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For crying out loud, no one, but *NO ONE* here is "blinking." The call has been for the use of *more* force in Fallujah, not less.

DITTOS ON THIS... Nobody is saying it would be good to let the perps and killers walk. We want the bad guys dead. Nobody is thrilled with the options. But some of us realize that a repositioning of Marines is not a defeat, not even rating a setback, just a stalling of what could have been a rather crushing blow against insurgents (ie more a missed opportunity than anything else, now they are trying a different "opportunity" to fix the problem). "This fight is not over" is the comment from one marine commander. Hear that?

First, thank-you for being civil in replying to my post.

*"This fight is not over" is the comment from one marine commander. Hear that?*

I do, indeed. But, given the pattern in Fallujah to date, I would feel much better hearing it from the Chairman of the JCS, and on national television.
Look, I--and most of the folks posting with my general position--am not clamoring for the flattening of the whole of Fallujah, or for some kind of isolationist withdraw from Iraq, or for anything of that nature in between. We *want* our efforts to succeed in Iraq; we are, for the most part, *thrilled* that Saddam is gone, and that the effort was undertaken in the first place.
But many of us simply disagree with the way this *specific* battle has been managed to date. When you talk about the "repositioning" of Marines, I say: I've heard that story before. The year was 1975, not 2004, and the city was Saigon, not Fallujah. It raises hackles and reminders of an humiliating American fiasco not easily forgotten for those of us who lived through it. Apples and Oranges to some extent? Sure. But the rhetoric is virtually the same--and there is no denying that we are "repositioning" away from Fallujah with the enemy in control of the city--and after taking precious casualties.
Anyway, you make some cogent points, but I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree to some extent about them. Regardless, I do appreciate *the way* in which you presented them, *sans* the "you're an armchair warrior!" approach that has made an all-to-frequent appearance in this thread.