On April 5th, 2004, Ahmad Mansour, an Aljazeera correspondent reporting on the first day of the first American assault on the city of Fallujah, said in his report: “Fear is obvious on the faces of the residents and fighters in the city.” Two hours later, at the request of the residents of the city, he came on the air to issue an apology: “The residents asked to say that they are waiting for the Americans.”

As the whole world awaits the outcome of the White House elections November 2nd, the U.S. government is occupied with a military push against the defiant Iraqi city of Fallujah. This city, referred to as the capitol of the Iraqi resistance, managed last April to inflict on Uncle Sam a humiliating military defeat. Bush is convinced that the resistance in Iraq is responsible for tipping the scale toward his losing the elections this fall. Bush needs to settle a score that would accomplish three goals:

1. Bush wants to avenge the humiliation of both him and the greater U.S. empire suffered at the hands of the Iraqi resistance. Such a move would help in restoring the morale of the U.S. military, from low-ranking soldiers to the leadership in command. Stories that were not heard since the Vietnam War have started to surface about soldiers defying orders to carry out dangerous missions, such as accompanying a logistics convoy; soldiers deserting the service by escaping to Jordan, Turkey, and Iran; soldiers refusing to join their units once called; and soldiers suing the U.S. government for sending them back to Iraq. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, U.S. military recruiters told those interested in enlisting that it would be a good job opportunity, a way to see the world. Despite the gigantic efforts by the U.S. government to conceal the truth about the losses in Iraq, horrifying information has reached the average American, who now doubts that joining the military is a way to “be all you can be.” Therefore, Mr. Bush is desperate to manufacture a brutal victory that would restore some confidence in the U.S. military.

2. Bush wants to resume the interrupted project of empire. Different U.S. administrations have always been on a mission to expand the empire by different means: Eisenhower’s War on Communism, Carter’s Eurasia Grand Chess Game, Reagan’s Star Wars, Bush senior’s New World Order, Clinton’s Globalization and “humanitarian war”, and Bush junior’s Wars on Terrorism and the Axis of Evil. Thanks to the Iraqi resistance, the war on Iraq, Iran, and North Korea has been halted. Furthermore, the Iraqi model of resistance has emboldened many to become defiant toward the U.S. Today, resentment of Uncle Sam is worldwide and at the highest levels ever. This is a sharp turn in less than three years when, because of September 11, the U.S. had the sympathy of most of the world. If the situation continues in Iraq it can only mean the beginning of a decline in the fortunes and prospects of U.S. empire. Bush’s success in flexing muscle in Fallujah is a direct warning to others not to defy U.S. control. Bush thinks that once Fallujah is crushed, then either he or Kerry will have less trouble in proceeding with other war plans.

3. Bush wants to destroy the Iraqi resistance. Fallujah is recognized as the Iraqi resistance headquarters. Therefore, a devastating attack on it would lead to ending the military resistance against the wider U.S. occupation. This was the reason behind the attack on Fallujah last April, waged under the pretext of avenging four U.S. “civilians” killed there. Today, the U.S. is using the new pretext of capturing Zarqawi to justify a new attack. Although the man is real and fighting visciously against the U.S. forces and its Iraqi collaborators, his contribution is exaggerated by Uncle Sam, whose propaganda says that it is “foreign fighters,” not Iraqis, who are fighting the occupation. Of course, soldiers from Texas are not foreign fighters, but Arabs fighting for their land in Arabic Iraq—these are foreign fighters. Bush needs the personal closure of leaving with a win against the “Ay-rabs” since, from his Zionist Christian perspective, Arabs are the enemy of “civilization.”

When the U.S. decided on its plan to attack Iraq, it struck deals with Iran, the Shi’ite cleric Sistani, the Kurds, the neighboring Arabic states, some Ba’athists, some ex-Iraqi army officers, the Islamic Brotherhood of Iraq, and the so-called Iraqi opposition outside Iraq. The U.S. calculated on launching this war against an Iraqi population weakened by long years of fighting against Iran on behalf of the US, by the first Gulf War, and by the devastating U.S. sanctions imposed on Iraq for fourteen years. With the collaboration of Sistani and Iran, the U.S. secured the compliance of Iraqi Shi’ites and Iraqi Kurds. The U.S. wanted a guaranteed victory against a collapsing Saddam regime.

Fallujah, which came to be the cause of nightmares for Bush, Blair, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and John Howard, was not predicted at all when the original plans for the war and its aftermath were made.

The elusive and precise Iraqi resistance in central Iraq is a rolling ball that keeps getting larger and more lethal. This is because of its success in achieving military victories against the most powerful military machine in the history of humankind. The U.S. military in Iraq has had limited effect and is crippled in its ability to obtain even minimal security in Iraqi towns and highways. In both “Operation Desert Storm” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the scenes of destroyed Iraqi military hardware scattered on highways was evidence used by the U.S. government to claim victory. Today, these scenes have been replaced by destroyed U.S. military hardware, from Abrams tanks to Humvees to Bradley fighting vehicles, all seen day in and day out in flames on Iraqi streets and highways. These pictures are now more numerous than those of the carnage of the ex-Iraqi army. The pictures of U.S. soldiers crying and screaming after each attack contradict claims that these are disciplined and well-trained troops. The typical U.S. soldier has no idea what he is doing in Iraq, and wants to get out.

Resistance attacks against U.S. military bases throughout Iraq are growing in volume and lethality. Even the supposedly secure “Green Zone”—which represents the sovereignty and the integrity of the U.S. occupation—is targeted on a daily basis by the Iraqi resistance. U.S. and British officials having to sneak in and out of Iraq without advance notice demonstrates how much control the occupation forces actually have. They have very little.

Furthermore, the resistance systematically attacks those Iraqis collaborating with the U.S. occupation. This takes away from Uncle Sam his ability to infiltrate, then divide and conquer. A chance never develops to build local organizations that would fight on behalf of the U.S., as in those collaborating regimes in neighboring states of Iraq. Most of those who choose to enlist in the U.S. collaborator army are driven by economic need. However, they realize that their lives are more important than a monthly income of less than a hundred dollars, and they know that their lives are at risk.

If the occupying forces don’t have security, then the Iraqi “black gold” is not secure either. Bush’s national security advisors told the U.S. Congress, in a staged hearing before the beginning of the invasion, that Iraq has plenty of oil and this oil will fund the occupation. Today, resistance attacks on the oil industry in Iraq has led to a global crisis that makes the oil crisis in 1973 look insignificant. Increased oil prices today mean more money in the pockets of the oil industry, but those profits have been bought at the expense of a destabilized global economy, inflation, and serious losses in political stability and control by the U.S. empire.

The Iraqi resistance sees in the U.S. elections two candidates who differ in strategy, but not in substance. Kerry’s only advantage is in being the lesser evil. The phenomenal resentment and hatred of Bush is the main driving force behind support for Kerry. But Kerry failed to promise anything new on the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, the war against Palestine, or Arab and Muslim civil rights-all of which are clearly associated with Bush. Did Kerry say that if he were elected he would shut down Guantanamo Bay? Did Kerry apologize for voting “yes” on the war on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on the Patriot Act? Was there a direct statement by Kerry stating that if he is elected, he will pull out of Iraq? No, nothing of the kind.

A deep division in ruling circles and a blame game resulting from the successful resistance in Iraq could end up bringing Kerry to the White House. This move would allow the U.S. to save face and get out of the disaster that the invasion of Iraq has become by blaming everything on Bush. Then all efforts will be invested in rebuilding what Bush destroyed in U.S. standing around the globe, the economic crisis in the U.S., and low morale inside the Pentagon war machine.

Kerry as President means an indirect victory to the Iraqi resistance—an outcome that is less favored by the resistance, since a direct military victory is presently in its grasp. Bush’s massive military buildup around Fallujah is an invitation to the resistance to a showdown, one which the resistance accepts. This is a chance to achieve a victory that has been long awaited. In the history of humankind, no one deserves a crushing defeat more than Uncle Sam, and no one deserves that victory more than Iraq.

Incredibly, Communist, pan-Arab nationalist, antiwar pacifist, anti-globalization, and anti-imperialist forces are quiet about what is happening in Iraq. Even small actions, such as protests, collecting funds and aid for the Iraqi people, and expressing international political solidarity with the resistance, are non-existent. Is this because Bush said, “Either you are with us, or against us”? Or, is it because of the Islamic character of the Iraqi resistance? If so, this points to a shameful epidemic of racism and cowardice in progressive circles.

The battle has been left to the Sunni Iraqi resistance to fight alone against the vicious onslaught from the West. The Iraqi resistance is wise, strategic, and capable, with the little hardware it has, of inflicting an historic defeat on Uncle Sam. Fallujah will not yield to the current military pressure. Even if it falls in the hands of the U.S., that will not be permanent. It has fallen before, but managed to rise again.

The Iraqi resistance is made up of oppressed people who have a cause to fight for: the defense of their homes, their culture, and their land. They are not paid money to do this. Most important, they are ready to sacrifice their lives to be rid of the oppressor. When a member of the resistance dies, he is honored and his sacrifices are acknowledged. The resistance is enthusiastic about each of its many victories against Uncle Sam.

On the other hand, U.S. occupation forces are feeling desperate, wild, and scared. They miss being home and drinking beer and watching baseball. They find themselves stranded in the quicksand of Iraq. They were lured into a nightmare with the promise of a job and money. They do not have a conviction in a just cause to fight for. When they die, no one knows or cares. They no longer trust their leadership. They have learned that a massive deception brought them to lose their lives in a country thousands of miles away which they know nothing about.

George W. Bush has a mentality that doesn’t change. He never learns a lesson. Caught in the middle of his moment as a supreme military commander and in total denial of the opposition in Iraq, Bush doesn’t know that his forces have lost the moral justification for the war. Bush has caused major problems for the U.S. political, corporate, and media institutions, which must somehow explain the scenes of dead American soldiers on the streets of Iraq.

In Iraq, there is a chance to undo the myth of the undefeated American empire. This will come as the result of a combination of a stupid Bush and an ever-growing, confident Iraqi resistance. The future of a country is decided by its people. The road to victory is paved with the blood of both sides fighting, which means American blood as well. If Fallujah and the Iraqi resistance were to cast their ballot in the U.S. elections, they would certainly vote for Bush. They are not in fear of Bush—they are waiting for him.