Sunni cities hold U.S. at bay

[Nambe]

New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq — While U.S. troops have been battling Islamic militants to an uncertain outcome in Najaf, the Shiite holy city, events in two Sunni Muslim cities that stand astride the crucial western approaches to Baghdad have moved significantly against American plans to build a secular democracy in Iraq.

Fundamentalist militias now control both of the cities, Fallujah and Ramadi, and much of Anbar Province, with U.S. troops confined mainly to heavily protected forts on the desert's edge.

What little influence the Americans have is asserted through wary forays in armored vehicles, and by laser-guided bombs that obliterate enemy refuges identified by scouts who penetrate militant ranks.

But even bombing raids appear to strengthen the fundamentalists, who blame the Americans for scores of civilian deaths. ,,

[asjr]

1. We are going to give the Iraqis democracy even if it

kills them. This is a no-win situation.

[Born Free]

2. the bush coward's "cakewalk" war

as the song says: bush must be fefeated, can not be repeated

[UpInArms]

3. interesting op-ed in the Philly Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9523484.htm

excerpt:

With 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and no exit strategy in view, the fate of the self-described "war president" may depend on how the Iraq war plays out in the coming weeks. Fifty-two percent of Americans dislike the way Bush is handling Iraq, and 58 percent say he has no clear plan for bringing the situation to a successful conclusion, according to Pew.

Last week's bloody events in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf offer further grounds for questioning the presidential performance on Iraq.

<snipping to the bottom line>

Just after the Gulf War ended they rebelled against Saddam, in response to a call by the first President Bush. He then let Saddam crush the rebellion. I was there in April 1991 and saw the gruesome results. The Shiite religious establishment still blames the United States for the 1991 disaster.

This time Najaf was crushed by its professed liberators. Though most Najafis despise Sadr, they will blame Americans for wrecking their city. This is the kind of confusion into which President Bush unwittingly led us. There's no sign he knows how to lead us out.

...more at link...

[bemildred]

4. The press is still not getting it.

We are losing the war in Iraq. We have been in the process of
losing the war in Iraq for something over a year. Until they start
calling a spade a spade and admit that we are losing the war in
Iraq, there will be no sane discussion of our options, and we will
go on losing the war and watching our military and political standing
in international affairs degrade. Talk about shooting yourself in
the foot.

[TacticalPeek]

6. Worser.

[bemildred]

7. Most likely so. nt

[quaoar]

5. From the same NYT article

The national guard commander and the governor were both forced into humiliating confessions, denouncing themselves as "traitors" on videotapes that sell in the Falluja marketplace for 50 cents. The tapes show masked men ending the guard commander's halting monologue, toppling him to the ground, and sawing off his head, to the accompaniment of recorded Koranic chants ordaining death for those who "make war upon Allah." The governor is shown with a photograph of himself with an American officer, sobbing as he repents working with the "infidel Americans," then being rewarded with a weeping reunion with his sons.

In another taped sequence available in the Falluja market, a mustached man identifying himself as an Egyptian is shown kneeling in a flowered shirt, confessing that he "worked as a spy for the Americans," planting electronic "chips" used for setting targets in American bombing raids. The man says he was paid $150 for each chip laid, then he, too, is tackled to the ground by masked guards while a third masked man, a burly figure who proclaims himself a dispenser of Islamic justice, pulls a 12-inch knife from a scabbard, grabs the Egyptian by the scalp, and severs his head.


I don't see any substantive difference between the terror of life under Sadam and the terror of life today in Fallujah. Not only that, but Bush should roast in hell for sending the Marines in for the start of an offensive in Fallujah and then pulling them out. What did the Marines who died in that "offensive" die for?