FALLOUT FROM FALLUJAH

FALLOUT FROM FALLUJAH

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

[Col. Writ. 4/3/04]

The chilling scenes coming out of Fallujah are remarkable.

They show us, unmistakably, the many and varied faces, not just of Fallujans, but of the shadowy, Iraqi Resistance.

And yet, they do far more; they show us that the news reports we have read, seen, and heard prior to this incident, which have labeled the resistance the work of foreigners, or "Saddam loyalists", or even the ubiquitous, latest term of art, "terrorists", couldn't have been more wrong or more misleading. The faces staring back at the shutters of Fallujah were young and old, mostly male, but some female. It was the unwelcome face of Iraqi nationalists, who leave us with few illusions about how American occupiers are really perceived.

The slayings and mutilations of four American security experts last week are reflections of what lies buried in the hearts of Iraqis, and a reflection of the possible fates of the hand-picked Iraqi puppets who sit as a U.S.-backed government in Iraq.

It does not bode well.

Undoubtedly, the U.S. military will launch a dreadful and equally chilling response, one designed to 'send a message' of American martial superiority.

It will, indeed, send a message, but hardly the one that rebounds to the benefit of American security, either in Iraq, or anywhere else in the region. For, the U.S. Marines will seek to induce terror into the Fallujah population, a method of collective punishment that has its dark analogs in the annals of history. This brand of brutal state terrorism, was memorialized by the behavior of (....) undergerschen, the puppet regime of Vichy-France, and beyond. When one Nazi official was harmed, hundreds paid the price.

Some may suggest that this analogy is somewhat far-fetched.

But is it?

The Hitler we know of now, wasn't treated like that when his government was in power. His face graced the cover of *Time* magazine, as Man of the Year. Major U.S. corporations were busy trading with Nazi Germany, who found, among their best American friends, the influential Dulles brothers, John Foster and Allen, who served in various administrations as heads of government departments, like the State and the CIA. They were partners of Sullivan & Cromwell, which handled the legal affairs of American IG, the U.S. subsidiary of IG Farben, the company that supplied the deadly chemicals used in the Nazi death camps. Indeed, many prominent U.S. firms traded with the Nazis during World War II, like Chase Bank, Ford, ITT, Standard Oil, General Motors, and others [See Jerry Fresia's *Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution & Other Illusions* (South End Press, 1988), pp. 108-9].

The point?

Before the war, Hitler was seen as a miracle worker, the strong man of Germany, a savior, even, of a shattered and prostrate Germany. History has given us a deeper view.

Similarly, the day will come when people will look back at the U.S. occupation of Iraq with a jaundiced eye. It will not be pretty.

In a matter of months it is generally agreed, the world over, that the occupation itself was based on a lie. What, but bitter fruit, can grow from such roots?

The answer to Fallujah, is the answer to the Iraqi Adventure as a whole -- full and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq.

Period.

Democracies cannot be transplanted like tulips.

Indeed, the war itself was a betrayal of democracy, not a fulfillment of it. It took place over the loud and vigorous objections of millions, perhaps billions, of the people all around the world.

There is a middle, not so-called 'bi-partisan', middle ground.