Marines disband Fallujah forces

[floda]

By Pamela Hess
Pentagon correspondent
Published 8/14/2004 8:00 PM


FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- 1st Marine Division plans to dissolve the controversial "Fallujah Brigade" and the Iraqi police department in that turbulent city next week, clearing the way for a future decisive battle if the Iraqi government orders it.

The move came six days after a series of kidnappings and the murder of a respected Iraqi National Guard battalion commander, Lt. Col. Sulaiman Hamad Ftikan, a crime officials described as the last straw in the tense standoff with the insurgents in the city.

Both the Fallujah Brigade and the city police are believed to have participated in the kidnapping and murder.

This comes as a dramatic change in the situation in the city that for the last three months has been a thorn in the side of U.S. forces in Iraq.

more...


http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040814-062156-9982r

[thebigidea]

1. "if the Iraqi government orders it." - bwahahahah!

Oh, how can they say that with a straight face.

[Tight_rope]

37. "if the Iraqi government orders it"? Like in Najaf...where Allawi didn't

order the attack...These people are so pathetic.

[louis c]

2. Flip-Flop-Flip

or is it flip-flop-flip-flop-flip

First they're bad, then they're good, then they're bad again.

Chalabi has the same record, and I can't keep up with al Sadir.

How about Qaddafi?

I can't keep up with who the F**k is our Friends or our enemies any more.

Well, no matter, as long as the Iraqi soccer team wins, it will all be worth it.

[Catt03]

10. Like it...well said...written

[lastknowngood]

3. Right on time as I se the time line. Damn these bastards are

predictiable

[NMDemDist2]

4. how many men does it take to fight a war on at least three fronts in a

country the size of California?

I think we are seriously undermanned for their ambitious plans :cry:

[Rose Siding]

6. How many marines are in a division?

I was just wondering about that. I read there were only 3 or 4 thousand in Najaf and that seemed light (for "securing" a city of half a million!)

[NMDemDist2]

9. hmmmm the 1ST Marines are 19,000 strong

The 1st Marine Division is currently composed of 1st, 5th, 7th and 11th Marines; Headquarters Battalion; 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion; 1st and 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions; 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; 1st Tank Battalion; and 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. These units represent a combat-ready force of more than 19,000 men and women.
http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/test.htm?http&&&www.cpp.usmc.mil/1MarDiv/

Don't know if that's comparable to all the divisions :shrug:

[Massacure]

5. How many of these guys will take $$$ to attack our troops now?

[jimshoes]

7. You couldn't throw a dart into a map

of Iraq and hit something that has NOT been a thorn in the side of the U.S forces there. Pretty much FUBAR top to bottom.

[alcuno]

8. "the last straw."

The problem with the "do what we say or else" argument is that there is no real "or else." Our CIC (Clown in Command) has made every nitwit throughout the world believe that they can take on the US military. Instead of strengthening our position in the world, it has been greatly weakened.

[nonbelief]

15. Nitwits?

I wouldn't call those in Iraq fighting for their independence from the enemy occupying forces "nitwits".

[neverborn]

18. You're actually for the deaths of our soldiers.

Un-freakin-believable.

[nonbelief]

19. Apologise to me now.

What is un-freaking-believable that you make such an assumption from the simple facts I stated.

Just because I believe Iraqis who are fighting American troops are not nitwits, does not mean I'm "for" the deaths of American troops.

Just because I believe Americans in iraq are an occupying force who deny Iraq its independence does not mean I'm for the deaths of American troops.

From your comments I assume you're "for" the deaths of Iraqis who are fighting the American occupying forces.

Are you?

[bemildred]

20. Said that to me too.

Called me names and got deleted.
It's not much of a job, but I guess it's better than flipping
burgers in Peoria and obsessing about abortion.

[neverborn]

32. Oh excuse me?

"flipping burgers in Peoria and obsessing about abortion."

You act like you have any idea what the hell you're talking about.

[bemildred]

33. Direct hit, huh? nt

[neverborn]

35. Never worked at a burger place...

and don't really discuss abortion that often.

[bemildred]

36. Glad to hear it.

Be civil to me, and I'll be civil to you.

[neverborn]

38. So your faux-personal attack,

What exactly was it based on?

[bemildred]

40. What faux-personal attack? nt

[bemildred]

42. You gotta a lotta nerve accusing me of making "faux-personal" attacks.

You called me "disgusting" and accused me of wanting our
troops to be killed, because I want to bring them home.
What was that based on? You weasel your way out of that
and I'll reconsider whether I need to explain squat to you.

[neverborn]

43. Point me to the post -- I don't know what you're speaking of.

[bemildred]

44. It was deleted. How about that?

Edit: Here is the post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=750008&mesg_id=750757&page=

Number #18 in this thread is very similar, except that you have
learned that calling people "disgusting" is not allowed; but you
still seem to think that saying people want our troops to die is OK.

[neverborn]

23. I am for the troops.

If that means Iraqis die instead of Americans, SO BE IT.

[bemildred]

24. How do you feel about bringing the troops home?

Are you "for" them that way? Or are you just "for" having
them stay there and die while taking as many Iraqis with them
as possible?

How do you feel about blowing away innocent Iraqis "just in case"?

Do you think killing a few random Iraqi women and children is a good
prophylactic against dead troops, or not?

Do you think that killing is a good way to "bring democracy" to Iraq?

[neverborn]

26. I would love for the troops to come home.

They shouldn't have been there in the first place.

However, if we leave now, Iraq will descend into civil war. What may emerge is a funadmentalist Islamic Iraq allied with a fundamentalist Islamic Iran -- something no one wants to see happen.

[bemildred]

27. I'm not willing for one more US soldier to die

to prevent either of those (hypothetical) possibilities.
In fact I would suggest to you that our continued presence
there makes both of them more likely, and has no chance
whatsoever of accomplishing anything good.

[nolabels]

29. This is myth and a lie

Mostly these kind of words you hear parroted on corporate media. The only thing being (attempted anyway) installed in Iraq is a dictatorship, just like before with Saddam. Freaking War for bushco's oil buddies is all that it is, wake up already.

[Bo]

34. WE are never leaving...another Korea

Dimson has destroyed are military and we all know that.

[thebigidea]

25. awww, why fight about it? BOTH of 'em get to die for W's folly.

[nonbelief]

39. By your reasoning...

By your reasoning, the Iraqis supported the Kuwaitis when Saddam invaded Kuwait were wrong.
You've got a pretty strange attitude there...

[Dhalgren]

41. What's unbelievable is that you managed to get

a thousand posts with being forced to take a "dirt nap".

[grasswire]

11. what??

The mind boggles!

[hadrons]

12. jeez, who didn't see this coming ....

how could anyone think that the 'Fallujah Brigade' was anything but a farce

[grytpype]

13. Holy shit...

... this is a step backward for sure. The only way out of Iraq is to turn the cities over to the locals, and here we are screwing that up.

[daleo]

14. Here we go

Fallujah, Round 2. The BFEE really is rolling the dice, going for the pot, whatever expression you like. He wants a glorious victory for the fatherland in time for the Republican convention.

[demgrrrll]

16. Juan Cole posted some information on his blog that I think is very

important. He believes we are enraging all of the major clans of Iraq. <http://www.juancole.com/>. This is not good at all.

[sampsonblk]

17. If people had half a brain...

this should crush Bush in the polls. But alas, no one will give a damn but us. What a disaster.

[Zynx]

21. About time

Arming a force that's going to fight against us is stupid.

Of course, they almost certainly won't give their weapons back.

[Aidoneus]

22. so the resistance in al-Fallujah is being taken off the US payroll

who could'a seen THAT one coming.. surprised they kept it up this long. What did they think, put in a few high level Baathist agents and the Sufi & Salafi sheikhs would give them the keys to the city? There really are stupid people running this crusade.

[Disturbed]

28. US colonization of Iraq will fail.

I do feel bad for the US and other troops who are dying and being maimed, the innocent Iraqis also. This invasion was a huge mistake. The US just didn't imagine that Iraqis would fight for their country as they are doing. Iraq will implode soon. The US should declare Mission Accomplished and leave ASAP. The stated goal was to rid Iraq of WMDs right? The Iraqis have been liberated from Saddam, right? Well..the Iraqis thanked the US but now want the US to go home. The welcome mat is worn out.

[Cocoa]

30. is this part of the grand plan?

this plan is really getting convoluted.

[PATRICK]

31. Absurdity is defeat in denial

By this stage military "planners" don't realize how goofy they sound. This too is the familiar model of defeat for occupiers no longer in control of the situation.

The apparent overwhelming military might somewhere becomes a delusion that threatens not the undefeated, but the nation of that military itself.