Monday, November 08, 2004
Fallujah Invasion Commences
"We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
(Thanks for the headline, Steve)
Well, this is the big one. At least this time, the Marines are going in backed up by the 1st Cavalry's Bradleys and Abrams tanks. In April, they were sent in without armor, which is why casualties were so high. Apparently Rumsfeld was convinced that the insurgency would end with the capture of Saddam Hussein, and send all but 70 tanks back to their bases is the US, Germany etc. for maintenance or whatever. I don't have time to look for the article today, this never became an issue for some reason, but this error was why casualties were so high in April. Look for a less disastrous operation this time, but still I think the political negatives for the US may be higher than the military positives of assault. Sadr is encouraging Iraqi National Guard troops to desert rather than fight, and apparently many have done so, with one brigade shrinking from 550 to 174 guys overnight. I just read this a couple hours ago, again I don't have time to hunt for the link. Bad news seems to just disappear down the memory hole and vanish these days . . .
Update: this is the report I saw:
"We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
(Thanks for the headline, Steve)
Well, this is the big one. At least this time, the Marines are going in backed up by the 1st Cavalry's Bradleys and Abrams tanks. In April, they were sent in without armor, which is why casualties were so high. Apparently Rumsfeld was convinced that the insurgency would end with the capture of Saddam Hussein, and send all but 70 tanks back to their bases is the US, Germany etc. for maintenance or whatever. I don't have time to look for the article today, this never became an issue for some reason, but this error was why casualties were so high in April. Look for a less disastrous operation this time, but still I think the political negatives for the US may be higher than the military positives of assault. Sadr is encouraging Iraqi National Guard troops to desert rather than fight, and apparently many have done so, with one brigade shrinking from 550 to 174 guys overnight. I just read this a couple hours ago, again I don't have time to hunt for the link. Bad news seems to just disappear down the memory hole and vanish these days . . .
Update: this is the report I saw:
Another issue is the role of Iraqi forces fighting alongside the Americans.
A National Public Radio correspondent embedded with the Marines outside Fallujah
reported desertions among the Iraqis — with 255 members of a 500-man Iraqi
battalion quitting over the weekend, the correspondent said.
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