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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2004Our Life and TimesU.S. races to control Iraq before electionsThe end of the massive U.S. effort to secure the Iraqi city of Falluja proved to be just the beginning of another offensive, as a campaign to pacify the Sunni areas south of Baghdad began even before the dust had settled on the rubble of Falluja. In addition, the northern city of Mosul flared up in the wake of the offensive as many of the insurgents sought by the U.S. in Falluja slipped out of the city and made their way north to launch a deadly series of attacks on Iraqi police and national guard troops there. The Falluja offensive's aim was to wrest control of the city away from the loose alliance of Baathists, mujahadeen volunteers and organized criminals that had made the city a focal point of the ongoing insurgency against the U.S. and its appointed Iraqi regime. The attack was carried out by means of intense aerial bombardment and fierce house-to-house fighting. Among the tactics employed by the Marines were the refusal to allow men to flee the city while sending their families to travel on without them, and the denial of access to a caravan of trucks carrying aid organized by the Red Crescent organization. These incidents, along with an on-camera summary execution of a wounded rebel, resulted in widespread indignation throughout the Arab world and beyond. Few of the city's inhabitants have returned from the shelters they were able to find in the weeks leading up to the offensive, and many of those who eventually do return are sure to find that their homes have been destroyed in the fighting. Sporadic fighting continues in Falluja and a Marine intelligence report leaked to the press casts doubts on the U.S.'s ability to hold the city without a large influx of troops. The U.S. is under extreme pressure to gain control of the predominantly Sunni areas of the country in which the insurgency holds sway before the scheduled national elections on Jan. 30. To ensure an appearance of legitimacy for the outcome of the elections, the U.S. has to suppress the resistance there so that voting can take place. Intimidation by insurgents plus widespread Sunni apathy towards the Iraqi government threaten to make turnout in these areas negligible. The election plan nearly suffered a major setback when a large number of secular and Sunni-based parties released a declaration stating that they wanted the polling to be postponed for several months. This statement was even informally endorsed by the party of Iyad Allawi, the authoritarian U.S.-appointed prime minister. The political forces behind the statement fear the violence in the Sunni areas, but even more so the possibility that the votes of the majority Shia population of Iraq will effectively marginalize them and their constituencies. The challenge to the Jan. 30 date fell apart the day after it was announced when the two Kurdish parties withdrew their objections. These political complications in addition to the military challenge of the insurgency form an enormous challenge to the Bush administration's goals in Iraq. —Kevin Michaels |
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