Fallujah Redux
Almost a year ago I wrote about how US forces were gunning down demonstrators in Fallujah. A year later the Pentagon is still promising to “pacify” Fallujah.
Contrary to most reports, the Sunni town of Fallujah has never been a stronghold of Saddam Hussein despite the fact that his iron-fisted regime relied mainly on a close circle of Sunni followers … Fallujah and the rest of Al-Anbar province are ruled by Sunni conservative tribes who have traditionally resisted submission to foreign occupiers or government forces seeking to control the area by force. Under Saddam, imams across the town refused to abide by his orders to praise him personally during daily prayers … Fallujah also has a long enmity with the United States. During the 1991 Gulf War, the town suffered more than 100 civilian deaths when US missiles slammed on a busy central marketplace.
Earlier here.