[nathanbedford]

Anyone who predicted that our Fallujah solution would end badly must surely be rethinking whatever facts and logic they used in forming such disproven thoughts, too.

Here is one of several articles quoting Marines who believe that the "Fallujah solution [has}end[ed]badly..." I think those who reflexively supported their President or just the Corps should now come out and restate their positon on the Fallujah deal. At the time of the deal, I posted that the violence would diminish but that no murderers of our civilians or ringleaders of the insurgents would be brought to justice and that the whole bug out resembled Tora Bora. One might justify the Fallujah deal on domestic political terms but all pretenses of a military strategy suceeding should be recanted.

[Southack]

"One might justify the Fallujah deal on domestic political terms but all pretenses of a military strategy suceeding should be recanted."

Why? 2,000 of the 2,500 insurgents were killed in Fallujah. The remaining 500 have no national support and are stuck fighting with fellow Iraqis.

Iraqis are now bleeding to police their own nation. This is what we want. We don't want to baby-sit them forever, we want them taking responsibility for themselves.

Moreover, it is up to the *insurgents* to go out and wreck the peace. Every day that they are stuck in Fallujah means yet another victory for our countrywide peace efforts.

In short, don't confuse the lack of complete anihilation with failure. The insurgents left in Fallujah serve as a daily reminder to the people of Iraq that no one wants to be stuck without a supply chain, without popular support, and without the ability to do anything outside of that one town. Who wants to live under the oppressive rule of the Fallujah mullahs and militia commanders? Who wants to fight fellow Iraqis? Who wants to go without pay and get shafted with poor equipment and lousy food? Who wants to live in an area that isn't getting U.S. rebuilding funds any longer?

Fallujah is a national recruiting poster, writ large, for what Iraqis *don't* want.

In the meantime, the new Iraqi government is fast becoming a fait accompli. The insurgents spent so much of their efforts fighting the wrong battles that they are only now realizing that they missed the bigger war.

Don't make that mistake yourself.