Razing Falluja

The US met with the clerical leadership in Fallujah (the first official acceptance of their civic leadership), offering many millions of dollars in reconstruction money to repair the infrastructure that had been virtually demolished in the April attacks - on the condition that (1) the guerrillas were disowned and disarmed, (2) the US was allowed to mount patrols within the city, and (3) the clerics pledged loyalty to the central government. There were no negotiations to speak of, because the clerics rejected all three conditions.

Immediately after the collapse of the non-negotiations, the US initiated almost daily bombing of various neighborhoods in Fallujah. The cover story has been that they are bombing "safe houses" used by terrorists associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and that no other people are present during the attacks. But hospitals report daily that the vast majority of the casualties are civilians. It is clear to everyone but the US public that the attacks are designed to persuade the people of Fallujah to abandon their support of the rebellion. To add a further element of threat to the equation, the US has repeatedly announced that it would soon reinvade the city, and during the second week of September even announced on loudspeakers that the residents of certain areas should evacuate because of a pending attack. This was a bluff. US military officials admitted to American reporters that they are waiting until after the November elections in the United States.

And I have no doubt that the Iraqis are on to that game. It's the silly Americans who are clueless.

This Asia Times article is a very interesting read, as it includes a report on the U.S. strategy and success (or not) in dealing with major insurgency cities in Iraq. Check it out. Its conclusion:

Fallujah and Sadr City are both more typical than Samarra and less promising for the Americans. The initial effort to identify and work with some local leaders has failed, leading the Americans to terror tactics against the local population. These have not worked in the past in either location, and there is no sign of this latest iteration working. It seems apparent that the Americans will wait until after the US elections to activate a more aggressive and more destructive second phase, aimed at terrorizing the population into submission.

Perhaps the greatest success of the new strategy thus far is a negative one. The havoc and destruction wreaked by the terror bombing and invasion of Tal Afar generated a strong reaction from Turkey, a ripple of outrage in Iraq and the Middle East, and no protest at all in Europe or the United States. The less severe, but still brutal, attacks in Sadr City and Fallujah have generated almost no complaints or declarations of solidarity. This is a stark contrast to the April battle in Fallujah, which generated worldwide denunciations, and the siege of Najaf, which threatened to mobilize the international Shi'ite community.

What the US may have gained, therefore, is the apathy of the world to escalating violence against Iraqi civilians. This, more than the success or failure of these individual campaigns, may lay a foundation for the massive offensives that the US military appears to be preparing for in the period just after the US elections in November. The world is fully aware of the ability of the US Air Force to level even a very large city, using 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs delivered in great numbers by carrier-based aircraft. The calibrated increases in the destructiveness of US air attacks over the past few months appears to have numbed local and international outrage, a condition that allows for further escalation and many more casualties.

...[E]ven the most ferocious Iraqi resistance may not be sufficient to deter the coming November offensive. The Iraqis need and deserve the support of the international community; the best (and least destructive) deterrent against this impending onslaught would be the threat of uncontrollable worldwide protest should the US attempt to level either Fallujah or Sadr City.

Proud to be an American.

Razing Falluja

The US met with the clerical leadership in Fallujah (the first official acceptance of their civic leadership), offering many millions of dollars in reconstruction money to repair the infrastructure that had been virtually demolished in the April attacks - on the condition that (1) the guerrillas were disowned and disarmed, (2) the US was allowed to mount patrols within the city, and (3) the clerics pledged loyalty to the central government. There were no negotiations to speak of, because the clerics rejected all three conditions.

Immediately after the collapse of the non-negotiations, the US initiated almost daily bombing of various neighborhoods in Fallujah. The cover story has been that they are bombing "safe houses" used by terrorists associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and that no other people are present during the attacks. But hospitals report daily that the vast majority of the casualties are civilians. It is clear to everyone but the US public that the attacks are designed to persuade the people of Fallujah to abandon their support of the rebellion. To add a further element of threat to the equation, the US has repeatedly announced that it would soon reinvade the city, and during the second week of September even announced on loudspeakers that the residents of certain areas should evacuate because of a pending attack. This was a bluff. US military officials admitted to American reporters that they are waiting until after the November elections in the United States.

And I have no doubt that the Iraqis are on to that game. It's the silly Americans who are clueless.

This Asia Times article is a very interesting read, as it includes a report on the U.S. strategy and success (or not) in dealing with major insurgency cities in Iraq. Check it out. Its conclusion:

Fallujah and Sadr City are both more typical than Samarra and less promising for the Americans. The initial effort to identify and work with some local leaders has failed, leading the Americans to terror tactics against the local population. These have not worked in the past in either location, and there is no sign of this latest iteration working. It seems apparent that the Americans will wait until after the US elections to activate a more aggressive and more destructive second phase, aimed at terrorizing the population into submission.

Perhaps the greatest success of the new strategy thus far is a negative one. The havoc and destruction wreaked by the terror bombing and invasion of Tal Afar generated a strong reaction from Turkey, a ripple of outrage in Iraq and the Middle East, and no protest at all in Europe or the United States. The less severe, but still brutal, attacks in Sadr City and Fallujah have generated almost no complaints or declarations of solidarity. This is a stark contrast to the April battle in Fallujah, which generated worldwide denunciations, and the siege of Najaf, which threatened to mobilize the international Shi'ite community.

What the US may have gained, therefore, is the apathy of the world to escalating violence against Iraqi civilians. This, more than the success or failure of these individual campaigns, may lay a foundation for the massive offensives that the US military appears to be preparing for in the period just after the US elections in November. The world is fully aware of the ability of the US Air Force to level even a very large city, using 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs delivered in great numbers by carrier-based aircraft. The calibrated increases in the destructiveness of US air attacks over the past few months appears to have numbed local and international outrage, a condition that allows for further escalation and many more casualties.

...[E]ven the most ferocious Iraqi resistance may not be sufficient to deter the coming November offensive. The Iraqis need and deserve the support of the international community; the best (and least destructive) deterrent against this impending onslaught would be the threat of uncontrollable worldwide protest should the US attempt to level either Fallujah or Sadr City.

Proud to be an American.

All Falluja posts.

No Mercy for Falluja

At least four people have been killed in the latest US onslaught on the Iraqi city of Falluja overnight.

Ten others were injured on Tuesday as US warplanes again bombed Falluja, targeting the area of al-Askari and the industrial neighbourhoods near the main highway east of the city, Iraqi journalist Husain al-Shammari told Aljazeera.

The US military said it had "conducted a precision strike", destroying a building believed to be the hideout for followers of al-Qaida-linked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The army has been at pains to discredit consistent reports from doctors and residents that women and children have been killed or wounded in repeated air strikes on Falluja in the recent weeks.Aljazeera article

Who are you going to believe? The U.S. Army or your lying eyes?

Meanwhile, fresh strikes have been launched on the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City overnight. On Monday, up to five people were killed and 46 wounded when US warplanes bombed parts of the suburb.

I'm all out of commentary about the genocide.

It continues.

Razing Falluja

US warplanes, tanks and artillery units struck the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah [Saturday], killing at least eight people and wounding 15...

Gulf Daily News article

Jesus.

Surely there isn't much left to be destroyed there.

Sad and shameful.

Razing Falluja

Even though the American press and public have lost interest, the razing of Falluja continues.

US artillery and aircraft pounded sectors of the Iraqi rebel city of Fallujah, sending up clouds of smoke, residents said.

The smoke shrouded the southeastern industrial zone, which houses mainly metal and mechanical workshops, as residents charged that US forces had lobbed artillery into the area.

Within minutes, the artillery fire was followed by an air strike on the Shuhada district in southern Fallujah.

Iraq Net article

Iraqi elections

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday raised the possibility that some areas of Iraq might be excluded from elections scheduled for January if security could not be guaranteed."If there were to be an area where the extremists focused during the election period, and an election was not possible in that area at that time, so be it. You have the rest of the election and you go on. Life's not perfect," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee

Yahoo News article

My favorite philosopher - Derr Rumsfiend.
This could work out very well for Allawi.
Update 10:40am: Juan Cole comments:

Both Bush and Allawi affirmed on Thursday that elections would be held as promised. Donald Rumsfeld, whose uncontrollable mouth is sometimes useful insofar as he lets the truth slip, said that elections might not be possible in all the provinces. Allawi minimized the violence, saying that it was confined to 3 of Iraq's 18 provinces. This assertion is simply untrue, and is anyway misleading because Baghdad is one of the three Allawi had in mind! Could an election that excluded the capital, with at least 5 million inhabitants, be considered valid?

And note his quoting of an AP article:

The only areas not plagued by bloodshed are the three northern provinces controlled by Kurds. The situation in many areas, however, is unknown since journalists' travel is restricted by security fears.

As I said, this could bode well for Allawi, since the Kurds are essentially the only group remaining that support the U.S. And that could change soon enough if something isn't done about the increase in violence on the Turkey border. At least, the area could become "plagued by bloodshed", too.
Cole continues:

I made the present security-challenged provinces red, and those that saw recent heavy fighting purple. I ask you if this looks like the problems are in "3 of 18 provinces," or whether it looks to you like elections held only in the white areas (as Donald Rumsfeld seems to envision) would produce a legitimate government:

Well, since he asked, I'd have to say huh-uh.

The Allawi/ Rumsfeld logic, moreover, presumes that the guerrilla resistance is only able to disrupt the elections in the Sunni Arab provinces. But they have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to strike all over the country. If a long line of prospective voters were standing in Nasiriyah in the south, do you seriously think the guerrillas couldn't manage to direct some rocket-propelled grenade fire at them? Set off a car bomb?The real reason for the current plan to raze Fallujah in November or December is the hope that doing so will dramatically reduce the operational capability of the guerrillas.

Update Iraq

Gunmen killed a Sunni cleric as he was entering a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers today.

It was the second fatal attack on a cleric belonging to the influential Association of Muslim Scholars in less than 24 hours, the group said.

...The Association of Muslim Scholars is a conservative group that has worked for the release of foreign hostages. It strongly opposes the US presence in Iraq.

  Boston.comarticle

Well, that's the kiss of death, isn't it?

Juan Cole takes apart John McCain's demand to launch increased offensives now to pave the way for elections in Iraq, rather than after the November "election" here, as is planned by the administration (since there will undoubtedly be increased U.S. soldier deaths which would not bode well for the Bloody Asshat's support).

The rather bloodthirsty demand launched by Arizona Senator John McCain that the US military conquer Fallujah and other Sunni Arab cities of al-Anbar Province will not in fact enhance the possibility of free elections in January.

...What does McCain think the election would look like, with Ramadi, Fallujah and other Sunni cities reduced to rubble? Does he think the sullen Sunni Arabs will actually just jump on a US bandwagon in the wake of such brutality? Does he have any idea of the sheer number of feuds that will have been incurred with the Sunni tribes?

...It seems almost certain that most candidates for high office in Iraq will run against the US. I.e., their platform will probably include a promise to get US troops out of the country ASAP. Others will boycott the elections. The number of such boycotters, and the number of those running against the US, would be even greater in the wake of a bloody and indiscriminate US campaign against the townspeople of al-Anbar.

And, of course, the incredible devastation of Falluja continues...

Late Saturday and early Sunday, US warplanes and artillery struck Fallujah repeatedly. The bombardments killed four persons and wounded six. Although the US military typically points to the guerrillas it kills in such operations, it makes no accounting of the innocent civilians it kills and injures when bombing residential neighborhoods.

Cole has another excellent post, the contents of a letter he sent to a commenter who objected to Cole's "anti-militarism". Read the whole thing, but I want to comment on the conclusion:

Not only were all the Shiites in southern Iraq outside Najaf itself angered by the fighting in Najaf, but so were the Lebanese, Bahrainis, Iranians, Pakistanis, and Indians. An operation would have to be really important and urgent to make it worthwhile alienating 120 million people. I didn't see the urgency. Most of the cities in Iraq are not under US control and are patrolled by militias. If you were going to pick a fight, Ramadi or Kut would have been preferable, because they lack the "gut" factor.

And, it is precisely by injuring these religious feelings that the US hastens the day when the Iraqi public comes out into the streets in the hundreds of thousands and begins the revolution for Iraqi independence.

Because of the instability of the BushCons and their Christian/Zionist bent, I am inclined to believe that some of what is taken for stupidity is more appropriately termed insanity, and that the situation in Iraq is not for them so much a blunder as it is a bonus for speeding up the Apocalypse. No matter what Bush says out of one side of his mouth about Islam not being the target (terrorists are), the other side of his mouth spouts biblical apocalyptic diatribe, crusades, and God's working through him.

No, I don't think we're winning, but to say well, we must just stay the course and any of you who are questioning are just hand wringers is not very responsible.

The fact is we're in trouble, we're in deep trouble in Iraq.


---Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, September 20, 2004.

  article




....but hey, be what you want....you will anyway.

More Airstrikes on Falluja

A U.S. air strike on a "terrorist meeting site" in Falluja Thursday night killed approximately 60 foreign fighters with ties to known terrorist leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the Coalition Press Information Center said.

...The airstrike destroyed three buildings inside the "terrorist compound," according to CPIC.

Hours later, U.S. forces conducted another airstrike on Zarqawi targets in Falluja.

The Coalition Press Information Center reported that interim Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi authorized the attack on a "terrorist compound" located in the south-central part of Falluja, which took place at about 2:45 a.m. Friday (6:45 p.m. Thursday ET).

There was no immediate word on casualties in the second strike.

article

Airstrike after airstrike after airstrike. Just another day in the continuing razing of a city that dared to piss off the Madmen of Pennsylvania Avenue. I wonder how much of Falluja is left.

And immediately after, suicide bomb blast rocks Baghdad.

An earlier report of the precision airstrikes (that's what we always call them):

News agency reports from Falluja, and local hospital officials, said that the airstrikes killed at least 16 civilians, including women and children, and that an ambulance was hit by a shell, killing the driver and six occupants. This was denied by a coalition press officer. "The U.S. military is confirming that we did not hit an ambulance and we did not hit a marketplace," the press officer, Sharon Walker, said, referring to news agency accounts. She said that the 25 deaths "of Zarqawi operatives or anti-Iraqi forces" were an "initial estimate," leaving open the possibility of more casualties.

...The American military has limited its attacks to airstrikes. U.S. forces on Monday patrolled the outskirts of the city. Using loudspeakers, U.S. troops called on a local militant Islamic leader to "come out and fight."

article

Standing on the outskirts calling like idiots and bullies, while your air force bombs the city to holy hell. I bet those are some proud Marines.

Despite the military's denial, witnesses said the bombing targeted the city's residential al-Shurta neighborhood, damaging buildings and raising clouds of black smoke, The Associated Press reported. Dr. Adel Khamis of the Falluja General Hospital told the news agency that at least 16 people were killed and 12 others wounded. The ambulance was hit by a shell, killing the driver, a paramedic and five patients inside the vehicle, another hospital official, Hamid Salaman, told The AP.
.
"The conditions here are miserable - an ambulance was bombed, three houses destroyed and men and women killed," the hospital's director, Rafayi Hayad al-Esawi, told Al-Jazeera television by telephone in a report posted on the satellite station's Web site. "The American Army has no morals." Witnesses told The AP that American warplanes repeatedly swooped low over the city and that artillery units deployed on the outskirts of the city also opened fire. The explosions started at sunrise and continued for several hours. The military statement said the attack occurred at 6:07 Monday morning. One explosion went off in a marketplace in Falluja as the first vendors began to set up their stalls, wounding several people and shattering windows, witnesses told the news agency.

You can't strike anything in a city precisely from the air. It's disgusting that they continue to claim precision strikes against militants. There is nothing left here for America but shame.

And death.

Iraqi insurgents pressed their assault on U.S. and allied forces Thursday as two Americans and a Briton were kidnapped from their Baghdad house and three Marines were killed, bringing the number of U.S. military deaths in the country this month to at least 52.

article

America, get out.

Google doesn't even have mention of the "pounding" that Falluja is taking today on their News headlines page. You have to enter a search to see it.

Bob Goodsell offers a link to the excellent Bob Harris: Our savage numbness

A new report says Saddam had no WMD, but he had "clear intent". Which do you think will be the focus of the GOP?

Ibrahim Jassim poses for a photograph with his wife, Zahra Jassim, and sons, Sayf Jassim, right, and The al-Faqar, outside their tent at a sprawling refugee camp in Kirkuk, Iraq, Tuesday Sept. 14, 2004. As many as 500 Kurds a day streamed into Kirkuk last month in a sudden land rush that took city officials and U.S. troops by surprise and has left the nascent city government struggling to cope with dozens of refugee camps on once vacant patches of ground. Source

Razing Falluja

Juan Cole is posting about continuing airstrikes on Falluja.

US air strikes on Fallujah on Monday killed some 20 persons. The US military maintained that it was targeting safe houses of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his group, Monotheism and Holy War. (Some are translating tawhid as "unity," but in Islam what is meant by tawhid is to "affirm the oneness of God" -- i.e. monotheism.) Local Fallujans complained that the air strikes hit the residential al-Shurta neighborhood, inflicting damages on apartment buildings and the markets. Hospital authorities later said there were 20 deaths, including women and children.

Kudos to Robert Burns of the AP for taking up the issue of increased US reliance on air strikes on urban residential neighborhoods as a way of combatting the guerrillas now warring against them.

More...

Juan also has a good post dealing with my concerns about the possibility of the Iraqi fiasco spreading to Turkey.

Falluja: FUBAR

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.

Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway says the U.S.-led assault on Fallujah served to increase "the level of animosity" in the city.

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.

... Conway arrived in Iraq in March pledging to accelerate reconstruction projects as a way to subdue Anbar province, dominated by Sunni Muslims. But on March 31 he was confronted in Fallujah with the killing of four U.S. security contractors, whose bodies were mutilated or burned by a celebrating mob. Conway said he resisted calls for revenge, and instead advocated targeted operations and continued engagement with municipal leaders.

"We felt like we had a method that we wanted to apply to Fallujah: that we ought to probably let the situation settle before we appeared to be attacking out of revenge," he said in an interview with four journalists after the change-of-command ceremony.

But that would have been UnAmerican anathema to George W. Butthead, Rumsfiend and the Neocons.

"Vengeance is mine", saith the Lord. (See? God does talk to the asshat.) And George Vengeance Bush called for heads to roll.

Continue reading the article...

Third Day of Airstrikes on Falluja

Gunmen killed a Sunni cleric as he was entering a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers today.

It was the second fatal attack on a cleric belonging to the influential Association of Muslim Scholars in less than 24 hours, the group said.

...The Association of Muslim Scholars is a conservative group that has worked for the release of foreign hostages. It strongly opposes the US presence in Iraq.

  Boston.comarticle

Well, that's the kiss of death, isn't it?

Juan Cole takes apart John McCain's demand to launch increased offensives now to pave the way for elections in Iraq, rather than after the November "election" here, as is planned by the administration (since there will undoubtedly be increased U.S. soldier deaths which would not bode well for the Bloody Asshat's support).

The rather bloodthirsty demand launched by Arizona Senator John McCain that the US military conquer Fallujah and other Sunni Arab cities of al-Anbar Province will not in fact enhance the possibility of free elections in January.

...What does McCain think the election would look like, with Ramadi, Fallujah and other Sunni cities reduced to rubble? Does he think the sullen Sunni Arabs will actually just jump on a US bandwagon in the wake of such brutality? Does he have any idea of the sheer number of feuds that will have been incurred with the Sunni tribes?

...It seems almost certain that most candidates for high office in Iraq will run against the US. I.e., their platform will probably include a promise to get US troops out of the country ASAP. Others will boycott the elections. The number of such boycotters, and the number of those running against the US, would be even greater in the wake of a bloody and indiscriminate US campaign against the townspeople of al-Anbar.

And, of course, the incredible devastation of Falluja continues...

Late Saturday and early Sunday, US warplanes and artillery struck Fallujah repeatedly. The bombardments killed four persons and wounded six. Although the US military typically points to the guerrillas it kills in such operations, it makes no accounting of the innocent civilians it kills and injures when bombing residential neighborhoods.

Cole has another excellent post, the contents of a letter he sent to a commenter who objected to Cole's "anti-militarism". Read the whole thing, but I want to comment on the conclusion:

Not only were all the Shiites in southern Iraq outside Najaf itself angered by the fighting in Najaf, but so were the Lebanese, Bahrainis, Iranians, Pakistanis, and Indians. An operation would have to be really important and urgent to make it worthwhile alienating 120 million people. I didn't see the urgency. Most of the cities in Iraq are not under US control and are patrolled by militias. If you were going to pick a fight, Ramadi or Kut would have been preferable, because they lack the "gut" factor.

And, it is precisely by injuring these religious feelings that the US hastens the day when the Iraqi public comes out into the streets in the hundreds of thousands and begins the revolution for Iraqi independence.

Because of the instability of the BushCons and their Christian/Zionist bent, I am inclined to believe that some of what is taken for stupidity is more appropriately termed insanity, and that the situation in Iraq is not for them so much a blunder as it is a bonus for speeding up the Apocalypse. No matter what Bush says out of one side of his mouth about Islam not being the target (terrorists are), the other side of his mouth spouts biblical apocalyptic diatribe, crusades, and God's working through him.

No, I don't think we're winning, but to say well, we must just stay the course and any of you who are questioning are just hand wringers is not very responsible.

The fact is we're in trouble, we're in deep trouble in Iraq.


---Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, September 20, 2004.

  article


....but hey, be what you want....you will anyway.

Razing Falluja

Gunmen killed a Sunni cleric as he was entering a mosque in Baghdad to perform noon prayers today.

It was the second fatal attack on a cleric belonging to the influential Association of Muslim Scholars in less than 24 hours, the group said.

...The Association of Muslim Scholars is a conservative group that has worked for the release of foreign hostages. It strongly opposes the US presence in Iraq.

  Boston.comarticle

Well, that's the kiss of death, isn't it?

Juan Cole takes apart John McCain's demand to launch increased offensives now to pave the way for elections in Iraq, rather than after the November "election" here, as is planned by the administration (since there will undoubtedly be increased U.S. soldier deaths which would not bode well for the Bloody Asshat's support).

The rather bloodthirsty demand launched by Arizona Senator John McCain that the US military conquer Fallujah and other Sunni Arab cities of al-Anbar Province will not in fact enhance the possibility of free elections in January.

...What does McCain think the election would look like, with Ramadi, Fallujah and other Sunni cities reduced to rubble? Does he think the sullen Sunni Arabs will actually just jump on a US bandwagon in the wake of such brutality? Does he have any idea of the sheer number of feuds that will have been incurred with the Sunni tribes?

...It seems almost certain that most candidates for high office in Iraq will run against the US. I.e., their platform will probably include a promise to get US troops out of the country ASAP. Others will boycott the elections. The number of such boycotters, and the number of those running against the US, would be even greater in the wake of a bloody and indiscriminate US campaign against the townspeople of al-Anbar.

And, of course, the incredible devastation of Falluja continues...

Late Saturday and early Sunday, US warplanes and artillery struck Fallujah repeatedly. The bombardments killed four persons and wounded six. Although the US military typically points to the guerrillas it kills in such operations, it makes no accounting of the innocent civilians it kills and injures when bombing residential neighborhoods.

Cole has another excellent post, the contents of a letter he sent to a commenter who objected to Cole's "anti-militarism". Read the whole thing, but I want to comment on the conclusion:

Not only were all the Shiites in southern Iraq outside Najaf itself angered by the fighting in Najaf, but so were the Lebanese, Bahrainis, Iranians, Pakistanis, and Indians. An operation would have to be really important and urgent to make it worthwhile alienating 120 million people. I didn't see the urgency. Most of the cities in Iraq are not under US control and are patrolled by militias. If you were going to pick a fight, Ramadi or Kut would have been preferable, because they lack the "gut" factor.

And, it is precisely by injuring these religious feelings that the US hastens the day when the Iraqi public comes out into the streets in the hundreds of thousands and begins the revolution for Iraqi independence.

Because of the instability of the BushCons and their Christian/Zionist bent, I am inclined to believe that some of what is taken for stupidity is more appropriately termed insanity, and that the situation in Iraq is not for them so much a blunder as it is a bonus for speeding up the Apocalypse. No matter what Bush says out of one side of his mouth about Islam not being the target (terrorists are), the other side of his mouth spouts biblical apocalyptic diatribe, crusades, and God's working through him.

No, I don't think we're winning, but to say well, we must just stay the course and any of you who are questioning are just hand wringers is not very responsible.

The fact is we're in trouble, we're in deep trouble in Iraq.


---Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, September 20, 2004.

  article


....but hey, be what you want....you will anyway.

OK, so it wasn't Al Douri

Got your hopes up there, didn't they? In fact, the Iraqi puppet government is in synch with American media. Announce it with fanfare, and people will believe it forever. So the Bush's RNC campaigning on winning the war on terror got its boost. Never mind that it was another lie that gave it.

In the meantime, Falluja is still paying for the sins of Mohammed, but not going down without a good fight.

Seven US marines and three Iraqi national guards were killed Monday in the deadliest anti-coalition attack in months, as Iraqi officials sheepishly retracted claims Saddam's deputy had been captured.

  Turkish press article

As for the al-Douri fiasco, the Salaheddin province governor apparently hasn't been clued or clubbed. Loose canon there.

"Today, I am happy to say there was a person arrested. But after making appropriate checks, it was not Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri. It was one of his relatives. He is also wanted but he is not on any major lists," interior ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

Doubts over the initial claim first emerged on Sunday.

"There was no operation to arrest Izzat al-Duri in my province and I have no idea where all this false and irresponsible information came from," said Hamad Hmud al-Qaissi, the governor of Salaheddin province.

...Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office announced Sunday that DNA tests were being carried out on a suspect, but an official from the health ministry denied such tests were being carried out on any detainee.

All for the press. To feed the coalition of the willing to believe Bush. (Better club that health ministry official, too.)

Meanwhile, attackers set ablaze a pipeline providing gas to a major electrical plant south of the northern city of Kirkuk, threatening power shortages in large swathes of northern Iraq, local officials said.

And here's a very interesting account of the Falluja offensive from Arabic News...

Two Iraqis were killed and other 8 were injured in an American artillery bombardment that targeted a military barrack for the Iraqi forces which assume peace keeping in Faluja city to the west of Baghdad.

The American tanks opened fire from its artillery intensively at al-Shuhadaa ( martyrs ) quarters to the east of the city. The bombardment came following demonstrations that took place in the city following Friday's prayers in protest of the American raid on Wednesday when some 20 Iraqis were killed.

The demonstration was called for by mosques preachers in Falluja who also asked for the need of keeping the Iraqi police and army forces in the city.

  article

It may be propaganda. However, it would certainly fit in with what I believe is actually happening in Falljua, which is that we are committing genocide. And it seems odd that they would offer the information that the U.S. bombed Iraqi peace-keeping forces without any explanation or comment, as though no one would question it. As though it were simply part of the U.S. program. Falluja has been specifically targeted for bombing into submission ever since the four mercernaries were killed and their bodies were strung up from a bridge amidst great celebration.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.