Chickens–home–roost (Part 2)

After three days of fighting in Fallujah, AP reports that a Marine Lt.-Col. from the nearby military camp estimated that the Marines “now control 25 percent of Fallujah”.
That, after actions that included damaging two mosques:

    The Abdel-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque was hit by U.S. aircraft that launched a Hellfire missile at its minaret and dropped a 500-pound bomb on a wall surrounding the compound…
    During fighting elsewhere in Fallujah, U.S. forces seized a second place of prayer, the al-Muadidi mosque. A Marine climbed the minaret and fired on guerrilla gunmen, witnesses said. Insurgents fired back, hitting the minaret with rocket-propelled grenades and causing it to partially collapse, the AP reporter said.

The U.S. commanders’ decision to launch such a highly escalatory operation against Fallujah should come under strong scrutiny at home. Okay, many people in Fallujah (but actually, only a tiny proportion of the city’s people) took part in the gleeful desecration of the corpses of those killed U.S. “contract personnel” (i.e., mercenaries). It was tragic, it was inhumane, but stuff like that happens in war.
And anyway, those contractors were not part of a military chain of command. What the heck were they even doing going as fully armed foreign civilians into downtown Fallujah– a place where up to that point few military patrols ever wandered?? What kind of reckless craziness is that?


But then, after they did meet their tragic end, why should the U.S. forces use that as a reason to start blowing the bejeezus out of much of Fallujah in an ill-considered attempt to “pacify” the whole city?
Why should so many Iraqis and US soldiers have to die because of the recklessness of those contractors? I just, truly, don’t get it. And then, to escalate the tensions with Moqtada al-Sadr at the same time by detaining his aide and publicizing the fact of his arrest warrant…
I have no idea who is making so many, extremely reckless decisions on the U.S. side there. Maybe they’re coming from Rumsfeld himself, in resumed pursuit of the effects of “Shock and Awe”??? But whoever it is making these decisions, I just hope that he/they can be tamed and brought back to some kind of rational behavior before thousands more people–Iraqis and U.S. soldiers– get killed.
… Elsewhere in Iraq, of course, things were also going downhill badly for the “Coalition”. The Ukrainians evacuated Kut al-Amarah. Japan’s top government spokesman, Yasuo Fukuda, urged the United Nations to intervene “at an early stage” to stop the violence. Even Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the quasi-puppet “Iraqi Governing Council” criticized his U.S. paymasters for using too much force.
Swish, swish: chickens coming home to roost.

10 thoughts on “Chickens–home–roost (Part 2)”

  2. This is the point I was attempting to make in the previous post, but the proper words eluded me. I think this administration, and (to a lesser degree) those before it, have an unmanageable institutional pride. They are carrying out a revenge operation in Fallujah which is tactically and strategically, they worst possible idea. I would venture to say that, in the past, this was rare for American military personnel because they are much too professional to allow such idiocy. But in the era we are living now, the leaders of our nation do not care what is strategically important.
    Time was when it was held in atrocious taste for a head of state to visit another country and give a speech tailored not for his host, but his electorate. The Bush Administration never does anything else. This is a battle engineered entirely for domestic comsumption. The Iraqis are conscripted actors.

  3. Helena, the same expression came to my mind as I began to watch the security situation begin to unravel in Iraq: “Chickens are coming home to roost.” You’ve also stated the facts as I understood them: our military forces had largely stayed out of Fallujah for most of the occupation; and, for whatever reason, the four Blackwater “contractors” drove through the city and were killed.
    In what way had the city become less secure than it was before the Blackwater employees were killed? Is the Marine assault on Fallujah intended to punish those responsible for the murders, is it to draw Sunni insurgents into open battle to reduce their numbers, is it to send all Iraqis a message about who is really in charge in Iraq or it is largely in response to the American outcry over the desecration of dead American bodies?
    I sense that the long-range consequences of this assault were not considered before it was launched. But I have little doubt that, in the days ahead, it will become obvious that the move was ill-considered and led ultimately to a destabilization of the Coalition’s governance in Iraq.

Comments are closed.