Reaction To Falluja From the Pentagon - 500 Iraqi soldiers didn't show up

wonder how many had the battle plan....simply confused?? maybe, maybe not. :shrug:

I would probably use the word 'defected'. Or maybe 'came in from the cold' would be more appropriate, since he may have planned it for some time. This was in LBN yesterday.

I had missed that, wtf?!?!?!!

Which would mean about half of them didn't show up.

the iraqis are in aLabama working on a campaign.

Perhaps some day they too wish to be leader of a country...

Fallujah! Are you kidding me? This is just not happening.

always. Is this a way of stepping back from the bigger grander plans of an even bigger assault than has already happened? Maybe recognition that the plan had a HUGE risk attached to it - and a recognition that the risk was real (esp in light of the huge Iraqi guard defection)... but since they put so much PR into their buildup to the assualt they have to "save face" in walking away from the plans?

Or is this just my wishful thinking, speaking out loud?

...that the US command has not demonstrated to date.

:(

same logic as downplaying OBL

on CNN yet... that they figured that he'd left the city.

with Musharrif and bin Laden

Marvin the ARVN.

this battle has been planned for months, they have to have very precise numbers of troops expected.

Simple counting will tell you how many showed up.

Simple subtraction will tell you how many bailed.

If they give us a the actual number, which is probably a lot more than 500, then people would get pissed, people would get fired for not doing their jobs, people would know that the "enemy" has our battle plan, but most of all, the people, American people would know we are fucking up over there on a royal basis. And they can't let that happen because FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH...so exhausting.

Who trained these so-called 'troops', Chickenhawks?

would you show up for the chance at getting blown to bits? Do you think these Iraqis are going to stupidly follow the American generals? They may be smarter than we are:)

One overlooked aspect is the flip-flopper in chief, they way he has manipulated this politically. (I know you're all shocked.) But consider a little history here.

We were originally welcomed in Fallujah, and then they asked us to leave. We didn't. They protested. We killed protesters. Then they killed 4 contractors who they said were sons of bitches and we said were boy scouts. THEN, in contravention to international law, we went into Fallujah in an operation widely seen as retaliation against a population being occupied by a foreign army (pretty sure this is a war crime, and it was ordered by the CIC.) We get a bunch of our guys killed and piss off the entire Muslim world. The Marine commander there then negotiates a ceasefire over the objections of the neocons. Apparently he has now been replaced by a commander that thinks we're going after Satan, and the latest operation is put on hold until AFTER OUR ELECTIONS! Outrageous how they play politics with our troop's lives at stake. But no one complains about the delay, only now supposedly Zarqawi/saddam/osama whatever-the-name of their major excuse is gone.

What a disaster! What incompetence! And just as the Iraqi resistance did not cooperate in getting killed by Shock and Awe, just as they didn't get the memo on the war being over, they don't even have the decency to get killed in Fallujah. They're killing our boys in Baghdad, because they've had months to plan and they aren't stupid.

The CIC and his merry band of chickenhawks are a disaster.

We're never getting out of Iraq!!!!!
:mad:

When you have 14 military bases, 14!!!, there is no way in hell we are leaving any time soon, if ever. If we ever did, it would be the next Iran. Pissed off at us, vowing to kill Americans, etc. Hmmm, sounds like it's already like that now. We should leave then, we have nothing to loose. LOL

I'm not saying that they don't exsist,I just have'nt seen or heard anything about them(it would explain where all the missing billions went)I'm also curious about this "Family Values"thing,"How much is a dead Iraqi family worth?":shrug:

Of course they'll downplay him. They built him up before the election, thinking they would get him as a boost to bush's chances of winning.

Not necessary now. The boogeyman can slink back into the shadows and be conveniently blamed for everything from now on.

14 military bases in Iraq, folks, 14 military bases.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2109360/

snip>

Bush probably intends the offensive to serve as a final showdown for the insurgents, but, regardless of the immediate outcome (and I write this with no pleasure whatever), it might be a final showdown for us instead. There are two factors at work here.

First, the offensive is billed as a joint operation by the U.S. military and the Iraqi national guard, but it hasn't worked out that way. National Public Radio's Anne Garrels, who is embedded with the Marines in Fallujah, reports that of the 500 Iraqi soldiers originally deployed to go in alongside U.S. forces only 170 were still on station when the operation began. The rest had deserted—whether simply to flee for their safety or to join the other side. And these Iraqis were members of the 36th Special Operations battalion, the elite of the country's new security forces. In short, quite apart from what happens in Fallujah, the Iraqis are not remotely ready to provide defense by themselves.

Second, coupled with this grim realization, the U.S. military is finding itself increasingly alone and isolated in this war. A small story in the Nov. 4 New York Times listed the various countries that are pulling out of this "coalition." Hungary had just announced, the day before, that it would withdraw its 300 troops from Iraq. This move would come on top of withdrawals, either actual or announced, by Spain (1,300 troops); Poland (2,400); the Netherlands (1,400); Thailand (450); the Dominican Republic (302); Nicaragua (115); Honduras (370); the Philippines (51); Norway (155); and New Zealand (60). Other countries will soon reduce their troop levels— Singapore, from 191 to 32; Moldova, from 42 to 12; and Bulgaria, from 483 to 430. For the most part, these aren't large numbers—the United States has always contributed the vast bulk of the forces, with Britain, Australia, and Italy trailing far behind—but that's not the point. Their joining the coalition was presented as a show of international support; their departing will be widely perceived as an erosion of that support.

So what to do? Bush may well see the Fallujah offensive as a last gamble to turn things around. My guess is that, if it goes "well," by any stretch of a definition—and if the elections proceed with the slightest semblance of order—he might make preparations to declare victory and pull out. Such a move would almost certainly trigger chaos, but could this chaos be much more rampant than the state of life there now?