U.S. Army Intelligence Analysis of the 2004 Fallujah Attack * Information War and U.S. Propaganda*

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.counterpunch.org/soldz12272007.html

December 27, 2007

The U.S. Army's Intelligence Analysis of the 2004 Fallujah Attack
Fallujah, the Information War and U.S. Propaganda
By STEPHEN SOLDZ

Now receded into distant memory for many, the battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah, accompanied by the al Sadr uprising in the south, was a decisive turning point in the Iraq occupation. These battles demonstrated to much of the world that the occupation was deeply unpopular among many Iraqis, who were willing and able to fight the occupation to a stalemate. These battles both ended in standoffs, as the U.S. forces felt constrained from unleashing their full military capabilities to crush the resistance. New insights into the thinking of the U.S.military are available from a U.S. army intelligence analysis ­ by the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center ­ of the first Fallujah battle entitled Complex Environments: Battle of Fallujah I, April 2004 that was leaked this week on the Wikileaks web site.

The first battle for Fallujah (the second, in November 2004, resulted in the city's capture by occupation forces) began when images of four contractors being lynched from a bridge in the city. This new document confirms that the attack on Fallujah was designed to crush a symbol of resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq:

"On 31 March 2004, four American Blackwater contractors were killed and images of their bodies being burned and mutilated were broadcast on television around the world. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, CENTCOM Commander GEN Abizaid, and Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Ambassador Bremer decided a military response was needed immediately. Fallujah had become a symbol of resistance that dominated international headlines."

Media War

As befits a symbolic battle, the analysis makes clear that the information war was primary. The failure of the Marine's attack to retake Fallujah was caused, the authors claim, by resistance ("insurgents" in their lingo) forces' success in getting their message out to the world.