November 12, 2004



Dear Editors:

I am appalled by the Los Angeles times’ pitifully one-sided coverage of the Bush administration’s military assault on Fallujah. This morning’s front page is a case in point: a large color photo of U.S. soldiers inside a damaged mosque, and coverage of the dangers posed by the city as an insurgent stronghold.

This material is not the product of an unbiased and free press; it is provided to you by the Pentagon and by its “embedded” reporters. This merciless destruction of an entire city, including, so far, almost half of its mosques; the imposition of martial law and curfews; the destruction or closure of hospitals and clinics, denial of ambulance services, the cutting off of power supplies and food, and the indiscriminate killing of its citizens mean only one thing: genocide.

As the most violent military action since Bush’s war against the Iraqi people began, the Fallujah invasion is the product of a botched and incompetent occupation, and a violation not only of the Geneva Convention guidelines, but of human rights principles as well. This is the action of a desperate U.S. administration, reduced to flexing its military muscle, while ensuring even more widespread and universal resistance within Iraq.

The characterization of those who fight against this brutal and bloody occupation as “insurgents” or “guerillas” obscures one fact: the people of Iraq, who have seen some 100,000 of their people killed during the past year and a half, are perfectly within their rights to fight against the Bush regime, and to try to win back their country. The blatant disregard by George W. Bush for human life, both Iraqi and American, will only ensure the continuation of bloody reprisals, and the ultimate failure of this colonial occupation.

By now, the blatant lies of the Bush regime have been exposed; any rationalization of this assault as an attempt to “free” the citizens of Fallujah so that they can vote in a U.S.-rigged election in January is both shameful and an injustice to the people of America and Iraq. This attack ensures a deep anti-Western hatred in the Middle East for many years to come. The attack is a crime against humanity.

All of us who have resisted the Bush administration’s militaristic and illegal invasions are “insurgents.” We will hold George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et. al., accountable for every single death that they cause, and we will continue to demand the truth from the press.

Roger E. Jones

Los Angeles CA