12 April 2004, Lakshmi Chaudhr, AlterNet Iraq News Blog
Fallujah has become the turning point for the occupation of Iraq. Until now, Iraqi anger at the U.S. was widespread but diffused; and polls showed that Iraqis still hoped that the invasion would eventually lead to brighter future. The past seven days have changed all that, as pictures of dead children fill the TV screens across the nation.
According to this Knight Ridder report, "In this one week, Fallujah has come to symbolize for Iraqis everything that is wrong with the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
'When the four Americans were murdered, almost all Iraqis were horrified, and understood that the reaction must be strong,' said Iraqi journalist Dhrgam Mohammed Ali … 'But now, we see women and children dying, trying to escape and not being allowed to, and many stop remembering the dead Americans. Instead, they wonder why four dead Americans are worth so much, while hundreds of dead Iraqis are worth so little.'"
More than 600 Iraqis have died in the siege of Fallujah. The Sydney Morning Herald reports "Bodies were being buried at two soccer fields in Fallujah. One of the fields, now called Graveyard of the Martyrs, there was row after row of freshly dug graves, with wooden planks for headstones with names on them." Nearly a third of the 200,000 inhabitants have fled the town, but many remained trapped in their homes without food or water.
The military's response to this human tragedy remains dangerously defiant. When asked about the casualty numbers, US marine Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne said: "What I think you will find is 95% of those were military age males that were killed in the fighting. The marines are trained to be precise in their firepower ... The fact that there are 600 goes back to the fact that the marines are very good at what they do."
While the Petagon may treat questions about dead Iraqis as an issue of 'job performance, the fact remains that killing civilians in the heat of war, however reprehensible, is far different from bombing the population as an occupying power. For better or worse, Iraq is a de facto U.S. protectorate, and its people are supposedly under the care of the Bremer-led CPA. Neither Brennan, Bremer, nor Bush seem to understand that difference.
Fallujah: Symbol of Resistance
