Posted on 06/14/2004 7:58:28 PM PDT by elfman2
Fallujah, Iraq — A top Marine officer here says the compromise that gave control of Fallujah to an Iraqi brigade in exchange for the withdrawal of Marines may be a failure.
"This was a noble experiment that may not work out," Col. Larry Brown, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's operations officer, said this weekend. "The brigade has not performed as well as we had hoped."
His comments were the strongest indication from the U.S. military that the effort to contain the insurgency by depending on the Fallujah Brigade was failing. It also was a sign that the model — turning to former Iraqi military including those who served Saddam Hussein — would not solve security problems after the U.S.-led coalition hands sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on June 30.
The Fallujah Brigade was established to end three weeks of combat in April that killed 600 to 700 insurgents and 10 Marines. The Marines withdrew to the outskirts of Fallujah after Sunni members of the now-disbanded Iraqi Governing Council objected to the bloodshed.
Led by former members of Saddam's military and made up largely of insurgents, the brigade was supposed to bring peace to the city and meet several demands.
Speaking at a U.S. base near Fallujah, Brown said attacks on Marines have dropped off since they pulled out of the city. But, he added, most of the key demands have not been met.
• None of the insurgents responsible for killing and mutilating four U.S. contractors on March 31 has been apprehended, even though last month the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment gave Fallujah police a list of 25 people sought in the killings.
• Few heavy weapons used in the fight against the Marines in April have been surrendered.
• The brigade has not been able to produce foreign terrorists the Marines are seeking.
"Our patience only extends so far. It's been over a month now and to be frank, the progress hasn't been what we wanted it to be," Brown said.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the U.S.-led coalition's deputy operations chief, acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. military had not met its goals in the city.
Brown said despite the apparent failure of the Fallujah Brigade to end the insurgency, a new U.S. offensive in the city was unlikely. The fighting in April was believed to have contributed to Iraqi disaffection with the U.S.-led occupation.
Brown agrees that the city is dominated by competing forces, all anxious to kill Americans or drive them out of Iraq.
More of the same…
It was predictable from day one.
Why the hell are we being so PC with Fallujah... where do we think the damn suicide car bombers are coming from? Geeeeeeeeeez...
1) Most Arab men are queers.
2) Someday we will regret ever dealing with them.
3) Arabs don't undertand the concept of telling a lie. To an Arab, the "truth" is whatever the Arab can make you believe is the truth.
#3 is the issue here. Why in the hell did we believe anything they ever said to us in the first place?
Since we can't make them live like normal humans, give those who want liberty 48 hours to leave. Then level the place completely and start over.
Made a deal with an Arab at your own peril...
Expect an Islamist to be a dangerous coward, and forget about "saving their soul"....
Console youself by killing them in numbers sufficient to drive them back under their stones for another few centuries..
History has shown us, THAT is their fate...
Semper Fi
Unfortunately so. And you're going to think I'm pulling your leg, but the decision to avoid a new offensive comes from Marine leadership. They've assessed the cost isn't worth the potential gain. The best action may be no action. Fallujah is rotten to the core, and its inhabitants will most likely turn on themselves without a direct threat from the Marines to keep them focused. Frankly, I wish they'd just put a big wall around the place and turn it into that compound from "Escape from New York".
Well, DUH. Anyone with a brain isn't surprised at the failure, yet our officials keep pretending they're dealing with rational, honorable people.
Well it would have been a chance for a history making event, a treaty with Islamics that worked! In 1400 years that has never happened.
To dream, the impossible dream...
I am sure the Air Force has a solution.
OK, so let's not tip our mitt this time, blabbing our strategy on the front page and on satellite TV. The first indication of American displeasure the Fallujians notice should be the sound of parachutes opening over their city. Parachutes bearing fuel air explosives...
What do we do?
Go after them and let no Mosque shield them.
We need to go to the borders and dump some of the cheaper bunker busters throughout the hills and mountains to collapse the legendary tunnels, caves and pathways between countries.
That gives us a better ability to watch more things above the ground by driving the ones that survive from below the ground and from caves.
That is my 2 cents.
Exactly what bloodshed did Mohammed object to when he committed mass murder against his opposition in Medina and from Mecca when the people of those cities resisted his proclamation of prophethood?
Fallujah is like Chicago in the 1930's. There is no way the feds would have bombed Chicago just to get Capone, and we aren't going to flatten Fallujah just to get the mob, the terrorists, and the Saddamites. But we will get them, the key is going to find the Iraqi Elliot Ness.
Your claim that the initial ceasefire was “totally a Marine decision” wasn’t supported by the evidence. It’s not difficult to imagine the kind of parameters impressed upon Marine commanders to make any choice to avoid finishing the offensive their decision.
And if you can provide a quote from me ever saying the "initial ceasefire" was "totally a Marine decision" it will be the first time you've ever provided an actual quote to support any of your points.
Amen. After all the foreign fighters and Baathist terrorists were isolated by the masterful Marine strategy in Fallujah, they were allowed to escape while claiming victory.
I hope I'm wrong, but Fallujah was a turning point in the Iraqi campaign. The enemy now thinks [erroneously] that the Marines cut and run
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