April 12, 2004

The Chinese military philosopher Sun Tzu once said: "To win a war, you must
know yourself, then your enemy." Apparently, the US does not know either
itself or its enemy. Blinded with the arrogance of racism and military
superiority, Uncle Sam is being subjected to a severe beating by the Iraqi
resistance. It is absolutely sensational to watch the outnumbered and
poorly equipped Iraqi volunteers, without a central command or logistics
supply lines, fight back with their thin bodies, after fourteen years of
sanctions, the most powerful empire in the history of humankind.

The military adventure of Uncle Sam in Iraq --"Operation Iraqi Freedom" --
has given the world a lesson in geography as towns such as Baquba, Ramadi,
and Abu-Gharib are making headlines more than Washington DC or London. When
superior militaries attack those who have only bravery and determination
with which to defend themselves, they only add to that special list of
legendary battles which includes the Paris Commune, Stalingrad, Beirut,
Jenin, and Gaza. On the 9th of April, 2004, one year after the supposed fall
of Baghdad, Fallujah was added to the list

After 14 years of searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the US
finally managed to discover huge caches in Fallujah. This discovery was of
an unconventional weapon called popular resistance whose destructive
capacity caught Uncle Sam completely by surprise. The well- armed, and
well-trained , "the Few, the Proud, the Marines," who were dispatched to
Fallujah, reacted with fear, confusion, and panic. These mercenaries were
told that they were signing up for a turkey shoot, a cakewalk, and would
get in return a job, a scholarship, a home loan, adventure, world travel,
and a safe return to the US. The crash course on Iraq offered by the US
military to new cadets failed to mention that Iraqis are human beings who
have integrity, sovereignty, and freedom. There should have been a
prerequisite course on Vietnam offered to these killers-in-training. Like
the Vietnamese, Uncle Sam failed to gauge the determination of the Iraqi
people to fight back.

The weapons used by the Iraqi resistance today are not made in high-tech
factories, imported from abroad, or bought in defense contractor trade
shows. What makes up this resistance is very hard for Uncle Sam, poisoned as
he is with power, to analyze. The cold-faced invaders from cowboyland must
learn a lesson about Iraq's weapons. These are weapons of daring, gallantry,
valor, and heroism -- none of which are possessed by the invader.

Different explanations are being given as to why the US is attacking
Fallujah now. The explanations are that the US is seeking those who
mutilated four US "civilians" in early April, that the US is avenging the
attempt to assassinate top US military commander John Abizaid in Fallujah
in mid-March, and that the Bush administration is manufacturing war in
order to divert increasing criticism about the economy and September 11.

* Four "civilians."

The US government issues color-coded security alerts on a daily basis to
citizens living in New York, Boston, Los Angles, Houston, Chicago, and other
cities. Could US civilians have missed security alerts in Iraq? Could these
civilians be a solidarity group from the US opposing the war on Iraq? If so,
why would they be traveling armed, in armored sport utility vehicles
accompanied by so called "Iraqi Police"? Why did they have sophisticated
communication devices? Why were maps of the city in the vehicles?

If these civilians were contractors, as the US State Department has
claimed, then they were working for the occupation, which makes them a
legitimate target. What kind of contracts are being given by the occupation
in Fallujah? Housing development? Infrastructure projects? Highly unlikely.
These civilians were undercover mercenaries and military planning
operatives of the US forces, gathering intelligence on the resistance in
Fallujah. The State Department would not tell us what military rank these
men had or what they were doing. The initial US reaction of denial and
confusion, then anger about their numbers and nationalities, suggests that
the resistance hit the jackpot.

The question for the US to answer is, if these were civilians, why did
it need to kill over six hundred, and injure over a thousand Fallujah
civilians residents using cluster bombs in response? Do these bombs
distinguish between the individuals wanted by the US, and children? In
Fallujah, families of over twenty members were completely wiped out by
bombs dropped from F-18's. It is still fresh in the memories of the Afghanis
when US planes dropped five ton bombs over the heads of families celebrating
their weddings two years ago.

* The attempt to assassinate John Abizaid

Did General Abizaid think that if he led a horde of killers to occupy, kill,
steal from, humiliate, and obliterate defenseless people 10,000 miles away
from his home he would be welcomed with roses? The resistance attempt to
assassinate this killer was fully justified. Abizaid needs to know that his
aggression justified any attempts on his life. Being of Arabic background,
Abizaid is guilty of both war crimes and collaboration.

* Diversion from failure in Iraq, US economy, and the September 11
investigation.

It is moving to see that the Iraqis are resisting with such heroism after 24
years of bleeding from direct and indirect US war policies against them. The
latest addition of the Shi'ites to the resisting bloc has plunged the US
deeper into the Iraqi swamp. Far from diverting the domestic population from
its failure in Iraq, the US rulers have only multiplied and brought more
attention to that failure.


Uncle Sam has repeatedly manufactured wars to divert the attention of its
domestic population. In 2002 and 2003, in the midst of the Enron and World
Com scandals, the failing economy, and rising unemployment, the public was
led by the media into an obsession with weapons of mass destruction, the
invasion of Iraq last March, the details of that invasion, and on and on.

Unexpectedly, former national security advisor Richard Clarke stepped out
of line and told the truth about the extent to which the Bush Administration
was warned about the possibility of an attack by bin Laden before September
11. This unexpected revelation makes the government complicit in the
attacks. An escalation in Iraq would divert attention away from this
sensitive topic, even if the cost were US soldiers returning in body bags.

But in seeking a diversion in Iraq, the US made two mistakes at the same
time:

First, it underestimated the determination and capability of the Iraqi
resistance to fight back. The US did not expect that the resistance in
Fallujah would choose direct confrontation rather than the usual
hit-and-run. The US marched into this city of 200,000 with the goal of
flexing its muscle and having limited confrontation.

Second, the provocation of Muqtada al-Sadr, the rebellious Shi'ite cleric,
spoiled the US strategy of "divide and conquer" between Sunni and Shi'ite in
Iraq. This provocation became the straw that broke the camel's back.
Shi'ites are patriots of Iraq. But they are confused by a sell-out clergy
that issues religious "Fatwa," or calls for a peaceful resistance against
the occupation. The choice by the US to mark al-Sadr an outlaw was fatal.
Now Shi'ites are part of the fight. The resistance is very grateful to Uncle
Sam's stupidity.

One year after its armed invasion, the US has failed to win the hearts of
the Iraqis by failing to restore order or provide security and economic
prosperity. Also, it failed in benefiting from the black gold it seized from
Iraq. Its only success was in playing to perfection the part of the
occupying imperialist army.

The US's biggest failure, however, was its inability to intimidate and
terrorize the Iraqi resistance. This resistance chose its own time to
declare itself after Bush announced in May of 2003, on the deck of a US Navy
aircraft carrier, the end of all military operations in Iraq. Between then
and now the resistance rolled like a snowball to cover all of the country.
It progressed in its lethality and the quality of its operations to make the
air and land of all Iraq unsafe for Uncle Sam. Fallujah was the beginning of
this resistance, and is its center and backbone now.

The barbaric US assault on Fallujah is aimed at the heart of resistance
against the US occupation of Iraq. The choice of the resistance to switch
from hit and run guerrilla warfare to direct confrontation is one to be
examined closely. This decision inspired the whole Iraqi population to take
up arms. Groups of fighters in hundreds are forming and confronting the US
army and its allies everywhere they find it. A huge front opened up from
east to west, and from north to south of Iraq. It is Uncle Sam's worst
nightmare -- a total armed uprising.

Thankfully, this revolt saved the whole planet from a disgusting propaganda
display scheduled for the anniversary of the proclaimed April 9 victory over
Iraq a year ago. The whole world was spared from hearing Bush, Blair,
Rumsfeld, and Powell brag about how the Iraqis are free. The resistance
spoiled the ceremony.

Perhaps Fallujah will not hold for long, and the toll of death and
destruction will be great for the Iraqis, but the loser from this will
always be the US, in the short run and in the long run. Lies about bringing
freedom to the Iraqis are no longer acceptable, and US infiltration of
regimes and clergies will no longer work to contain a brave and angry
nation.

Developments in Iraq present a challenge, not only to the US government
and its allied states, but also to the American public and its elements of
opposition. Can the US people, so indulged in consuming beer and watching
baseball, understand that it is complicit when supplying manpower and
political support to Uncle Sam?


The debate during the Vietnam war was built around the question, "Can we win
in Vietnam" rather than, "Why are we attacking a defenseless nation?" This
time, in Iraq, if the debate admits the obvious moral question, "How are we
freeing Iraqis by bombing them with cluster bombs?" then less excuses will
be available to people like bin Laden to justify another September 11. If
this doesn't happen, then the American public need no longer ask "why do
they hate us?" They will know why. At the very least, this public can
demand to hear a clear statement from the so-called Democratic opposition
candidate, John Kerry, that he opposes the war and would withdraw the
forces from Iraq, as did the new Prime Minister of Spain?

As far as the progressive and radical elements of the US opposition, can
they be brave and take the side of the victims of Uncle Sam? Can they build
their argument on something more than expressing concern for the safety of
US military personnel? Can they take their position further than opposing
the war simply because of the horror of soldiers returning in body bags? Can
they instead openly support the right of the Iraqis to resist?

This time, Rambo, Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Hollywood will
have to do a lot of acting and lying to restore the image of the American
military hero and his adventures abroad.

The US can lie all it wants about those who are resisting in Iraq and about
what is really happening, but one thing is for sure: Uncle Sam knows what
kind of losses he is suffering. The bigger the lie, the harder the downfall
will be.

The whole world owes Fallujah a tribute. Through the sacrifice of Iraqi
fighters, the entire world has been shown the bloodsucking nature of US
empire. The resistance in Fallujah is a lesson to all who choose to resist a
life of oppression.

During a TV interview , one of the resistance members of Fallujah said: "We
will fight until our last bullet, our last drop of blood. We hold our heads
high in the sky, because we are in Al-Fallujah."

www.onepalestine.org