BUSH MAKES THE CALL: NO FULL SCALE FALLUJAH OFFENSIVE

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

[threat matrix]

developing tonight..header for now

[yonif]

I think its more then just the Baathist people. Terrorists brainwashed by Militant Islam are all flocking to Iraq with the prospect of murdering Americans and other non-Muslims. Many of them could care about Saddam or his former regime. All they want to do is target non-Muslims and galvanize the population to do the same. They are aided by mosques, media, schools, etc. who are in those states around Iraq.

[AndrewC]

then this agreement can only be viewed as utterly, totally, completely brilliant.

Pretty sneaky! Cheered me up, but what brave men we are sacrificing to draw the fire?

[Pukin Dog]

No, we WANT them to attack the patrols. Then we will kill them. There will be Apaches above each patrol, with AC-130s circling to deliver the goods when called upon. Please attack us, insurgents. Please.

[AndrewC]

Uh, you need a history course.

We did have a D-day, didn't we?

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Can we start a rule of engagement for this thread that when all 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.

Sure thing. I say "Let's roll".
Military Experience: I once shot a man for snoring too loud.

[Pukin Dog]

We are talking about armored convoys of vehicles(Bradleys), with Iraqi patrols on foot.

[Jim Noble]

We have just received news from our own administrator that the Iraqis did not perform well

Duh!

Iraqi security forces=ARVN draftees.

Sin loi, minoy.

[oceanview]

let's not get ahead of ourselves here - they could take out these patrols with with booby traps or IEDs, no one to shoot back at (directly) when that happens.

i still say: our guys patrol in armored vehicles, the iraqis walk along side.

[Spotsy]

Amen Prairie - too much handwringing in the media and elsewhere. Everyone is sounding like Janine Garafolo.

I was reassured to hear Marines - and these guys are no flowery diplomats - say that things are much different on the ground and that they did not advocate blowing everything to kingdom come.

Prayers to our troops, the CPA, and everyone in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan

[Polybius]

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

I don't believe we disagree on the need for victory.

What we seem to have a disagreement about is whether the tactics now being used are designed to achieve that victory.

I believe they are.

Killing 1,000 jihadis 2, 3, 20 and 30 at a time by snipers and ambushes within a city that is now completely sealed off by a 5 foot high berm over a period of 6 to 8 weeks will not be as dramatic as the storming of Berlin by the Red Army but it will leave the jihadis just as dead.

[Southack]

"but what brave men we are sacrificing to draw the fire?"

Our finest. To win the war on Terror requires payments with our own blood...or alternatively, to be willing to wipe out the rest of the uncivilized world with a full scale nuclear, biological, and chemical armegeddon (which wouldn't do wonders for what our children would have to live in, environmentally speaking).

[ohioWfan]

Wow. Your post is the most pessimistic, morale destroying thing I've read on this thread.

Good thing it's completely wrong.

[Austin Willard Wright]

You forgot the third alternative: declare victory, withdraw from this quagmire, and emphasize national defense rather than world policing.

[Samurai_Jack]

Bush keeps this up and I'll vote for kerry. You check my posting history, Im a card carrying and $$$ Donating member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. But if bush turns this into a low intensity conflict then it makes no difference if I vote for bush or kerry. Either one will turn it into a vietnam.

Go into fallujah and break some Eggs Mr Bush. You are in there, how show some balls. Bush better straighten his spine or he will lose this election.

[CyberAnt]

Okay! That sounds good!

[CyberAnt]

See #216

[Austin Willard Wright]

This type of low intensity conflict was almost inevitable once we embarked on nation building in Iraq.....hence, the better option was always to stay out and emphasize national defense.

[oceanview]

geraldo on the phone live now with someone from there.

[oceanview]

marine major being very cautious - "we are optimistic this can be resolved". not giving details even though pressed by geraldo.

[Polybius]

I think its more then just the Baathist people. Terrorists brainwashed by Militant Islam are all flocking to Iraq with the prospect of murdering Americans and other non-Muslims.

In Fallujah, it's predominantly the Baathists. In Najah, it is the religious fanatics you mention.

In Najaf, the goal will be to eliminate Muqtada al-Sadr.

Elsewhere, it would help if Pakistan and Saudia Arabia target their own radical Mullahs as they are obviously a threat to the current regimes and as well as a threat to us. In Gaza, the IDF has ben handling the problem quite well lately.