meehawl

all that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned

Mission Unaccomplished

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In the wake of a truce last month that averted an all-out assault by U.S. Marines, [Fallujah] has taken on the trappings of a mini-republic that lives largely according to its own rules … The principal U.S. aims under the truce, which was reached in the wake of three weeks of fierce fighting between Marines and insurgents, do not appear even close to being achieved.

With U.S. marines gone and central government authority virtually nonexistent, Fallujah resembles an Islamic mini-state – anyone caught selling alcohol is flogged and paraded in the city. Men are encouraged to grow beards and barbers are warned against giving “western” hair cuts … With the departure of the marines, the position of the U.S.-appointed civil administration has been weakened in favour of the clerics and the mujahedeen who resisted the U.S. occupation. That is a pattern that could be repeated elsewhere in Iraq after the occupation ends June 30.

Earlier here.

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