Collective Punishment: FALLUJA in Iraq, LIDICE in World War II

The following prophetic post appeared on the Czech site Prague.Indymedia on April 6, before the seige of Falluja. I respectfully submit that the closest parallel in history is the Nazi treatment of Lidice, Czechoslovakia.

It is a famous story -- one of the notable atrocities of WWII. A movie was even made about it.

Paul Bremer, the U.S. Protector of Iraq, has promised reprisals for the "murder" of four "civilian contractors" in Falluja, Iraq. U.S. officials have called the killings "ghoulish." Beware another Lidice -- the Czech village liquidated and leveled by the German Nazis in 1942 to pay back the killing by Czech patriots of Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the occupation of Czechoslovakia. About "ghoulish," remember that President Bush's grandfather robbed the grave of Apache chief Geronimo and took his skull to Yale's Skull and Bones Society, to which both President Bushes belonged, where it was (and still may be) used in rituals. Let's don't get too self-righteous or bloodthirsty.


FALLUJA: ANOTHER LIDICE?

In 1942, Reinhard Heydrich was the second in command of the German security apparatus, the SS -- roughly the equivalent of John Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, or George Tenet, take your pick.

READ THIS PAGE AND NOTE THE PARALLELS TO THE CONTEMPORARY U.S. AND IRAQ
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/biographies/heydrich.htm

Heydrich was feared by all Germans but Hitler (and possibly his boss, Himmler). He led the development of the Final Solution to the "Jewish question" in Europe. He had been appointed the Protector of Czechoslovakia, roughly the equivalent of Paul Bremer in Iraq, though Bremer has not been as heavyhanded yet.

[Ed. Note: He has since this was posted by Prague.Indymedia.]

In 1942, Czech patriots asassinated Heydrich. Thousands of Jews and others were killed across Europe in reprisal. As a further reprisal for the killing of Heydrich, Hitler ordered the small Czech mining village of Lidice to be liquidated on the fake charge that it had aided the assassins.

In one of the most infamous single acts of World War Two (I once saw a movie about this), all 172 men and boys over age 16 in the village were shot on June 10, 1942, while the women were deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp where most died. Ninety young children were sent to the concentration camp at Gneisenau, with some taken later to Nazi orphanages if they were German looking.

The U.S. Marines have allowed women and children still alive to leave Falluja. They blocked males over 16 trying to leave with their families. The Marines say that of the 600 killed in Fallujah so far, 95 percent are "insurgents" (translation: Iraqi patriots).

In a way, the Marnines' seige of Falluja is worse than Lidice, because even the Germans allowed the women and children to leave before they began indiscriminate shooting.

The Marines and Bush might "get away" with this, but historians will remember.

PEGGY NOONAN (OF WALL STREET JOURNAL) AND LIDICE

The village of Lidice was then destroyed building by building with explosives, then completely leveled until not a trace remained, with grain being planted over the flattened soil. This part, the destruction part, reminds one of the urging by Wall Street Journal calumnyst Peggy Noonan that the green bridge over the Euphrates in Falluja be destroyed. The name "Lidice" was then removed from all German maps.

BEWARE

President Bush, Paul Bremer, and Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt have all promised reprisals on Falluja. Beware. For every Iraqi killed, 70 mujahideen spring up. For every Lidice created in Iraq, there might be 70 or more Fallujas in the Arab world.

Gen. Kimmitt: If every military casualty required reprisals, every war would be a battle to the last man. You said your Marines stayed out of Falluja all day on the day of the attack on the mercenaries, not out of fear, but to avoid making a bad situation worse. Remember that. Otherwise we could be hearing cries of Lidice (li'-dyi-ce), Lidice! Falluja, Falluja!

GHOULS AND COUPS

George W. Bush's grandfather, the father of ex-President Bush, was one five Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, soldiers who in 1918 robbed the grave of Geronimo and took the bones back to the Yale Skull and Bones Society, where they were put on display and used in rituals with necrophilic and sexual overtones. http://www.daghettotymz.com/rkhyvs/articles/skull&bones/s&b1.html

Now, that defines "ghoulish."

A large fraction of the American elite who are not "self-made men" were/are members of this elite group. (Once you join, you don't leave. You can be blackmailed by photos and such.) Both of the Presidents Bush were/are members. So is Sen. John Kerry. Jeb Bush is safe on this score (graduated from the University of Texas), though his election would cement the dynastic takeover of the United States -- long sought by George Bush Sr. -- that eluded even Joe Kennedy. The Iraq war is part of that effort.

See also:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/biographies/heydrich.htm
http://www.daghettotymz.com/rkhyvs/articles/skull&bones/s&b1.html