US warplanes bomb Fallujah after eight US marines killed

[maddezmom]

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFX) - US forces launched air strikes on Fallujah today, after eight US marines were killed in weekend clashes with Iraqi rebels in Al-Anbar province, despite claims that the insurgency was being defeated.

The war planes pounded eastern suburbs of the city of Fallujah, the backbone of the insurgency in Al-Anbar, sending columns of black smoke into the sky, said an Agence France-Presse correspondent embedded with the marines.

The strikes early today followed fighting that killed eight marines and at least 17 suspected rebels in Al-Anbar since Friday, the US military said, without specifiying whether the marines' deaths occurred in Fallujah itself.

'Air strikes were called in during escalation of force for troops in contact,' a marine spokesman said today.

more: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/041213/323/f8g58.html

[MichaelHarris]

1. was the mission called

"Operation Mission Accomplished"?

[chelsea0011]

2. or "Operation, Jeesh is this More and More like Vietnam"?

Destroy the village and hope you'vbe killed any VC. Just like Fallujah.

[MichaelHarris]

3. LOL or

Operation What a Fu&*ing Qragmire

[KansDem]

17. During WWII, didn't Nazi soldiers retaliate...

...against the citizens of a town or village where they suspected the resistance of operating or where acts of espionage occurred by taking these citizens out and executing them as a warning to underground fighters who had killed German soldiers, or to make a point about collaborating with the enemy?

How is this any different?

[gratuitous]

19. It's different because . . .

It's our freckle-faced, star-spangled, red, white and true blue faultless boys and girls in uniform doing it. And the alternative to that delusion is too horrible to contemplate, so the delusion stays fixed in the public mind.

[jobycom]

26. That's SOP for any invading force

The Romans did it, the various Muslim Dynasties did it, the Soviets and Nazis did it. We're doing it.

But we can't compare Bush to Hitler. We have to wait until he kills 6 million people.

[number6]

27. Mission Smirk Monkey II

:evilgrin:<>:eyes:

[yellowcanine]

4. I thought "major combat operations" were over in Fallujah. Must just be

some "untidiness." Silly me. Someone please call Housekeeping.

[StaggerLee]

13. Clean-up in aisle....

Fallujah???

:eyes:

[SheepyMcSheepster]

5. any day now they are going to break the backs of the insurgency

:eyes:

it will be a shame when all there is left to fight over is rubble and wreckage.

[maddezmom]

6. As skirmishes continue, Marines seek delay in civilians’ return to Falluja

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — Marines continue to battle pockets of insurgents in Fallujah at the start of what could be a crucial week for American policy in the rebellious city.

Officers here had hoped to begin as early as this week to allow the return of more than 200,000 residents forced out in November by fighting between coalition and rebel forces. But as Marines inside the city fought small groups of insurgents again on Sunday, senior officers from the I Marine Expeditionary Force said security, not the calendar, would drive their decisions.

~snip~

The Marines control the area that is the biggest challenge to that plan: Anbar Province, which includes Fallujah and Ramadi, another center of insurgent activity.

The province is a power center for Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority, which has resisted efforts to prepare for January’s voting. If U.S. and Iraqi officials cannot encourage at least some political participation by Anbar’s Sunnis, the voting is likely to be seen as lacking legitimacy both in Iraq and internationally.

more: http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-552618.php

What a bunch of BS...no one is in control in Fallujah or Ramadi. :eyes:

[maddezmom]

9. 10 explosions heard in Ramadi..no details

In nearby Ramadi, 30 miles west of Fallujah, at least 10 explosions were heard early Monday, but no details were immediately available on their source nor whether there were any casualties.

Insurgents had shelled U.S. forces in the city on Sunday resulting in retaliatory artillery fire by American troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041213/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_041213095960

[jmcgowanjm]

11. "The city had fallen under the rule of radical clerics"

Heh! What happened to Zarqawi!
Programs!Get your Programs!
You can't tell the players w/o your Programs!

[TahitiNut]

7. Exploding democracy and fragmentation freedom.

Our #1 "export" ... lining the pockets of war profiteers with the blood of innocent civilians.

[jmcgowanjm]

8. Finally, a new aphorism-during escalation of force for troops in contact

aphorism-a brief saying embodying a moral, a concise statement
of a principle or precept given in pointed words.

Sure beats-conducting security and stability operations.

the IR is indeed attempting to take as many US captives as possible.

The US command, of course, will be desperate to prevent
that. Pictures on the net, of large numbers of US troops
taken captive in Fallujah - that would be a PR disaster. So
they will throw everything they can scrape together into the
fight. And in so doing, make lots of stupid mistakes.
Like concentrating their forces into a 35Km long missile
target. Remember the 'highway of death' out of
Kuwait?

[jmcgowanjm]

10. BTW-posting above violates:

SEC. 4043. COMBATING BIASED OR FALSE FOREIGN
MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE UNITED
STATES.
Of the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act
(Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House)
S.2845.EAH

Arrest me.

[Gregorian]

12. Does this analogy work for anyone?

George Bush and his gang wanted some money. So they went into a bank with guns blazing. Meanwhile, those darned security guards had the audacity to fire back at them. So the gang fired on the people who had been waiting in line. After all, it looked like one of them had a gun. And they could be plain clothes security guards. So they deserved to be shot.
Then there's the drunk bus driver analogy. But it's early, and I'm standing here having had no coffee yet.

Why is it republicans are not ashamed of this man? What is it they don't know? Do they not recognize hypocracy? Is that genetic? Do they know no shame? Because I'm ashamed to be represented by these assholes.

[StaggerLee]

14. A question for the ages

I really wish I had an answer.

Jeebus...

[jmcgowanjm]

15. A True RedState Republican in action

My FundyDeacon Bro-in-Law (Bushite) a millionaire, is shopping in
Country Club Plaza in KC.

From there, he calls my DadinLaw asking for
his Xmas $ ($350, this includes Bday and 3kids
$) to be sent ASAP.

My DadinLaw( not a Millionaire) not quite as senile as my
MominLaw, gets angry, confused why he owes this
$ to said BinL.

MinL w/ full blown Alzheimers, calls my wife,
saying she's ready to send $350 to all her kids
if they send $350 to BinL.

Wife can't believe, calls BinL-it's true-tells BinL
where to get off, then calls, tells Folks to rip all
checks.

[Gregorian]

21. That is sick. It's all about money.

I thought everyone was like my family. I can talk to my mom and dad, who are 80, just like I can talk to anyone on DU. And the neighborhood where I grew up was also the same way. It was only three years ago that I first found myself unlucky enough to end up in a republican neighborhood. And that was in a totally Democratic county (Humboldt, Calif.). Boy did I get an eyeful. The good news is, I move next week. I couldn't tolerate it. Three years of wanting to kill my neighbors was more than I could take.

Actually, in your relative's case, it isn't about money. He has a social problem that needs his understanding. He probably wasn't loved as a child, or something. Anyone with a million who acts that way...

[jmcgowanjm]

22. He probably wasn't loved as a child, or something.

That's what my wife, crying, said, gregorian.

That something in his childhood ...

No matter how wealthy he is, no matter how poor the
siblings,
if someone gets "X" then BinL gets the
same
and he'll "burn down the house" if he
doesn't.

[gratuitous]

16. A lot of people are heavily, desperately invested

After all, if the troops aren't fighting for our freedom (you know, like Roger Ramjet and his men), then we have to face up to the uncomfortable, unanswerable question of what they're fighting for. Freedom is a noble ideal, to be fought for perpetually. Just not with guns and bombs.

But protecting overwealthy interests at the expense of the have-nots and the oppressed? Well, that's certainly not worth fighting for. And if the troops are blasting away at a bunch of innocents who are merely fighting for their own lives and who are no threat to us, then what does that say about the nation that sent them over there and continues to support the crazy man who initiated all of this?

Nope. Turn away. Too much reality. Hey look! Chris won Survivor! Now that's some reality we can deal with . . .

[NNN0LHI]

24. Racism plays heavily into this too. You will never see this shit in Sweden

Even if they had oil.

Don

[Stockholm]

31. Please do not even refer to us - might give them an idea...

Bad enough having OBL mentioning us.

[jmcgowanjm]

18. 121304-Fallujah seeing heaviest fighting to date

Extremely HEAVY fighting has taken place in Falluja today
in which the US forces seem to have thrown their weight into
the battle for Faluja II.

A column consisting of 56 Abram tanks, as well as Bradly
tanks was seen entering Falluja from the western
section.

The Resistance are reporting that Falluja is seeing some of
the heaviest battles since the US began ints attck over 5
weeks ago.

Translation from:

www.islammemo.cc

paging Sibel Edmonds, paging Sibel Edmonds
DU needs Arabic translators.

[jmcgowanjm]

20. Iraq, 1917 Robert Fisk

But, by September 1919, even journalists were beginning
to grasp that Britain's plans for Iraq were founded upon
illusions. "I imagine," the correspondent for The Times wrote
on 23 September, "that the view held by many English
people about Mesopotamia is that the local inhabitants
will welcome us because we have saved them from the
Turks, and that the country only needs developing to repay
a large expenditure of English lives and English money.
Neither of these ideals will bear much examination... From
the political point of view we are asking the Arab to exchange
his pride and independence for a little Western civilisation,
the profits of which must be largely absorbed by the expenses
of administration."

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2004/0617iraq1917.htm

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

23. Great point!

I have watched "Lawrence of Arabia" several times since this crap in Iraq started. It's almost as if the movie were made today. Anyone wanting to understand the emotional makeup of the area ought watch this movie.
We (the royal we) are crazy in thinking our political and economic ideology could ever be grafted or transplanted into this area.....

edited for spelling :)

[jmcgowanjm]

30. Omar Shariff was the Wahhabi Sect

The West is always lining up w/ the
most radical RW.

BTW- I do love when O'Toole comes out of the Desert
riding that camel.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. That'll Teach 'Em

The Professor

[ibeplato]

28. I thought we broke the back of the insurgency a month ago?

Wait a second, didn't Bush tell the world that major combat operations in Iraq ended in 2003?

[NNN0LHI]

29. That was a different insurgency. This is the new and improved insurgency n/t