Welcome To Dreamland There is a famous postmodern painting entitled "This Is Not A Horse". The explanation of the piece is as obvious as it is thought provoking. The painting is an image of a horse depicted on a canvas, and not a horse itself. As we consider the assault on Fallujah, we should keep in mind that we're not seeing the battle, but rather a controlled image of what's happening over there. On the corner of this portrait of human misery is the signature of Donald Rumsfeld. A suitably ironic title might be "Winning Hearts And Minds". Madeline Bunting, a Guardian correspondent, writes: With fitting irony, one of the camps used by the US marines waiting for the assault on Falluja was formerly a Ba'ath party retreat occasionally used by Saddam Hussein's sons. Dreamland, as it was known, has an island in the middle of an artificial lake fringed by palms. Now the camp's dream-like unreality is distorting every news report filed on the preparations for the onslaught on Falluja. We don't know, and won't know, anything about what happens in the next few days except for what the US military authorities choose to let us know. It's long since been too dangerous for journalists to move around unless they are embedded with the US forces. There is almost no contact left with civilians still in Falluja, the only information is from those who have left. A good investigative journalist never relies on only one source for information, yet I can guarantee that you will read the military-generated account of what is taking place in Fallujah as gospel truth in our newspapers. Read The Guardian Article