I am ashamed to see our military personnel hamstrung in this fashion...and being subject to continued sniper fire and potshots as they try and deal with ruthless terorist and insurgent animals and their lairs.
I have said it before and will do so again now...the solution to the type of atrocity and resistence that Fallujah and other places in Iraq have bread, as small a minority as they are, is direct and brutal for the combatants and those providing them sanctuary and support.
To whit:
Pull our troops back to the perimeter. Inform the inhabitants and fighters that negotiations are over and that they have 24 hours to evacuate any male under the age of 13 and over the age of 65 and woman and children. Inform them that any who are held against their will or who elect to remain will be on the heads of the insuyrgants and tell them this up front...no bones about it, no further negotiations.IMHO, at this juncture, this is all the miltant Islamics will understand...anything short of this will be viewed as weakness and subject us to continued and increased attacks.
Process those electing to leave out of the city through our checkpoints looking for any known insurgents. Hold any of those who are armed or trying to escape for indefinite internment and intense interrogation.
Offer the same 24 hour period to any male between 13 and 64 who wants to surrender and direct them to a different location. Those showing up there without weapons are subject to indefinite internment and intense interrogation. Armed insurgents are killed on site.
After 24 hours, use MOAB and ARLITE bombing to level the entire place. Then send in one hundred D-9 Cats to level the place out with enough dirt and top soil to effectively bury the dead. Salt the ground and soak it with swine fat and place a sign there in the middle of what is left that reads.
"Here stood Fallujah and its insurgents until they committed atrocities against the United States of America and the Coalition Authority.
Now there remains nothing but pig fat and salt.
To all those who elected to escape we say...De Oppresso Liber. To all those who chose to fight we say...Sic Simper Tyranus".
I would like someone to tell us when in the history of humankind anyone has ‘negotiated’ with such barbarians and wound up with a result other than having one’s own hands tied for a period of time, until the barbarians have regrouped and hit even harder. (Ask any Russian over the age of sixty what the results of their Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact ‘negotiations’ with Hitler were; or ask anyone with half a brain to name the peace accords that have been signed with Arafat/the ‘Palestinians’ that have resulted in anything but further atrocities being committed against Israel … ).
Every time I hear these cretins called ‘insurgents’ my blood boils. An ‘insurgent,' by definition, is a generally non-belligerent ‘rebel’ whose non-violent actions simply defy a ruling political party/government. These savages are way beyond insurgency. Yet the media have decided to label them as such, and way too many people are picking up on their purposefully mild description of these sub-human monsters.
(Note: These are the same media that are appalled when our Marines close down an Iraqi newspaper that is calling for ‘death to the American pigs’ – because a ‘legitimate’ journalism outlet has been denied its ‘rights of free speech’.)
No insurgent tortures, burns, and mutilates innocent people, and then hangs their decapitated, broken bodies in public while dancing in celebration. That is pure, vile malevolence. No insurgent kidnaps innocent people, and then releases some, tortures others, and brutally murders others, seemingly at random. No insurgent holds knives to the throats of kidnapped missionaries and women, and threatens to burn them alive if conditions are not met.
Barbarians do not (ever) honor peace/ceasefire agreements. They simply use them to their strategic advantage.
We have it within our power to see to it that not one more Marine is killed in Fallujah. We have it within our power to see to it that our supply lines (both military, and those sustaining the Iraqi people) remain uncompromised. And I have yet to hear a better plan to accomplish those necessary goals than yours, Jeff. It’s quick. It’s decisive. And its success is a virtual certainty.
It’s time to stop prosecuting this war with one hand tied behind our back (we employed that particularly masochistic brand of military strategy forty years ago and we’re still suffering the consequences). We’re paying the price for the current insanity with the lives of our men – one, two, three or more a day. And we’re voluntarily tying that hand behind our back for two insane reasons:
(1) We’re afraid of rubbing world opinion the wrong way. We don’t want the ‘cowboy’ Bush adjective resurrected any more than it needs to be (and would ‘jingoism’ be far behind?) Nor do we want human rights groups barking all manner of charges at us.
(2) We’re afraid of giving the domestic screamers, whiners and hand-wringers any more ammunition with which to tar and feather this President and his military advisers. The Ted Kennedys and John Kerrys of this republic would be portraying our military men and women as cold-blooded murderers, and the barbarians who defiantly refused to leave Fallujah during your twenty-four hour grace period as victims of Bush’s unnecessary brutality (and, make no mistake, Halliburton will somehow share complicity, too :).
The screamers and whiners (especially those whose political ideology invariably trumps their concern for the safety of our troops) aren’t fit to shine the shoes of the average American or coalition soldier. So let both the world and domestic screamers scream. They’re doing it anyway. Why not give them good reason, and save several hundred American/coalition military and/or civilian contractor lives in the process.
Your MOAB and ARLITE bombing is exactly what is needed. It’s time for a no-holds-barred retaliation. Self-defense is a basic human right. And the time to be concerned with collateral damage in Fallujah is long past. Evacuate the innocents. Give the barbarians a day to surrender, and then commence leveling.
The only (tiny) change I would make to your brilliant strategy is that I would have the first part of the aftermath sign read:
Here stood Fallujah and the barbarians who once took refuge within. May the ghostly presence of those who committed atrocities against the United States of America and the Coalition Authority serve as a warning to others who would consider following their example.
Thank you, Jeff.
~ joanie
I'll vote for that. So would anyone else who values American soldier's lives and Iraq's freedom.