You say Fallujah, I say Rambo!

Town Hall ^ | 4/3/04 | Kathleen Parker

[Nasty McPhilthy]

You say Fallujah, I say Rambo! Kathleen Parker

April 3, 2004

I suppose it would be considered lacking in nuance to nuke the Sunni Triangle.

But so goes the unanimous vote around my household - and I'm betting millions of others - in the aftermath of what forevermore will be remembered simply as "Fallujah."

Wouldn't it be lovely were justice so available and so simple? If we were but creatures like those zoo animals we witnessed gleefully jumping up and down after stomping, dragging, dismembering and hanging the charred remains of American civilians whose only crime was to try to help them.

These are the times that try Americans' souls.

By now we're all saturated with the images of the four dead, members of a security team who escorted American convoys carrying food supplies to an ungrateful town. The four were killed by gunmen who ambushed and torched their vehicles before an angry mob, including children as young as 10, hauled out and mutilated the burning bodies.

It is hard at such times to keep one's head, to remain calm, to rise above the impulse to exact immediate revenge. Or to cut and run, as we did under similar circumstances in Somalia not so long ago. But keep our heads we must. Calmly we must transcend the primitive lust that compels ignorant others to mug idiotically for cameras.

Our revenge will be in facing down enemies who, though unworthy adversaries, impede the worthy goal of stabilizing a country whose future may predict our own. To retreat now would merely feed the terrorists' appetite for America's immediate failure en route to her ultimate demise.

Trust me when I say, I sorely want to leave. I want every mother's son and daughter home for dinner tonight. I want no malevolent Islamist fanatic in my thoughts or dreams ever again. I want to roll over and drift into careless sleep, mumbling, "Not this millennium, dear."

Sadly, we have no such option. We've learned that much. Retreating from the kind of evil we witnessed in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993, where a mob dragged a U.S. Army Ranger's body through the streets, and now Fallujah serves only to nourish people for whom brutality is a pastime.

Moreover, we've seen the sort of chaos we'd be leaving other Iraqis - the good, decent Iraqi people who trusted us once again - to face alone. We have no choice but to stay the course and fulfill our commitment. That said, it would be nice if the international community would step up to the plate and insist on justice. This isn't just America's war, but America's response to a war that was brought to us.

Fast-forwarding through all the familiar arguments against going to war in Iraq - and at great risk of boring myself into an irreversible nap - suffice it to say that Iraq was, as weapons investigator David Kay reported, in a position to create weapons of mass destruction and historically inclined to do so.

Yes, mistakes were made; intelligence was bad; stay tuned for 9-11 commission revelations to come. But post-Sept. 11, we couldn't afford to hope Saddam Hussein discovered his inner Mr. Rogers, even as he refused to cooperate with U.N. inspectors or to abide by resolutions demanding proof of disarmament.

We live in a terrifying new world - and we're justified in not liking it - but we get no breaks for denial. The terrorists who rained hell on our country two-and-a-half years ago were agents of America's reluctant maturation.

Until Sept. 11, we couldn't imagine that people purposely would fly airplanes into our buildings. Until Tuesday, we couldn't imagine that people we're trying to feed would murder and mutilate us.

Americans have the appealing if self-defeating habit of projecting their values onto others who haven't enjoyed centuries of self-enlightenment. But we learn and mean well.

What we know, and what we tell the rest of the world by our steadfastness, is that we will help even the unworthy; we will not back down from a just cause even when appalled and afraid; we mean what we say.

Still, a well-placed MOAB smack in the Sunni Triangle ... but then, we are not

[SAMWolf]

Still, a well-placed MOAB smack in the Sunni Triangle

I vote for a few hundred MOABS

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[nuconvert]

Bump

[btcusn]

Not good enough.
set up a parameter ten klicks outside town, kill anyone attempting to leave. Call in the B-52's. Don't stop till we run out of bombs. And we have LOTS of bombs.
Make sure EVERY Arab newspaper and TV/radio station has their reporters on scene. Next stop Pakistan, than that madman in Palestine, you know Clinton's buddy in the PLO. Than Somalia. Make terrorists first a endangered species, than a extinct species.
Jack

[JOE6PAK]

Ahh, the warm Falluja nights...

"Hot Dogs Anyone?"

[trthnjsts]

Ms. Parker summed it all up for me. I couldn't agree with her more. Fallujah needs to be the line in the sand where we once again break bad and make a stand. I hope we go in there and open up a huge can of whoop ass. I leave it to the pros who go in there to determine who gets justice. God Bless our troops.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Good article. But I couldn't help noticing the omission of any reference to the "ROP" (TM). The fact is, Islamist terrorism is all about Islam (albeit a small faction, 100 million followers tops). If WE THE PEOPLE were aware of the truth about Islam, all practicioners would be deported at once. We have to exterminate the evil seed asap.

[Spruce]

There IS a reason the USMC is in Falujah. And it ain't cause the military got caught with their pants down.

I imagine the hunting is quite excellent in Falujah

[Taft in '52]

"When I lead my army against Baghdad in anger, whether you hide in heaven or in earth, I will bring you down from the spinning spheres; I will toss you in the air like a lion. I will leave no one alive in your realm; I will burn your city, your land, your self.

If you wish to spare yourself and your venerable family, give heed to my advice with the ear of intelligence. If you do not, you will see what God has willed."

Hulagu khan (Mongol chief), AD 1258

[JOE6PAK]

USMC..No better friend..no worse enemy!

[Spruce]

The USMC wasn't tasked to this area since day one to hand out stuffed toys and rebuild shit.

[PhilDragoo]

As it was with the Texas Rangers, so let it be future celebrations:

One mob, one MOAB.

However, Fallujah, must die:

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I believe we will show these animals our fleet or A-C130 gunships and A-10's. we will neutralize all hostile forces in the perimeter with 30 & 40 MM chain-cannon, as well as lay down several million rounds of 30 cal. from the AC 130's. These creatures have never seen the results of firepower on this scale or magnitude.

When we first took Iraq, we did not use tools such as this because we wanted to preserve the infrastructure as well as give the Iraqis the impression we were there to help them, not destroy them as they were lead to believe by their leaders. This time, we will take the gloves off and the idiots will have no clue at first, just what are those big "CARGO" planes doing, circling around our city? Stupid infidel Americans! Then they will step out into the open and offer a clear shot.

ATTENTION ALL MILLITANT MURDERERS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS, Your 72 Virgins are waiting for you in those big beautiful birds.

[Auntie Dem]

We all know that is what we want to happen, but I am afraid our entire nation, save some of us here on FR, has been infected with the PC virus--which is ultimately fatal to its host. Sadly, I think nothing will happen, other than a couple of islamofascist goons will be shot, and they will be tagged as "the" murderers. And this whole episode will fade into a distant memory.

[ChocChipCookie]

ZOO ANIMALS. I love it. Except that humans are born with consciences, unlike animals. These barbarians don't even reach the level of zoo animals. They are subhuman, deserve no mercy, and their souls are unredeemable.

[cartoonistx]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More detail on the attack:

Ambushed American Contractors in Wrong Place at Wrong Time

The attack was a planned for TV event!

[sweneop]

We all know that is what we want to happen, but I am afraid our entire nation, save some of us here on FR, has been infected with the PC virus--which is ultimately fatal to its host. Sadly, I think nothing will happen, other than a couple of islamofascist goons will be shot, and they will be tagged as "the" murderers. And this whole episode will fade into a distant memory.

you want to nuke? what exactly is it that you want to do?

im all for locking down this town, announcing a 1 day weapon handover (i.e. 'HAND OVER YOUR WEAPONS TODAY OR DIE TOMORROW.'), then going door to door, conducting searches, and hanging anyone who has weapons. that sounds fair. destroying a whole area just because we are bitter and angry just makes us less than hunman. dont let your anger make us into the savages that the islamic extremists claim that we are. frankly, the extremists would love it for us to act inhuman in revenge and anger and kill civilians along with the trash. it would do their propaganda and hiring of new lunatics no end of good.

[archy]

"When I lead my army against Baghdad in anger, whether you hide in heaven or in earth, I will bring you down from the spinning spheres; I will toss you in the air like a lion. I will leave no one alive in your realm; I will burn your city, your land, your self.

If you wish to spare yourself and your venerable family, give heed to my advice with the ear of intelligence. If you do not, you will see what God has willed."

Hulagu khan (Mongol chief), AD 1258

Where our horses have trod, grass will never again grow.

--Attributed to Temujin, Genghiz Khan of the Mongol peoples.