[freema]

I wouldn’t say we lost that first battle - rather I would say they hadn’t quite had their fill of ‘ugly’, and as such it was a case of let them eat cake. I would then pontificate that it wasn’t so much a bitter taste of AQ as the sweet taste of freedom that followed.

[Girlene]

The barriers don’t merely separate the city from the rest of Iraq; they separate neighborhoods from one another, too. Foot traffic isn’t restricted, but no one can drive from one neighborhood to another without passing through a police checkpoint. Smuggling weapons is prohibitively difficult. Anyone who wants to set off a car bomb will have to content himself with blowing up his own neighborhood. The walls are a major hassle, but they work. Fallujah’s most recent car bomb exploded last July.

Sounds like it's working!

[Marine_Uncle]

The first battle really did not become much of anything. One small Marine Patrol got hammered. Most of our Marines where on the perimeter of the city on points of the compass. My nephew was in the south eastern perimeter and his guys did no fighting whatsoever. We must remember the Iraqi government begged our forces to not turn it into a full scale battle. Our forces withdrew in short without putting down the hammer.
Obviously the second round, was an entirely different engagement.