It
has been seven years since the 2nd siege of Fallujah -- the American
assault that left the city in ruins, killed thousands of civilians, and
displaced hundreds-of-thousands more -- the assault that poisoned a
generation, plaguing the people who live there with cancers and their
children with birth defects.
It has been seven years and the lies that justified the assault still perpetuate false beliefs about what we did.
The American veterans who fought there still do not understand who they fought against, or what they were fighting for.
I know, because I am one of those American veterans.
In the eyes of many of the people I "served" with, the people of
Fallujah remain dehumanized and their resistance fighters are still
believed to be terrorists. But unlike most of my counterparts, I
understand that I was the aggressor, and that the resistance fighters
in Fallujah were defending their city.
It is also the seventh anniversary of the deaths of two close friends
of mine, Travis Desiato and Bradly Faircloth, who were killed in the
siege. Their deaths were not heroic or glorious. Their deaths were
tragic, but not unjust.
How can I begrudge the resistance in Fallujah for killing my friends,
when I know that I would have done the same thing if I were in their
place? How can I blame them when we were the aggressors?
It could have been me instead of Travis or Brad. I carried a radio on
my back that dropped the bombs that killed civilians and reduced
Fallujah to rubble. If I were a Fallujan, I would have killed anyone
like me. I would have had no choice. The fate of my city and my family
would have depended on it. I would have killed the foreign invaders.
Travis and Brad are both victims and perpetrators. They were killed
and they killed others because of a political agenda in which they were
just pawns. They were the iron fist of American empire, and an
expendable loss in the eyes of their leaders.
I do not see any contradiction in feeling sympathy for the dead
American Marines and soldiers and at the same time feeling sympathy for
the Fallujans who fell to their guns.
The contradiction lies in
believing that we were liberators, when in fact we oppressed the
freedoms and wishes of Fallujahs. The contradiction lies in believing
that we were heroes, when the definition of "hero" bares no relation to
our actions in Fallujah.
What we did to Fallujah cannot be undone, and I see no point in
attacking the people in my former unit. What I want to attack are the
lies and false beliefs. I want to destroy the prejudices that prevented
us from putting ourselves in the other's shoes and asking ourselves
what we would have done if a foreign army invaded our country and laid
siege to our city.
I understand the psychology that causes the aggressors to blame their
victims. I understand the justifications and defense mechanisms. I
understand the emotional urge to want to hate the people who killed
someone dear to you. But to describe the psychology that preserves such
false beliefs is not to ignore the objective moral truth that no
attacker can ever justly blame their victims for defending themselves.
The same distorted morality has been used to justify attacks against
the Native Americans, the Vietnamese, El Salvadorans, and the Afghans.
It is the same story over and over again. These peoples have been
dehumanized, their God-given right to self-defense has been
delegitimized, their resistance has been reframed as terrorism, and
American soldiers have been sent to kill them.
History has preserved these lies, normalized them, and socialized
them into our culture; so much so that legitimate resistance against
American aggression is incomprehensible to most, and to even raise this
question is seen as un-American.
History has defined the American veteran as a hero, and in doing so
it has automatically defined anyone who fights against him as the
bad-guy. It has reversed the roles of aggressor and defender, moralized
the immoral, and it has shaped our societies present understanding of
war.
I cannot imagine a more necessary step towards justice than to put an
end to these lies, and achieve some moral clarity on this issue. I see
no issue more important than to clearly understand the difference
between aggression and self-defense, and to support legitimate
struggles. I cannot hate, blame, begrudge, or resent Fallujans for
fighting back against us. I am sincerely sorry for the role I played in
the 2nd siege of Fallujah, and I hope that someday not just Fallujans
but all Iraqis will win their struggle.
this article originally appeared on the site of Stop the War Coalition
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See also : Video: Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre
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