GST, re: I see us destroying a medium-sized city with 100,000 plus civilians trapped in a bombardment that cannot possibly pretend to distinguish civilians from combatants -- and I must ask, what does anybody really expect to accomplish with this?
Even if we assume that we can somehow "win" a friendly democracy in Iraq through the use of military force, what strategic benefits will we likely derive from our "taking" the city of Fallujah?
So far the answers are:
We've made liars of our military by having them publicly proclaim that we're "supporting" Iraqi forces who are gallantly taking on the point duties, when the truth is that we're doing the heavy work and their desertion rate is high.
We're creating substantial damage to structures that we'll probably have to pay to rebuild.
We're killing a few civilians whose families will remember and whose stories will be told all across the Arab lands.
We're losing the lives of our soldiers and spending a lot of treasure.
We've ended any slim hopes that the current puppet government may be someday seen as ligitimate in Sunni circles.
We're routing the insurgents and killing a few of them but if those who have stayed end up putting up a decent fight, this may become their "Alamo."
But most importantly, we're doing all this in a senseless effort to take ground we can't hold. Once we roll through Fallujah and its 150,000 or so citizens return, along with the terrorists among them, we'll have a sullen population intent on killing our occupying soldiers and the "friendly" Iraqis who aid us. We can't stay in every building, monitor every street, or keep every rooftop clear so what exactly will we "control?"
How stupid do we have to be to fail to recognize that insurgencies don't care about territory; they don't need territory to thrive. All they need is a sympathetic population and what we've done and are doing in Fallujah is guaranteed to create more support for insurgents in Fallujah.
We've already "lost" Fallujah, the stubborn fact that we refuse to admit it doesn't change that reality. |
