"The horror. The horror."
The horrific events of the past two days in Fallujah is forcing U.S. commanders to accept a new reality as well, according to John Burns:
"Nearly a year into the insurgency, the command, in lock step with the civilian administration headed by L. Paul Bremer III, remains relentlessly positive.
"But along with the publicly expressed confidence, there are hints that American generals are not as sure as they were only weeks ago that they have turned a corner in the conflict. Nor do the scenes from Falluja on Wednesday — Iraqis mutilating American bodies, and crowds cheering at the sight — appear to fit the theory put forward by the American military that Islamic militants, including foreigners, rather than Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein, are increasingly behind terrorist attacks. Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been the volatile center of support for the toppled dictator, and a bellwether of the wider war."
Long, hard slog, indeed. Juan Coles thinks the private security guards whose bodies were mutilated were special forces. Based on the military's reaction, he may very well be right.
And not surprisingly, the same voices from the right who thought Iraqis would throw rose petals at the troops' feet and ridiculed doubters by saying how can we not support freedom for the long suffering Iraqi people, now want to, in the words of Conrad's Colonel Kurz, "exterminate the brutes."
Atrios and Billmon expose the predictable stupidity.
"Nearly a year into the insurgency, the command, in lock step with the civilian administration headed by L. Paul Bremer III, remains relentlessly positive.
"But along with the publicly expressed confidence, there are hints that American generals are not as sure as they were only weeks ago that they have turned a corner in the conflict. Nor do the scenes from Falluja on Wednesday — Iraqis mutilating American bodies, and crowds cheering at the sight — appear to fit the theory put forward by the American military that Islamic militants, including foreigners, rather than Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein, are increasingly behind terrorist attacks. Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been the volatile center of support for the toppled dictator, and a bellwether of the wider war."
Long, hard slog, indeed. Juan Coles thinks the private security guards whose bodies were mutilated were special forces. Based on the military's reaction, he may very well be right.
And not surprisingly, the same voices from the right who thought Iraqis would throw rose petals at the troops' feet and ridiculed doubters by saying how can we not support freedom for the long suffering Iraqi people, now want to, in the words of Conrad's Colonel Kurz, "exterminate the brutes."
Atrios and Billmon expose the predictable stupidity.
posted by John at 1:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home