November 15, 2004

Let the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Barham Salih tell you why Fallujah had to be re-taken by Iraqi and Coalition troops, even if it meant that more people would die and that violence had to be used:
I wish there had been another way

No one who lived through the horrors of Saddam's regime, from whose ruins the new Iraq is emerging, will ever forget them. It is one of the reasons that the elections to be held in Iraq in January - the first time most Iraqis will have had the chance of a meaningful vote - have such wide support in the country.

The very notion of a free and fair vote for ordinary citizens was an abomination to Saddam. He and his cronies tortured and murdered their fellow Iraqis if they so much as hinted at dissent. These elections, in which the Iraqi people will decide not just who will govern them but how they are governed, show the country is emerging from this nightmare. They should be supported by all who wish Iraq well. What do those who claim to have the best interests of Iraq at heart fear from elections?

Iraqis are striving to construct a society where freedom of choice, the democratic process and the rule of law are paramount. They want, as they continually tell me and my colleagues in the Iraqi interim government, freedom, peace and stability for their children. No one should be able to deny them this dream. But a small minority of Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists who have nothing to offer but violence are trying to do just that. They exist in various parts of Iraq, but their base has been Falluja for some time.

From this city, they have terrorised the local population and spread murder across the country. They have blown up women and children and executed in cold blood fellow Iraqis trying to end the lawlessness in our country. No civilised person can stand by and allow this to continue. No civilised person should support those behind this campaign of murder.

The people of Falluja do not support these men of violence. They want rid of them and have been pleading for the interim government to free them. It would have been better for everyone if this could have been done peacefully. So for many months, the prime minister, Ayad Allawi, and my colleagues in the interim government have made repeated efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

We have stopped at nothing to persuade the terrorists and insurgents to lay down their arms, stop hurting innocent Iraqis and spare the city from further military action. We have continually said that the political process remains open to those who renounce violence. It still does.

The terrorists and insurgents have refused our advances, preferring instead to continue fighting. Finally the interim government had no other option than to take this action to liberate the people of Falluja from these murderers and protect the people of Iraq from further atrocities. I wish there had been another way.

But we need to resolve the situation and quickly. The real aim of these terrorists, as well as causing as much destruction as possible, is to derail the national elections planned for January. They know the more successful these elections are, the less space there will be for their nihilistic brand of violence.

Given the current security climate, holding free and fair elections on time poses a huge challenge. But delaying the elections would pose a greater danger to the country's future.

By the end of January, Iraqis should have had the chance to elect a national assembly, 18 provincial governors, and the Kurdistan national assembly. The country's ethnic and religious diversity will for the first time in Iraq's troubled history be properly reflected in its political institutions.

These elections will show that the entire Iraqi population, minus the small group of violent people, want a better future. They will demonstrate that we want, as people throughout the world do, a choice in how our country is run, and who runs it.

Terrorists and extremists will not let up in their campaign to derail the political process in Iraq. Motivated by hatred and tyranny, they cannot tolerate Iraq's transformation towards a federal democracy. But we in the interim government cannot tolerate their violent contempt of basic human rights and their attempts to destroy Iraq.

We also expect the international community to actively support Iraqis in this battle against terrorism and extremism.
[This means you, too, France and Germany!--Jen] We have to be realistic and accept that the resolution of the situation in Falluja will not eradicate the plague of terrorism in Iraq, but it will deny terrorists the command centre and refuge they have enjoyed for so many months. It is also hoped that restoration of the rule of law to Falluja will pave the way for improved security and allow full participation in the elections by a larger section of the Sunni Arab community who live there.

Iraq has the chance of a new, better future. It will require a great deal of courage, hard work and dedication to help bring it about. But because this future is what the Iraqi people are determined to grasp, no matter what the sacrifice, it will happen.

The ultimate irony is that this appears in the ultra "peacenik" Guardian, but to their credit, they did publish it and it even gives credit to both Britain's and America's participation in liberating Iraq from Saddam in the first place and their joint effort, along with the rest of the Coalition, to bring the blessings of Liberty to Iraq.
And if you don't believe Mr. Salih, I hope you know our Iraqi blogger friends over at Iraq the Model;
Sunday was the first blog-iversary for Omar, Ali and Mohammed who celebrate living in the newly freed Iraq every day, so hop over there and wish them all the best for them, their blog and the future of their country!
These fine men have given us a terrific picture of what it's like to actually be a citizen in a Saddam-less and newly liberated Iraq even when it's "occupied" by our soldiers.
It was a completely different image than the one we were getting from the Lame Stream Media and one that I felt was far more accurate, truthful and agenda-free.
I considered it a great gift to "hear" these Iraqi voices at a time when my country was waging war in their backyard against their oppressors--they were grateful, overjoyed and totally free for the first time in their lives.
I'm sure they'd echo what Deputy PM Salih said, "I wish there'd been another way." but there wasn't.
But also like him, they know their sacrifices were worth it and that Iraq's emergence as a democracy will happen.
God (or Allah, if you prefer) bless you all!
Long live Free Iraq and free Iraqis!

ABC News: Condoleezza Rice to Be Named Secretary of State
I am so thrilled and delighted about this!
It's time for a brilliant black WOMAN to hold this job and wield all that power!
Our Islamist enemies call her the "dark lady" and Ariel Sharon has trouble with her being in the room because he can't stop looking at her legs, but all in all, I'd say this is a fabulous appointment.
Kudos, President Bush.
And Condi, you so GO, girlfriend!

General Praises Speed of Fallujah Success

In April, 2,000 Marines fought for three weeks and failed to take Fallujah from its insurgent defenders. This time, war planners sent six times the troops, who fought their way across the rebel city in just six days - far more quickly than expected, the Marine general who designed the ground attack said Sunday.

A military statement Sunday said that 38 U.S. troops had been killed and 275 were wounded so far in the operation. There is still no estimate of civilians killed or wounded in the assault.

Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski told The Associated Press he and other planners took lessons from the failed three-week U.S. assault on the city in April, which was called off by the Bush administration after a worldwide outcry over civilian deaths.
[...thanks to the enemy's enabling pals in the Left-wing media.
This must not happen again in this war and I fear that once is already too many times and that the precedent of weakness has been set!--Jen]

his time the military used swarms of aircraft - more than 20 types - that pounded the city before and during the assault.

"We had the green light this time and we went all the way," Natonski said.
[Sad to say, but it took President Bush's healthy reelection victory, most likely, for them to get this green light.--J.T.]

Troops also faked attacks before the assault to confuse enemy fighters.
[Psy ops can be as powerful a weapon as guns and bombs!--Jen]

"Maybe we learned from April," Natonski said. "We learned we can't do it piecemeal. When we go in, we go all the way through."

Privately, U.S. military officials say April's assault was botched by the Bush administration
[Grrrrr. The Ass. Press never stops on the Bush bashing!
Are they implying that orders were coming from the White House or Rummy or what?
Or are they blaming the generals who were appointed by Bush's Administration?
Or both?
The reality is probably that it's neither and that temporary Iraqi government persuaded us to stop to try peace talks one or more times.]
which forced the Marines to attack with insufficient forces on just a week's notice and then called off the assault before the city was taken.

For the latest assault, commanders had time to plan. Also, the Iraqi and U.S. governments were determined to wipe out the insurgent nest.the Iraqi troops, who melted away in April, stood their ground.
[Yea, Iraqis!
Thank you for your help in securing the future of your own country.]

Even the worldwide outcry was muted this time, by revulsion at an insurgency blamed for grisly beheadings of hostages.

Natonski described the first six days of ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."

As quick as the assault was, perhaps thousands were killed and maimed, most of them Iraqi defenders. Natonski put the toll of guerrillas killed at more than 1,200.
[And yes, the AP is still calling them "guerrillas" and "insurgents."
Sigh.]

On Sunday, Marines and Army troops still battled pockets of hardcore defenders scattered inside the Sunni Muslim stronghold. Behind U.S. forces, Iraqi troops were engaged in the painstaking task of clearing weapons and fighters from every room of each of Fallujah's 50,000 buildings.

Bands of rebels were still roving neighborhoods crushed by tons of U.S. bombs and shells. The holdouts are harried by U.S. forces who occupy - but have yet to subdue - the entire city.

"There are groups numbering from five to 30," Natonski said. "They're trying to get behind us."

Military officials said it would take days to finish the fight.

As troops uproot the insurgents, contractors are supposed to swarm into Fallujah in coming weeks to cart away rubble, repair buildings, and fix the city's water, sewer and electricity systems.
[We're observing John Kerry's favorite "Pottery Barn rule:" We break it, we fix it."]

The Iraqi government has already picked leaders for Fallujah, and thousands of Iraqi police and paramilitary forces have been recruited to try to impose order - critical to the U.S. goal of setting conditions for elections in Fallujah and the rest of Anbar province.

To prevent the insurgents' return, Iraqi forces will halt all traffic flowing in and out of the city - once roads reopen - checking IDs and looking for suspects, Natonski said.

U.S. and Iraqi leaders have long vowed to deal with Fallujah, which in May became a virtual independent rebel city-state and nationwide model for rebellion. One event in August crystallized their resolve.

Back then, an Iraqi National Guard commander acting as a liaison between Fallujah and the U.S. military, Lt. Col. Sulaiman Hamad Ftikan, was beaten to death by mujahedeen inside the city.

"That's when we realized Fallujah was the bright ember in the ash pit of the insurgency, and we needed to douse it," said Lt. Col. Dan Wilson, a planner with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

Battle planning began in September, with Natonski given responsibility for the combat phase, Wilson said.

Hundreds of other U.S. military and civilian planners designed the overall effort, which is intended to mimic the ongoing post-siege rebuilding under way in Najaf, Wilson said.

Several pre-assault tactics made the battle easier than expected, Natonski said.

Insurgent defenses were weakened by bombing raids on command posts and safe houses. And in the days before the raid, ground troops feinted invasions, charging right up to the edge of Fallujah in tanks and armored vehicles.

Natonski said these fake attacks forced the insurgents to build up forces in the south and east, perhaps diverting defenders from the north, where six battalions of Army and Marine troops finally punched into the city Monday.

The deceptive maneuvers also drew fire from defenders' bunkers, which were exposed and relentlessly bombed before the ground assault.

"We desensitized the enemy to the formations they saw on the night we attacked," Natonski said.

Another key tactic was choking off the city, the responsibility of the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, Natonski said.

That move prevented insurgents from slipping out of the city during the assault, although many, including top leaders like Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar al-Hadid, are thought to have fled.

"We never expected them to be there," Natonski said. "We're not after Zarqawi. We're after insurgents in general."

We'll get Zarqawi and his killer friends soon enough.
Right now, I'm delighting in this victory and the fact that we've taken at least 1,200 bad guys out of action with our strategery, bravery and courage!
The "flypaper" theory (where Fallujah is the flypaper) of gathering all the evildoers in one place to be dealt with is working out well.
Good fighting, GIs--we are proud of you and sleep a little more soundly here at home knowing that there are far fewer jihadis in the world in the world that might harm us than when you started the assault last week!
And may God rest those who fell in battle and may He bring healing to the wounded.
Freedom isn't free for Americans or Iraqis or for anyone else and I can only offer a simple and heartfelt "thank you" for your tremendous sacrifices.

November 14, 2004

Osama given OK to nuke Yanks: expert

Osama Bin Laden has been granted religious approval to use a nuclear bomb against Americans, according to the CIA's former top Al Qaeda expert.

The former official, Michael Scheuer, tells CBS' "60 Minutes" on tomorrow's broadcast that Bin Laden was given written authority by a Saudi sheik.
[...]
Scheuer, who resigned yesterday, was the head of the CIA unit charged with tracking Bin Laden from 1996 to 1999, and the previously anonymous author of two books critical of the West's response to Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He's been tracking Bin Laden since the mid-1980s.

Scheuer tells "60 Minutes" that American leaders have made a mistake by characterizing Bin Laden as "a thug, a gangster" rather than a disciplined plotter of destruction.
[President Bush has always taken the threat from Bin Laden seriously; it's only Democrats like John Kerry and Bill Clinton who characterized him as a common criminal and wanted to prosecute him in court as such!--Jen]

"Until we respect him, sir, we are going to die in numbers that are probably unnecessary," he says. The Al Qaeda mastermind was involved in the original planning for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He also charged that former CIA Director George Tenet failed to provide the agency's Bin Laden unit with sufficient manpower.
[Coulda, shoulda, woulda: typical loser's cry.
I'm sure that Tenet did the best he could given the constraints by Congress he was working under.
But this Scheuer is doing our war effort no favors by dissing the Company by telling tales out of school.--J.T.]

In the interview, Scheuer says that even if Bin Laden had a nuclear weapon, he probably would not have used it before without the authority of the sheik.

What a crock!
"60 Minutes" will put anyone on TV as long as they make the Bush Administration look bad...and will hearten our enemy while we're at war!
Do you really think Osama was waiting for this "blessing?"
Have any of these thugs ever held back on killing "infidels" because they were waiting for such a blessing or an official fatwa from their favorite holy man?
I don't think so!
Turn off, CBS, America and be glad that this dreadful man has been forced out of the CIA!
I hope new CIA Director Porter Goss is doing a good housecleaning--if Scheuer was our "top" Al Queda guy there, we may have been in more trouble than we knew.