Bloodbath

I had hoped to post nothing political on Easter Sunday. But we cannot avoid the growing reports of a retaliatory massacre by American forces in Falluja, in response to last week's atrocity against the security men.

The problem resisted solution. How could the American forces hope to target the "bad guys" when so many in that town had acted in a frenzy of mob violence? The affront could not go unanswered -- yet what answer could avoid worsening the situation? What counterstrike could avoid making the Americans even more despised by Iraqis throughout the country?

If initial reports are to be believed, the Americans have launched a full-scale punitive massacre against Falluja, and damn the repercussions. The administration's operative motto would seem to be: "If they will not love us, they will learn to fear us." If such is our attitude, how do we differ from Saddam?

The American media are concentrating on the horrible treatment accorded allied hostages. For another side of the story, consider this report from Aljazeera:


Breaking news from Aljazeera on a nearby television shows fresh images from Falluja: scores of dead, including many children. The town has turned into a bloodbath.

The images prove too much for Ahmad; he drops his face into his hands and breaks down. As he walks away, I call an Aljazeera cameraman in Falluja to check on his safety.


Falluja's hospitals are overflowing with dead and wounded


My colleague's voice is panic-stricken as he describes the scene, echoing the pictures that have shocked Ahmad.

"There are images we can't show because it's just too gruesome. I have never seen anything like this before," he says.

"There are bodies everywhere, and people can't go out to retrieve them because they're too afraid of being blown away themselves.

"I can't believe the number of children here, we were at the hospital and it's full of dead and wounded kids.

"The ones that aren't dead have lost limbs and are wailing in pain, begging for their parents. What parents?" he screams. "I don't have the heart to tell them that their parents are in pieces.

"Back at our office the Americans are shooting at us. I walk out of the bathroom and a laser is pointed at my chest," he says, referring to US sharpshooters in the area.

"We'd just bought cigarettes from a store across the street; no more than ten minutes later it was bombed."