Iraqis Hail Falluja 'Victory' as U.S. Changes Tack

[Wetzelbill]

Iraqis Hail Falluja 'Victory' as U.S. Changes Tack

58 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Fadel Badran

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Soldiers of the old Iraqi army led by one of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s generals patrolled Falluja on Saturday, a year after George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished" in ousting the Iraqi regime.


Cries of "victory over the Americans" echoed from minarets and gunmen celebrated in the streets under the green banner of Islam and Saddam-era Iraqi flags. Thousands who had fled a month of heavy fighting streamed back to their homes after U.S. Marines pulled back from their siege positions.


Mired in a confrontation that spilled blood on both sides and outraged Iraqi and Arab opinion, U.S. commanders withdrew to more distant positions on Friday. Security was entrusted to police and a new force of ex-soldiers under General Jasim Mohamed Saleh, formerly of Saddam's feared Republican Guard.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=2&u=/nm/20040501/ts_nm/iraq_dc_419

[FreakinDJ]

1. Them poor disillutioned brown skinned people

just handed Bush a big Ol' Shit burger to chew on

I wonder how he is going to digest this story. Or will he start a New Offensive in some other part of the country in order to obscure this to the back pages of the print media

My guess is any moment now we are going to Terra alert

[bemildred]

3. It's an interesting situation.

The occupation wants these new Iraqi forces to protect our
convoys. Will they? If they don't, then what? So far the
occupation has accomplished none of it's stated objectives,
I mean zero, and my guess is that there is little chance this
will come to pass either.

[FreakinDJ]

5. My guess is the will rush to hand over more to the Iraqis

like letting them drive the trucks and guard the convoy

This will turn it more into a question of civil war. then bush will claim we have to stay to protect them from a civil war in an emerging democracy

We will simply move to divide and conquer the Iraqis as he is doing so excellently here in the United States

[bemildred]

6. Maybe, I'm a bit skeptical that the Iraqis will buy in

in sufficient numbers at this point. If this Iraqi General
gets enough troops and actually gets them to fight against
"insurgents" in a serious way, I might start to believe they
can get some traction with that. Nevertheless, it's a sound
idea in terms of what they might consider to attempt to
salvage the situation (IMHO). They've been talking up the
"civil war" idea for all they are worth for some time.

[aneerkoinos]

9. The general

is Fallujah's own boy - from the ruling trime, and the troops will be also from Fallujah, many will be men who fought against occupation troops. So it will be totally home-guard, only thing the people of Fallujah would accept. To even think they would fight against their tribesmen is ludicrous.

So the reality is US total surrender, this General's Deus ex Machina appearence at eleventh hour served as a last resort escape from inflaming total war and to save some (very little) face for US, when spinned the right way. But if what US is saying, that they expect their troops to go in and out of Fallujah at will is what they really think and seriously want to do istead just normal spin and wishfull thinking, there will be serious problems... some show off patrols in Fallujah may be allowed for the Marines if they ask nicely and go about under protection of Iraqi troops.

It took the former paratroopers several months to accept the reality and come to some sort of arrangement with Fallujah elders to leave the city in peace, Marines came all cocky and full of hubris and had to learn the same thing the hard way: Fallujah is free city, not under occupation rule, and not to be entered without permission from the local people.

[bemildred]

10. Thanks, did not know where he came from.

Otherwise, I think you are right on.

[Kukesa]

2. Someone's Gotta Tell Them.

We won! The war was over a year ago, we captured Saddam, and the world's a safer place. They just don't get it, do they?

Kukesa

[acmavm]

4. So explain to me again why we went into Iraq? To get rid of an 'evil'

regime? Whoops! It's an election year and bush* & Co. can't afford the chaos and murder that is now Iraq. So instead of sticking to their guns, they drop back five and punt. The Iraqis are playing him like a fiddle, and there's not a damn thing he can do about it.

This is sooooo funny, or maybe would be except for the DEATHS OF AMERICAN TROOPS AND IRAQI CIVILIANS. I could just scream. I've seen the pictures of the death, the blown up Iraqi children, the dead lying in the streets. And I imagine 'what if that were my child, my father, my son, my daughter, my mother'? How do they think the Iraqis can ever forgive or forget what we've done.

This is total vidication of how we said that this was an unwinnable situation from day one. How we could not win. My God, how a morally bankrupt bunch of thugs could possibly get this country into this situation and then have the gall to daily tell us how well things are going, how things are getting better, just makes me crazy. What kind of frigging idiots live in this country, where a large percentage can't see that the cost in lives and goodwill around the world has come down to 'new boss, same as the old boss'? Where in the hell did they ever get the idea that it was a good thing to bomb the hell out of a bunch of people just because we could? Why don't they understand that bush* isn't doing anything good here, he's just trying to save his ass because the war is going south, has been exposed for the oil grabbing neo-con wet dream that it was, and now he's just grasping at straws because it's an election year? It's not about what is best for anybody but bush* & Co.

We need to turn this mess over to the UN or NATO, or anybody, who has the best interests of the in mind. Because nothing we say or do, from now until forever, will ever ease the hate and resentment that the Middle Eastern nations feel for our country.

[Ironpost]

8. Maybe

if we were to impeach him, his cabinet and turn them over to the world court, and eat a lot of crow. Maybe that will help, Maybe.

[Wright Patman]

12. Why not turn Iraq

over to Iraqis?

Not everyone's insane. UN and NATO have already turned down the offer. Well, UN was there for a while until their envoy was killed in a bombing. And that was last August when security was thought to be relatively good compared to now.

[IndianaGreen]

7. They are not "Saddam-era Iraqi flags," they are Iraqi flags

Only the colonial Americans and their subservient lapdogs in the Iraqi Governing Council believe in the Israeli-looking Iraqi flag that Bremer wants to use.

Fallujah is our Stalingrad!

[Merlin]

11. Thank God the inevitable finally happened! Thank God we got our ass kicked

The smug, arrogant brutalistic pig headed mentality of the neo-conned US military leaders over there has had it's rotten fucking back broken by the will of the indigenous people.

This fiasco would never have happened if the generation of military leaders who had direct experience in Vietnam had been allowed to spend their final years in charge. But under the soulless ignorance of this administration, they have been systematically replaced by men who are blind to the lessons of the past.

So we must learn history again.

Who was it who asked: "How many soldier's lives does it take to educate a general?"

(I'd better add here that I am a 2-tour Vietnam combat vet who volunteered to serve, and feel I have earned the right to salute an "enemy" when the "enemy" is right and we are wrong.)

[Karenina]

14. Tell 'em da TRUTH, boyfriend.

:toast:

[homelandpunk]

13. The Marines RETREATED.

Even after two more U.S. soldiers were killed during the retreat, and they still ran away.
They handed power over to one of Saddam's generals.
They never even got the Iraqi patriots who lured them into the seige.
<Abba music: Waterloo.....>

[chelsea0011]

15. The Redcoats arrive tomorrow to start patrolling Boston neighborhoods