Posted on 05/31/2004 9:50:41 PM PDT by quidnunc
In Iraq, apparently no news is good news. Two months ago everyone was talking about Fallujah. Four American citizens had been brutally murdered, and then a raging mob dragged their bodies through the streets and strung them up from a bridge. Every mosque in the city was calling for jihad, while the local police and fire departments ceased to exist. Then two days into offensive operations, the Marines suddenly seemed to halt their advance. Fallujah quickly became a metaphor for everything that was going wrong in Iraq.
Today, however, the city of 200,000 is relatively quiet, and there's little reporting on why. To find out how the Marines were able to pacify a city in the heart of the Sunni Triangle — despite accusations that they were shrinking from a fight for political reasons — I spoke with Col. John Coleman, who is in Fallujah and is chief of staff for the First Marine Expeditionary Force, which is in charge of about one-third of the land mass of Iraq. What he said revealed a continuing battle in Iraq that appears neither hopeless nor without progress. In speaking with Col. Coleman it quickly became clear that many of the images of the war that trickle back through the media and reports of "cutting deals" with insurgents are often out of context. This is a sentiment Navy Secretary Gordon England also sounded last week in a speech over lunch at the National Press Club. Before taking over in Fallujah, the Marines identified 28 individuals who were leading the insurgency in and around Fallujah. To date the Marines have killed or captured 27 of them, he said. The coalition is clearly winning.
As they were battling through the city two months ago, the Marines realized they could easily crush the insurgency in Fallujah but in the process would "rubble the city." That would leave thousands of Marines patrolling the city, repairing infrastructure and trying to build working relationships with the inhabitants who remained. "That doesn't work us out of a job," Col. Coleman told me. Nor would it leave the Marines free to conduct other operations.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
good news
Let us hope. This country is beginning to look like Mexico during the Revolution.
Good read! I was wondering why Falujah vanished from the headlines.
Thanks for posting this.
USMC LtGen Conway and MajGen Mattis and the rest of the Marines know what they're doing.
Another great example of how ripped to shreds the media's credibility is.
"Before taking over in Fallujah, the Marines identified 28 individuals who were leading the insurgency in and around Fallujah. To date the Marines have killed or captured 27 of them, he said. The coalition is clearly winning."
"Now none of the mosques in Fallujah are calling for jihad, ... "
The remarkable thing about this article is that it digs underneath the facile lie that we 'reatreated' in Fallujah. In fact, the Marines decided upon what appeared to be the best of the available options, and given the lack of violence in Fallujah, and the 'lack of calls to Jihad', it may be that Fallujah is turning around in our favor. The Marines are ready to review options but it certainly makes sense to 'divide and conquer' when one can.
We are winning in Iraq and it is only the extreme media bias that prevents people from seeing that.
"This country is beginning to look like Mexico during the Revolution."
You are of course talking about a country wracked by civil war and unrest, where the established government is openly mocked by rebels spouting teason and venom against what they consider a terrible 'regime' of puppets.
.... you mean of course, USA.
Which explains why the story isn't being reported.
A smart plan well executed ping.
"Before taking over in Fallujah, the Marines identified 28 individuals who were leading the insurgency in and around Fallujah. To date the Marines have killed or captured 27 of them, he said."
What I'm amazed about is the number of people (even here on FR) who, knowing that the media is biased and out to get the President, STILL take what the media says as truth and get angry with trhe President and the military without trying to find out more about it!
Ping
Good point afterall:
1. 1 out of 28 is 3.5% a much bigger problem rate than
2. 6 out of 140,000 which is .004%.
And we know that .004% problem rate is enough to consider the who battle of Iraq or maybe the War on Terror lost.
ping
I'm sure you'll come across this article while freeping or surfing, but I like to be the pinger of good news once in a while.
I keep thinking about number 28. I went through the alphabet, a-Z and what do you know, I believe I remember . . . .
Good article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59053-2004May26.html
Which is right?
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