A very useful account despite some rather questionable musical references at the end

by Scott Morris ; November 19, 2005
ZNet | U.S.

"Swarming…the specter in broad daylight accosts the passerby.
-- T.S. Eliot, "The Wasteland"

"We have now awakened to the barbarians...Retribution has been visited on the barbarians,
and more will follow."
-- Naval War College Review

"Waste the motherfuckers!" screamed across the screen in the outrageous and hateful film "Rules of Engagement" (2000), and into the streets and neighborhoods of Fallujah in November 2004. The film is a Samuel L. Jackson military vehicle that celebrates US war crimes from Vietnam to the Middle East, the US slaughter of Muslim civilians, young children included, and Arab bloodletting in general. It is, of course, one film, among many, that prepares US audiences for real manifestations of US aggression and war crimes: torture, slaughter of civilians, children included, and Iraqi bloodletting, as was the case in the "wasting" of Fallujah.

See this VIDEO of American war crimes in Falluja.

This video is very graphic, but it reveals the barbarism of US imperialism.

The point of linking to this video is not to be shocking, but to encourage more serious and effective activism against imperialism.

For context, see the corresponding article by The Independent on the front page of the A&S website. Here's another one:

for pic and italian story see:
http://www.rainews24.it/Notizia.asp?NewsID=57784

US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah
By Peter Popham
Published: 08 November 2005
The Independent

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped
massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah
during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and
civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

by Ali Fadhil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1387460,00.html

On November 8, the American army launched its biggest ever assault on the
Iraqi city of Falluja, considered a stronghold for rebel fighters. The US said

After Fallujah, Son Is Gone but Fervor Remains

Father Who Left Reluctantly Waits to Fight Another Day

By Anthony Shadid

Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 1, 2004; Page A01

BAGHDAD, Nov. 30 - In a cramped room that has become his refuge, with walls of
grimy plaster and sloppy brickwork, a man known as Abu Mohammed sat with his
children.

U.S. uses napalm gas in Fallujah – Witnesses
11/28/2004 1:45:00 PM GMT
Al Jazeera

The U.S. military is secretly using banned napalm gas and other outlawed weapons against civilians in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, eyewitnesses reported.

Falluja is not unique. Collective punishment is escalating in Iraq

Haifa Zangana
Wednesday November 17, 2004

The Guardian

In a statement that directly echoed George Bush, Qasim Daoud, Iraq's interim minister of state for national security, told a news conference at the weekend: "Mission accomplished ... Falluja has been liberated". He proudly recited the list of the dead - 1,400 terrorists, foreigners and Saddamists. And what about civilians, the women and children trapped in the fighting zone. Any casualties? He avoided the question.

By Pepe Escobar, for the Asia Times

"The bombs being dropped on Fallujah don't contain explosives, depleted uranium or anything harmful - they contain laughing gas - that would, of course, explain [Pentagon chief Donald] Rumsfeld's misplaced optimism about not killing civilians in Fallujah. Also, being a 'civilian' is a relative thing in a country occupied by Americans. You're only a civilian if you're on their side. If you translate for them, or serve them food in the Green Zone, or wipe their floors - you're an innocent civilian. Just about everyone else is an insurgent, unless they can get a job as a 'civilian'."

A.G. Hopkins

The assault on Fallujah is intended to eliminate 'insurgents' from one of
the most important centers of opposition in Iraq and is therefore a
significant moment in the struggle to control the country. The term
'insurgent' has become the accepted way for both hawks and doves to refer to
armed opposition in Iraq and is now used as if its meaning were
unproblematic. The most recent studies, for example, assume a common
understanding of the word and concentrate instead on strategic, battleground
matters. Yet the term is far from being transparent and is also loaded with
political claims. To investigate it is to consider the nature of the enemy.
This is, self-evidently, an important exercise: we cannot claim to
comprehend the world unless we can be sure that we are describing it in the
most appropriate language. Ill-fitting descriptions may have far-reaching
consequences for public understanding and formal policy-making.

August 29, 2004
INSURGENCY

In Western Iraq, Fundamentalists Hold U.S. at Bay
By JOHN F. BURNS and ERIK ECKHOLM
NYT

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 28 - While American troops have been battling Islamic militants to an uncertain outcome in Najaf, the Shiite holy city, events in two Sunni Muslim cities that stand astride the crucial western approaches to Baghdad have moved significantly against American plans to build a secular democracy in Iraq.