American gulag

Michael Schwartz, a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, outlines what the US military plans to do with Fallujah.

Here are some of the proposed new "rules" for the city:

• Entry and exit from the city will be restricted.


• Fallujans are to wear their universal identity cards in plain sight at all times.


• No private automobiles will be allowed inside the city.


• Only those Fallujans cleared through American intelligence vettings will be allowed to work on the reconstruction of the city.


• Those engaged in reconstruction work -- that is, work -- in the city may be organized into "work brigades."

That stuff like this can fly above the radar and not elicit any sustained, public outrage is a stark commentary on the moral state of this country right now.