Posted on 04/29/2004 4:40:03 PM PDT by saquin
THE soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines — the “Devil Dogs” — were stunned. After 25 days of intense urban warfare, hundreds of casualties and repeated declarations of America’s determination to crush the enemy, they and the three other US Marine battalions in Fallujah were abruptly ordered yesterday to pull out.
“It’s kinda bad when you’ve had friends who’ve sacrificed everything, then you’ve had to hand it over to someone else,” Corporal Travis Box, staring at the ground in his forward base, said. “We weren’t doing it for tangible things. We were doing it for intangible things like pride and honour.”
“Pulling back is a sacrifice in itself,” Corporal Kenneth Thorpe, his head low, added. “You do all the preparation. You work up. You’ve worked your whole life for this. You’re ready for the fight, then you get shut down, suddenly, out of the blue.”
Under a remarkable deal struck late the previous night between coalition delegates, Iraqi Governing Council officials and local chiefs, the Marine battalions are to withdraw in a series of co-ordinated steps to points well beyond the city, and will be replaced by a scratch Iraqi force named the Fallujah Protective Army (FPA).
Worse, the FPA will be commanded by a Sunni general from Saddam Hussein’s era, and consist of up to 3,000 men largely recruited from the Fallujah area.
The Marines’ reaction was not hard to understand. They had suffered ten dead and seventy-two wounded in the bloodiest battle since the war. The coalition’s original goal — to root out those responsible for killing and mutilating four US contractors on March 31 — remained far from fulfillment. And only on Wednesday President Bush had vowed once more to “secure” Fallujah. It was a curious way to mark the first anniversary tomorrow of Mr Bush’s famous “mission accomplished” speech declaring combat operations over, but the coalition had little option. The battle of Fallujah, in which more than 600 Iraqis are thought to have been killed by American guns, mortars and helicopter gunships, had turned into a public relations disaster.
Lieutenant-Colonel Brennan Byrne, the 1st Battalion’s commander, put a brave face on the news. “Ultimately this represents an Iraqi solution for Iraqi security forces to take care of Fallujah,” he explained.
He said the aim was for coalition troops and convoys to pass through the city unattacked, and that a total Marine withdrawal would be predicated only by the success of the FPA. Supporters of the hastily conceived plan state that it will involve the Sunnis, who dominate the region, in a political process from which they have so far felt excluded.
“It will give them the opportunity to drive a wedge between those fighting in Fallujah just because Americans are on the outside, and those who are foreign fighters and insurgents,” Colonel Byrne added.
But the FPA exists as little more than a concept headed by a handful of Iraqi officers. Within days it may be taking over from some Marine cordon positions. Though technically under the command of the Marines, the FPA has so far asked for no logistical back-up.
“We’ve been using artillery, mortars, airpower. What do they have? None of that. They are on foot and they don’t even have the numbers of one marine battalion,” Corporal Thorpe said, unwittingly encapsulating the dilemma facing the coalition: is it firepower or the devolution of control to Iraqi authorities which will solve the insurrection? Sheikh Ayad al-Izzi, a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party who helped to broker the deal, said that there was no chance of Fallujah ever surrendering the killers of the four American contractors. “Nobody specifically knows who did such a thing,” he insisted.
Despite the deal US warplanes continued to strike Fallujah last night, and the action was not over for the Marines.
Driving through rubble-strewn streets a sudden burst of heavy firing broke out. “Firefight, firefight,” yelled the men, who jumped from their Humvees to take up positions.
A plume of smoke erupted from a checkpoint. A car with three armed Iraqis inside had tried to run the position, firing as they did so. All died as US military police riddled the vehicle with a machinegun. “Way to go! Get some carnage, get some! Way to go, readyman,” one Marine shouted.
Isnt that like leaving the fox to guard the chicken coop?
Bulls**t.
Back up, boys.. MOAB incoming. ???
I'll second that. And I hope Sadam's ex-sadists have learned a few tricks; for they will do things to these animals that International Law forbids us to do. And I sincerely hope we look the other way .... maybe go for a little walk and whistle loudly on our way back.
Do you mind backing that accusation up with a reliable source, not some rumor?
I'd appreciate it.
It's just another commie rag implying that our troops feel betrayed by their Commander-in-Chief. Marines understand what orders are about. They also know why they're not all colonels and generals.
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