Falluja: Smart Move, Retreat, or Vision of the "New" Iraq By Rowan Wolf of Uncommon Thought Journal As US troops pulled back from Falluja on April 29th, they were replaced by Major General Jassem Mohammed Salah and roughly 200 former Iraqi military forces (Iraqi general receives hero's welcome as US marines leave Fallujah, SpaceWar, 4/30/04). That number is expected to climb to around 1,000 (Deal to End Falluja Standoff Is Announced, Kifner & Semple, NYT, 4/29/04). The move ends a bloody, month long siege of the town which saw the use of A Full Range of Technology ... (Schmitt & Shanker, NYT, 4/30/04) in the process. Just days after deciding that they had somehow separated the "good" Ba'athists from the "bad" Ba'athists, the US tapped Salah - a former general of Hussein's army - as the go-to guy for Falluja. Falluja has reported to have been a Hussein stronghold. So perhaps it is not too surprising that Salah and his forces receives a hero's welcome (SpaceWar, 4/30/04). It must have been a severe jolt to the US and to US troops at Falluja to see the welcome that they had hoped would greet the US. It is interesting that the US not only selected the General for the job, but that he had his own troops - not the new Iraqi forces recruited by the US. "Salah showed up in town with 200 followers before heading into closed door talks with the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, General James Conway, at Camp Fallujah, a few kilometres (a couple of miles) outside town" (Space War, 4/30/04). Just what was an ex-General of Hussein's forces doing wandering around with "followers" from the old Iraqi army? How many "followers" are there (obviously over 1,000). I presume that the US decided that Salah was a "good" Ba'athist and not loyal to Hussein. Though where did the US find him, and what was his offer to them, and what does he (and his troops) get out of this? One has to assume that the US is paying these forces - there isn't anyone else except defense contractor who could. Or is this one of the few private contracts that have gone to Iraqi's rather than to US corporations. What surprises me is that there doesn't seem to be anyone asking these questions. The news reports come through without a bat of the eye. It's as if it is normal that a Hussein General is roaming around Iraq with a band of former Iraqi military offering his services where needed. Was the response of the people of Falluja a reaction to the US pulling back, their replacement by Iraqi forces, or to a return to "normal?" How many other former Iraqi Generals are roaming around Iraq with troops waiting to replace US forces? One has to wonder if this is the new US approach to replacing lost "coalition" forces, and reducing US troop numbers in Iraq. Perhaps the Bush regime feels that the Ba'athists, and Hussein's army and police will work better with Negroponte (who has no qualms about death squads, torture, and forceful control of populations). It is still unknown who the US is turning (partial) sovereignty of Iraq over to on June 1. Perhaps this is an indication? Will the "new" Iraq look very much like the "old" Iraq except with a much more blatant US presence (both corporate and military)? I guess that time will tell what will happen in Iraq, but I sure wish that someone would ask pertinent questions, and get some decent answers to them. This article is licensed under a fair use Creative Commons License