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"So, at this stage of the game, do you think Bush made the right call?"

In as much as Bush listened to his tactical commanders in the field and approved their gameplan, yes, I believe he made the right call. If folks would just sit back for a second and try to imagine the array of intelligence gathering equipment we've got working over Fallujah right now, they might get a better feel for how and why decisions are being made like they are. We are very well tuned in to what's going on in the bowels of the city. For the most part we know who is there, who isn't there, where they are and what they're doing. The Marines are the world's greatest experts at achieving a military objective through unconventional means. They are defeating an enemy comprised of everything from 18 year old idiots from upperclass families in foreign countries, to former regime members looking to force a rewrite of the Kay report. This isn't a Napolianic war of attrition. This is guerrilla warfare in the 21st Century. We can try to fight it using WWII urban warfare technics, or we can move beyond Stalingrad and kill the enemy with tools that make James Bond look like a caveman.

I think some people are not going to be happy, until we line up in front of the enemy as though it was the Civil War. Asymetrical warfare has been used against the U.S. for the last 40 years, because no one can face us head on. Then, we start getting a clue about it, and a bunch of folks lose their heads, screaming QUAGMIRE. Screw this, it's Guinness time.

Normally, I might have been somewhat disappointed. I am sure that the enemy will see this as a sign of weakness. However, I believe you are correct and I think the enemy will find out just how correct you are in short order.

What passes for a central command in Fallujah will begin to lose cohesion as units begin to disappear. Men, having lost contact with their fellows, will begin to attempt breakouts, both individually and in groups. I have to believe that the Marines have anticipated this. I believe that's what we've been reading in the news the past three nights.

The jihadi in Fallujah are a coalition of gangsters, thugs, Ba'athists, ex-Army, and Qaeda fanatics. They don't all agree. Some will find a seperate peace with the Americans more and more attractive. Others, such as Zarqawi and the local AQ, will want to stand and fight. But again, the nature of our opponents as a political coalition brings into strong relief the difference between this motley crew of thugs and, say, Sixth Army.

In short, I suspect you are right. The Marines have to know that the jihadists have scripted out a heroic Gottedammerung, produced and directed by Al-Jazeera. Instead, the Corps will give them little more than day after day of relentless sniping, raiding, and cordon and search operations.

No martyrdom. I see it now. Like Al-Sadr, they go out not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Be Seeing You,

Chris