Fallujah 101
Via homunculus at MeFi: a great piece by Rashid Khalidi that highlights the recent history of the Middle East, of Iraq, and even Fallujah itself. Basically, for anyone over the age of 50 or so, the anti-colonialist independence struggles of the Middle East are within living memory and very much a part of their outlook. In light of the British experience in Mesopotamia in the 1920s. the American invasion of Iraq and the sieges of Fallujah seem like a cruel rerun of history. The Mesopotamian revolt, by the way, is the one where the British used poison gas on Iraqi civilians - in order to save money. And it all started in Fallujah.