Rohan Pearce
In the early days of the battle for Fallujah and the Shiite militia rebellion, almost every journalist in the corporate media would begin their reports with dire warnings about a country sliding towards civil war. In fact, the heightened armed struggle against the US-led occupation forces is a product of numerous courageous and inspiring acts of Sunni and Shiite unity.
The April 8 Los Angeles Times reported: "You could see it at the mosques in [Baghdad's] Sadr City on Thursday: Thousands of Shiites lined up to donate blood destined for Sunnis hurt in the attacks in Fallouja. 'We should thank [Coalition Provisional Authority head] Paul Bremer', Salih Ali told me. 'He has finally united Iraq. Against him'."
The April 12 Wall Street Journal reported on Salman Daoud, the owner of a Baghdad gourmet supermarket, who closed his shop in response to a call from a Sunni cleric for a three-day general strike in support of the twin insurgencies.
"The past few weeks have proved to me that Americans are occupiers and liars. They are killing innocent Iraqis, women and children. I am 100% with the resistance group now, both Sunni and Shiites. They are giving their lives to free our country."
The April 3 Washington Post reported that in response to the Fallujah resistance, "Shiite and Sunni [were] giving aid, shelter to refugees and even volunteers to the fight". It added that this has "pushed fears of an Iraqi civil war to the background. The fighters in Fallujah are said to include Mahdi Army militiamen, Shiite fighters loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr."
From Green Left Weekly, April 21, 2004.
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