WP: U.S. Opts To Delay Fallujah Offensive

Monday, April 26, 2004; Page A01

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 25 -- U.S. Marines have postponed plans to mount an attack against insurgents holed up here and instead will attempt to regain control of this violence-wracked city without a full-scale offensive, military commanders said Sunday.

Concerned about the repercussions an attack could generate across Iraq and the Arab world, senior U.S. military and civilian officials said they have decided to try to confront a band of hard-core Sunni Muslim insurgents, who have effectively taken over Fallujah, by having Marines conduct patrols in the city alongside Iraqi security forces.

The new strategy, reached in consultation with the White House over the weekend, represents an effort by U.S. officials to avoid a military incursion that could entail urban combat, civilian casualties and a wave of retributive strikes outside Fallujah, further poisoning relations between Iraqis and U.S. occupation forces.

"A military solution is not going to be the solution here unless everything else fails," said Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, which is responsible for securing Fallujah and other areas of western Iraq. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said efforts to deal with the insurgency in Fallujah had shifted to "a political track."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41996-2004Apr25.html

Will we eventually have to pay the Iraqis to take back their country? We're in a hurry and they are not going anywhere.

I believe they know how to work this.

I received your letter to-day by post, in regard to the ransom you ask for the return of my son. I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands. You had better come at night, for the neighbours believe he is lost, and I couldn't be responsible for what they would do to anybody they saw bringing him back.

I read it long ago.

Just found it online here:


http://eserver.org/fiction/the-ransom-of-red-chief.html

Thanks for the reminder. It's a great story.

I've been thinking about that story and Iraq for some time now.

"The new strategy, reached in consultation with the White House over the weekend, represents an effort by U.S. officials to avoid a military incursion that could entail urban combat, civilian casualties and a wave of retributive strikes outside Fallujah, further poisoning relations between Iraqis and U.S. occupation forces."


Ummmm, Sir?
WHO ARE YOU TAKING TO!?
ummmm, Mr. President?
YES, WHAT IS IT!!!
Mr. President, the commander in Fallujah wants to know how you wish to proceed.
OK,OK, I'M WORKING ON IT, DAMMIT!
OK,OK, I GOT IT! TELL HIM 'HEADS':evilgrin:

Well there it is - asdmission that relations are currently POISONED.
That w* he is a uniter and a poisoner.

I saw a thread over in GD that the attack on Fallujah happens on the day of the Olsen*Twins testimony before the 911 commission. I don't put it past them. Then they can whine around that on a day they need to be in the situation room they were instead in a hearing.

Seems about their speed and style.

That would be called winning the battle but losing the war, wouldn't it?

First Brenner(sic) and the generals make threats daily.

Then they announce every day for a week that an attack is imminent.

Then, the last two days, they say it will happen in a matter of hours.

Then they show pictures of the US military getting ready for the fiercest battle since the Tet offensive.

Then they say....we changed our minds, maybe not.


Unbelievable

The brother is getting the crap beaten out of him by John Wayne and they throw a bucket of water in his face. He asks John Wayne, "Have you had enough?" To which John Wayne responds, "No."

even a blind pig finds an acorn once in awhile

Remember that the truth is the first casualty of war. Then our "patrols" are attacked, who will be the "aggressor". Propaganda is important in any war.

We have a winner. This is all prelude. Our peaceloving Marines will patrol the city for the benefit of the Iraqi people. If a very small group of hardcore Sunni Muslims attack the Marines, we will have no choice but to squelch the aggression. The Iraqi people will not tolerate such lawlessness, and neither will the Coalition. Every round we fire into the City of Fallujah is like a gift wrapped in gold for the Iraqi people, the peace-loving Iraqi people, since it is designed to end the lawlessness of a minute and near microscopic group of hardcore insurgents who may also be Saddam loyalists and bitter-enders (all of whom are despised by the peace-loving Iraqi people). Peace-loving Marines will deal with these criminal elements, law-breakers and bandits, and every round they fire will be a hug for an Iraqi child, who will grow up in a free society of order, responsibility, and most importantly, commerce, as a result of each tank shell and each loving round from our A-130s (a plane we like to call our "A-OK FRIEND" for all the iraqi children, whom we love and give hugs and kittens to).

It is guaranteed that these "joint patrols" will get smacked.
The Iraqi "puppet police" are already targets, just like the
Marines. I heard they are using Kurds in these patrols, which
is also a brilliant way to get more dead people.

I can't believe they have given up on the military option. It just doesn't seem like BFEE behavior, although lying about it does.

He was adamant that 3,000 troops wouldn't cut it without using firepower that would kill a lot of innocents....

You can't go in with guns a-blazin', and keep the peace at the same time. Thank goodness they've at least realized that.

At the same time, the longer you wait, the longer you give your potential combatants time to arm and plan this type of urban warfare. If the US indeed invades, it could result in a bloodbath of proportions we haven't begun to imagine.

Sticky situation. Tragic for all parties involved. There really are no words to describe how completely FUBAR this entire mess is.

It's also growing ever more likely that our official "full-scale assault" will occur in Najaf...

Thanks, Bush, for your stupid fucking legacy war. I'm sure those nervous Marines and Iraqis are rooting for your re(s)election.