Iraq's Terrorist Haven

[SomthingsGotaGive]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6940-2004Sep8.html

Thursday, September 9, 2004; Page A26


PRESIDENT BUSH boasted again yesterday that his administration is "on the offensive" against terrorism and is "chasing down these killers overseas so we don't have to face them here at home." At the Republican convention last week, he said his plan for Iraq was to "help new leaders . . . move toward elections and get on the path of stability and democracy as quickly as possible." Yet on the ground in Iraq stands a glaring contradiction to those statements: the Sunni cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra, where the United States has withdrawn its forces, allowing extremist movements and foreign terrorists to take over. These strongholds now pose a serious threat to U.S. forces, to Iraq's interim government and to the plan to hold national elections in January. Yet even as it contends with Shiite militants in southern Iraq and the slums of Baghdad, the U.S. military leadership has announced that it cannot eliminate these sanctuaries for Baathists and suicide bombers before December.

Is it only a coincidence that the Pentagon's timetable postpones a difficult and potentially costly showdown until after the U.S. presidential election? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argued at a news conference Tuesday that time is needed to lay the political and mili- tary groundwork. Iraqi forces, they say, are needed for any operation against the Sunni cities and would have to keep order afterward. Those national forces, they say, are not yet ready, even though the United States has been working to equip and train them for more than a year. The Iraqi government is meanwhile attempting to isolate the extremists politically: Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has been meeting with tribal leaders from Fallujah. U.S. forces are attempting to pressure the militants from a distance, through bombing strikes and artillery barrages.

more

[Kagemusha]

1. The 2nd half calls for the summary crushing of these cities

with whatever it takes.

I was rather sickened reading it, actually

[SomthingsGotaGive]

2. I was sickened by the whole thing

The big bombs will start dropping Nov3.

This is all a set up.