British play lays bare U.S. offensive in Falluja
04 May 2007 14:54:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Luke
Baker
LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - Few military operations in Iraq have caused
more death, destruction and divisiveness than the dual U.S. assaults on
Falluja in 2004.
In April and November that year, more than 10,000 U.S. soldiers and
marines overran the city, just outside Baghdad, in an attempt to rid it
of the insurgents they said had taken it over and turned it into a den
of militancy.
A new play in London casts a scathing eye over
America's actions, calling into question its motives and accusing it of
using chemical weapons on Iraqi civilians -- one of more than 70
alleged breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
Drawing on interviews with residents, U.S. soldiers who fought there
and first-hand accounts, "Fallujah", directed by Jonathan Holmes,
paints a portrait of vengeance meted out by violent American troops fed
up with intransigent Iraqis.
As one character, a U.S. sniper, says: "At home when I go hunting, it's
sport. Here when I go hunting, it's personal."
The play, staged inside a former factory with the audience standing as
the action takes place among them, is told through the eyes of
journalists who covered the Falluja assault, aid workers who tried to
help out, politicians and military leaders.
Cameramen film parts
of the action and project it on to TV screens as if it was real news
footage, while military trucks and mannequins in uniform are used to
create atmosphere.
It opens with Condoleezza Rice, the U.S.
secretary of state, justifying Washington's "war on terror" as she
explains to an interviewer from Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera why
the conflict in Iraq will reshape the Middle East for the better.
The action goes on to relate how American commanders misunderstood Iraq
and Iraqis, sewed resentment among the population with their
heavy-handed tactics and ended up employing a policy of "shoot now, ask
questions later".
One soldier says ahead of the offensive: "The
enemy does have a name... He's called Satan and he's in Falluja. It's
payback time."
"CITY OF MOSQUES"
Holmes, who visited Iraq several times during
the research and writing of the play but never managed to get to
Falluja, said he'd sent the script to the U.S. military asking for
comment or input but never received a reply.
"I wanted to hear
what they had to say, but there's just been nothing," he told Reuters.
"I don't know whether the production will provoke any reaction -- we'll
see."
Falluja, a Sunni Muslim stronghold known as the "city of mosques", made
the headlines in March 2004 after four U.S. security contractors were
hijacked there by insurgents, dragged through the streets, set alight
and killed. The burnt body of one was left hanging from a bridge into
the city.
Days later, enraged by the barbarity of the deaths,
the military launched its first assault. Hundreds of Iraqis and dozens
of U.S. troops were killed in a furious offensive but it didn't succeed
in quelling the insurgency.
Six
months later, with more planning and firepower, the U.S. marines went
back in. A month-long assault destroyed much of the city, killed an
estimated 1,300 Iraqi fighters and civilians, and wounded thousands
more. More than 100 U.S. troops also died.
Human rights groups
accused the U.S. military of excessive force and investigations later
revealed that banned weapons, including white phosphorous bombs, had
been used.
Washington has acknowledged using white-phosphorous
munitions in the 2004 assault against insurgents in Falluja. It says
using them against enemy fighters is legal and not banned by any
convention.
More than two years on, the city remains restive and anger and
resentment towards the American occupation as high as ever.
