Marines new strategy in Fallujah fraught with questions

[JoFerret]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8580696.htm

Somewhere on this base packed with enough firepower to flatten nearby Fallujah, the Marines have stashed thousands of Frisbees and soccer balls.

They might seem frivolous, after weeks of the worst bloodshed since U.S. forces entered Iraq. Yet these nearly forgotten gifts for the people of Fallujah symbolize the failure of the Marines so far to achieve their mission of rebuilding the country and helping to pave the way for democracy after arriving in this area in mid-March. And the prospects for success are as uncertain as ever.

In their bid to win over the Sunni Triangle city that has violently spurned U.S. efforts for nearly a year, the Marines have had to shift strategies three times.

First they tried fruitlessly to court the Fallujans, with everything from Frisbees to tens of millions of dollars in rebuilding projects. Then they drove into the city, to the brink of bloody, house-to-house urban combat. Now they are forging alliances with the soldiers they faced when storming Iraq a year ago - the Iraqi Army of Saddam Hussein.

....

But it's a highly risky strategy that has left the traditionally self-reliant Marines at the mercy of three outside forces:

_American policy-makers....

_Their new, untested allies in the Iraqi Army....

_The insurgents....

<more>

[Fridays Child]

1. Our brave fighting men and women have not been so completely...

...objectified, so reduced to mere ciphers, so thoroughly disrespected by their leaders, since the Vietnam War. :grr:

[Disturbed]

2. Kill 'em with kindness.

" Frisbees and soccer balls.

The troops should have disbursed these and food instead of death... ya think?

[grytpype]

3. Hi. We were killing you yesterday, but now we're your friends.

Want a frisbee?

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FlemingsGhost]

5. 7 posts? You "peaked" too early. Happens a lot, huh?

I pity you, friend.
The misery for you and your ilk is just beginning.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Got a link? Please post it before you retire.

[hang a left]

7. I hate the way this is blaming everything on the Marines.

"symbolize the failure of the Marines so far to achieve their mission of rebuilding the country and helping to pave the way for democracy "


That is such bullcrap. They are just as much victims as the Iraqis.

[aneerkoinos]

13. Such bullcrap

So these Marines, who "are just as much victims as Iraqis", have had their children, spouses, parents, friends and relatives killed and maimed and prisoned and tortured and their belongings destroyed by bloodthirsty occupation troops trying to steal their country?

[FlemingsGhost]

14. Americans are addicted to victimhood.

It's so much easier than looking in the mirror. Someone else is always to blame...

[drfemoe]

8. The General in Charge of Iraqi Force Is Replaced

By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: May 4, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 3 — American military commanders said Monday that they had selected a new commander for the Iraqi security force in Falluja, dropping a general who had been accused of involvement in widespread repression under Saddam Hussein.

The American commanders said they had chosen Muhammad Latif, a former intelligence officer, to lead the Iraqi security force. Unlike the man he is replacing, Jasim Muhammad Saleh, Mr. Latif appears to have been regarded as an opponent of Mr. Hussein.
...
There were indications Monday that the violence in Iraq would intensify, much as American officials predicted it would as they prepared to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqi people on June 30. On Monday morning, a Baghdad neighborhood was papered with leaflets warning people to stay off the main road to Baghdad International Airport, which is heavily traveled by American soldiers and civilians.

By Monday evening, heavy fighting had broken out near the airport between American soldiers and guerrillas, with the Americans calling in heavy artillery, which could be heard from miles away. The road to the airport was closed, at least temporarily.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/international/middleeast/04IRAQ.html
***
It just gets worse ...

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. Odd...Reuters says Saleh stepped down

"After outrage among victims of the Baathist regime at their appointment of a former general in his feared Republican Guard, U.S. commanders have now turned to another ex-general, Mohammed Latif, to take overall command of the Falluja Brigade.

His predecessor, General Mohamed Jasim Saleh, told Reuters he was stepping aside after four days in the job."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5015892&src=eDialog/GetContent§ion=news

I just can't keep up with the spin anymore. :/

[ColdWarZoomie]

10. Military Terms Most Apropos

"I just can't keep up with the spin anymore. :/"

It's called a Class-A Cluster-F*ck. FUBAR and SNAFU fit, too.

FIGMO!

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. FIGMO?

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Aidoneus]

11. WHAT strategy?

they tried mass murder, bluster, lies, bombs and bulldozers, massacres ...now soccer balls & frisbees?

How in the bloody hell did we come to rule the world? I just can't see it.

I would dispute the blindly accepted and for some reason unchallenged premise that the Marines are there to "rebuild Iraq". Judging by their actions, the idea is geared rather towards destruction.