The attack on Samarra - a Fallujah in replay?

[mogster]

First Fallujah, now Samarra, do they get the same treatment?

The task force is comprised of 1500 troops and ground equipment.
In addition to the troops, the task force was to have 50 coalition planes to their disposal.

Here's from then:

"U.S. and Iraqi Troops Push Into Fallujah
Insurgents Dig In; Armored Vehicles Scale Dirt Barriers

By Jackie Spinner and Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 9, 2004; Page A01

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 8 -- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops pushed into the insurgent-held city of Fallujah just after sunset Monday in the largest military operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion last year.

U.S. Marine and Army units entered Fallujah from the north, their armored vehicles crawling over huge dirt mounds that insurgents built around the city. Fighters could be seen digging positions as the U.S. forces moved forward

Since a siege of the city of 300,000 people by U.S. Marines was called off in April, insurgents have controlled it. Located in the Sunni Triangle area west of Baghdad, Fallujah has been described by U.S. and Iraqi officials as a hub for the campaign of violence aimed at destabilizing Iraq's interim government and driving foreign military forces from the country.
(...)
The Iraqis will also be responsible for engaging insurgents around mosques and other sensitive sites, the military said. Witnesses said U.S. fighter jets bombed three mosques in Fallujah on Monday. Military commanders said insurgents had been seen moving weapons into the mosques in recent days."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33546-2004Nov8.html

Here's now:

"US launches major Iraq air attack

The US military says it has launched its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, targeting insurgents near the central city of Samarra.
More than 50 aircraft and 1,500 Iraqi and US troops have been deployed in the operation, a military statement says.

A bomb attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, last month sparked widespread sectarian violence.
(...)
The US military said the assault, dubbed Operation Swarmer, was intended to "clear a suspected insurgent operating area" north-east of Samarra."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4814094.stm

'Sectarian violence' Sectarian - it's a brand new word used in this conflict, isn't it? I have heard it used here at home as well.
Does it imply that the 'enemy' has changed nature and now comprises of different groups than the original 'insurgents' (aka. terrorists)?

The BBC-article also touches upon even more worrying prospects:

"The operation coincides with the US announcement of a new national security strategy - in which it restates a policy of pre-emptive strikes first issued in 2002 and criticised since the Iraq war - and the first session of Iraq's new parliament."

A new national security strategy announced that asserts the policy of pre-emptive strikes first announced in 2002.

I hope someone is keeping an eye on southern Iraq and the border against Iran amidst all the hubbub concerning the Samarra attack.

[Sabriel]

1. I wish certain top-level officials...

...would make their "Appointment in Samarra."

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. The only people left in that place by the time they got around to

dropping bombs were elderly, poor, children & sick. Count on it.