[antimedia] antimedia: When Fallujah was a terrorist haven....

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Posted by antimedia:
When Fallujah was a terrorist haven....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1165184094.shtml


   ....that's all the media wrote about. Now that Fallujah is [1]stable
   and productive, the media is silent.

     Although it has been out of the headlines for some time, take a
     minute to recall why the name Fallujah resonates so strongly in our
     collective memory. Perhaps the most disturbing images of Operation
     Iraqi Freedom emanated from Fallujah on March 31, 2004, as the
     bodies of four murdered American contractors were desecrated and
     the charred corpses hung off the Euphrates River Bridge for the
     world to see. The âFallujah Brigade,â a unit comprised of former
     Iraqi army officers, failed to prevent warlords allied with Al
     Qaeda in Iraq from effectively taking over the city. Foreign
     fighters and terrorist insurgents imposed a Taliban-like regime
     over the city, torturing and beheading innocent people who just
     wanted to enjoy the freedoms that resulted from the fall of Saddam
     Hussein. (One torture chamber later uncovered included cages in the
     basement and a wall covered with bloody handprints). With more than
     100,000 explosive rounds stockpiled in weapons caches throughout
     the city, these invaders of Fallujah exported scores of suicide
     bombers bent on mass murder. The population of Fallujah fled in
     droves, reducing the number of residents to only 50-60,000. By
     October 2004, Fallujah was a city without security, without
     stability, and seemingly without hope.
     In order to rescue the people of Fallujah and eliminate it as a
     base of operations for Al Qaida, Coalition forces launched
     Operation Al Fajr, or âThe Dawn.â Led by American Marines,
     Coalition Forces battled 2-3,000 terrorists in fierce and sustained
     urban combat. Although Fallujah was liberated, half the city was
     decimated by the intense combat.
     What has happened to Fallujah since that ferocious battle?
     Last week, I saw a city of 350,000 people who have made incredible
     progress over the past two years. In the aftermath of Operation Al
     Fajr, in March of 2005, there were 3,000 United States Marines and
     only 300 Iraqi Security Forces in Fallujah. Today, the people of
     the city are protected by 1,500 members of their own Iraqi Security
     Force and only 300 Marines. The police are comprised of native
     Fallujans, and enjoy strong support from the local population. They
     are able to patrol their own neighborhoods, enforce their own laws,
     and handle the transition to responsibility for their own security
     and growth. Despite the sectarian violence which plagues other
     parts of the country, I saw the commander of the local Iraqi Army
     unit, a Shiâa, sit and work productively with the local police
     chief, a Sunni â a relationship few would have believed possible in
     Fallujah just a year ago.
     I attended a city council meeting, where a democratically elected
     mayor and city council led the deliberations about the peoplesâ
     business. To be honest, the Councilâs discussion of traffic control
     was not exciting. But the mundane business of a functioning
     democracy can be uneventful when its institutions are working
     properly. At the same time, it was exciting to witness democracy in
     action on soil that once seemed entirely inhospitable. Membership
     of the Fallujah Business Association has grown from only 20 members
     last February to over 350 today, demonstrating optimism for
     economic growth. I even saw a processing center where Fallujah
     welcomes persons displaced by instability elsewhere.

   This is standard operating procedure for our media. If it bleeds, it
   leads, and if it's positive news, bury it or ignore it. A Lexis search
   of Northeast regional news sources for the past year for "Fallujah,
   Iraq and insurgent" returns more 258 articles. The same search on
   Lexis but for "Fallujah, Iraq and rebuild" returns 19 articles, and
   five of those are negative.

References

   1. http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom1/FrontPage%20Stories/Commentary%20Fallujah%20Revisited.aspx