The real lessons of Fallujah

[Aidoneus]

The real lessons of Fallujah
By Barry Grey
3 April 2004

The images beamed around the world Wednesday of enraged Iraqis in Fallujah celebrating over the mutilated corpses of American paramilitary operatives were horrific. But it must not for a moment be forgotten that they are the product of an horrific, illegal colonial war. History is replete with examples of occupied peoples, in the face of the systematic brutality and overwhelming military superiority of foreign invaders, giving vent to their indignation and outrage in such acts of retribution.

No one has less of a right to adopt a posture of moral superiority than those in the American political establishment, military brass and media who are responsible for the brutalization of an entire society, carried out for the most crass and sordid economic and political ends. The US takeover of Iraq is, in every sense, a criminal enterprise. Everything connected to it is foul and degrading. It marks one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the United States.

Only eight months ago, it should be recalled, the US government published photos and video clips of the dead, bullet-riddled bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, two days after American soldiers had gunned them down. In that case, there was nothing spontaneous about the gruesome spectacle. It was a calculated and premeditated attempt to intimidate and demoralize Iraqi opponents of the US occupation.

Political leaders, Democratic and Republican alike, and all branches of the media, “liberal” no less than conservative, declare that the mountain of lies that accompanied the war must not be allowed to detract from the solemn task of completing the pacification of Iraq. In the wake of the events in Fallujah, they demand, with varying degrees of bloodthirstiness, an intensification of the killing, incarceration and terrorizing of the Iraqi people.

This necessarily entails a continuous stream of new lies to compensate for the exposure of the old ones. One of the lies that was peddled in the run- up to the war was the claim that the vast majority of Iraqis would welcome a US invasion. Throngs of Iraqis would line the roads to shower the GIs with bouquets, the American public was told. It didn’t take long for this myth to be exploded, as helplessly outgunned Iraqi fighters put up an unexpectedly fierce resistance in the opening days of the war, and mass protests against the US erupted within days of the American takeover of Baghdad.

--snip--

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/apr2004/fall-a03.shtml

[trumad]

1. I thought the lesson was

to not act like cocky Americans who think they can venture unguarded in a war zone.