Ambassador Crocker — Tell us more about Fallujah

Ambassador Crocker,

In your testimony this week, you said that Fallujah used to be one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq and is now one of Iraq’s safest cities. Could you elaborate?

Would you feel safe walking the streets of Fallujah this week? Would any of the members of the government of Iraq feel safe in Fallujah?

How are the lives of the citizens of Fallujah now that the city has been "pacified"? Do the citizens feel safe now? Do they feel prosperous? Do the citizens of Fallujah feel that life is better now under the "protection" of the Americans and the current Iraqi regime than under Saddam Hussein?

Or are the citizens of Fallujah like other Iraqi citizens in feeling the heavy foot of American power on their very throats? Do the citizens of Fallujah feel free, or do they feel imprisoned in their own city?

Do the citizens of Fallujah appreciate all that America has done for them in making their city safe now? Which do they feel more like — residents of New York City or Gaza? How many checkpoints and eye scans and document reviews do they have to endure on a daily or weekly basis?

How much data does the United States military possess now on the citizens of Fallujah and the people of Iraq? Do the Americans treat Fallujans as citizens and friends, or threats?

The cold truth is that Fallujah and Iraq are not only under brutal military occupation that inhibits freedom, but that they form a great experiment in population control that will likely eventually be applied to the American people in their own homeland.

The U.S. is rapidly becoming a police state and the days are approaching in which population control techniques used in Fallujah and Iraq will be used in Des Moines and Charlottesville. Americans will soon be issued national identity cards and the government will develop the technical ability to track movements of all individuals.

In the future, Americans will deeply regret choosing safety over freedom, because they will first lose their freedom and when they rebel, they will be treated as terrorists, just as Fallujans. Those who reject totalitarianism will be called "terrorists" and the penalty for being called a terrorist will be severe in Boise just as it is in Kabul.

Ambassador Crocker — you are a functionary of The Empire. You play games with words. You make safety sound desirable. The choice you offer Fallujans is the "safety" of imprisonment versus the brutality and lethality of non-cooperation with The Empire.

Soon, the Empire will begin to cannibalize its own citizens and will begin to implode. At that time, many Americans will begin to understand what the citizens of Fallujah feel at this time. And the feeling will not be good.