Why America Has Waged a Losing Battle on Fallouja

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 24, 2004 | Alissa J. Rubin and Doyle McManus

[John Jorsett]

FALLOUJA, Iraq — As soon as the women of Fallouja learned that four Americans had been killed, their bodies mutilated, burned and strung up from a bridge, they knew a terrible battle was coming.

They filled their bathtubs and buckets with water. They bought sacks of rice and lentils. They considered that they might soon die.

"When we heard the news," said Turkiya Abid, 62, a mother of 15, "we began to say the Shahada," the Muslim profession of faith.

There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.

In Washington, the reaction to the March 31 killings was exactly what the women of Fallouja had expected: anger. Those inside George W. Bush's White House believed that the atrocity demanded a forceful response, that the United States could not sit still when its citizens were murdered.

[jim macomber]

"Actually you are not paying attention..."?
"Why is it so hard for Americans to grasp this is NOT a sporting event?"

Why is it you can't make you point without being patronizing? And to "Americans" as a whole, no less.

There is a difference between strategy and tactics.

[Final Authority]

On History Channel last night the story was of the occupation of defeated Germany right after the end of the Europe war. France, USA, USSR and the Brits all were fighting for quite a while after the surrender. There was a simple policy carried out by the occupiers, and that was to do what was necessary to protect their soldiers from those who would do them harm.

There was footage of firing squads killing left over Nazi's. If in a village or town there was resistance, several days of artillery bombardment was called for until the buildings were reduced to rubble. The occupiers were merciless and this is what it took to pacify the occupied. This is even after the devastation of Dresden, Hamburg, and Berlin.

In one town where there was resistance, they rounded up all men and older boys and put them in a prison camp until the resistance stopped. They also bombed the town afterward.

Does GWB have the stomach to do this and what is necessary to win. In a word, nope. Therefore we will certainly lose and all of our men who died will indeed have been in vain.

[Prost1]

This, from the paper that inflates its cirulation so they can illegally increase their revenue?
This, from a paper which is being investigated for "wrongdoing" (I forget, SEC violation, fraud, or whatever)?
This, from a paper that admitted to lying to its advertisers?

Where is Al Capp and Li'l Abner?

[NonValueAdded]

They filled their bathtubs and buckets with water. They bought sacks of rice and lentils. They considered that they might soon die.

Sounds like hurricane prep to this Floridian. Only they were expecting a DoD category 10 instead of the Saffer-Simpson scale-topping 5 like a hurricane Andrew.

[TheDon]

A couple of journalists explaining why we are losing in Fallujah? I wonder when we'll hear from the janitors.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Most often (in a situation like this) you can paste the title or even the byline into the search field here and get into such sites without registering.....in fact, this page provides links to a whole bunch of foreign papers, too....scroll down, looking at the links on the left.....a great service from Yahoo, IMO

http://news.yahoo.com/

[Mister Baredog]

Does GWB have the stomach to do this and what is necessary to win. In a word, nope. Therefore we will certainly lose and all of our men who died will indeed have been in vain.

That's your opinion, you're entitled to it, I seriesly dissagree.

I think you describe the result of a sKerry win, FRance will then be in charge of foreign policy, along with the rest of the UN crowd, they despise us BTW.

[CCPlanner]

As with most propaganda, this article has elements of truth mixed with lies and distortions. To make a long story short, we fooled the enemy in Falluja. They were goading us into attacking the city. The attack on the Blackwater guys was a set up and they wanted to inflict casualties on us. They expected us to attack and the people of Falluja would have probably resisted us as well. Allowing the people of Falluja to get to know the insurgents has changed their minds. The people of Falluja are giving us info on the locations of the enemy. I see key enemy personnel being taken out every few days. There are also growing splits between different factions of the enemy. The decision to contain Falluja also allowed the Iraqi Government to stay intact and show that it was "in charge".

The Iraqi Government is working the diplomatic side in conjunction with us. The people of Falluja and their leaders want to experience the economic rewards that the rest of Iraq has been receiving and they are tired of the insurgents holding them back. In addition, the Iraqi forces are in much better shape than they were in April/May. They are conducting effective operations throughout most of the country. They will be ready for use in Falluja.

I really did intend to make this a short post so let me close out with the "Honey Pot" theory. Falluja has attracted a lot of bad people in one place. While some of the enemy may escape, a significant portion of them will be trapped in the city.

Victory in Iraq is assured - as long as we keep moving forward as we have been. It may take longer than some would like but we are doing the job smartly.

[Final Authority]

Why can't people on these threads spell "serious"?

Explain why we have retreated three times in the face of the enemy hold up in a so-called place of worship? Every time we let them regroup more US soldiers are both killed and maimed. In WWII, a Catholic monastery was leveled by US bombers before we went in and killed the enemy now we are trying to play nice with them? It is a losing proposition and GWB is in charge. I wish I could sugar coat the facts but sometimes the facts are indeed painful and bitter too.

[Jim Noble]

Because we have an opposition dedicated to itself and not the interests of the country or individual Americans and which will use any even inevitable difficulty or reversal to their advantage, regardless of its effects.

So, IOW, Bush is a coward who fails to execute his oath of office AND his duty as commander-in-chief because he has political opponents who might say bad things about him?

Is that what you really mean?

[Jim Noble]

What was the joke during Reagan/Carter campaign? What is flat and hot? Iran the day after Reagan is elected.

And unfortunately, it WAS a joke-if it were not, the WTC would still be standing.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

"Remember, there wasn't a 4th Tunic war."

Hell, I don't remember the 1st, 2nd or 3rd Tunic wars.

Michael Frazier

[Mister Baredog]

Explain why we have retreated three times in the face of the enemy hold up in a so-called place of worship?

Gee a holy place to 1.2 billion people(they are not us) wouldn't bother the Muslim world at all, what planet do you live on?

[Final Authority]

Would you rule out bombing all places of worship? Or, do you rule out only the enemies place? BTW, in case you haven't figured it out yet, they already hate us, (search 9-11) so we should allow them to regroup and establish a stronghold so they can kill our soldiers? Yours is a losing understanding of war, that is, if you agree we are at war.

[Mister Baredog]

Yours is a losing understanding of war, that is, if you agree we are at war.

Gee the last time I checked the mosque was still there and the fighters were not, did I miss something?

This is NOT WWII it's WWIII, carpet bombing is not an option.

I supose if you had your way we would just nuke Iraq and leave.

Just my opinion, I'm not trying to start a flame war.

These are complex issues but the middle east is a real mess, somethings got to give if there's ever going to be peaceful solutions, defeating Saddam was necessary. It's gonna be a long haul.