Marines Move Third Battalion to Fallujah

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040410/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_fallujah_reinforcements&e=4

<snip>
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Marines have moved a third battalion near Fallujah to join siege of the city, where two battalions of about 1,200 Marines are already in place, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Saturday.

Kimmitt said Marines would end their 24-hour-old pause in offensive operations in Fallujah if discussions between Iraqi politicians and Fallujah city officials do not produce results. He said the insurgents continued to fire at U.S. forces.

"There is a new battalion, third battalion of Marines," Kimmitt said.

"Were we not at this point observing suspension of offensive operations, I think we would have been much further along, and it could well have been that we would have had the entire the city by this point," he told reporters in Baghdad.

[mouse7]

1. 2 battalions for an urban assault mission?

Powell is on their side. Why haven't they heard of the Powell Doctrine.

They are planning to assault this place with 1 to 1 odds?

This is going to be a bloody mess.

[JCMach1]

14. This Marine division is also Green... only been in Iraq a few weeks

:(

[bobthedrummer]

2. Soldiers blogs are reporting "total combat" situation in some areas

eom

[Tinoire]

3. Do you have links to some? Thanks n/t

[bemildred]

4. They need to get a real military commander in there while

there is still time. This guy is a lying bureaucrat.

[SpiralHawk]

5. But your forget, our cOmmander in chief* has experience

being AWOL, and generally out of the loop at all crucial times. He is fishing this weekend with Poppy (so they can talk about some hot bass).

So you see, there's no need to worry about the cOmmander. Bush is safe.

Oh, sorry about the loss of those fine young American soldiers. Those are more funerals Mr. Bush will have to ignore while the rest of America weeps for those who fall because of the BushCo lies.

Where are the WMDs?

[bemildred]

10. Referring to Kimmitt, not that I disagree with your sentiments. nt

[Imperialism Inc.]

6. So they basically took a day off until reinforcements arrived

and now they will start back up.

[sspiderjohn]

7. So this "pause" is just a ruse to bring in reinforcements? Figures.

Like the gunships we brought in during yesterday's truce. God.

[bobthedrummer]

8. AC-130's were reported in action by the AP yesterday

Reuters UK is reporting on wounded Iraqi kids in makeshift hospital in Fallujah within past couple of hours
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=491768§ion=news

[markses]

9. Oooops: Having to explain why the Marines haven't moved in 4 days

Why can't the most celebrated fighting force in the world move past the one neighborhood they've managed to "take back" - the 1/4 of the city that they've been saying for the last four days. Oh, if it weren't for the pause we'd have taken the whole city by now. Uh-huh.

I'm reminded of Michael Herr's statement: Nothing's so embarrassing as when things go wrong in a war.

Abizaid and Sanchez can kiss the Joint Chiefs goodbye.

[aneerkoinos]

11. Exactly

All this idiotic addrenaline pumped Marines-whoop-ass mythology and grandstanding is extremely dangerous, in the PR propaganda each and every Marine is supposed to be a McGyver, and when they - obviously - can't live up to the myth (nobody could take Fallujah with only two battallions) I'm afraid they'll resort to other means to defend the myth of invincible Marines.

[leftchick]

12. More babies to Wound and Kill Like poor Nura, 3 years old....

Nura, 3, an Iraqi child wounded during fighting between US forces and Sunni insurgents is rushed into a public clinic by her father, no name given, in Fallujah, Iraq (news - web sites), Thursday April 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

[DrWeird]

13. Moved from where?

Move to fight one "insurgency" another pops up somewhere else.

[rocktivity]

15. I believe the civilian terminology would be

they're getting their butts kicked.

rocknation

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. Beside the corpses, there is a pile of body parts which no one has had tim

.
.
.

From the link in #8:

The dead include small children, women and old men, a new born baby. Beside the corpses, there is a pile of body parts which no one has had time to deal with.

/snip/

An assessment by five international non-governmental organisations on Friday said 470 people had been killed in Falluja. Of 1,200 injured, it said 243 were women and 200 children. The groups said their estimate may be conservative.

"Dead bodies are lying in the streets. Ambulances are being shot at by snipers. Medical aid and supplies have been stopped by U.S. occupation forces," a statement from the NGOs said.

"The thousands of families who remain trapped in Falluja are running out of basic necessities like food and potable water. Hospitals and medical staff are overwhelmed, and are asking desperately for blood, oxygen and antiseptics."
___________________________________________________________________

God Bless America