Fallujah Brigade tries U.S. patience

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20040614/ts_usatoday/fallujahbrigadetriesuspatience&cid=676&ncid=1480

<snip>
This was a noble experiment that may not work out," Col. Larry Brown, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's operations officer, said this weekend. "The brigade has not performed as well as we had hoped."


His comments were the strongest indication from the U.S. military that the effort to contain the insurgency by depending on the Fallujah Brigade was failing. It also was a sign that the model - turning to former Iraqi military including those who served Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) - would not solve security problems after the U.S.-led coalition hands sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.


The Fallujah Brigade was established to end three weeks of combat in April that killed 600 to 700 insurgents and 10 Marines. The Marines withdrew to the outskirts of Fallujah after Sunni members of the now-disbanded Iraqi Governing Council objected to the bloodshed. Led by former members of Saddam's military and made up largely of insurgents who had been fighting the Marines, the brigade was supposed to bring peace to the city and meet several demands.


Speaking at a U.S. base near Fallujah, Brown said attacks on Marines have dropped off since they pulled out of the city. But, he added, most of the key demands have not been met.

[Aidoneus]

1. "attacks on Marines have dropped off since they pulled out of the city"

Gee, how could that insane formula POSSIBLY be true? No invaders nearby to shoot, no invaders get shot.. who'da ever thunk of that?! Maybe that little bit of craziness should spread. The results might be more interesting than, I don't know, bombing the fuck out of everybody and filing soccer stadiums with new mass graves for the martyred..

...combat in April that killed 600 to 700 insurgents and 10 Marines...

Far more than 10 Marines, and it has been established that most of those massacred in al-Fallujah in the specified assault were non-combatants. I guess it being USA Today, so what more can be expected than such basic level sloppyness and dishonesty? Oh well. Interesting article, thanks leftchick. The notion that it is somehow surprising that turning the city over to the resistance HASN'T seen them meld into a thinly veiled US puppet is astounding in itself.

[anarchy1999]

2. 600 to 700 "insurgents"? Let us try around at least 500 civilians

at the very least! F Yahoo. This is so extreme. Go to www.empirenotes.org and see what a journalist has to say about the death and destruction in Fallujah. Go to google and enter in Fallujah and see what has been happening in that town since last April. I know what side I would be on if I had been in the protest a year ago to ask the GI's to leave the childrens school and had been shot upon and had a relative die. I know what side I would be on if my husband had been one of the policeman killed "accidentally" in June of 2003. I know which side I would be on if I were still living there and 22 relatives had been wiped out in a bomb on a house that was another "mistake". Where would you be. Imagine it happening here to you in your town, in the US, how would you feel?. China and Russia have invaded from the South to replace our dangerous regime? What would you do if you were occupied and your friends and family were being killed left and right?

Sorry for the rant, I got a little carried away.......

We just won't even bring up how you would feel when you heard your dearest, sweet cousin had been raped and committed suicide in "the prison".

[leftchick]

3. I am reading a very good article in Harpers about "insurgents"...

in Fallujah. Fascinating article with very moving photos. There is a particulary sad photo of the soccer field cemetary. I can't post a link because it is not on-line that I am aware of. Scott Ritter has a piece in there as well about the bogus US POW at the start of the war. It is certainly worth a trip to find the magazine at a news stand! :)

[Disturbed]

4. "killed 600 to 700 insurgents"

The have a lot of freakin' nerve calling themselves journalists. They are in compoliciticy with NeoFascist progandandists. For the most part, the Media in America is disgracefuly pandering to the Right Wing misrepresentation machine.

[leftchick]

5. The Harpers article calls them Iraqi Resistance fighters....

Eventually I think the mainstream American media will have to admit there is a revolution going on to oust the occupiers. It grows stronger daily.

[louis c]

6. Check list of Demands

If I remember correctly, the residents of Fallujah were to turn in those responsible for killing and mutilating the four American "contractors". Next, they were to turn in all their "heavy" weapons. Finally, they were to turn over to coalition forces all the foreign "terrorists". Since none of our demands were ever met, the coalition withdrawal from Fallujah should be called exactly what it is, "surrender".

[Spazito]

7. No doubt about it, Fallujah has been surrendered...

the last two paragraphs of the article confirm it:

Brown said despite the apparent failure of the Fallujah Brigade to end the insurgency, a new U.S. offensive in the city was unlikely. The fighting in April was believed to have contributed to Iraqi disaffection with the U.S.-led occupation. Brown said the interim Iraqi government "will have to decide what they want to do about Fallujah and the Fallujah Brigade."


Brown said religious fanatics, disenfranchised tribal leaders, former members of Saddam's Baath Party, criminals, foreign terrorists and people disaffected by the fighting are vying to dominate the city. "The thing that unites them is they want us out," he said.

[Beetwasher]

9. Falujah is Now Insurgency Central

And we handed it right to them...

[Beetwasher]

8. Front Page Of US Today

This story is on the front page today of the printer version...

[mbperrin]

10. Gosh, I cannot believe that Iraqnamization

didn't work out! It worked so well in Viet.....never mind!

Idiots! Idiots! Idiots!