Falluja airstrike update

Three US marines were today killed in action in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province, a military spokesperson said.

The spokesperson would not say where the three had been killed, but their deaths were reported as US forces fought insurgents in Falluja, in the Anbar province. F-18 fighter jets dropped several bombs in the city, sending up plumes of smoke, while tank and machine gun fire could be heard to the south.

Guardian article

This is what allows General Myers to say the answer is simple - we just win. And what allows Derr Rumsfiend to say it's "crystal clear" and "unambiguous" that "Fallujah was a successful effort". (Source) We just quit saying where the soldiers were killed and refer to any deaths in Falluja as deaths in the Anbar province. See how easy that is? Simple.

I had been working on a post commenting on the DOD briefing I'm quoting there, but decided to forego posting it, as I'd posted a couple of things yesterday regarding other people quoting some of the assinine things Rumsfiend and Myers said. I'll change my mind again and put it here:

A few more choice quotes from yesterday's DOD briefing

December 22

SEC. RUMSFELD: Good afternoon, folks. (Coughs.) I've got a catch in my throat, so I apologize, but I swallowed something wrong.

As an old ex-con friend of mine always said, paybacks are a motherfucker. For all the stuff he's asking other people to swallow, it's only right. It's what he's spitting out that's the real problem.

The tragic attack in Mosul, Iraq demonstrates again that the coalition and the Iraqi people face a vicious and a determined enemy. Freedom is at stake in Iraq and it's achievable. The only alternative to success would be to turn back to darkness -- to those who kill and terrorize innocent men, women and children -- and that must not happen.

Now you know he doesn't believe that drivel. A catch in his throat isn't enough of a signal to him to stop puking up bullshit. Let's have another look at the directives and the methods for the capture of Iraq before we discuss killing and terrorizing innocents.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been killed and with the wounded and with their families and with all those military and civilian personnel who have volunteered to place themselves at risk in our country's behalf.

And the families of these dead soldiers are going to get my personally signed letter of condolence, unlike the dead before them whose families got letters forged by my signing machine.

Okay, I know. Usually I don't bother to post this crap, because I assume you've heard enough of it that you could write these little briefings yourself. Be sure to add that Afghanistan has been liberated and elected a mayor of Kabuhl president, and that the enemy has escaped Falluja and set up camp in Mosul been routed from Falluja. And keep repeating that Iraqis are being trained to keep Iraq secure. Don't leave out that we are fighting the enemy there so we don't have to fight him here. (And be sure to mention that the enemy chops off people's heads.) (Go check it out if you don't believe he's still saying all these things.)

And especially remember this quote when they hold elections at the end of January without Falluja, without Mosul, and without numerous other cities being able to vote:

As long as an important region of the world is condemned to tyranny and violence, with one-half of their population barred from full participation, with little hope for a better future, terrorists will have a deep pool from which to draw recruits and to attack free people across the globe.

Then we get General The-solution-is-simple-al l-we-have-to-do-is-win Myers

Efforts to defeat the insurgents in the anti-Iraqi, anti- coalition forces who are targeting innocent citizens and coalition forces remain a top priority. Intimidation, kidnappings and executions, especially those focused in Mosul, north Babil, Ramadi and al Qaim are particularly troubling, and these areas will be a focus of particularly increased security emphasis.

Directly contradicting Mr. Abdel-Mahdi at the National Press Club.

This attack, of course, is the responsibility of insurgents, the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11, the same type of insurgents who attacked in Beirut, the same insurgents who -- type of insurgents who attacked the Cole, Khobar Towers, and the list goes on.

Maybe General Myers actually said these were the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11. Maybe the transcriber left out "type of". Whichever way it went down, it was a flagrant deceptive statement continuing the administration's efforts to make the people we are killing, in your mind, responsible for the WTC attacks.

SEC. RUMSFELD: We have said all along that we expected the level of violence to increase as you got towards the election. That is not new. We have also said that Fallujah was a successful effort. It was. It seems to me that's crystal-clear, that it's unambiguous, and it was an important effort.

Cyrstal clear and unambiguous.

Q: Can I do a follow-up, Mr. Secretary, on that same issue? Do you and General Myers think it's unwise or was unwise to put 400- plus servicemen and civilians and others in a huge tent the size of a football field on a base in a combat zone, a base that had been hit by mortars and RPGs? And if you do think it's unwise, are either one of you or both going to sound off to Generals Casey and Ham, or take them to the woodshed?

[...]

[MYERS:]We have had a suicide bomber, apparently, strap something to his body -- apparently a him -- and go into a dining hall. We know how difficult this is, to prevent suicide -- people bent on suicide and stopping them. We understand how difficult that is. But I think -- this was the insurgents that did this. It's not General Ham that attacked his dining hall.

Oh, good lord. Thank God it wasn't General Ham who attacked his own men. Who lets this man speak? "Losses are not our fault, you dummies. Our enemies are trying to kill us."<