We've seen all the talk about six days in Fallujah being the most accurate depiction of war and what the innocent marines have to go through. Looks good right? Then why the hell are some 'WOKE' people trying to cancel the game. Why are they attacking our right to free speech? Well, enter this house gingerbread, cake, and pastries and you'll know the person feeding you cookies is the real witch.
A Brief History
To understand the problem with the game it is paramount to understand the real life events. In 2002, the Bush administration along with UK and other allies decided to launch an operation on Iraq. The premise of the attack was simple, Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (coming from two nuclear powers) and that the government was supporting Al-Qaeda. In March of 2003 an operation was launched and by 1st of May "major combat operations" ended. One of the mightiest military in the history of mankind was assembled to complete the task. Over 177,000 American led coalition troops were sent to neutralize the government and give back power to Iraqis. The coalition would later form a transitional government to restore order in the country.
The Problem
The problem starts with the premise. The coalition spread lies about Iraq's access to WMDs. The claims were later debunked as the coalition failed to find any evidence of WMDs. Coalition's claim of Iraq sponsoring Al-Qaeda were also debunked by various reports. The 9/11 Commission concluded that "to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. To make matters worse, the transitional government failed to restore order which would later result in the creation of ISIS. The war also gave birth to sectarian violence in the region.
While it is very hard to get an accurate estimate of civilian casualties, some efforts have been made. As per Iraq Body Count around 185,593 – 208,667 have lost their lives due to this invasion. Other reports suggest that over 600,000 people died due to the war.
The war has been categorically declared illegal.
What happened in Fallujah?
A lot of things happened but I'll try to share some. On 28th of April, 2003, Americans opened fire on some 200 civilians who had violated a curfew they had imposed. This resulted in the death of some 17 civilians and wounded more than 70 others. Human rights watch has confirmed the event. US would later reestablish their control over the city and for that they would use white phosphorus. Now the use of white phosphorus based incendiaries on people is considered illegal. Surprisingly, they had called out the Iraqi government in 1991 over the use of white phosphorus. The US forces would also kill 100s of innocent civilians and children which they defended by saying that civilians were given enough time to evacuate the city (men of fighting age were stopped). In the two battles of Fallujah around 1200 civilians were killed. Overall since the start of war on terror, over 7000 civilians have lost their lives.
So what's the Problem with six days in Fallujah?
The problem in game stems from its chosen narrative perspective. The game promises to deliver an authentic account of the events in Fallujah, however, it portrays the marines (the murderers, war criminals) as the innocents who had to endure such a hard time. The game trailers use these real life america's got talent style interviews to give you a very personal perspective. The interviewees have these watery eyes to make us sympathize with them. Mate, these are the killers. Why do you want us to feel sorry for them?? The game trailers actively portray the americans as the liberators when we know that's not the case. The entire damn war was illegal to begin with. As stated by Peter Tamte, founder and CEO, defended the studio saying "this generation showed great sacrifice and courage in Iraq as remarkable as any in history" Aaaa no? The US forces killed civilians in Fallujah, there is nothing remarkable in that.
The game actively claims that it's trying to tell you what it feels to be in Fallujah, but it puts a veil on the monstrosities that were committed by the military. As Tamte said, "Six Days in Fallujah is not about whether the US and its allies should have invaded Iraq." How can you not discuss something so critical? But it gets worse,
"Just as that [Marine] cannot second-guess the choices by the policymakers, we're not trying to make a political commentary about whether or not the war itself was a good or a bad idea." The entire war was wrong, its premise, its execution, post war everything. How can you not think about the REAL victims of the war before you ask us to sympathize with war criminals? But wait they want us to think about people, but in a way that keeps the image of the marines upright, "There are things that divide us, and including those really divisive things, I think, distracts people from the human stories that we can all identify with," Tamte said. It gets worse. White phosphorus, that illegal thing, ya, its not in the game and his reason for not including in the game is because the marines didn't confess using them. LIKE WTF? Use google goddamnit.
Why the hate?
This game isn't about an accurate depiction. This game isn't about telling you the real events of Fallujah. The sole purpose of the game is to alter the mainstream perception of the events. Many people who play this game might not know what happened in Fallujah, they might not have researched it or they might have not been born when everything was going down. This will be their history book. For the longest time games like COD have used references to mask history. It is perfectly possible that when you mention highway of death people think about that COD mission where "evil Russians" wreak havoc and not the highway that was bombed to shit by the coalition forces. However, 6 days in fallujah takes things a step further. By choosing what to tell and what not to tell, and how to tell, they mask the war crimes committed by the marines. It is an attempt to change history. The plan is simple, repeat the lie so many times that everyone believes it's the truth. This isn't free speech, this is injustice to the victims of the war. The developers have a responsibility to accurately depict the events and if they can't for any reason then they should just quite the development.
The worst thing is that there are more sympathizers of marines then there are people who would make the effort to understand everything. The idea of this game doing good in sales (perfectly plausible) makes me sick. Who knows this game becomes such a massive hit that it starts getting yearly installments with each trying to mask another massacre.
Take a moment and try to put yourself in the shoes of the poor souls of Fallujah. Think about it. First you are invaded, kicked out and killed, and then movies and games are made showing how difficult it was for the invaders. Take a moment, think about their pain. First they suffered physically, and now they'll suffer mentally. I end this piece with a quote from Tamte's GIbiz interview,
Edit:
Some interesting tweets have been shared in the comments by FormatCompatible. Thought I might add them to the original post.
Apparently, criticizing the game is extremely risky.
A Brief History
To understand the problem with the game it is paramount to understand the real life events. In 2002, the Bush administration along with UK and other allies decided to launch an operation on Iraq. The premise of the attack was simple, Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (coming from two nuclear powers) and that the government was supporting Al-Qaeda. In March of 2003 an operation was launched and by 1st of May "major combat operations" ended. One of the mightiest military in the history of mankind was assembled to complete the task. Over 177,000 American led coalition troops were sent to neutralize the government and give back power to Iraqis. The coalition would later form a transitional government to restore order in the country.
The Problem
The problem starts with the premise. The coalition spread lies about Iraq's access to WMDs. The claims were later debunked as the coalition failed to find any evidence of WMDs. Coalition's claim of Iraq sponsoring Al-Qaeda were also debunked by various reports. The 9/11 Commission concluded that "to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. To make matters worse, the transitional government failed to restore order which would later result in the creation of ISIS. The war also gave birth to sectarian violence in the region.
While it is very hard to get an accurate estimate of civilian casualties, some efforts have been made. As per Iraq Body Count around 185,593 – 208,667 have lost their lives due to this invasion. Other reports suggest that over 600,000 people died due to the war.
The war has been categorically declared illegal.
What happened in Fallujah?
A lot of things happened but I'll try to share some. On 28th of April, 2003, Americans opened fire on some 200 civilians who had violated a curfew they had imposed. This resulted in the death of some 17 civilians and wounded more than 70 others. Human rights watch has confirmed the event. US would later reestablish their control over the city and for that they would use white phosphorus. Now the use of white phosphorus based incendiaries on people is considered illegal. Surprisingly, they had called out the Iraqi government in 1991 over the use of white phosphorus. The US forces would also kill 100s of innocent civilians and children which they defended by saying that civilians were given enough time to evacuate the city (men of fighting age were stopped). In the two battles of Fallujah around 1200 civilians were killed. Overall since the start of war on terror, over 7000 civilians have lost their lives.
So what's the Problem with six days in Fallujah?
The problem in game stems from its chosen narrative perspective. The game promises to deliver an authentic account of the events in Fallujah, however, it portrays the marines (the murderers, war criminals) as the innocents who had to endure such a hard time. The game trailers use these real life america's got talent style interviews to give you a very personal perspective. The interviewees have these watery eyes to make us sympathize with them. Mate, these are the killers. Why do you want us to feel sorry for them?? The game trailers actively portray the americans as the liberators when we know that's not the case. The entire damn war was illegal to begin with. As stated by Peter Tamte, founder and CEO, defended the studio saying "this generation showed great sacrifice and courage in Iraq as remarkable as any in history" Aaaa no? The US forces killed civilians in Fallujah, there is nothing remarkable in that.
The game actively claims that it's trying to tell you what it feels to be in Fallujah, but it puts a veil on the monstrosities that were committed by the military. As Tamte said, "Six Days in Fallujah is not about whether the US and its allies should have invaded Iraq." How can you not discuss something so critical? But it gets worse,
"Just as that [Marine] cannot second-guess the choices by the policymakers, we're not trying to make a political commentary about whether or not the war itself was a good or a bad idea." The entire war was wrong, its premise, its execution, post war everything. How can you not think about the REAL victims of the war before you ask us to sympathize with war criminals? But wait they want us to think about people, but in a way that keeps the image of the marines upright, "There are things that divide us, and including those really divisive things, I think, distracts people from the human stories that we can all identify with," Tamte said. It gets worse. White phosphorus, that illegal thing, ya, its not in the game and his reason for not including in the game is because the marines didn't confess using them. LIKE WTF? Use google goddamnit.
Why the hate?
This game isn't about an accurate depiction. This game isn't about telling you the real events of Fallujah. The sole purpose of the game is to alter the mainstream perception of the events. Many people who play this game might not know what happened in Fallujah, they might not have researched it or they might have not been born when everything was going down. This will be their history book. For the longest time games like COD have used references to mask history. It is perfectly possible that when you mention highway of death people think about that COD mission where "evil Russians" wreak havoc and not the highway that was bombed to shit by the coalition forces. However, 6 days in fallujah takes things a step further. By choosing what to tell and what not to tell, and how to tell, they mask the war crimes committed by the marines. It is an attempt to change history. The plan is simple, repeat the lie so many times that everyone believes it's the truth. This isn't free speech, this is injustice to the victims of the war. The developers have a responsibility to accurately depict the events and if they can't for any reason then they should just quite the development.
The worst thing is that there are more sympathizers of marines then there are people who would make the effort to understand everything. The idea of this game doing good in sales (perfectly plausible) makes me sick. Who knows this game becomes such a massive hit that it starts getting yearly installments with each trying to mask another massacre.
Take a moment and try to put yourself in the shoes of the poor souls of Fallujah. Think about it. First you are invaded, kicked out and killed, and then movies and games are made showing how difficult it was for the invaders. Take a moment, think about their pain. First they suffered physically, and now they'll suffer mentally. I end this piece with a quote from Tamte's GIbiz interview,
Edit:
Some interesting tweets have been shared in the comments by FormatCompatible. Thought I might add them to the original post.
Apparently, criticizing the game is extremely risky.
Last edited:
