October 15, 2004

Pound Falluja Don't Plead with It, Some Iraqis Say

Iraq's interim government, backed by U.S. armed forces, is shaping up for a full-scale assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja, a move some Iraqis say is the only way to deal with the volatile town.

Earlier this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued an ultimatum to the people of Falluja to hand over foreign fighters holed up there, including Jordanian ringleader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, or face a military onslaught.

On Thursday, hours after twin suicide bomb attacks claimed by Zarqawi's group killed five people inside the best-protected compound in Baghdad, U.S. fighter jets unleashed on Falluja.
[...]
"Allawi must attack Falluja in whatever way necessary because they are the main reason for instability in Iraq," said Iman Jadoa, 40, a clerk from the southern Shi'ite city of Basra.

"They must be made to pay," she said.

Others questioned why it was that no suicide car bombs ever blow up in Falluja, and said the city needed to be taught a lesson if the whole of Iraq is to be pacified before elections are due to be held in January.

"I consider any invasion of Falluja a great step -- that's where the terrorists are," said Samkoo Mohammed-Ali, a university student in the peaceful Kurdish city of Suleimaniya.

"Why are there no bombings in Falluja? It's because a mosquito doesn't sting itself. The government must quickly take over Falluja so Iraq can genuinely live in peace and be reconstructed," he said.

Many commanders in Saddam's specialist Republican Guard force hailed from the Sunni triangle city, which has always had a streak of militancy.
[Maybe what New York and New Jersey have been to the Mafia mob here, the Sunni Triangle has been to the Iraqi "mob?"--Jen]

U.S. marines tried to overrun the city in April, after four U.S. contractors were killed and their burned bodies dragged through the streets by cheering crowds. But after weeks of fierce fighting and a heavy Iraqi death toll, they withdrew.

Falluja's residents saw that as a victory for the rebels, and the city has since become a bastion of Iraq's insurgency.
[This is a false assumption, of course, because U.S. forces have held themselves back, being fully capable of flattening the rebel town.
For whatever reasons, our commanders thought that winning hearts and minds was more important until recently.
Such is war and at least we have tried to use talks and reasoning to spare Fallujah's innocents and to avoid the slaughter of civilians who would get caught in the crossfire.]

The government has tried to negotiate with representatives from the city's mujahadeen council, a body which claims to represent some insurgent factions, but little headway has been made, and previous talks have ended in failure.

In a further sign of the breakdown of attempts at a negotiated settlement, U.S. marines on Friday detained Falluja's main negotiator and its police chief.
[Good move--if the police chief is working on the side of the enemy, this would explain a lot!
He is just one example of why we were adverse at first, and then reluctant, to use former Baathist soldiers and officers loyal to Saddam; many of these leopards haven't changed their spots and never will, not even for a free Iraq.--J.T.]
[...]

While Allawi appears determined to challenge Falluja to a showdown, there may be divisions in the government about whether an outright assault on the city is the right policy. Iraq's president has called repeated U.S. air strikes on the city in recent weeks "collective punishment" and questioned their use.

[...]
On Friday, a representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, urged negotiation, and said no military assault should take place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began for Sunnis on Friday.

I'm pretty sick and tired of our Islamist enemies trying to beg off every year for "Ramadan," while they'll continue to attack us.
In fact, our soldiers over there call it "Bombadan" because enemy attacks on our troops and civilians usually gets worse during the month-long religious "festival."
It's hard to tell with these al-Reuters reports which skew pro-"insurgents", but I'm still getting the impression that both our forces and Allawi and the Iraqi forces are of 2 minds still, alternating periods of negotiations with those of assaults on Fallujah.
Stay tuned to see what works.
All I know is that in the end, the US and free Iraq will prevail and the Islamofacists will lose.
Of course, today is Friday, the day for the big "whoop-dee-doo" and sermon at all the mosques to whip up the faithful.
Worse, being the Friday at the start of Ramadan, we can suppose that the rhetoric, calls for jihad and the fatwas are extra virulent and rabid:

[...] In a statement read Friday in Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, Fallujah clerics threatened a civil disobedience campaign across the country if the Americans try to overrun the city.

The clerics said if civil disobedience were not enough to stop a U.S. assault, they would proclaim a jihad, or holy war, against all U.S. and multinational forces "as well as those collaborating with them."
[Obviously, this is the edited version the bad guys are giving to their enabler al-Reuters.
I'm pretty sure the jihad was called long ago, aren't you?
So, what can we look forward to?
More car bombs killing Iraqis and Coalition soldiers, more kidnappings of Westerners working in Iraq, more beheadings, right?
Lord have mercy!]

They insisted that the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi was not in Fallujah, claiming his alleged presence "is a lie just like the weapons of mass destruction lie."
[If you ever doubted that the Enemy is paying attention to every single little thing our Media is saying--even all the way over there in Babylon, doubt no more!--Jen]
[...]

Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone - home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership - which killed six people, including three American civilians, and wounded 27 others, mostly Iraqis. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.

The President and Donald Rumsfeld have told us repeatedly and honestly that OIF is and will be a "long, hard slog" and "hard work."
This isn't the first hard work Americans have done by a long shot and God willing, it won't be the last, but we can do this if we are strong and steadfast to stay our course, especially here at home.