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Of course we'll win. Why is this in doubt? We just had to wait for after the election to move forward.
FINISHING FALLUJAH
By RALPH PETERS
November 9, 2004 -- THE most decisive battle since the fall of Baghdad has begun. Thousands of U.S. Marines, Army units and Iraqi government forces have moved into Fallujah. Now we need to finish the job swiftly, no matter the cost in death and destruction, before the will of our civilian leaders weakens again.
Stopping even one building short of the annihilation of the terrorists and insurgents would be a defeat. Al-Jazeera will pull out the propaganda stops, inventing American atrocities. The BBC will pressure Tony Blair to rein in our president. Iraqi faction leaders will press Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to accept a cease-fire for "talks."
The weight of the free world is on the shoulders of our Marines and soldiers — and on the backs of our Iraqi allies. They've got to wrap up major operations in a week.
We can do it. Our troops are the best in the world. The early phases of combat last night showed solid intelligence work and adept planning. The terrorists spent months preparing defensive traps, but our combat engineers — key members of the team — blew right through the roadside bombs and barricades. We're off to an impressive start.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are attacking on multiple axes, keeping the terrorists off balance. Key sites within the city already have been seized — including a hospital that cared more about propaganda than its patients. Iraqi national forces have performed solidly thus far. A win in Fallujah will mark the birth of their new nation — one that never really existed in the past, when Iraq was held together only through oppression.
Significantly, the main assault began after darkness fell. Following months of preparatory airstrikes and unpublicized raids by U.S. special operations forces, the night attack instantly put the terrorists at a disadvantage. Although our enemies may have acquired a few night-vision devices, our troops are superbly equipped and trained as night stalkers.
In the irregular wars of the past, the guerrillas owned the hours of darkness. Not anymore. G.I. Joe is the Midnight Master.
Expect 'round-the-clock ground and air operations that give the terrorists no rest and deprive them of the initiative. Our troops know how important this battle is. They'll fight ferociously. The Marines, especially, are itching for revenge after being deprived of victory for political reasons last April. They only need to be allowed to do the job right this time.
It's up to President Bush not to let them down. No matter what happens, no matter who complains or balks, no matter the false accusations from Al-Jazeera and the BBC, our president needs to stand firm until the job is done. By quitting in April, we created the terrorist city-state of Fallujah. Now we need to shut it down for good.
Meanwhile, be prepared for media monkey business. No matter how well things go, we'll hear self-righteous gasps over the inevitable U.S. casualties. The first time a rifle company consolidates a position long enough to bring up ammunition, we'll hear that the attack has bogged down. If commanders on the ground decide to shift forces from one axis of advance to another, we'll be told that our troops couldn't make progress against "dug-in terrorists."
If four Iraqi units out of five perform well in battle, but one outfit fails or flees, we'll be bombarded with reports insisting that our training program hasn't worked, that the Iraqis aren't really with us, that the interim government has no grass-roots support (sort of what the Dems said about George W. Bush).
And if Operation Phantom Fury goes miraculously well, we'll be criticized for waiting too long to go in, for exaggerating the threat and for knocking over a stop sign with a tank.
The global media lost the U.S. presidential election. They'll do their best to win the Second Battle of Fallujah for the terrorists.
The truth is that war is cruel. And difficult. And complex. It's never as smooth as it is in a film or a video game. In real life, heroes get killed, too — sometimes by friendly fire. Mistakes are made, despite rigorous planning. The enemy shoots back. And sometimes the enemy gets lucky. Tragedy is war's inseparable companion.
We cannot foresee all the details of the combat ahead. The fight for Fallujah may prove easier than we feared, or tougher than we hoped. Time will tell. Meanwhile, don't let your view be swayed by the crisis of the hour. Have faith in our troops and their leaders.
In return, I can promise you one thing: If we don't fail our troops, they won't fail us.
Ralph Peters is the author of "Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace."
www.nypost.com
Of course we'll win. Why is this in doubt? We just had to wait for after the election to move forward.
Fixed that for ya.
You would have been all over the President if he had done this before the election calling it his "October surprise". At least be honest with yourself!
There's no way in he would have done this before the election. Be honest with yourself.You would have been all over the President if he had done this before the election calling it his "October surprise".
No duh! He actually came out and said so, because HE was aware that it could have influenced the election...whether it went well (which it is and which noone outside the looney left ever doubted) or it went bad.
At least he was honest about it.
Thanks for agreeing with the fact that military decisions are driven by politics.No duh! He actually came out and said so, because HE was aware that it could have influenced the election...whether it went well (which it is and which noone outside the looney left ever doubted) or it went bad.
At least he was honest about it.
Not usually but, in this case, it was a legitimate concern. The Left was already rabid...why fuel the fire? And, no ground was lost...
See, this is what I don't get. Bush and his supporters are so resolute and righteous that they feel they can and should do anything they want -- but whenever they are called on something like this they whine about the left "raising " or some such rot when they say the left is irrelevant.Not usually but, in this case, it was a legitimate concern. The Left was already rabid...why fuel the fire? And, no ground was lost...
Either you're scurred or not.
Bush was scurred. If he admitted that I'm pleased with the candor.
WAIT A MINUTE! WAIT A ING MINUTE! I WAS WRONG.
I was remembering some liberal propaganda released about a week before the election that stated the administration was holding off on a major offensive into Fallujah until after the election... Of course, that was blown out of the water when we made incursions into the area the following day and for a couple of days after.
Yes, the final assault didn't begin until Sunday, but check the headlines back as far as the Tuesday before the election, we were fighting in Fallujah.
Sorry, I don't know where my head was yesterday. Jeeze! I know, I know, I'm just a simpleton from fly-over country.
You are in complete denial and skirting the issue.
What issue? We already know the outcome, so that's not at issue. We've been fighting there for quite some time so that isn't an issue. The final assault was put off so it wouldn't affect the election. So there really are no "issues" here. Just what happened and what is happening.You are in complete denial and skirting the issue.
I think the Chump has a point.
What proof do you have? Beyond the DNC propaganda that accidentally got stuck to the roof of my brain and which I vomited back out earlier in this thread, you have nothing beyond speculation...
Where is the victory in this?
Information Clearing HouseI went for a walk around the city last night after the Americans pulled back.
It was very quiet - often the only sounds coming from the movement of fighters along streets and rooftops.
In places, it was also very dark, with only the occasional rocket or flare lighting the way.
Wherever I went, I found broken buildings and bodies - local people and fighters killed on the streets.
Clutching weapons
I also saw four crippled US tanks and three abandoned Humvees.
In the Hasbiyyah area, I counted the bodies of at least six US soldiers lying on the ground.
Some of them were badly mangled with various bits blown off. Others were in better condition, as if they had taken small-arms fire.
I noticed two of the US soldiers were still clutching their guns tightly across their chests. But most of their weapons were missing.
Some of the dead are beginning to rot in the streets.
But the living do not exactly smell great either - I have not had a bath for a week. Nor have I shaved.
There is no real rest here, day or night.
Jolan flashpoint
The US brought in a very big force on Wednesday morning.
The mosques no longer broadcast the daily call to prayer but nor are they silent.
Every time a big bomb lands nearby, the cry rises from the minarets: "Allahu Akbar" [God is great].
The worst fighting is to the north of the city, in the Jolan district.
This is where a lot of the fighters have been based.
Incidentally, it is also where US security guards were ambushed in April, leading to the first siege of Falluja.
I think it is misleading to say the US controls 70% of the city because the fighters are constantly on the move.
They go from street to street, attacking the army in some places, letting them through elsewhere so that they can attack them later.
The fighters have told me they are prepared to resist the Americans until the death.
They say they are fighting not just for Falluja, but for all Iraq.
They express confidence that they will win in the end.
They say the idea is to inflict enough casualties on the American troops to force them to reconsider their mission. "
Copyright: BBC.
The BBC LMAO?
Que Dan post bemoaning the loss of civillian life in 5..4..3..2..1
Just thrown enough on the wall and hope it sticks eh?
Troops push insurgents into southern Fallujah
Military count: 13 U.S. troops, 600 extremists killed
Scott Nelson / Getty Images
U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion sweep through a Fallujah home looking for insurgents on Wednesday. FREE VIDEO
Nov. 11: U.S. forces battling for Fallujah found and freed an Iraqi taxi driver. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Today show
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 8:52 a.m. ET Nov. 11, 2004FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. forces hammered southern Fallujah with renewed airstrikes and artillery on Thursday, hoping to corner insurgents in the battle that the U.S. military says has left 13 Americans and an estimated 600 insurgents dead. The wounded include dozens of Marines and Army soldiers.
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Two U.S. helicopter crews reportedly escaped injury Thursday when their Super Cobras had to make hard landings after being hit by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. One of the choppers was hit 9 miles northwest of Fallujah, the other was hit a mile southeast of the city.
The latest military casualty report, issued late Wednesday, stated that three American troops were killed in the previous 24 hours. Through Tuesday night the toll was 10 U.S. troops and two Iraqi soldiers.
A spokeswoman at the U.S. military's main hospital in Europe said 38 injured soldiers arrived on Monday, 23 more on Tuesday, and 64 on Wednesday. Two planeloads with around 90 wounded were expected later Thursday.
The last military assessment of insurgents killed, issued Thursday, was a rough estimate of 600. No military assessment of civilian causalities was released.
Also Thursday, U.S. Marines said they had freed an Iraqi man found shackled to a wall and malnourished. The man said he was a taxi driver held for 10 days, during which he was beaten.
Bomb, rampage elsewhere
In Baghdad, meantime, a massive car bomb killed 17 people, according to police, while narrowly missing a U.S. convoy that passed by seconds before.
And Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, was in chaos Thursday as grenade blasts and gunfire rang through empty streets and smoke billowed from two burning police stations.
Rebels attacked Iraqi national guards controlling a bridge in the city center, killing five of them, witnesses said.
A cameraman for Reuters filmed gunmen raiding weapons and flak jackets from a police station before setting it on fire.
“It’s crazy, really, really crazy,” said Abdallah Fathi, a resident who witnessed the police station attack.
Doctors said one civilian had been killed and at least 25 wounded in the past two days of fighting.
Stench of corpses
In Fallujah, U.S. troops were steadily advancing through the city from the northern side, pushing militants slowly into the southern half. With U.S. units positioned to the south and east, and the Euphrates River on the west, insurgents are being squeezed into a corner, the military said.
Loud explosions rocked the city throughout Thursday morning as gunfire reverberated across town. Smoke rose above Fallujah as helicopters hovered overhead. Marines were seen perched on rooftops. Many buildings were heavily damaged with few signs of civilians.
Once in a while, the buzz of a tiny unmanned spy plane could be heard overhead as it crisscrossed the battered city to inspect the damage or home in on suspected guerrilla positions.
Residents said the stench of decomposing bodies hung over the battered city, power and water supplies had been cut for five days and food was running out for thousands of civilians trapped in their homes by the fighting.
About 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, backed by 2,000 Iraqi government troops, are engaged in the battle for Iraq’s most rebellious city, 32 miles west of Baghdad.
In what could be a sign of progress, the Marines began turning over the northern neighborhood of Jolan to Iraqi forces, signaling that they consider the area relatively secure. Jolan, a dense, historic district of tight alleyways, was considered one of the strongest positions held by militants inside Fallujah and parts of it saw heavy fighting.
Mosque minarets bombed
In one of the most dramatic clashes Wednesday, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of a mosque, the military said. U.S. Marines called in an airstrike, and an F-18 dropped a 500-pound bomb on the mosque, destroying both minarets.
Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs.
“When they’re using a mosque to do command and control for insurgents and kill my fellow Marines and soldiers and airmen that are out here — no holds barred, the gloves are off,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer.
One Marine officer estimated on Wednesday that U.S. and Iraqi forces controlled about 70 percent of the city, but the commander of the Iraqi force said he believed the figure was closer to 50 percent.
Fallujah is the centerpiece of the Sunni Muslim insurgency that has stymied U.S. efforts to secure Iraq and prepare for national elections that are scheduled for January.
Some officers believe many insurgents likely abandoned the city before the offensive was launched and moved elsewhere to continue their campaign of violence. The most wanted guerrilla, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is thought to have fled.
www.msnbc.com
You have to be totally stupid to not know that this assault was putoff due to the election. For one Bush was to busy flying to Ohio everyday to worry about the war and he sure didn't want casualties being reported during his "moral" campaign.
You guys just can't think outside your own little worlds.
Sure, it was put off until after the election. One aspect some of you are missing is that by doing so Bush also gave Kerry the option, had he won, to do as he saw fit.
I'd suggest we wait until we here from General Metz. He knows if he was politically pressured on timing...it's his show.You have to be totally stupid to not know that this assault was putoff due to the election. For one Bush was to busy flying to Ohio everyday to worry about the war and he sure didn't want casualties being reported during his "moral" campaign.
You guys just can't think outside your own little worlds.
Who cares if he did put it off? You could also argue that we were giving Iraqi government folks a chance to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the problem.
600 insurgents dead... a good start.
Did anyone catch the article in the Express-News from the AP today? Said that local insurgents were killing the foreign fighters for refusing to fight/trying to escape.
There was also a report that several insurgents in Baghdad had contacted the government to surrender and ask for amnesty.
We've got them turning on each other, and some asking to surrender and live in peace.
But Dan wants us to negotiate.
13 Marines too many. Godbless'em.
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