Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Chris McConnel]

Falluja ... (from DailyKos)

The latest tally:

       Eighteen U.S. troops have been killed and  
        another 69 wounded in this week's offensive to  
        take control of the rebel-held Iraqi city  
        Falluja, a senior U.S. Marine Corps commander  
        said on Thursday.

And to what end? The people we really want to capture or kill are long gone.

Not to mention that this senior U.S. Marine Corps commander is a liar. 69 wounded? From the same article:

       A spokeswoman at the U.S. military's Landstuhl  
        Regional Medical Center in Germany, the usual  
        destination for seriously wounded U.S. troops  
        stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, said 102  
        Americans arrived from Iraq in two plane loads  
        on Thursday. They joined 125 wounded troops who  
        arrived there from Monday to Wednesday.

That's 227 wounded so far. Some may not be from Falluja, but if we're suffering more wounded outside Falluja than in the city we're currently besieging, then Iraq is a bigger mess than anyone thinks.

Meanwhile, Mosul is spiraling out of control.

       And while U.S.-led troops fought for the upper  
        hand in Falluja, insurgents in the northern  
        city of Mosul set police stations ablaze, stole  
        weapons and brazenly roamed the streets. 

       Residents said Iraq's third largest city seemed  
        to slide out of control as grenade blasts and  
        gunfire rang through empty streets and smoke  
        billowed from two burning police stations. 

       Rebels attacked Iraqi national guards  
        controlling a bridge in the city center,  
        killing five of them, witnesses said. 

       A cameraman for Reuters filmed gunmen raiding  
        weapons and flak jackets from a police station  
        before setting it on fire [...] 

       The U.S. military issued a statement admitting  
        that local security forces had been overrun in  
        several areas and said local authorities were  
        doing what they could to restore order [...] 

       Violence has worsened in Mosul, a strongly  
        nationalist city of three million people, over  
        the past year, but residents said the chaos of  
        the past two days had broken new ground.

So we'll have to attack Mosul (which is 10 times larger than Falluja), pushing all those insurgents back to Falluja. And Iraq's endless spiral of violence will continue unabated.


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