Fight to Finish This Time?

[bemildred]

Some comic relief. The chained bulldog theory of combat.

By F.J. Bing West, F.J. Bing West, an assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration, visits Iraq frequently as a military journalist. His book, "No True Glory, the Battle for Fallouja," will be published ...

For weeks, Marines have paced like chained bulldogs on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Fallouja, lunging and growling but restrained from going in.

On Thursday, the U.S. and Iraqis sent these forces to conduct raids inside this bastion of Sunni violence, while Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, warned that unless insurgents turn over a notorious terrorist the Marines and Iraqi troops will storm in and take control once and for all.

The last time Marines marched into Fallouja, they were promptly ordered to do something that runs counter to their creed: pull back short of the goal. That was a mistake. But the decision-makers this time have apparently learned.

It was on March 31 that a gleeful mob killed four civilian American contractors and mutilated their bodies in Fallouja. President Bush ordered Marines to take the city. On foot, they seized block after block, losing six Marines in the fight.

LA Times