[TomGuy]

Regrettably, Fallujah is a prime example.

It took 3 incursion attempts before any control was established.

Latest reports are that insurgents are regaining control again there.

The administration keeps trying to apply a political/diplomatic settlement to the situation before they have won the war.

The same philosophy was applied to Israel's conflict with Hizbullah from the White House. As a result, Israel withdrew in defeat. [Why did they begin the conflict with Hizbulla? 2 captures soldiers. Note that those 2 soldiers are still captives, last I heard.]

[zarf]

Until wars are fought with the mindset of reducing the enemy until the capitulate, regardless of the amount of blood spilled, this is all a waste of time.

[Tallguy]

The correct solution: would have been to pull up the artillery & flatten Falluja. That would have sent an unmistakable message throughout the Sunni Triangle. Call it the Grozny solution. A demostration of resolve. Of course, this was never possible as the video from such an action would have caused immediate political problems for the Bush Administration. By not doing it we kicked the can down the road a couple of years, and here we are...