Falluja

[theknife]

the battle for Falluja will commence any minute now...

Marines near Falluja call last year's invasion of Iraq 'the first war'. This, then, is the second. They plan to retake the rebel-held city of Falluja and from there crush the insurgency throughout the Sunni Triangle, west of Baghdad.

Last week thousands more combat troops, joined by Iraqi security forces, arrived to back the marines who will lead the assault - expected to begin as early as tomorrow.

no doubt US forces will ultimately prevail - overwhelming force, shock & awe etc. apparently, 75-80% of the civilians have fled at this point - under these circumstances, you could just level the town and be done with it. but it's at moments like these that always make me wonder how we got to this point - and how far we are from we where we started out. the neocon fantasy of joyful iraqi's dancing in the streets, greeting us as liberators is long gone...now, it's just seems to be a matter of bombing them into submission.

the Muslim religious scholars have weighed in on this as well:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Prominent Saudi religious scholars urged Iraqis to support militants waging holy war against the U.S.-led coalition forces as American troops prepared Saturday for a major assault on the insurgent hotbed of Fallujah.

The 26 Saudi scholars and preachers said in an open letter to the Iraqi people that their appeal was prompted by "the extraordinary situation through which the Iraqis are passing which calls for unity and exchange of views." The letter was posted on the Internet.

"At no time in history has a whole people been violated ... by propaganda that's been proved false," Sheik Awad al-Qarni, one of the scholars, told Al-Arabiya TV.

as the Bush rationale for the invasion of Iraq has fallen apart, so do these clerics gain credibility in the Arab world. it's extremely difficult to imagine elections in this country in 60 days. from over here, it appears the US public really isn't bothered by this situation - last week's election results indicate the voters will continue to buy what the administration is selling.

reports say there are 10,000 Iraqis holed up in Falluja, ready to fight - according to the administration, they'd be here in America waging terror if we weren't engaging them in Iraq. the public doesn't question this, but in my mind, i keep coming back to a post Ramona made awhile back - a point i've never really seen made anywhere else:

It always amazes me on this issue that people seem to be so unable to imagine the shoe being on the other foot--most, I assume, find the scenario ridiculous because they believe our form of government is the ultimate panacea for all the human race's ills, so the idea of an invading force imposing an alternate system on us is just unthinkable. But even if this invading force did have a "better idea" for us, I submit it would be very hard for us to collectively swallow at the barrel of a gun. It would wound our pride, threaten our identity and in general just really piss a whole lot of people off. If Americans got word that some of these supposedly superior people were treating "American detainees" like filthy animals, I think most Americans would vow to fight to the death rather than allow these people to succeed in telling us how to restructure our society.

which is exactly what the Iraqis are now vowing to do - the only question at this point is how many how US personnel they're going to take with them.

[RoBoBoy]

Originally Posted by theknife

which is exactly what the Iraqis are now vowing to do - the only question at this point is how many how US personnel they're going to take with them.

I think it was Mazer talking about our offensive structure here in the states. That's one thing but what we aren't prepared for and will not be able to defend against are the unknown army of attackers.

And is it just a paranoid thought that a small army could already be in the States. We made it really easy for people to make it across the borders.

[theknife]

12 US soldiers dead so far in this zero-sum game....meantime, the biggest bad guys have all fled:

The general estimated that two to three thousand insurgents faced American forces in Falluja, but he also said he suspected that many of the senior rebel leaders, including the Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had fled before the city was sealed off. Several insurgents had been captured and were expected to provide useful intelligence, General Metz said.

so we'll capture a deserted, wrecked city - and then what? we turn it back over to the Iraqis - and the mayhem resumes. or we occupy it, establish a base these, become the target of car bombs and snipers - and the mayhem resumes....

for how long? at least four more years

[theknife]

letter from Fallujah:

I just have come back from Fallujah. I volunteered for that mission and let me tell you, that I think i will be a pacifist fopr the rest of my life. The carnage and destruction that just builds on itself is staggering. It's a like a free-for-all for everyone. Buildings gutted and trees splintered. Sharp sounds of gunfire rapping like some loud morse code. The assaults themselves feel very organized however, and almost seems like an unfair match as the enemy is always retreating and firing.

Hah. The enemy, who is the enemy? The enemy is just other people. Mostly is people who are seeing their way of life destroyed and have no one left to live for, no job left to work at, no family to protect. They are always young men and when captured talk as if all hope has left them, as if life itself was so meaningless that they choose to play the Russian Roulette that fighting against the Marines really is.

well, they were supposed to be dancing in the streets, greeting us as liberators - didn't they get the memo? i swear, sometimes i think these people just don't listen to anything Dick Cheney says.

[multi]

LOL
but..
omfg thats sad..suicide by cop ,taken to a whole new level
what a way to become a pacifist