Friday, February 13, 2009

The new Fallujah up close and ugly

By Dahr Jamail
Asia Times

"In a remarkable tour of the heartland of still devastated Sunni Iraq, Dahr Jamail takes a ride in the front seat of a US$420,000 armored BMW, riding with a tribal sheik (whom the US Marines label the John Gotti of Fallujah); note the AK-47 and the shotgun in back, and the vehicles from the sheik's security teams that sandwich your car; then, take a slug of whisky, and don't miss that wad of crisp American $100 bills he's carrying with him........

Reconstruction has yet to really begin in Sunni areas and the movement, sheiks and all, only works as long as the US continues funneling "reconstruction funds" to tribal leaders. What happens when that stops, as it surely must with time? Will the people of Fallujah be better served? Or has this process merely laid the groundwork for future bloodshed? "

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