U.S. Plan for Fallujah Hits Snag

There is only one way out of this mess. Bring back Saddam and apologize for the slight misunderstanding over the WMD. In return he would be happy to grant independence to Kurdistan, which would then become the newest member of NATO. It's better than letting the Iranian mullahs control Iraq, which is where we are currently heading.

21 posted on 05/02/2004 6:40:54 PM PDT by doug9732

there has to be something else going on here - this couldn't have fallen apart within 24 hours.

I really, really hope you're right. The confusion in all the conflicting reports is not exactly inspiring confidence, though. I'd like to believe there's a plan. We'll soon see.

22 posted on 05/02/2004 6:42:57 PM PDT by saquin

I mean, it sounds like all these guys from Myers on down need to get on one damn conference call and just hash it out.

23 posted on 05/02/2004 6:44:19 PM PDT by oceanview

"there has to be something else going on here - this couldn't have fallen apart within 24 hours."

Well, sure it could, the general in question probably hear on the Sunday talk shows how he was going to get the boot, so what the heck, may as well switch sides since Fallujah belongs to the resistance anyway. I imagine his looking for a way to get fired and make himself look good at the same time. Perfectly understandable. But then again this report could be BS. Whatever get ready for lots and lots of double crossing.

24 posted on 05/02/2004 6:45:01 PM PDT by jpsb (Nominated 1994 "Worst writer on the net")

The U.S. Marine plan to have former Iraqi soldiers restore order in Fallujah ran into trouble Sunday as the former Iraqi general heading the new force denied there were any foreign fighters in the city, calling into question his commitment to American military objectives.

LOL! Boy, that lasted a long time.

25 posted on 05/02/2004 6:45:39 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)

Don't lie, af_vet. I said no such thing.

I'll leave it to the audience to judge your comments for the last 24-48 hours and draw their own conclusions about your online behavior.

26 posted on 05/02/2004 6:46:15 PM PDT by af_vet_1981

fire him? we could assasinate General Saleh in about 15 seconds, he can't possibly think he could pull this off.

27 posted on 05/02/2004 6:46:43 PM PDT by oceanview

all these guys from Myers on down need to get on one damn conference call and just hash it out.

Yes, this plan needs to be hashed out. LOL...

28 posted on 05/02/2004 6:46:53 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)

Wonder where they got their info?

29 posted on 05/02/2004 6:51:19 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)

Okay...I will throw in my vote..af_vet_1981, you are a filthy liar. You are an embarassment to the USAF and the USA.

30 posted on 05/02/2004 6:54:27 PM PDT by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)

this has been a reallyyyyy bad week for team Bush.
No one likes to say it but there it is.
Abusing captives, gonna take falluja, gonna turn it over to a iraqi, not gonna turn it over....etc., etc.

on the good side were running against team kerry, so it won't hurt us.

I do wish someone would sit down and come up with some sort of plan. State, Defense, Congress...anybody. Heck, Freepers could come up with a constitution, election dates, authorized parties, national referendums....maybe a strong man, maybe a 3 state solution, something. I really don't know how or what we are gonna turn this over to on June 30

just venting

31 posted on 05/02/2004 6:55:14 PM PDT by Will_Zurmacht

Myers: Ex-Saddam General Not in Charge in Falluja

Sun May 2, 2004 03:21 PM ET

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(Page 1 of 2)

Top News
	Nine U.S. Troops Die, Falluja Command Still at Issue
	Sharon Party Overwhelmingly Spurns His Gaza Plan
	Israeli Missiles Kill Four West Bank Militants

By Todd Eastham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gen. Jasim Mohamed Saleh, a former general under Saddam Hussein, is unlikely to take charge in the volatile Iraqi city of Falluja, the senior U.S. military commander said on Sunday and blamed the media for "very bad" reporting on U.S. plans to pacify the Sunni Muslim stronghold.

"There's another general they're looking at," Gen. Richard B. Myers told ABC's This Week. "My guess is, it will not be General Saleh. ... He will not be their leader ... He may have a role to play, but that vetting has yet to take place," the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

At the Marines camp outside Falluja, Lieutenant General James Conway told reporters that another former senior Iraqi officer, Mohamed Latif, was also working with the Marines in a "mentoring" capacity and was being considered as a possible commander for the overall brigade, once it was established.

Myers, who said Marines have not withdrawn from Falluja, did not respond to a question on Fox News Sunday on whether Saleh, a former general in Saddam's elite Republican Guard, had been involved with the brutal suppression of Iraq's Kurdish minority, but he reiterated that Saleh was not in command of the forces inside Falluja.

"The reporting to date has been ... very, very inaccurate," Myers told Fox News. "We've gotten a lot of help from tribal sheiks and other folks."

Myers' appearance on three different political talk shows seemed calculated to counter reporting out of Iraq suggesting the U.S. military had suffered a virtual defeat in Falluja and had turned to Saddam's former military chiefs to salvage the situation.

"No, it's not a reversal," Myers insisted on ABC of his remarks that failed to confirm Saleh as military chief in Falluja. "... Again, as I said, the reporting on this has been very, very bad and way ahead of the facts."

"When you wake up and you see CNN and they say, 'The Marines are withdrawing from Falluja,' and you see a sand-colored vehicle moving, we all jumped to the same conclusion, 'Well, they are leaving."'

Footage aired on CNN on Saturday showed Saleh entering Falluja in a column of vehicles and being greeted with handshakes from unidentified U.S. soldiers. U.S. forces have also pulled back some miles from their original siege lines and allowed hundreds of former Iraqi soldiers to enter the city.

'MARINES HAVE NOT WITHDRAWN'

"The Marines have not withdrawn from Falluja," Myers told CBS' Face the Nation. "They are not withdrawing from Falluja." Continued ...

32 posted on 05/02/2004 6:57:11 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)

Sun May 2, 2004 03:21 PM ET

| |

(Page 2 of 2)

Top News
	Nine U.S. Troops Die, Falluja Command Still at Issue
	Sharon Party Overwhelmingly Spurns His Gaza Plan
	Israeli Missiles Kill Four West Bank Militants

Saleh himself played down his own position in Saddam's Baath party and said he left the Republican Guard before becoming an infantry general. But a senior Shi'ite politician said he had also been a general in the Guard itself.

"Obviously it's not going to be in anyone's interests to put someone who is connected with the former regime and with atrocities in charge," Myers told CBS, when pressed on how much U.S. authorities knew about Saleh's history.

Jalal Talabani, an Iraqi Governing Council member and leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, told CNN's Late Edition that Saleh was acceptable to the council.

"Inside the Iraqi army, even in the commanders of the Republican Guard, there were many who were against the regime" of Saddam Hussein, Talabani said.

"... Because the people of Falluja choose this man and this man will do his best we must forget something that happened in the past," said Talabani, without elaborating.

A U.S. official said rank would not exclude anyone from a role in the new Iraqi forces, although another official in the Iraq administration said the policy of excluding senior figures of Saddam's regime remained "rock solid."

"The goals and objectives ... in Falluja have been what they've been all along," Myers insisted.

"We've got to deal with the extremist and foreign fighters, we've got to get rid of the heavy weapons and we've got to find the folks that perpetrated the Blackwater atrocity" in which four American private security guards were killed and mutilated by a mob in the Sunni Muslim city, Myers said.

" ... It would be preferable if the Iraqis would deal with this situation. ... We think we are very close to having Iraqis help achieve our objectives in Falluja.

"... We think that is far preferable than the U.S. going into there in a very major combat operation to achieve those objectives. ... If we can make this work then it's going to be a good example for the rest of Iraq."

33 posted on 05/02/2004 6:58:21 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)

To: colorado tanker

You guys need to be over here:

Fallujah surrender thread

34 posted on 05/02/2004 6:59:04 PM PDT by Antoninus (In hoc signo, vinces †)

When did we apologize to Japan and Germany ?

Keerist! When will some stop apologizing for that war!!

35 posted on 05/02/2004 6:59:11 PM PDT by EGPWS

To: colorado tanker

Yep. The Marines made the GREAT mistake of assuming that the 82nd had actually DONE anything in Fallujah. Other than a few show the flag raids, the vaunted airborne warriors largely sat on their ass collecting jump pay, and tha Fallujah sore festered.

Then the 1st Mar Div arrived and started kicking Jihadi ass...shoving the bastards back into one portion of the city with firepower and guts. So I guess you're right...the Marines DID show the dog faces how things should be done.

36 posted on 05/02/2004 7:01:02 PM PDT by IGOTMINE ("By God, I pity those poor bastards we're going up against. By God I do.")

Don't "Bogart" that joint my friend.

37 posted on 05/02/2004 7:01:45 PM PDT by EGPWS

When will some stop apologizing for that war!!

Victory means never having to say you're sorry.

38 posted on 05/02/2004 7:01:52 PM PDT by af_vet_1981

Victory means never having to say you're sorry.

Well, personally I guess I'm batting 1000! ; )

39 posted on 05/02/2004 7:05:32 PM PDT by EGPWS

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Kimmit on live with Geraldo now. Geraldo expressing the same frustrations we are, the same confusion.

Now Kimmitt says "Saleh will probably be commanding" some of the forces, but now some new general is being vetted.

Hey, is Chemical Ali really dead?

40 posted on 05/02/2004 7:14:35 PM PDT by oceanview

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