The new Fallujah up close and ugly

[bemildred]

FALLUJAH - Driving through Fallujah, once the most rebellious Sunni city in Iraq, I saw little evidence of any kind of reconstruction underway. At least 70% of that city's structures were destroyed during massive US military assaults in April, and again in November 2004, and more than four years later, in the "new Iraq", the city continues to languish.

The shells of buildings pulverized by US bombs, artillery or mortar fire back then still line Fallujah's main street, or rather, what's left of it. As one of the few visible signs of reconstruction in the city, that street - largely destroyed during the November 2004 siege - is slowly being torn up to be repaved.

Unemployment is rampant, the infrastructure remains largely in ruins, and tens of thousands of residents who fled in 2004 are still refugees. How could it be otherwise, given the amount of effort that went into its destruction and not, subsequently, into rebuilding it? It's a place where a resident must still carry around a US-issued personal biometric ID card, which must also be shown any time you enter or exit the city if you are local. Such a card can only be obtained after US military personnel have scanned your retinas and taken your fingerprints.

The trauma from the 2004 attacks remains visible everywhere. Given the countless still-bullet-pocked walls of restaurants, stores and homes, it is impossible to view the city from any vantage point, or look in any direction, without observing signs of those sieges.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KB14Ak01.html

Edit: And, all this cost boatloads of our tax money, not to mention dead soldiers.

[midnight]

1. War sometimes is the setting to experiment on all kinds of tech.

that most civil communities would not allow."It's a place where a resident must still carry around a US-issued personal biometric ID card, which must also be shown any time you enter or exit the city if you are local. Such a card can only be obtained after US military personnel have scanned your retinas and taken your fingerprints." Is this from I'll put a chip in me-Thommy Thomson.

[Still Sensible]

2. So why in the hell isn't the Iraqi government

using that $79 billion oil surplus money to put people to work rebuilding? This seems like such a no-brainer to me. There is so much rebuilding to be done, they could employ hundreds of thousands, maybe more than a million, on construction crews. Obviously Iraq remains a dysfunctional country, but with the money in hand and incredible unemployment to deal with, you would think they would have moved toward a solution like this already.

Security is certainly a tremendous challenge, but they could employ a lot of police and other security related people. I don't see the problem as unsolvable.

[John Q. Citizen]

3. i didn't know there was an Iraqi government. You mean we aren't thier government?

[Still Sensible]

4. That's a good question, too.

lol.... Well if we are, the same question applies.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. I thought Kucinich had the best plan by far as concerns Iraq. Trouble is, we sure broke it, but we

aren't all that hot about paying to fix it.