mindmeld,
Taking over Fallujah the way they did it accomplishes nothing except killing of a few terrorists and the loss of valuable American lives, 18 so far.
I disagree. In a war, it is important to win battles, some real, some symbolic. Fallujah is both. You may not appreciate how much Fallujah has been built up in the Arab world. The terrorsits / defenders have been described as bigger than life heroes. Now, they are shown to be cowards running for their lives. I think their stock is going to be seriously deflated.
Our biggest problem has been that the loyalty to us, especially among Sunnis, has been very low. Combine that with the ruthlesness of the terrorists wintessed by wholesale murder of people collaborating with us. Also, re-election of Bush, and whether Kerry had any spine was open for question. Working with the US has been a very risky proposition.
Now is the time to turn thing around. By changing the perception of the terrorists from heroic martyrs to pathetic cowards, the hope is to lower the fear of reprisals from the terrorists, and to increase the credibility of the provisional government, and people working on its behalf.
We will not win this war over night, but any gains will bring future dividents. Some of the dividends may be in form of tips, intelligence from the locals, about the whereabouts of the remaining terrorists.
It would also be useful to broadcast widely about the killed and captured foreign terrorists. These foreigners are very unpopular among the average Iraqis.
Joe |
