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November 21, 2004
Dear Fallujans, Congratulations. Your City Has Been Saved. Destroyed. Reconstructed. Whatever.
The State department is already putting out releases claiming how it will rebuild Fallujah:
Coalition forces in Iraq are turning their attention to the task of rebuilding Fallujah as the military campaign to oust the city's insurgents winds down. Together, the United States and the Iraqi government have earmarked as much as $100 million for the reconstruction effort, according to Ambassador Bill Taylor of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office."We have a commitment to the people of Fallujah -- indeed, to the people of Iraq -- to help them reconstruct their city and their country. We take that commitment very seriously," Taylor told reporters during a November 19 briefing from Baghdad.
And mainstream newspapers spread the good news, with headlines like "Fallujah Reconstruction Team Opens its Doors"
For one thing, it's obvious the city is basically uninhabitable. It's not clear when or if anyone will return there, especially if the Marines refuse to leave, as they have already signalled.
Another thing is that how many times have we been through this? Promises of reconstruction, big spending, etc. followed by nothing? Here's the status of the infamous $18 billion allocated by Congress to be spent on reconstruction:
Of the $18.4 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds allocated by Congress last year, only $1.7 billion has been spent, Hess said, an increase of about $400 million from six weeks ago. He said 873 construction projects have been started, up from 703 six weeks ago. The goal is to have 1,000 started by year's end.
(To put it in context let me remind readers that we have spent billions of Dollars of Iraqi money --some on no-bid contracts to Halliburton-- while spending less than 10 percent of what Congress has already allocated for Iraqi reconstruction -- and much of it going to big American firms and mercenary organizations.)
And last, but not least, this is obviously propaganda aimed at the American, not the Iraqi, public. It's hard to believe that anyone in their right mind really thinks that any "reconstruction" project is going to reconstruct Sahar Muhammad Abdullah's life.
It seems that we are now committed to crushing at least the Sunni minority, and crushing it for the long-haul. The fate of the Shi'a probably depends on how favorable they will be to our permanent occupation of their country.
Posted by zeynep at November 21, 2004 12:49 AM
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