Report From Fallujah — Destroying A Town In Order To Save It

Rahul Mahajan’s sobering, evocative weblog that he updates
several times a day from the heart of the war zone completely
dispels the Bush administration’s stance that only a handful of
mujahadeen are behind the uprisings in Fallujah and elsewhere in
Iraq. If you’re looking for a lighthearted account that justifies
the presence of American troops in Iraq and foresees a quick
solution, look elsewhere. But if you crave a street account of the
quagmire that sheds light on why many normal Iraqis are rising up
against the invaders even though they hated Saddam Hussein, then
check out EmpireNotes.org.

American snipers aiming at ambulance drivers despite the
‘ceasefire’ in Fallujah, as evidenced by ‘two neat, precise
bullet-holes in the windshield on the driver’s side, pointing down
at an angle that indicated they would have hit the driver’s chest’
observed by Mahajan; the bombing of a power plant the day the siege
began; between 500 and 600 Iraqi deaths, including 200 women and
100 children (who are obviously not insurgents); American troops
storming the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad in the middle of the
night in search of weapon caches, driving tanks over emergency food
supplies, destroying windows and ceilings and refusing to take off
their combat boots when they entered what Mahajan calls ‘probably
the most important Sunni mosque in Baghdad.’

‘I have been a fool for 47 years,’ he quotes Fallujah resident
Al-Nazzal. ‘I used to believe in European and American
civilization.’

A writer/activist from Austin, Texas, Mahajan artfully captures
the western perspective even as he recounts the harrowing tales of
Iraqis caught in the daily crossfire. He worries about the safety
of all non-military foreigners there, and mourns that an Italian
human rights organization may pull out just because their country
is a member of the ‘coalition of the willing.’ Mahajan also
criticizes American presidential hopeful John Kerry for focusing on
the economy as of late while America’s role in Iraq is going up in
flames.
— Jacob Wheeler

Go there>>
Report from Fallujah —
Destroying A Town In Order To Save It

Go there too>>
Witnessing
Fallujah’s ‘Ceasefire’

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