Posted on 05/25/2004 2:08:15 PM PDT by ambrose
Article Last Updated: Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 3:14:49 AM PST
How Marines kept Fallujah from becoming Dresden
Destroying the city ill-conceived; Marines make a pact with
ex-generals instead
By Tony Perry,, Los Angeles Times
Patrick J. McDonnell
and Alissa J. Rubin
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The insurgents came at the Marines in relentless, almost suicidal waves. By the time the two-hour firefight in the Jolan district of this Sunni Muslim stronghold was over, dozens of anti-American fighters and one Marine were dead.
When the April 26 battle ended, Lt. Gen. James Conway, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, knew something else: It was, in a microcosm, what house-to-house fighting might look like if the Marines were forced to storm Fallujah and, possibly, level a city of 300,000 people. He didn't like the look of the future battlefield.
Conway had been given authority to cut a deal. He had long spoken about "putting an Iraqi face" on the security forces here. From unexpected quarters, a chance suddenly emerged to accomplish that goal in spectacular -- if far from ideal -- fashion. The April 26 firefight came during an uneasy, and often broken, cease-fire between the insurgents and the Marines who had laid siege to the city earlier that month. At the time, the best hope for a peaceful resolution appeared to be the negotiations involving Sunni clerics, Fallujah civic leaders and sheiks, the Marines and U.S. occupation officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at trivalleyherald.com ...
Still avoiding discussing anything that I did say LS, just making more things up to argue with... ;^)
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