Close on the heels of a report that10 more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq comes word that former Iraqi Soldiers will replace U.S. Marines charged with subduing Fallujah.
On the 10 fallen:
Ten U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Thursday amid conflicting reports of an agreement to end the standoff in Fallujah.
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Eight U.S. soldiers from the Army’s 1st Armored Division were killed and four wounded when a car bomb detonated south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The attack occurred at 11:30 a.m. near the town of Mahmoudiyah, the military said. An Army quick reaction force sealed off the area and medical evacuation teams transported the wounded to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.
Under their original deployment, the 1st Armored soldiers killed were to have returned to their home base in Germany by now.
And the changing of the guard in Fallujah:
The U.S. Marines announced a new plan Thursday to replace U.S. forces in this embattled, mostly Sunni city with a small army of ex-Iraqi soldiers and commanders who would be charged with subduing insurgent activity and stabilizing the city. There was no sign of any new agreement with the insurgents who have been battling the Marines for three weeks, however.
Just what does a pullout in Fallujah mean, especially after such a heavy bombing campaign? I’m not sure but Kevin of Lean Left had this to say.
This is probably the second worse outcome that could have happened. The first, obviously, would have been heavy fighting in the city with lots of civilian casualties. However, this agreement means that neither the US nor the IGC now controls Fallujah; it means that the elements of the Baathist resistance were able to force the US government to give them control of one of the major cities in Iraq; it means that the US army cannot control Iraqi cities without either Iraqi co-operation or the devastation of the city. There is no way to spin this as anything other than a defeat.
Something like this was inevitable, though. Once Bush decided to punish an entire city for the sins of a few, there were no good results possible. The best that could have happened was an uneasy state of siege — allow families out, food and medical supplies in — until a legitimate Iraqi government could handle the situation. Because Bush allowed his policy to be set out of heat of the moment outrage instead of careful consideration of what was best for the US, Iraq and US troops in Iraq, the United States has just suffered a fairly significant defeat at the hands of insurgents.
Sounds basically right to me. I don’t see how this could possibly be spun as a victory. And the “handover” date is just a little over 2 months away.