Fallujah, Iraq Today
Michael Totten, blogging from Fallujah, Iraq, writes:
I hear criticism of Iraqis of some kind almost every day when I’m in Iraq. There is a lot to criticize. Iraq is a broken country. Its infrastructure and economy are shot, its political culture dysfunctional. In my experience, though, contempt for Iraqi culture specifically, and Arabs and Islam more generally, is far more prevalent in the American civilian population, even in liberal coastal cities, than it is among American soldiers and Marines who interact with Iraqis every day, forge sometimes intense personal bonds with Iraqis, eat Iraqi food, and speak at least a little Arabic.
Michael interviews Corporal Brandon Koch and asks him what people in the US should know about Fallujah today:
“So I think the most important thing for people to know is that it’s a city full of normal people. It’s not like…I think people get the impression that it’s a city where people are walking down the street with AK-47s. Like a bad Rambo movie or something. That’s the impression people get, but it’s not like that at all.”
It’s ironic that Fallujah, once a symbol of the resistance in Iraq, is now calm. If only the rest of the country could become so. Is there a secret to why Fallujah is doing better than other areas? Michael explains one reason:
Fallujah has a hardened perimeter manned by the Iraqi Police. If you don’t have a Fallujah resident sticker on the windshield of your car, you are not allowed in. Car bombers and gun runners from the rest of Iraq are effectively banned from Fallujah. The level of violence isn’t quite zero, but it’s close.
And remember the deadly Sunni Triangle? Michael writes:
Most of the Sunni Triangle has been largely pacified lately, but it was a genuine rogues gallery not long ago, bristling with terrorists and guerrilla armies that flew many flags.
