Fallujah again in the line of US fire

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HI13Ak03.html

FALLUJAH, Iraq - After enduring two major assaults, Fallujah, a key city in the western province al-Anbar, is under threat from US forces again. This coincides with news of a classified US intelligence report that the Pentagon is taking "very seriously" - that US forces are losing control of Anbar.

The report, written by Colonel Pete Devlin, the chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq, and cited in the US media, said a shortage of US and Iraqi troops in Anbar and the collapse of local governments had left a vacuum that had been exploited by al-Qaeda in Iraq. It painted a poor picture of security prospects in Anbar, which includes Fallujah and Ramadi, Sunni resistance strongholds. It said that the US had been defeated politically, if not militarily, in the province.

This confirms an article last week citing Iraqi police and residents (see US military 'loses control' of key Iraqi province, Asia Times Online, September 7 ).

In Fallujah, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, residents are edgy. "They destroyed our city twice and they are threatening us a third time," said Ahmed Dhahy, 52. "They want us to do their job for them and turn in those who target them."

Dhahy, who lost 32 relatives when his father's house was bombed by a US aircraft during the April 2004 attack on Fallujah, said the US military had threatened it would destroy the city if resistance fighters were not handed over to them.

[neoblues]

1. Seems like real estate there ought to sell for a song...

Of course, nobody who could do otherwise, would want to live there these days.

[acmavm]

2. Destroying the city and killing the inhabitants worked so well the first

time the rocket scientists running this mess want to do it again. They must think the third time it'll work.

:sarcasm:

[leftchick]

3. I don't think the US will get away with this again

It just might break the back of the so called government. Many were extremely pissed the last time this happened. God I hope the military shows some restraint for a change. :(

[leftchick]

4. this is an excellent article

no wonder! I is a foreign source.....

<snip>

"The Iraqi resistance has not stopped for a single day despite the huge US Army activities," a city police captain said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The wise men of the city explained to US officials that it is impossible to stop the resistance by military operations, but it seems the Americans prefer to do it the hard way."

The police captain said anti-occupation fighters had increased their activities in the face of sectarian violence in which Shi'ite death squads have killed thousands of Sunnis in Baghdad. Many residents of Fallujah have relatives in the capital city.

Lack of reconstruction and the US military's failure to pay due compensation to victims' families have added to the unrest, the captain said. "There used to be resistance attacks against the US and Iraqi forces in Fallujah daily," said the captain. "But now they have increased to several per day. Many soldiers have been killed and their vehicles destroyed. So it is clear that the security measures they have taken in Fallujah have failed."

<snip>

"There is a long list of collective punishments that have turned the city into a frightful detention camp," he said.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. We'd better watch it, or we won't have enough stuff left over

if we decide to throw another war for someone somewhere.