The Fallujah Brigade: How the Marines are pacifying an Iraqi hot spot. (A definite should-read!)

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | June 1, 2004 | Brendan Miniter

[LS]

Which is right?

a) One is from the Washington compost. That is the answer.

b) Ask yourself, how many stories from Fallujah do you hear every day? Zip, zero, nada. That, also, is the answer.

[smith288]

My response to Richard Cohen about his Consistently Disconnected article...

The idea that "Iraq has become a boon for terrorists" is ridiculous.  These people were always terrorists.  They just have a close place to fight now and we are willing to send them to their makers.  Just ask any Marine if they will oblige these people.

 

The whole idea is to get them to go to Iraq, we kill them or send them home with tales of the might of the USA.  When they go home and say "The Americans are strong and resourceful... You can be just standing there and get shot out of nowhere.  Apaches are called without hesitation, planes can drop a bomb at a moments notice...we have no such ability. All we have is road bombs." then it helps our cause.

 

Instead, you want us to just leave terrorists be, let them develop a sense that we are defenseless just like pre 9-11 and their egos swell past their overall abilities.  9-11 was their lucky shot. 

Bush has made it clear that we wont rest until they are neutralized.  There will always be terrorists... Why do you want the USA to back down? 

I get this feeling that you think the military shouldn't be in dangerous situations.  You also seem to think that America is supposed to be perfect.  I cannot expect that.  You focus too much on the negative. 

I can only hope to assume you are a person who cares much about civil rights for people and for them not to be treated like animals.  Well, the fact that you and your fellow "journalists" ignore the many stories about millions of people not living in constant fear of being ratted on and subsequently savaged by a Hussein stooge is telling.

 

HELLO!?!?  The military's basic job function is to fight evil people.  Last time I checked, terrorists are evil and when we get shot at by them, our duty is to kill as many of them as possible.

 

Or are you from the school of thought that terrorists are people just fighting for "freedom" and against social prejudice by the zionists (of course by proxy of the Americans) and taking out their frustrations with extreme activities?

 

They are evil, they will be killed and the Americans and British are the only one with the nuts to do it.

 

Stand back Richard, let the men do the job as you stand there with your hand down your pants when Americans are dragged through streets or when Bush has trouble saying Abu Ghraib.  Vote for Kerry like I know you will.  Just know that Kerry would prefer trying to reason with people who would rather watch a Jewish American get his head sawed off with a rusty knife in the name of "Allah".  Can't say that that type of person can be reasoned with at all and could stand getting panties placed on their head.  Its better than getting dragged down a city street... But those poor Americans never got a choice, did they Richard?

[Matchett-PI]

"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!"

It's not amazing if you remember that the emotionally immature always allow their feelings to overrule their heads.

A high IQ and/or an extensive education is ultimately useless to a person who is emotionally immature / intemperate.

[RobbyS]

The danger of moving around the country.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping. Good stuff with national distibution here.

[Rokke]

Thanks for the ping. This article is a lot more accurate than most I've read lately. The atmospherics in Fallujah have shifted dramatically in the last few days. Nothing happens or changes in that country without the endorsement of the local Imams. Using Latif as a Rosetta Stone caliber translator between Marine commanders and local Fallujan leaders (read Imams) has shifted local Fallujan hostility from coalition forces to foreign fighters. Fallujah is not a done deal, but things are progressing much better than even Marine leaders had hoped. There will still be setbacks, but so far we are taking three steps forward for every two steps back.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

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...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.

 

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Thanks for the post and the ping.

 

It is very good to see our press allies sticking with the troops and the truth.

 

The Gordon England speech, courtesy of the State Dept, via Defend America (available to all members of the press - through multiple primary war news source websites, and through the Sec., himself, face to face - addressing the (sleeping?) PRESS at the "National Press Club.") :   8 Marines Rolling Up Terrorist Networks In Iraq, Navy Secretary Says | 5/27/04 

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[gandalftb]

Thanks for the ping. News from the front:

Marine convoys are going right down Hwy 10 through the middle of Fallujah nearly every day without a shot inside the city limits, there have been some IEDs on the roads coming and going. The rebel enemy has to settle for table scrap attacks outside the city.

Per a previous post the price of asphalt has gone up times 6. The smell of money has replaced the smell of death, the locals know well they can have it either way with the Marines.

3 Battalions are camped within 10 miles and are training the Falluja Brigade. Lots of damage claims are coming in and getting paid. Most of the money is paid to local businesses for hiring/training programs for reconstruction.

The hajjis or "sand people" bus drivers at Camp Taqaddum were greedy enough to go on strike Memorial Day, forcing the Marines to have to walk miles across the base to get to the ceremonies, many were late. A good lesson to remember, these people have no sense of gratitiude, I don't believe it is in the Arab nature. They are experts at rip offs on all the bases with cheap knock off goods. They take maximum advantage of every opportunity. They've only learned that shooting is bad for business, money is more important to them than any national pride of which I think they have little.

Here is all our Iraqi policy needs to say: Control the tribes and Imams with the promise of wealth and you control the country.

[CGVet58]

Please explain a bit further... weblinks showing Brit recommendations, news reports, etc.

thanks,

CGVet58

[BOBTHENAILER]

A definite must read:

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 that is good news.

[SierraWasp]

Kinda picks up one's spirits, don't it? (grin)

[lepton]

From reading what was posted here on FR...especiaaly the paltry number of U.S. troops that it took to "seige," and then strike at the insurgents in the city...it seemed clear that the insurgency was pretty limited, and that further, the "negotiation" were not an escape from dealing with the insurgents, but rather the effort to make the locals responsible for dealing with the problem. "You want us to leave? You keep the peace, in a professional manner, so we won't have to stay."

[lepton]

Well, where's the 28th guy?

I think that's Zarakawi.

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[highlander_UW]

Thanks for the post. an interesting look at what's going on that our media doesn't want us to know because it counters the standard "quagmire" pap they're smearing.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

*sniff sniff* Do I smell troll meat?

[Zhangliqun]

What gets me about the Cohen piece is that he acts as if the goal of the Fallujah battle was not to defeat the terrorists but to somehow de-Islamify the city. Talk about goal post moving. Wasn't he one of the geeks saying we were losing at Fallujah?

[I. M. Trenchant]

Many thanks for troubling to respond to my post.

[Carcharodon]

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=587672004