Free Republic

It's too early to say the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has turned sour. But the classic headaches of a military occupation have come on with astonishing speed.Despite months of planning, U.S. forces have shown themselves to be confused about the transition from invading to policing, and unsure about what policing entails. Commanders have been wildly optimistic about the ease of setting up a transitional government. And many Iraqis are signalling that they plan to think for themselves when it comes to designing their country's future.Four weeks into the war, it's still unclear whether Washington is seriously looking for help in...

Associated Press Correspondent Denis Gray reported the first American aircraft, a C-130 cargo plane, landed Thursday at Iraq's second largest airport, Tallil airbase, just outside Nasariyah. Tallil is expected to be a major resupply base for American forces. Tallil is the second largest airport in Iraq after Saddam International Airport at Baghdad. It was covered by the U.S.-British enforced no-fly zones and has not been used since the 1991 Gulf War. The no-fly zones were set up to protect Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims in the south of the country and the Kurds in the north. Several American units already are...