[lbo-talk] RE: Why Fallujah (and Najaf) were pulverized

Gary Mongiovi MONGIOVG at stjohns.edu
Tue Nov 16 11:01:22 PST 2004


I've been wondering, though, how the Bushies and the interim Iraqi government expect to hold elections in Falluja within ten weeks, now that the city's infrastructure has been demolished and its population rendered, for all practical purposes, refugees. Is there a plan to set up polling sites and ensure that people (many of whom, again, no longer live at their once official addresses) can be properly registered to vote?

I know the question's ludicrous, because the answer's obvious. I keep thinking sooner or later one of the administration's hypocracies will be the tipping point, so offensive to simple bourgeoise decency that Bush's ability to govern will be irreparably disabled. OK, the lies about WMDs and Iraq's alleged links to Al Queda weren't it. But now we've levelled a town to dust so that it's citizens could vote in safety. If Fallujan's are able to vote in meaningful numbers because of the destruction inflicted on the city by the US armed forces, that will be a serious embarrassment to the administration.

Regards,

Gary

-----Original Message-----

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:22:09 -0500

From: "Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall at rogers.com>

Subject: [lbo-talk] Why Fallujah (and Najaf) were pulverized

To: "LBO-Talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>

Message-ID: <00ea01c4cc09$2fcecaf0$6401a8c0 at LAPTOP>

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Today’s Wall Street Journal carries an article acknowledging that the brutal

assault on Fallujah was deliberately aimed at civilians to demonstrate the

cost to them of supporting and harbouring guerrillas. Of course, the

article is not framed in this way, nor is there any suggestion that the

deliberate targeting of the civilian population constitutes a war crime. Nor

is there any appreciation of the grotesque irony in US statements that the

savage punishment meted out to the Sunnis was "for their own well-being"

because it "forces (them) to recognize that they can't hold territory in the

face of overwhelming U.S. firepower and must participate in the political

process."

The Americans also know that their own forces and those of the Allawi puppet

regime "can't hold territory", but that was not their intent. As in Vietnam

and in any counter-insurgency, the massive and indiscriminate bombing and

shelling of civilian areas is designed to produce mass terror and population

flight, and to force the beleaguered population to abandon its support for

armed resistance. The US has, for the moment, neutralized the Shia

resistance, post-Najaf. Now, having applied the stick, the report suggests

the US is ready to offer some concessions to "representatives of groups that

might have actively supported the (Sunni) insurgency".

MG

-------------------------

After Fallujah, U.S., Iraqis Aim At Pitching Elections to Sunnis

By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and GREG JAFFE Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET

JOURNAL November 16, 2004; Page A6

Even as U.S. and Iraqi forces consolidated gains in Fallujah and beat back

smaller uprisings throughout the Sunni triangle, they began contemplating

the challenge of persuading the Sunni minority that its best hopes lie in

Iraqi elections, not insurgents.

U.S. officials said they hope the week-long assault on Fallujah, designed to

take down insurgent strongholds, forces Sunnis to recognize that they can't

hold territory in the face of overwhelming U.S. firepower and must

participate in the political process for their own well-being.

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