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The dead know only one thing: It is better to be alive<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Nearly two weeks after US forces surged into the Iraqi city of Fallujah, purported hiding place of arch-beheader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi<\/a>, the city is under US control (or maybe not<\/a>?) and in ruins. Aid supplies have been prevented<\/a> from reaching helpless civilians (men aged 15-50 were not allowed to leave the city and 800<\/a> are feared dead) while contractors are waiting to spend $178 million<\/a> to rebuild the city. Fallujah had long been controlled by insurgents who thwarted previous attempts at pacification (even by an ex-Saddam era general<\/a>) and eventual US control was never really questioned (at least until after November 2 when the real<\/i> battle and serious talk of elections could begin). The discovery of possible hostage slaughterhouses<\/a> underscored the confidence that Zarqawi\u2019s group had in the city, but the real news came at the release of a pool video showing the execution<\/a> of a wounded insurgent by a US Marine in a Fallujah mosque. Although fellow Marines later rallied<\/a> around their comrade, the soldier was suspended and a UN official denounced<\/a> the human rights violations taking place (without naming names). Meanwhile, new attacks against Iraqi police and US forces sprouted<\/a> across the Sunni heartland and in Mosul<\/a>, prompting US Marines and Iraqi troops to continue their insurgent whack-a-mole<\/a>. More? A leading Sunni party (the minority) left<\/a> the fledgling Iraqi government after the Fallujah attacks and a new policy apparently aimed at destroying<\/a> cities to save them. \u201cThe Americans don\u2019t want this place to be quiet,\u201d said Mohammad Hassan al-Balwa, a Fallujah businessman. \u201cFrom the beginning they brought chaos and treated people badly. The pressure the Americans put on the Fallujan people is what has made them so tough.\u201d And trying to get some attention amidst the chaos, a shadowy group later murdered Margaret Hassan<\/a>, the Iraq director of CARE International (babies and kittens are next) and someone even al-Zarqawi<\/i> called to release. Concerns continue about the ability<\/a> of the US to contain the spreading insurgency and the viability<\/a> of the Iraqi government amidst growing resentment. \u201cThere are elections, and then there are legitimate, successful elections,\u201d said a senior aide at the independent Iraqi Election Commission on condition of anonymity. \u201cThe most we can hope for right now is the first kind.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

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