Abstract

No Victory in Falluja

The article comments the need for a strong antiwar movement. United States military commanders have proclaimed victory in the battle for Falluja, but it has come with a setback for the United States and the Allawi government in Iraq. The insurgency has escalated in other cities across central Iraq, and the predictable political backlash within the Sunni community has begun. The purpose of the Falluja campaign was to pacify the strategic Sunni triangle in time for the elections planned for January. The Allawi government's strategy of bringing more Sunnis into the process has been damaged. The initial response of the Sunni leadership was overwhelmingly negative; the most prominent Sunni party threatened to withdraw from the interim government, and leading Sunni clerics called for an election boycott. The Administration has done in Falluja what it knows best: Escalate military action with no regard for the consequences--either for Iraqis or for our long-term position in the Arab and the Islamic world. The Administration has also, predictably, tried to shift the blame for the worsening outlook for elections to the United Nations. The replacement of Secretary of State Colin Powell with Bush's loyal National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, suggests that the Administration is committed to its hard ideological position on Iraq. Thus, we must conclude that the destruction of Falluja is just the beginning and that only an active antiwar opposition that builds the broadest possible coalition can bring this tragedy to a close.