[breakem]

All roads leading to this city of 300,000 were cut off and barricaded with tanks and concertina wire.

2 days too late.

[fiftymegaton]

Although your concern for the delay is probably well founded, IMO I don't think these guys would leave Fallujah. It's their stronghold and has been their stronghold for awhile.

[Hank Rearden]

2 days too late.

That's what I'm thinking; these slime have had plenty of time to scoot, unless our guys were anticipating and watching.

[Joe Hadenuf]

2 days too late.

You bet, the perps that did the initial ambush are long gone, and were not on camera. No ID.

[DonaldDuke]

2 days too late.

I don't think so. If I'm not mistaken, the city was sealed off almost immediately. This latest stuff seems to be about stopping traffic from getting too close to the operation.

[Fledermaus]

I disagree and I'm a "salt the place" king of person.

Two days would be prudent given the logistics and the fact that this article points to an operation where they are looking forward at the effects. Thus the camps for the detainees and prepardness for people fleeing.

I bet they stocked up on body bags for the dead Iraqi militia and ex-Ba'athtist they are going to kill.

[My Dog Likes Me]

"2 days too late."

I was just thinking that myself. The enemy has had time to fortify and plan. We lost the initiative when we didn't pull a Blitzkreig number on these SOBs last week.

I guess the Marines didn't want to get in the way of Friday "prayers" by the death cultists of Islam.

[hershey]

I was disappointed to hear Jay Severin on Boston radio this afternoon, predicting marines would die needlessly, that we'd fight the battle with our hands tied, refusing to use our tech. superiority because we want the Muslims who are killing men, women, and children, to 'like us'. He has a point, but I believe that we won't fight in Fallujah according to Marquess of Queensbury rules, nor will we be caught and cut down in alleys by mortars and automatic weapon fire.

The marine commander knows better than to fight the street to street battle that the Muslims and RATs predicted would drive us from Iraq from the beginning. Maybe we're a bit late taking care of business in Fallujah, but once things start to go bing, bang, boom, we'll clean up the town in short order...using our technical superiority.

[RobbyS]

It should be the beginnning of a permanent embargo of the city. No gasoline, nothing beyond food and medicine, none of the amenities of life.