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Folks, let's take a step back and breathe just a minute.

First, the Marines aren't "retreating" or pulling out of Fallujah. They are moving back off of the front to the outer limits of the city and letting this new Iraqi force move in to clean it up. Like the man said: "If they screw it up or they need our help, we'll be there."

Second, these Iraqi forces can probably do what our boys couldn't: use whatever means necessary to root the enemy out. If our Marines did that, Al Jazeera would have it running 24/7. We'd be seeing dead babies and mothers all over every newspaper in the free world. With the Iraqi force doing the dirty work, if it gets messy, it isn't going to be Marines being blamed. Bush will be, of course, but not the forces over there. In light of the news coming out over prisoners being "humiliated" today, the last thing we need is Marines doing what Marines do best and having Al Jazeera throwing out pregnant mothers in front of them to get a picture of it.

The Iraqi forces will have to take over their own security eventually, so why not let them take care of the biggest mess and see how they do? If they screw it up or get their clocks cleaned, we have more than enough Marines to finish the job, but until they do, why risk more Marines dying? Give our boys a rest and let them come in in the fourth quarter if necessary. Hell, they've already given the Iraqi forces a 21 point lead, so let the second string come in. If they blow the lead, then send the starters back in.

And before anyone starts blasting me, I have been all for letting the Marines take the city down, up until this mess with the pictures of Iraqi prisoners being blasted everywhere. The lib media smells blood and is itching for anything. Give them Marines coming home in flag-draped coffins or civilians dead after the Marines go in and they will be swarming. This way, they have less to work with and our Marines get a breather.

They aren't going anywhere, so don't fret about it. The terrorists know who is waiting in the wings and they know how Marines operate, so I am not too worried that anyone will see this as a "loss" for us, outside of Dan Blather or the New York Slimes, and who really gives a rat's rear-end what those idiots think anyway? At worst, the terrorists will see it as a brief reprieve from getting killed every day. But they will also know that those who were tagging them like they were in a shooting gallery last week are not far away.

This IS NOT a loss on our part, IMHO.