Posted on 05/25/2004 1:43:08 PM PDT by Eurotwit
FALLUJAH, Iraq - With U.S. Marines gone and central government authority virtually nonexistent, Fallujah resembles an Islamic mini-state — anyone caught selling alcohol is flogged and paraded in the city. Men are encouraged to grow beards and barbers are warned against giving "Western" hair cuts.
"After all the blood that was shed, and the lives that were lost, we shall only accept God's law in Fallujah," said cleric Abdul-Qader al-Aloussi, offering a glimpse of what a future Iraq (news - web sites) may look like as the U.S.-led occupation draws to a close. "We must capitalize on our victory over the Americans and implement Islamic sharia laws."
The departure of the Marines under an agreement that ended the three-week siege last month has enabled hard-line Islamic leaders to assert their power in this once-restive city 30 miles west of Baghdad.
Some were active in defending the city against the Marines and have profited by a perception — both here and elsewhere in Iraq — that the mujahedeen, or Islamic holy warriors, defeated a superpower.
Under the agreement, the Marines handed security in the city to a new Fallujah Brigade made up largely of local residents and commanded by officers of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s former army.
With the departure of the Marines, the position of the U.S.-appointed civil administration has been weakened in favor of the clerics and the mujahedeen who resisted the U.S. occupation. That is a pattern that could be repeated elsewhere in Iraq after the occupation ends June 30, unless other legitimate leaders come forward to replace those tainted by association with the occupation.
Fallujah, which calls itself the "City of Mosques," provides the religious fundamentalists with fertile ground for wielding power. The city's estimated 300,000 residents are known for their religious piety.
Women rarely appear in public and when they do, they are covered from head to toe in accordance with Islam's strict dress code for women. The lives of men revolve around Islam's tradition of praying five times a day.
Unlike other Iraqi cities, Fallujah has never allowed liquor stores. Its famous kebab restaurants have prayer rooms, an unusual feature in most Muslim nations. Many of its adult male population wear beards, a hallmark of religious piety.
However, steps taken by the mujahedeen over the past month have gone beyond simply encouraging piety.
On Sunday, for example, scores of masked mujahedeen, shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great," paraded four men stripped down to their underpants atop the back of a pickup truck that drove through the city. Their bare backs were bleeding from 80 lashes they had received as punishment for selling alcohol. They were taken to a hospital where they were treated and released.
Residents said a man found intoxicated last week was flogged, held overnight and released the next day.
Fallujah's women hair stylists shut down their shops several months ago after repeated attacks blamed on Muslim militants.
On Tuesday, the mujahedeen expanded their "clean up" campaign. About 80 masked, armed men, accompanied by local police, forced hundreds of street hawkers at gun point to clear out from the streets and confine their businesses to designated areas.
The masked men later moved to the city's used car market and "persuaded" dealers to move away from the city center because they were blocking traffic. In both cases, the police stood by without intervening.
According to residents, barbers have been instructed not to give "Western" haircuts — short on the back and sides and full on top — or to remove facial hair. Four youths with long hair were stopped at a market by mujahedeen on Sunday and marched to a public market where they were shorn.
"Are we Muslims, or not?" asked Abdul-Rahman Mahmoud, a 40-year-old father of three. "We are. So, we must apply God's laws. The mujahedeen's word is heard and respected, and the same goes for our clerics."
There is little sign of opposition to the mujahedeen, though it could be that some people are simply afraid of confronting armed men.
Sheik Omar Said of the Fallujah branch of the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Baghdad-based organization created last year to defend the rights of the Sunni Arab minority, insists that nearly everyone in Fallujah really wants Islamic law.
However, he hinted that perhaps in some cases, the mujahedeen have gone too far.
"This will only come after educating society in religious matters first and then moving on to applying Islamic punishments," he said.
However, the mujahedeen are clearly profiting from the hero status they acquired during the April battles against the Marines.
There is even talk of building a museum dedicated to the "struggle" against the American occupation. Money has been collected in recent weeks to help the families of those who died in the fighting, said by the locals to number 1,000 "martyrs."
Time to finish the job? I agree. But, unfortunately, I fear our troopers died in vain in this city. That angers me! I do not think we will finish the job.
Men in suits should have never had a hand in something that the men in uniforms should have been allowed to handle. The PC aspect of this war is glaring. It may cost Bush the election. I guess politicians never learn from history.
Pull all the troops out - then finish the job...
Dream on
Sounds like the perfect place to have a major sarin accident.
so, we killed 1000 or so in fallujah...
the slammies have birthed another 20,000 in the same time.
abu is laughing at our "success" and sewing up prayer rugs and burqua's for their "end of the decade" sale in mecca.
unless we go for a death rate that is more than double the islamic birth rate... radical islam will wipe us out... it is a demographic certainty.
we cannot educate the masses fast enough to save ourselves... nor can we kill them in miniscule lots, whilst they duplicate faster than flesh eating bacteria.
we have put two or three bandaids on a spreading planetary cancer... islam. Bush is doing the best he can, with the current 50/50 near split in America's psyche...
after the slammies hit us a time or two... we will be ready to glass their arses... but until then, we are in what amounts to a pseudo "holding" action, that in the end we MUST lose, due to sheer numbers.
Our country has turned into a bunch of pansies. We should have leveled this place, literally. I am so disappointed. This only encourages the Islamic freaks of the world into trying bolder things like killing Americans on American soil. This only reinforces their perception that if they put up a fight, the Great Satan will run and hide (i.e., Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam). I'm beginning to wonder if they are right.
We should have done a Grozny on this place and made their children's children remember the sound of American firepower. This will bite us in the ass.
I agree wholeheartedly. The sad part is that the suits didn't make this call. It was a USMC general.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
These aren't your average run-of-the-mill sunnis doing this.
Time to give to Kurds some very nasty weapons and tell them to deal with it - and we'll keep the media out.
it's a standoff at the perimeter of Fallujah, where there had been a standoff at the border of Iraq for the past twelve years.
Pshaaaaw. We are getting some mini-Islamic city-states here in America.
We should have done a Grozny on this place and made their children's children remember the sound of American firepower. This will bite us in the ass.
You could add the 1991 retreat from Iraq. Saddam Hussein felt enboldened. We did not have a coalition agree to us toppling Saddam at that time (only pushing him out of Kuwait). Saddam never did follow the UN resolutions and some of the weaponry he used in 2003 was prohibited.
Let me tell you what the future holds for Iraq. The vast majority will be muslim capitalists. There will be a tremendous growth in property ownership. There will be jobs available that the population can not fill. There will be a growth in freedom for the individual that is already in existence and it cannot be reversed. The muslim religion will adjust to this new power for the individual. The muslim religion will flourish under this new culture. There will be nitwits in the population that will try to change everything. Just as the Democrats here in the USofA. It will be a contiuous battle that never ends. Just as it is here in the USofA. Live with it!!
Hey big fella, wake up, it is just a dream
Yeah, I believe they are just taking out Sadr first, then they will begin to work on fallujah again. I don't think they were prepared in fallujah the first time. Didn't see a lot of heavy armor and you can count on one hand the days they had proper air support. They will have no choice but to clean up fallujah, that is where the foreign fighters (terrorists) are and we have to kill every one of those SOB with a rag on their head carrying an AK or RPG. G-D I hate the sight of those bastards!
roflmao...
I will have whatever you have been drinking...
I can see the movement towards democracy already. Not.
bttt
That’s like saying perhaps it’s time to ask the cute girl sitting next to you 10 years ago out to the high school prom.
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