Gee, what a great success our Fallujah strategy was. [/sarcasm]
All we've done is made them into heroes for standing up to the "superpower". We've made joining the "resistance" more attractive to waverers. We've handed the Baath party remnants and jihadists an entire town from which to plan their comeback with impunity.
Beautiful.
I was one of those who thought this strategy might work, when it was first implemented. But it would only have worked if we had General Latif, etc. on a short leash. That leash has gotten incredibly long. Is nobody holding his feet to the fire? How does he explain the fact that his Fallujah Brigade is working alongside the insurgents, and killing our Marines? When will this madness end?
Terrorism aside, Fallujah is rapidly becoming a reconstituted Taliban-style stronghold, complete with subjugation of women and severe penalties (including execution) for transgressing islamic law. This is new even for Iraq.