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...the problem is, it isn't that simple. Fallujah is just a symptom of a much larger problem, that not only should we have not gone into Fallujah, but we should never have gone into Iraq.
Sadly, that is no longer an option. Also no longer an option is ignoring Fallujah. Some people here might be saying, "Well, why the hell not?" The reason is because, as the media likes to keep parroting, "we broke it, so now we own it."
Our invasion destroyed any kind of civil control that the region may have had, and to abandon these people to the chaos that has ensued due to our invasion would make us worse than Hussein. And if you don't think it would be chaos, look at what happened the last time we left a fundamentalist Muslim nation to its own devices after a vicious war (think Afghanistan).
Another reason we can't ignore Fallujah is because of a small matter of geography: Al Fallujah lies on the major artery traveling out of Baghdad, going west. Convoys bringing in supplies from Jordan have no choice but to go through Fallujah, and as we've seen in recent weeks, those supply convoys are being attacked constantly. Mind you, these are not military supplies - these are supplies meant to assist in rebuilding Iraq from the rubble we've reduced it to.
Hindsight is 20/20 in most cases, and certainly I hope that future world leaders will use Shrub's fiasco in Iraq as a lesson in how not to pursue foreign policy. But we are not afforded the luxury of that hindsight - we are caught in the middle of a mess that was created by the most corrupt administration this nation has ever been subjected to, and I personally feel the SOBs should be tried for war crimes once they are kicked out of office come November.
But my disgust that was evident in the earlier post was directed to those that feel the military is little more than armed mindless thugs, out to destroy whatever cultural icons they can get in their sights. I have been there, I know exactly what those poor bastards are going through, and I know the pain they feel when they loose buddies and the frustration of knowing that it is all because of a lie. And if someone uses a mosque or minaret to ambush our servicemen and women, knowing full well that the military is directed to observe the customs and courtesies of these nations and to respect their holy and cultural sites, then I have no problem with these same men and women defending themselves and doing what it takes to try to survive one of the most ill-planned excuses for regime change history has ever experienced.
For anyone here who has never been in that situation to blithely make such obscene remarks does NOTHING to further our cause. Instead it shames us for not taking EVERYONE'S sacrifice more seriously.
Come on, people, we're better than that. Leave the cheap shots to the bastards who haven't the thought process to understand what consequences their actions have: The Repugs.
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