Iraq Ten Years Later: al-Qaeda captures Fallujah

[cthulu2016]

When I read this headline on the WP site I honestly thought it was an archived story from 2004.

I assume everyone remembers the battle for Fallujah. It was a big deal. We lost a lot of troops capturing the place.

In related news, republicans are responding by saying we should never have left Iraq. (Not never gone in, mind you... never should have left.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024277900

Al-Qaeda-linked force captures Fallujah amid rise in violence in Iraq

A rejuvenated al-Qaeda-affiliated force asserted control over the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on Friday, raising its flag over government buildings and declaring an Islamic state in one of the most crucial areas that U.S. troops fought to pacify before withdrawing from Iraq two years ago.

The capture of Fallujah came amid an explosion of violence across the western desert province of Anbar in which local tribes, Iraqi security forces and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have been fighting one another for days in a confusingly chaotic three-way war.

Elsewhere in the province, local tribal militias claimed they were gaining ground against the al-Qaeda militants who surged into urban areas from their desert strongholds this week after clashes erupted between local residents and the Iraqi security forces.

In Fallujah, where Marines fought the bloodiest battle of the Iraq war in 2004, the militants appeared to have the upper hand, underscoring the extent to which the Iraqi security forces have struggled to sustain the gains made by U.S. troops before they withdrew in December 2011...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html?tid=pm_pop

[malaise]

1. Funny there was no Al Qaeda when the US invaded and occupied

Iraq.

What a fugging disaster - thanks Bush, CHeney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice and the rest of war criminals.

[LittleBlue]

3. They should be prosecuted

The media are desperate for us to forget Iraq, they were after all complicit in deceiving the American people along with Bushco.

That these war criminals are walking free today is a travesty.

[sakabatou]

2. And the invasion was built around a lie

[lordsummerisle]

4. Well, gee

I guess those of us who opposed this war from the getgo were maybe onto something? I'm beyond outraged...

[question everything]

5. Deja Vu

I just hope that in the future we will not see helicopters hovering above the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, when frightened Americans and loyal friends are frantically trying to escape.

Didn't we learn from Vietnam that one cannot change "regime?" At least, not against a populist movement?

Oh, forgot, the chickenhawks of the Bush administration did not serve in Vietnam.

[Bigmack]

6. Shiiiiitttt....

Starting in the spring of 2004, 15,000 Marines fought a bitter urban battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah. By fall, 75 Marines were dead and another 500 seriously wounded. 3/4 of the homes and mosques were destroyed, and thousands of innocent Iraqis were killed. The US used white phosphorus and depleted uranium weapons there... birth defects have skyrocketed since then. This was over a year after Dubya claimed "Mission Accomplished". AlQaeda was nowhere in Iraq before, but now, AlQaeda has taken over the city. We certainly solved the AlQaeda problem in Iraq, didn't we?

"More than 190,000 people have been killed in the 10 years since the war in Iraq began. The war will cost the U.S. $2.2 trillion, including substantial costs for veterans care through 2053, far exceeding the initial government estimate of $50 to $60 billion, according to a new report by scholars with the "Costs of War" project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies." http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2013/03/warcosts

[Gravitycollapse]

7. Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.