REDEPLOYMENT BEGINS! Under fire, US marines hand off battered Fallujah

[Sensitivity]

I am sure those troops are happy to get out of dodge!

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Under fire, US marines hand off battered Fallujah

Just 300 marines now patrol key Sunni city as Iraqi military takes over.
By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – From Observation Post Blazer, marines view Fallujah through a thick sheet of bullet-proof glass - already tested with numerous impacts.

As the marine presence shrinks and Iraqis take more control, Fallujah - once a template for counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq, where US forces have controlled all the variables - is likely again to set a standard for the rest of the country.
.....

During this transition, frustration runs deep in this fortified bunker, and at a handful of posts that now dot Fallujah. They are designed to watch the main roads where marines travel, to prevent the laying of roadside bombs.


LINK:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1124/p01s04-woiq.html


....
"They say we are here to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, but I just don't see that happening," says Corporal Mattice, of Gladwin, Mich. OP Blazer is perched on the northern edge of the city, looking due south down a main street known to the marines as Ethan, site of numerous roadside bombs.

"As soon as we leave, I'm afraid that the insurgents will take over.... They watch us, as we watch them," says Mattice, echoing the fears of Fallujans who, while unhappy with the marine presence, are far more worried that a hurried US departure will leave them vulnerable to Sunni militants, and exposed to sectarian killings.

[Monkeyman]

1. They will have to go back again

Bush's failed policy will just keep happen over and over again. Hey Bush here a tactic get the Hell Out of Dodge

[NNN0LHI]

2. What Fallujah is there to hand off I wonder?

The last photos we were allowed to see of Fallujah looked like Hiroshima. Non-American media was showing dogs eating dead Iraqis in the street.

Don