Fixing the problem of Falluja

As the last light faded at our forward base, the wiry, tough-looking staff sergeant turned to a small group of marines.

We were just a short distance from the city the marines expect shortly to storm with overwhelming force of arms.

Senior officers here say the final order to go in can come only from the Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.

This was their biggest military operation since they began steadily tightening the noose on Falluja's insurgents.

With flashes in the night sky and the sound of automatic fire marking their progress, US ground forces moved through the outskirts of Falluja.

It was a probing attack, a feint designed to draw out the insurgents and reveal new targets for aircraft and artillery.

On Saturday morning, we heard the regular "thump-thump" of the marines' offensive forward battery, a terrifying 155mm Howitzer.

In this action, the marines say they destroyed three barricaded fighting positions, an anti-aircraft weapon and a weapons cache.

At our forward base, rockets from the insurgents fizzed overhead a couple of times a day, sending the marines scrambling for cover.

But morale is high. "When we go in, we're going thousands strong and they won't know what hit 'em," said another young marine.

We got the same message from the deputy commanding general here, Denis Hajlik. "We're gonna whack 'em," he told a roomful of newly-embedded journalists.

This is not bloodlust. The marines know better than anyone the reality of combat.

They swept into Iraq in a short, victorious campaign, and quickly settled down to nation-building and peacekeeping.

Some of those who took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom - as last year's invasion is called - wonder what happened to the "flowers and sweets" that greeted them so promisingly at first.

"Everyone was so friendly when we got to Iraq," said one 19-year-old, slightly bewildered. "I just don't know what happened."

Many of the marines see the Falluja operation as a chance to fix the problem, and turn the tide against the insurgents.

"If we can give the innocent civilians back their city, that would be a wonderful thing to do for them," said 2nd Lieutenant Douglas Bahrns, whose squad will fight their way through one of the toughest sectors of Falluja.

The Marines will be going in very heavy, with M1 A1 Abrams tanks, tracked armoured personnel carriers equipped with cannons and heavy machine guns, mortars, high-power sniper rifles and a variant of the US Army's Stryker vehicle, which deflects rocket-propelled grenades with metal lattice-work on its outer skin.

"The competence and compassion of my marines will mitigate any civilian casualties," said Lieutenant-Colonel Gareth Brandl when asked how he could control where all this firepower would be directed in the narrow streets and alleys of Falluja.

The colonel, a charismatic young officer who is on his second tour in Iraq, will command one of the battalions "at the tip of the spear" in the assault.

We met him in his operations centre, an old Iraqi army barracks, which still had on its wall a large picture of Saddam, dressed as Saladin.

Saddam looked down on Colonel Brandl as he poured over maps with his officers and gave out orders on exactly how the operation to take Falluja would go.

The big question is whether the rebels will stay and fight, or if they will simply melt away, as guerrillas tend to do when faced with a large conventional force.

At the last count, by US military intelligence, the rebels numbered several thousand strong. But no one knows if they are still there.

Colonel Brandl said he would be quite happy if his marines could just walk into Falluja, but they were ready for a fight.

The threats include roadside bombs, suicide bombers, booby traps, bombs thrown from roof-tops, mosques used as sniper positions, and a small group of Islamist fighters who believe they are about to seek martyrdom in a holy war.

But for the highly-professional marines, Falluja is also a return to the simplicity of combat after the complexities of peacekeeping and an enemy that never shows itself.

"The marines that I have had wounded over the past five months have been attacked by a faceless enemy," said Colonel Brandl.

"But the enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He lives in Falluja. And we're going to destroy him."

These are my thoughts, written several months ago on Faluja.

TIME TO TRY A DEMOCRAT SOLUTION IN IRAQ!

WACO ‘EM!

The terrorists in Iraq have turned mosques into armed fortresses. Our troops can’t attack these “holy places”. Yes, I know it’s our policy to not destroy anyone’s “church”. But sometimes we also make exceptions when the “need” arises. Whatever your opinion of the Mt. Carmel meltdown, you have to admit it was effective and thorough. And no one, except Tim McVeigh complained much or held the US Government accountable.

Give the residents, aka “collateral damage” 24 hours notice to get out of town to specified camps. Collect all weapons.

Take enough troops to surround every mosque that won’t open up. Take ‘em out of S. Korea, Kosovo, Haiti, and every other “gimme” state that the U.S. defends while they only complain. As for Kosovo, we’ve already messed that up with the UN, Wes Clark and Nato’s help to ever make amends for that travesty.

Get the snipers and shoot anyone trying to escape a hostile mosque.

Cut off the water and electricity. Turn on the flood lights and get out Nancy Sinatra’s “boots” music. Make it REALLY loud.

Wait ‘em out. How long? 30 to 60 days? Then call Janet Reno and Wes Clark to find out where to get the CS Gas. Get the tanks, flame throwers and every munition known to man.

David Koresh and his misguided flock considered their “compound” a sacred place. Theirs was a cult, after all, filled with brainwashing, exploitation, intimidation and danger. And they weren’t even Muslim terrorists. Whatever the “threat” to the rest of us, those 80 people never killed 3000 of our citizens and over 1000 of our young people defending us all, much less put a hole in our economic structure that we’ll be paying off for generations, if we survive this mess called “Iraq”.

Since this was written the Christian churches in Iraq have been destroyed by terrorists. It’s past time to end this game.

From the Greenside (Marine Blogger)

http://www.thegreenside.com/story.asp?ContentID=11004
Nov 3, 04

Dear Dad -

As you have no doubt been watching, we have had our hands full around Fallujah. It would seem as if the final reckoning is coming. The city has been on a consistent down hill spiral since we were ordered out in April. It's siren call for extremists and criminals has only increased steadily and the instability and violence that radiates out of the town has expanded exponentially. If there is another city in the world that contains more terrorists, I would be surprised. From the last two years, I just don't see a way that we can succeed in Iraq without reducing this threat. The cost of continuing on without taking decisive action is too high to dwell on.

The enemy inside the town have come to fight and kill Americans. Nothing will sate their bloodlust and hatred other than to kill everyone of us or at least die trying. It is hard to fathom as a Westerner as rational thought would dictate that we will only be here for a relatively short blip in their history and while we are here, billions of dollars in investments will pour in and opportunity that is beyond comprehension will open up for anyone willing to work. This is not Kansas and this enemy does not think like that.

If we build a school or clinic, they destroy it. They would rather deny medical care or education for the children of the citizens who live nearby than to have any symbol of the West in general and America specifically among them. It is hard to comprehend. Frankly, we are done trying.

For eight months, we have been on our chain. The enemy has fooled itself misinterpreting our humanity and restraint for lack of will and courage. For eight months, we have watched Marines, Soldiers and Sailors maimed and killed by invisible cowards hiding behind some wall or in a canal as he detonates another IED. For eight months, we have been witness to suicidal sociopaths driving vehicles laden with explosives into crowds of Iraqis and into our own convoys.

Just last week, we lost another nine Marines killed and an equal number of wounded as the result of some ignorant extremists who was able to convince himself that killing himself and as many Americans as possible would send him to paradise where he could finally get his virgins.

Now, their own ignorance and arrogance will be their undoing. They believe that they can hold Fallujah. In fact, they have come from all over to be part of its glorious defense. I cannot describe the atmosphere that exists in the Regiment right now. Of course the men are nervous but I think they are more nervous that we will not be allowed to clean the rats nest out and instead will be forced to continue operating as is.

Its as if a window of opportunity has opened and everyone just wants to get on with it before it closes. The Marines know the enemy has massed and has temporarily decided to stay and fight. For the first time, the men feel as though we may be allowed to do what needs to be done. If the enemy wants to sit in his citadel and try to defend it against the Marine Corps and some very hard Soldiers... then the men want to execute before the enemy sobers up and flees.

It may come off as an exceptionally bellicose perspective but where the Marines live and operate is a war zone in the starkest reality. When the Marines leave the front gate on an operation or patrol, someone within direct line of sight of that gate is trying to kill them. All have lost friends and watched as the enemy hides within his sanctuary that has been allowed out of what one must assume is political necessity. The enemy has been given every advantage by our sense of morality and restraint and by a set of operational rules that we are constrained to operate under. The Marines feel like their time has come and we will finally be ordered to do what must be done and be given the latitude to do it. Even though the price will be high, there is not a man here that would chose status quo over paying the price.

Every day, the enemy takes more hostages, assassinates developing Iraqi leaders and savagely beats suspected collaborators. I will give you just one recent example that happened last week. One of our patrols was moving down a street when they saw what looked like a fight. The Marines closed with the scene. It was a family that had come to Iraq on religious pilgrimage that was taken hostage and was being taken into Fallujah. The muj stopped for some reason and the father began fighting. The Marines interdicted and captured two of the kidnappers. Two more ran and the Marines could not get a shot without fear of killing/wounding others.

Every day, insurgents from inside Fallujah drive out and wait for Iraqis that work on our bases. Once the Iraqis leave they are stopped. The lucky ones are savagely beaten. The unfortunate ones are killed. A family that had fled Fallujah in order to get away from the fighting recently tried to return. When they got to their home, they found it taken over by terrorists (very common). When the patriarch showed the muj his deed in order to prove that the house was his, they took the old man out into the street and beat him senseless in front of his family.

Summary executions are common. Think about that. Summary executions inside Fallujah happen with sobering frequency. We have been witness to the scene on a number of occasions. Three men are taken from the trunk of a car and are made to walk to a ditch where they are shot. Bodies are found in the Euphrates without heads washed downstream from Fallujah. To date we have been allowed to do nothing.

I have no idea the numbers of beheadings that have occurred in Fallujah since I have been here. I have no idea the number of hostages that have ended up in Fallujah since we have been here. I just don't know that Americans would be able to comprehend the number anyway. Unfortunately, the situation has only gotten worse. There is no hope for any type of reasoned solution with an enemy like this.

Once again, we are being asked by citizens who have fled the city to go in and take the city back. They are willing for us to literally rubble the place in order to kill the terrorists within. Don't get me wrong, there are still many inside the town that support the terrorists and we cannot expect to be thanked publicly if we do take the city. There is a sense of de ja vu with the refugees telling us where their houses are and asking us to bomb them because the muj have taken them over. We heard the same thing in April only to end up letting the people down. Some no doubt have paid with their lives. The "good" people who may ultimately buy into a peaceful and prosperous Iraq are again asking us to do what we know must be done.

The Marines understand and are eager to get on with it. The only lingering fear in them is that we will be ordered to stop again. I don't know if this is going to happen but if it happens soon, I will write you when its over,

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.