December 12, 2004

U.S. has Invasive, High-Tech Plans for Fallujah's Returning Refugees

by Jon Elmer

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

The New Standard -- Occupation forces intend to erect a "model city" from the ruins of Fallujah, including a high-tech security infrastructure complete with DNA testing, retina scans and ID badges for all the city's residents, according to Marine Corps officers interviewed by the Boston Globe.

Under plans currently on the table, before re-entering their rubble-strewn city the more than 200,000 refugees who fled the month-long American offensive in Fallujah will be required to pass through what are being called "citizen processing centers," where they will be screened and a database of their identities will be created through a series of procedures, including DNA testing and retina scans.

Identification badges displaying the individual's home address would be mandatory in the new Fallujah described by Marines, and cars -- the makeshift delivery device of choice for insurgent bombings -- would be banned altogether.

According to the Globe, Marine officers are also debating compulsory employment for all Fallujah's men in military-type reconstruction corps, a system they compare to that established in post-World War Two Germany.

"They're never going to like us," said Lieutenant Colonel Dave Bellon, a Marine intelligence officer who believes the US military should exploit Sunni Arabs' traditional ways. "They want to figure out who the dominant tribe is and say, 'I'm with you.' We need to be the benevolent, dominant tribe."

Major General Richard Natonski, who commanded last month's invasion of Fallujah by US and Iraqi forces, credited Iraq's interim government as coming up with all the ideas for rebuilding Fallujah.