Falluja mess could spread, marines say

[UpInArms]

http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=539164.html

FALLUJA, Iraq FALLUJA, Iraq :Six months after the U.S. Marines arrived with a promise to win over this rebel stronghold through intense outreach and focused military strikes, the city is a cancer that threatens to spread chaos around the country, marine commanders said this week.

Shootouts among rival gangs punctuate the nights. Insurgents also export violence to the rest of Iraq, and they impose religious restrictions on the population. The rebel-held city is risky to ignore, but a fight to bring it under control could blacken the image of the U.S.-backed government, and no Iraqi force is ready to maintain security there afterward.

That is the marines' view of Falluja, from their main base on the outskirts of the city. Even as they pledge to solve the problem before national elections set for January, top marine commanders in Iraq acknowledge that they are facing many of the same problems that they hoped to solve in April, yet the insurgents are more entrenched now and U.S. forces are even less popular.

<snip>

Sattler said that marines were capable of taking over Falluja in a matter of days. "We could arm the 1,000-pound grizzly bear and take it into town," he said.

...more...

[robbedvoter]

1. Falluja was mishandled back in April, for political reasons - Clark said

to Randi Rhodes yesterday. This entire war was handled as a prop for elections - from the timing of the IWR to all the bad decisions throughout.

[gratuitous]

2. The mess could spread?

Don't those marines read the papers or watch Faux? Everything's going GREAT in Iraq. Couldn't be better. Elections in January. Full sovereignty, baby.

I guess they just hate America.

[leftchick]

3. I hope nobody remembers there is a MOAB still around somewhere.

I can see them using it if smirky* is re-selected... :scared:

ON Edit: Good God... then I read this...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1305441,00.html

<snip>General Hoare believes from the information he has received that "a decision has been made" to attack Fallujah "after the first Tuesday in November. That's the cynical part of it - after the election. The signs are all there."

[JoFerret]

12. ...more from that article. "Bush's war is already lost"

<<But, according to the US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals, Bush's war is already lost. Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends."

Retired general Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command, told me: "The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options. We're conducting a campaign as though it were being conducted in Iowa, no sense of the realities on the ground. It's so unrealistic for anyone who knows that part of the world. The priorities are just all wrong." >>

[jmcgowanjm]

4. Marine Major dies in Ramadi.

Maj. Kevin M. Shea, 38, of Washington, D.C., died Sept. 14 due
to enemy action in Al Anbar Province,
Iraq.

OK, the DoD Identifies Marine Casualty statement says AlAnbar, but since Sunday the
action has been in Ramadi.

Now what are the odds that a Marine Major
died all by his lonesome.

[gratuitous]

7. Well, you know those Marine Majors

Always wandering off on their own, poking around in unsecured areas to see what kind of fire they draw. Nothing else to see there, so don't look anymore. 'K?

[UpInArms]

8. poking around

turned up these:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/9679717.htm?1c

Texan from Mason dies

WASHINGTON - A 19-year-old Marine from Texas was killed in Iraq this week, according to the Department of Defense.

Lance Cpl. Mathew D. Puckett, 19, of Mason, died due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, the DOD said. No further details on the incident were available.

Puckett was assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

...more...

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/iraq/9679134.htm

Texans killed in Iraq since war began

excerpt:

_ Sept. 13. Marine Lance Cpl. Mathew D. Puckett, 19, of Mason, died due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province. Puckett was assigned to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

_ Sept. 13. Lance Cpl. Dominic C. Brown, 19, of Austin died in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, west of Baghdad, in a "non-combat-related incident." Brown was assigned to the Headquarters Battalion of the First Marine Division of the First Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

_ Sept. 12. Marine Pfc. Jason T. Poindexter, 20, of San Angelo, died from injuries received due to enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Poindexter was a rifleman assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

...more...

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040916/2004091611.html

Attacks continued against the American forces, explosion in al-Ramadi, Baghdad

Violent clashes escalated between the American forces and the armed elements in al-Anbar governorate to the west of Baghdad which includes al-Ramadi and Falluja, while attacks and acts of violence continued in other area.

The Iraqi ministry of health said that 10 persons were killed and other 6 injured in violent clashes between the American forces and armed men in the downtown of al-Ramadi yesterday after the gunmen attacked one American vehicle.

One American military spokesman said that one American marine was killed on Tuesday in the fighting which took place in this area. Ten Iraqis were killed on Tuesday and 23 others injured including three children in violent clashes between gunmen and the American forces in several quarters in al-Ramadi. medical sources said the violent American bombardment obstructed admission of injured people to hospitals.

A base for the American forces to the south of al-Miqdadeyah city in Deyali governorate was attacked by mortars shelling yesterday morning. Armed men launched an attack by missile shelling at an American patrol in al-Qaem city adjoining the Syrian border and this resulted in wounding three soldiers at least.

...more...

[gratuitous]

10. Hey! We said stop lookin'

That's quite a few KIAs in that area in the last couple of days. I wonder what's going on there? Well, never mind that! Five "experts" who don't know anything are discussing proportionally spaced fonts on CNN and Faux! That's important, I tell ya.

[Bridget Burke]

11. From your link: "Texans killed in Iraq since war began."

Oct. 1: Army Pfc. Analaura Esparaza Gutierrez, 21, of Houston and based at Fort Hood, killed in action near Tikrit when a convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenades.


I remember a picture in the Houston Chronicle of her parents at the funeral of their only child. Born in Monterey, Mexico & brought to the USA at the age of 8, she attended Houston Community College & aspired to go on to the University of Houston. That's why she joined the Army.

The University of Houston is not as prestigious as Yale--it's not even as prestigious as the University of Texas. However, it's possible to get a good education there. Every time I see the silly Bush twins, who've apparently pissed away their educations like cheap beer, I wonder what Analaura would have done with their opportunity.

[NNN0LHI]

5. How well was Saddam able to control Falluja?

Anyone know? Thanks in advance.

Don

[ozymandius]

6. one reason

Falluja is/was predominantly Sunni Muslim. Saddam reportedly lavished nearly as much attention on Falluja as he did Tikrit. By investing his interests there, he knew which side his bread was buttered should a foreign occupation materialize.

[amandabeech]

9. The marines must be careful in bringing in Iraq regiments

from other parts of Iraq to quell problems. Iraq is not homogeneous and is rife with ethnic and religious factions.

Bringing in a unit of Kurds from the north to attack Sunni Arab Fallujah would only increase hostilities. Bringing a Sunni Arab unit to clear out Shia Arab Najaf would blow the place apart.

I certainly hope that those in charge are aware of this problem, but the signs are not good.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. taking over Falluja in a matter of days

Some bluster from the same bunch that claims that we could have won in VietNam had we only been able to "take off the gloves"!

[saigon68]

14. I get tired of these Wannabe Rambos

Especially after a couple of them are shot in the face. Then they cry like little babies.

This bravado is for cowards----LIKE THE CHIMPANZEE


ie--- "BRING IT ON", cried the AWOL CHIMPANZEE