WP: Key General Criticizes April Attack In Fallujah

[huckleberry]

Abrupt Withdrawal Called Vacillation

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, September 13, 2004; Page A17

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 12 -- The outgoing U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of western Iraq said Sunday he opposed a Marine assault on militants in the volatile city of Fallujah in April and the subsequent decision to withdraw from the city and turn over control to a security force of former Iraqi soldiers.

That security force, known as the Fallujah Brigade, was formally disbanded last week. Not only did the brigade fail to combat militants, it actively aided them, surrendering weapons, vehicles and radios to the insurgents, according to senior Marine officers. Some brigade members even participated in attacks on Marines ringing the city, the officers said.

snip

The comments by Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, made shortly after he relinquished command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force on Sunday, amounted to a stinging broadside against top U.S. military and civilian leaders who ordered the Fallujah invasion and withdrawal. His statements also provided the most detailed explanation -- and justification -- of Marine actions in Fallujah this spring, which have been widely criticized for increasing insurgent activity in the city and turning it into a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops.

snip

He would not say where the order to attack originated, only that he received an order from his superior at the time, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Some senior U.S. officials in Iraq have said the command originated in the White House.

"We follow our orders," Conway said. "We had our say, and we understood the rationale, and we saluted smartly, and we went about the attack."

much more at

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16309-2004Sep12.html

[Justice]

1. Good For Him

Wes Clark has been saying this all along.

[necso]

2. Bingo!

Sliming the Marines wasn't such a good idea after all, was it boys?

[Iceburg]

3. Rummy should step down before any more generals come out

of the woodwork.
Conway's remarks are confirmation that there was no plan to win the peace.

[TacticalPeek]

4. Now, if LBJ and his pointy-headed whiz kids

would quit micro-managing the war from desks in Washington and let the generals . . .

Oh, wait. Nevermind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I wonder if they are gonnna reactivate Westmoreland

one of these days, never midn he is dead

[number6]

5. fiasco at work

I wrecked ee-rack by jee-dubya

[Dhalgren]

7. This whole thing is an embarrassment.

We don't look strong in Iraq, we look weak. And US soldiers are dying and Iraqi civilians are dying and what the fuck for? Nothing, that's what for. I'll say it again: Load up the damned equipment and get the US out of Iraq - NOW!!! Don't wait, don't mince about, load the choppers and leave today!

[opihimoimoi]

8. A Tragic Loss all the way around.....

[jpgray]

9. Why isn't this 'Fallujah Brigade' thing a huge scandal on every news show?

Wait, wait, I know the answer. How idiotic of the Pentagon to trust the Iraqis to sell out their own countrymen--of *course* they would pay lip service to the 'coalition' and use the supplies and money to support the insurgency.

[barb162]

13. A Mythic Reality

from the NY Times

A Mythic Reality
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: September 7, 2004


The best book I've read about America after 9/11 isn't about either America or 9/11. It's "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," an essay on the psychology of war by Chris Hedges, a veteran war correspondent. Better than any poll analysis or focus group, it explains why President Bush, despite policy failures at home and abroad, is ahead in the polls.

War, Mr. Hedges says, plays to some fundamental urges. "Lurking beneath the surface of every society, including ours," he says, "is the passionate yearning for a nationalist cause that exalts us, the kind that war alone is able to deliver." When war psychology takes hold, the public believes, temporarily, in a "mythic reality" in which our nation is purely good, our enemies are purely evil, and anyone who isn't our ally is our enemy.

One striking part of the book describes Argentina's reaction to the 1982 Falklands war. Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, the leader of the country's military junta, cynically launched that war to distract the public from the failure of his economic policies. It worked: "The junta, which had been on the verge of collapse" just before the war, "instantly became the saviors of the country."

The point is that once war psychology takes hold, the public desperately wants to believe in its leadership, and ascribes heroic qualities to even the least deserving ruler. National adulation for the junta ended only after a humiliating military defeat.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. kick

[Disturbed]

11. Here's a clue.

The majority of Iraqis are pleased that Saddam and his thugs are not in power and were greatful but then they realized that the US/UK weren't going to leave and had plans for colonizing Iraq. The new thugs (US Puppet Govt.) aren't wanted either. The US Occupation is no longer welcome and Iraqis would like to control their own lands and oil. Is that too hard to understand?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. Once again the Chickenhawks in the * administration show their colors.

Inspite of a lack of military service they think they know better than the professional warriors.

[Just Me]

14. I must protect my "beautiful mind" from such affirmations,...

,..of that reality I cannot escape but must deny in order to justify,...existing in a country ruled by the most devoid of humanity, shallow in compassion, schizoaffective and insensitive lot of greed-laden and spoiled dung ever to surface the greatest potential of American citizens.

CRAP!!!! Shit floats!!!!