[victoryatallcosts]

U.S. Marines have postponed plans to mount an attack against insurgents in Fallujah and instead will attempt to regain control of the violence-wracked city without a full-scale offensive... Concerned about the repercussions an attack could generate across Iraq and the Arab world, senior U.S. military and civilian officials have decided to try to confront a band of hard-core Sunni Muslim insurgents by having Marines conduct patrols in the city alongside Iraqi security forces... Developing...

[threat matrix]

[Archangelsk]

"The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!"

[Lunatic Fringe]

NOW it's Vietnam!

[jayef]

I'm afraid this will mean more dead Marines than necessary. This is a big mistake.

[oceanview]

the LARGE HEADLINE aside, we've been talking about this on 3 different threads today.

the consensus seems to be that it isn't needed, that we are picking these insurgents off in groups all the time. The media wants to make this sound like Normandy being stormed, its really 3 neighboorhoods in the city where the bad guys are clustered.

that's not to say their aren't some risks here, let's see what happens when these "patrols" start taking place.

[Peach]

I'm thinking this is NOT a good idea to have the president calling the shots. Why isn't the military deciding what is best?

[Ichneumon]

A more detailed article/thread on the strateg(er)y: US tips toward restraint in Fallujah [we're picking them off at will] .

[Rokke]

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.

[mrsmith]

.

I'll believe Bush is micromanaging the war when I see PROOF that he is.

.

[BCrago66]

The Islamists have at least a few thousand human sheilds within the city protecting them. Some of those are going to be shot now anyway, so that the terrorists can then stage a propoganda victory by blaming the shootings on the Americans.

[nothingnew]

Bummer.

FMCDH

[dinok]

No guts...

If this is true, the war is lost.

[Faraday]

If this headline is true, it would be the first time (that I am aware of) in the military campaign of the war on terrorism that the President has made a tactical military decision. I don't believe it. Bremer might have had significant imput, but I doubt that the President did. Also, with troops in harm's way, they would not be discussing tactics with the media. This is probably griping by some desk jockeys in the Pentagon. We've seen plenty of that before.

[BlkConserv]

This reminds me of the time Reagan pulled out the troops after the 1983 Beirut bombing of U.S. Marines.

He wanted to remain and fight but the Rats fiercely opposed it. Plus the 1984 election was looming on the horizon.

Looks like Bush is succumbing to public opinion generated by the liberal media and again, Democrats.

[PhilipFreneau]

Bush is just like his father: a hesitant CINC.

[Endeavor]

If this is true, why would you broadcast it to the enemy?

[idkfa]

The Battle of Bagsak (Philippines 1913)

The battle of Bagsak had its beginnings several months before the actual assault of the crater. The mountain peak had been for some time the rendezvous of the outlaw element of all of the southern islands, and the big problem the Americans faced was that of getting the women and children off the hill before the final clean-up was made.

So long as the Moros saw that the American troops were inactive and in barracks many of the women and children would be sent down to work in the fields, but at the first suggestion of an American expedition all of the non-combatants would be recalled to the mountain. As General Pershing had stated, when the Moro makes his last stand, he wishes his women and children with him. The Moros kept a very close check on General Pershing, for every visit of the General to Jolo was the signal for a stampede to Bagsak. Pershing soon discovered that the taking of Bagsak without the slaughter of women and children would have to be an undertaking planned with the greatest secrecy. In planning the campaign, Pershing exercised rare judgment.

To begin with, he kept his plans absolutely to himself, not even confiding in his closest officers. On June 5 he sent a telegram to the commanding officer at Jolo calling off all field operations and ordering the troops into barracks. Four days later he announced publicly that he would visit his family at Camp Kiethley in Mindanao and with that apparent plan in mind he sailed from Zamboanga on the evening of June 9. When the transport Wright was well out of sight of Zamboanga the course was changed and the ship picked up the 51st Company of Scouts at Basilan, proceeding on to Siasi to load the 52nd Scout Company.

With lights out and the smokestack muffled, the Wright then crept into Jolo harbor late on the night of June 10. The maneuver was wholly unexpected and the General found the American soldiers at a moving picture show. The call to arms was sounded and in an incredibly short time the troops were en route to Bagsak.

All of the forces were concentrated at Bun Bun on the beach and by five o'clock in the morning the advance on Bagsak had begun.

-snip-

More at http://www.bakbakan.com/swishk/swk3-24.html

[ex-snook]

We need an overwhelming force to end the war on terrorism quickly and save soldier lives. A long slog with an inadequate force doesn't cut it while making enemies galore.

The other option is start the draft soon. With a long war on terrorism in Afgan and Iraq followed by slogging onto Iran, Syria, and NK, we will need a huge force to conquer and occupy.

If the nation's youth is convinced on the 'war on terrorism' why is there worry about the draft? [PS I wrote 'if']

[Arkinsaw]

Choices:
1) The Marines go to the city center and take control accompanied by Iraqi police and with approval of city leaders.
2) The Marines fight into the city center and take control opposed by Iraqi leadership.

I'm not sure what all the complaints about. Either way, the Marines get to the city center and take control. Either way they are ordered to shoot anybody with a weapon. Either way they will be conducting searches of suspicious locations. I don't see what all the gnashing of teeth is for????