Failure In Fallujah
In terms of the primary objective of Operation Phantom Fury - destroying or substantially impairing the insurgency - we are again failing to effectively engage the insurgency. Provided with ample opportunity to prepare, courtesy of Bush's policy of trumpeting action in Fallujah pre-election but delaying the body bags until after, the insurgency was able to booby-trap Fallujah and establish escape routes. It is apparent that we will again take territory, in the process incurring heavy casualties due to IEDs and boobytraps, but do nothing to degrade the ability of the insurgents to return in force once we leave. And if we don't leave Fallujah, the insurgents will merely occupy whatever territory we vacated in order to take Fallujah.
In terms of the secondary objective of Operation Phantom Fury - improving prospects for January elections in Iraq - the operation is already officially a failure. The Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni party in the Iraqi government, has withdrawn from Allawi's government. Iraq's pre-eminent association of Sunni clerics has called for a Sunni boycott of the upcoming election. President Ghazi al-Yawir is vehemently opposed to the Fallujah action, likening it to "shooting horses to kill horseflies." If, as appears likely, Sunnis organize a functional boycott, the legitimacy of the election will be fatally undermined.
There are no significant reports of killed or captured insurgents. Past experience with Pentagon casualty figures indicates that any dead Iraqi is deemed an insurgent, and therefore official Pentagon Kill Counts should be heavily discounted in assessing damage to the insurgency.
We are not killing or capturing insurgents in numbers large enough to materially impair the insurgency. We are rapidly losing Iraqi hearts and minds. There is now no possibility of nationwide elections in Iraq in January, and the prospect of elections anytime in the foreseeable future that enjoy popular support and participation is rapidly receding.
How and when do we get out of Iraq? How many lives are we willing to expend just to save face?
posted by Gator Guy at 9:02 AM
1 Comments:
goldstein / eotp - the usa is never ever going to leave IraqNamStan unless a China / Russia / India force kicks them out - the amerikans are constructing fourteen ( 14 ) bases throughout INS ( IraqNamStan ) - all 14 convienently located over or near an OIL field ( did i happen to mention that INS sits atop the world's second largest known OIL reserves ? ) the usa wants that OIL, has shown itself willing to basically f*cking flat out lie in order to illegally invade and occupy INS. the OIL stealing amerikans will ( and are currently doing a splendid job of it ) kill every single living Iraqi in order to get that gd OIL. has anybody, anybody, on this planet stepped up to stop the amerikans from stealing the OIL and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis ? none that i can see from here. note also China needs OIL in a bad way, and is signing deals all over the planet - i particularly liked the one that the Red Chinese signed a week or so ago with Iran - have been looking to see if that agreement includes any verbage that China will come to Iran's aid if attacked - but have not seen anything of the sort - but if usa / israel threatens China's OIL supply, what do you think will happen ?
on a side note, Halliburton is trying to siphon Great Lakes water and have it bottled in Bay City Michigan to be sent to IraqNamStan, as, get this, the water plants were either blowed up by the amerikanos in 1991, or in 2003, or by the subsequent freedom fighter / patriot suppression portion of the current OIL grab, and thus, the country is short on potable water - who knew ??
Post a Comment
<< Home