BUSH MAKES THE CALL: NO FULL SCALE FALLUJAH OFFENSIVE

The Drudge Report ^ | April 25, 2004 | Matt Drudge

[threat matrix]

developing tonight..header for now

[LoudRepublicangirl]

I believe with all my heart that George W Bush would never risk the lives of these men to ensure his re-election. This man has stood strong against other nations and crap weasels in this country in order to protect American citizens knowing that it could be political suicide.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[doug9732]

Mr. Bush makes a big mistake.

[Pukin Dog]

I'm wondering if we've finally made the transition. Instead of using the huge machinery we've found our ground game in moving about taking out those we've taken names and locations on.

We are starting to; to the unending misery of a lot of retired Army Generals who learned the old way, and though it could adjust to a new type of warfare. We are losing their big machinery in favor of a lighter, more mobile and flexible fighting force. The cold war is over.

[Endeavor]

I like you, and your choice of beer.

[Polybius]

As did Truman in Korea, as did LBJ and Nixon in Vietnam There was a time in our history when we fought to win. Now it seems we fight to tie yet again. Can you imagine Roosevelt or Eisenhower deciding not to invade Europe because it might produce too many civilian casualties ?

af_vet_1981, while I appreciate your concerns, you must realize that war is often a chess game and not simply a slugging match.

See my Post 141.

During World War II, Eisenhower did not use the 135th Airborne Division to invade Europe and he had his reasons.

I'll let you do a little research homework on that.

Just remember that Afghanistan did not turn into the disaster that some analysts predicted four weeks into the start of that campaign.

Time clears the fog of war. Give it some time. How about 4 weeks before predicting disaster?

[yonif]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter if Fallujah is taken or not. This will not solve anything. It may defeat a physical nest of terrorists, but the fact is the ideology that is driving these people to take up arms against Americans will not go down with them. The ideology must be targeted. This is hard especially because it isn't just the militant Islamic ideology which is going unhindered due to political correctness in Iraq, it is also seeping in from Iran and Syria. Iraq is in a swamp of this ideology.

[prairiebreeze]

BARNEY FIFE BRIGADE!

Yes, and based on some of the screen names that have shown up to lend their hand-wringing to this thread, I say it's time to make some "Citizens A-RAY-ESTS!"

I'm off to read the thread about the snipers and how many of the enemy are being clicked off in Fallujah.

Prairie

[AndrewC]

NOW it's Vietnam!

No it is Iraq. But this decision is a big mistake. Politics and military don't mix. Roosevelt didn't second guess Ike on D-day.

[af_vet_1981]

Time clears the fog of war. Give it some time. How about 4 weeks before predicting disaster?

We have all the time left in the world to stave off defeat. Since we have to fight, well at least the two of us agree we have to fight, it would be nice to go for victory. We wait.

[Jim Noble]

Concerned about the repercussions an attack could generate across Iraq and the Arab world

Bad call.

IMO, Bush has to crush Fallujah, or he goes home in January.

[yonif]

US action in Iraq currently looks to me to be similar to the IDF's Operation Defensive Wall in 2002.

[Phsstpok]

the military tactical "experts" on FreeRepublic start detailing the military strategy we SHOULD be using, they add their actual military expertise to back up their opinion.

I both agree and disagree. I agree because it's the right thing to do. I disagree because I don't have any real military experience to back up my opinion.

having said that I'm going to drop in my 2 cents (you had to know that was coming). I agree with the President because I think a full scale frontal assault is what the islamofascists and their presstitute allies want us to do. This is the plan. Get us into a position where we use overwhelming force in a civilian area. The bad guys will kill thousands of women and children (if they haven't already) and call in Al Jazeera and CNN to film the bodies, dutifully reporting the "fact" that they are victims of heartless American murderers.

This is what Kerry is waiting for. he was telling the truth when he said he'd been talking to foreign leaders who want him to win. Those leaders include Sadr and Bin Laden. He's been accusing the Bush administration of cutting a "secret deal" with Saudi Arabia. Maybe we should be asking about what kind of deals he's struck with Sadr and Bin Laden. He's waiting to scream "THIS IS ANOTHER VIETNAM!"

Well, guess what? It IS another Vietnam. In 1964 the DEMOCRAT administration of Lyndon Johnson changed the Kennedy administration policy of using special forces for this type of low intensity conflict. They sent in 100,000s of American troops with absolutely no intention of backing them up or asking the American people to make the kind of commitment that full scale warfare calls for. Now John Kerry and the Demoncrats are demanding that we do the same damn thing again. And George Bush and Don Rumsfield aren't going to fall for their trap.

Our Marines don't have to make frontal assaults on civilian population centers. It's not that kind of war. The population IS NOT behind these thugs. This is a battle for special forces, snipers, NINJAs. We own the night. We can and must take them on our terms, not theirs.

President Bush has made the right call... again.

[Kay Soze]

We still have not learned that when politicians run wars based on political priorities we lose our men and then the nation.

Now it’s another Vietnam.

[Pukin Dog]

Politics and military don't mix. Roosevelt didn't second guess Ike on D-day.

Uh, you need a history course.

[McGavin999]

Well .. if the Iraqi guys perform the way they did when the insurgent mess started, I sure don't want my soldier's back protected by those guys.

Most of the guys we'll be going in with with be the Kurdish Peshmerga who have been trained by us as special forces. These guys you DO want at the back of our guys. They hate these Baathists with a passion.

[Polybius]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter if Fallujah is taken or not. This will not solve anything. It may defeat a physical nest of terrorists, but the fact is the ideology that is driving these people to take up arms against Americans will not go down with them. The ideology must be targeted.

Fayullah is a Baathist stronghold and those thugs were motivated by power rather than by religion. Saddam may have paid lip service to Islam but he ran a de facto secular regime.

The Baathist ideology can be eliminated by killing hard-core Baathists and that is exactly what is being done in Fayullah.

[Southack]

U.S. Marines and Iraqi police resume patrols inside of Fallujah on Tuesday.

If you think that the terrorists in Fallujah will *refrain* from attacking those patrols, then this ceasefire agreement might be a mistake.

On the other hand, if you think that it is a no brainer that our patrols will be attacked, that we will then respond with overwhelming force, and that the French and the UN will then have to grit their teeth and say that our response to the attacks on our patrols was justified (and say that President Bush was correct to try for a peace that the terrorists were too stupid to live with), then this agreement can only be viewed as utterly, totally, completely brilliant.

[AndrewC]

IMO, Bush has to crush Fallujah, or he goes home in January.

I'm afraid you are correct. This will be viewed as a "I want to be re-elected" decision, rather than a "I'm behind my military" one. Morale will take a nose dive when the U.S. portions of those patrols are killed. We have just received news from our own administrator that the Iraqis did not perform well. And we expect victories with half of our teams composed of these same quality fighters in the "toughest" region in Iraq!?

[ride the whirlwind]

Fox reported earlier that President Bush was at Camp David this weekend and was teleconferencing with the commanders over secure circuits. That gives both W and the commanders a chance to review and revise plans to get the job done in a manner most likely to succeed with the fewest American casualties. He has said that the insurgents and terrorists will not succeed and I believe he will make sure they don't. He has my support.

Thank you for this report. Of course the president is well-armed with information to save as many lives as possible - those of our troops and of innocent civilians.