Posted on 04/30/2004 11:53:37 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Iraqi troops led by one of Saddam Hussein’s former generals began replacing Marines here Friday as a plan to end a monthlong siege of this battle-torn city gained momentum.
Former Iraqi Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, dressed in the uniform of Saddam’s Republican guard, entered Fallujah to cheering crowds, triggering a debate in the United States on whether securing the defiant city with an Iraqi force was a masterstroke or a concession that could undermine U.S. control of the country.
“I am very happy to be here, you are truly a friend,” Saleh, hand-picked to head the new Iraqi force, told Marine Col. John Toolan during a meeting here. “I look forward to cooperating with the Marines.”
The decision to have an Iraqi force patrol Fallujah appeared to be part of an evolving U.S. strategy to end two volatile standoffs -- with Sunni Muslim insurgents here, and with Shiite Muslim militants in the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq.
U.S. occupation authorities have recently made efforts to reach out to the nation’s Sunni minority and to former members of Saddam’s Baath Party -- two groups marginalized in post-Saddam Iraq.
As the deadline for handing over sovereignty to Iraqis nears, U.S. officials appear to be adopting a more flexible strategy in Iraq -- one that attempts to co-opt enemies of the U.S-led occupation. The hard-line strategy of U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III, who abolished the Iraqi Army and outlawed Saddam’s Baath party, have been tempered as a relentless insurgency feeding on dissatisfaction with the United States threatens efforts to rebuild Iraq.
The Bush administration’s decision to ask the United Nations for help in crafting a plan for a new Iraqi government underscores how U.S. policy in Iraq has been drastically changed. But clerics and others representing the nation’s Shiite majority -- long repressed by Saddam -- are expressing alarm about what some view as Washington’s newfound desire to appease Saddam’s loyalists.....< snip>
......The imam, Sheik Jamal Shaker Nazzal, was said to have returned to his mosque in Fallujah for Friday prayers. Army troops arrested the imam last year on charges of inciting violence against the coalition and sheltering a Yemeni citizen whom the Army described as an al-Qaida operative.
U.S. officials are still seeking the round-up of Falloujh’s insurgents and their heavy weapons. U.S. officials are also demanding the arrest of those responsible for the March 31 killings of four U.S. contractors, whose bodies were mutilated. The men who attacked the Fallujah police station in February and left at least 17 dead are also on the U.S. wanted list.
Marines heaped praise on the Iraqi officers who came forward and helped broker the Fallujah deal.
“This has always been a matter of leadership,” said Col. Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. “Finally we’ve got somebody standing up.” .......
(Excerpt) Read more at detnews.com ...
The Col. seems optimistic. A lot is riding on what happens in Fallujah. I hope they are right.
The men of the Republican Guard were not to a man tainted by pro-Saddam sentiment, though their favored position within the military while the regime still lived may arguably make them suspect. If they can reduce our apparent footprint within Iraq and restore order while staying clear of politics, they're worth a shot.
At the same time, putting a lot of trained guys out of work had the same result. The situation is like Germany after the war. At some point it is necessary to bring some of the outs back in.
That may be what they need and will get.
Hey, the Iraqis have to start taking responsibility for what goes on in their country if they are ever to govern themselves again some day...so why not now?!Let this Iraqi general show a little leadership in Fallujah...if he pulls it off then Iraq will be well on its way toward governing itself.
And that is what we want, rather than babysitting them for the next hundred years, right?!
One reason is that we have more information. When it was first reported the impression was given that the Marines were pulling out and the city was to be given over to the new Iraqi Army and this at a time when the Marines were well on their way toward crushing the resistance.
The actual fact is that the Marines are still in the area and the Iraqi forces that are being put there are lead by a man from an organization known for its ruthlessness leading a group that might actually fight if necessary.
That said it could still be a disaster, but as another poster observed, we can't babysit these people forever.
People do not like foreign troops occupying their country. We harken back to WW II and there was occupation but there was almost total resentment of our occupation until sovereignty was reclaimed. Many Germans told me that they liked the American soldier but resented the occupation that caused the soldier to be there. I expect the situation to improve in Iraq if the locals start to take charge of their own concerns.
Security and living standards were responsibilities that we were foolish to take. In Germany, when a problem arose, we told the German to go fix it. This encouraged a sense of leadership to develope in the native population and saved us the trouble and responsibility for it. In Iraq, we have tried to apply the nanny-state standards that we have imposed in our country with the same results. A genuine screw-up with the government getting blamed for the problem.
Now, our goal here is not colonization or even occupation, but STABILITY long enough to root out the AQ baddies and to elimnate terror footholds. But there may be some of the brit strategy at work.
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