullet ricocheted off the street and into the bus before striking Ayah in the chest. Marines offered aid at the scene, but locals refused and rushed her to a nearby hospital, where she died.

Maybe it was improved security or a change of attitude in this city. Perhaps it was the quick action of Marines to make reparations, or some other factor. Regardless, the population of Fallujah — a one-time center of insurgent activity, Sunni militancy and anti-U.S. sentiment — did not erupt when one of their children was killed by a Marine bullet last fall.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52223