Iraqi general: Fallujah should help Americans

One retired Iraqi general has the right idea for Fallujah. Choose which way you want to go, and you might be surprised how fast the Americans help you get there.

“We can make them [Americans] use their rifles against us or we can make them build our country, it’s your choice,” retired Maj. Gen. Mohammed Abdul-Latif told a group of Iraqi leaders today in the often-rebellious Fallujah area.

Latif was talking to more than 40 sheiks, city council members and imams in Kharma, a Fallujah suburb. He said the U.S. forces were not in Iraq to kill Iraqis or even to rule Iraq. They are in Iraq to replace the dictatorship with something better.

“They were brought here by the acts of one coward who was hunted out of a rathole — Saddam — who disgraced us all,” he said. “Let us tell our children that these men [U.S. troops] came here to protect us.

“As President Bush said, they did not come here to occupy our land but to get rid of Saddam. We can help them leave by helping them do their job, or we can make them stay 10 years and more by keeping fighting.”

Latif said he already feels “winds of peace” blowing through Fallujah. With more courageous leaders like him, Iraq has real hope for freedom and democracy.

Frank Warner