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Dark Days at Falluja1 May 2003 The recent bloody confrontations between US soldiers and Iraqi crowds set a dangerous precedent It all started with a peaceful demonstration. US troops had taken over a school in the town of Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, and local citizens wanted the school back so their children could return to classes. Discussions went nowhere and it's not even clear whether the soldiers, members of America's elite 82nd Airborne Division, had translators that spoke both Arabic and English fluently. The demonstration turned hostile, someone fired first and within minutes 13 Iraqis lay dead in the streets with dozens more wounded. But it wasn't over. The next day a crowd again returned to the school. Shooting broke out again and at least two more Iraqis were killed and 16 were wounded. We'll probably never know how this bloody episode started - the soldiers say the crowd opened fire and the locals blame the soldiers. But it's doubtful that the residents of Falluja will ever forgive the US for what happened here. A terrible precedent has now been set, one that may be repeated elsewhere. Ironically, Falluja is a Sunni Muslim stronghold, with few or no radical Shi'ites living there. Nor was there any perceived need for a military base in the children's school. Saddam's forces fled the town days before the US troops arrived and there had been no fighting. The locals killed by the 82nd Airborne may have been the first war deaths in the whole town. The disproportionate casualties - as many as 80 Iraqis killed and wounded and not a single soldier harmed - also beg the question as to how well suited US soldiers are for occupation and peacekeeping work. Already accused of being slow to talk and quick to shoot, the events at Falluja will only fuel contentions that the Americans are occupying, rather than liberating, Iraq. A signal needs to be sent, from the highest ranks of the US military, that the killing of Iraqi civilians must be avoided at all costs. The soldiers may well have been provoked by Saddam's agents, but firing indiscriminately into crowds will engender only hatred and, in time, revenge. |
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