U.S. Asks for Ceasefire in Fallujah

The Washington Post ^ | 041004 | Chan and Barbash

[Archangelsk]

BAGHDAD, April 10 -- Insurgents attacked a U.S. airbase north of Baghdad Saturday with mortars, killing one soldier and wounding two. The death, announced by the Army, came at the close of the most violent week of combat since the capture of the capital a year ago.

[Tribune7]

I saw yesterday's press conference. It provided a much sunnier view than the news reports and as best I can tell -- the later reports that Kut was recaptured -- the military was right.

[Howlin]

This is not exactly the time for a long weekend in Crawford.

Do you think Bush takes the phone off the hook when he gets down there?

You know, he sleeps 8 hours a night; should we demand that he stay awake for 4 years?

[Howlin]

[TheRightGuy]

Someone in the administration had better grow a set of cajones real soon.

Sad to say, but Condi Rice pobably has the best set of the bunch.

[Tribune7]

LOL

[Chunga]

This article is baloney. The coalition didn't "ask for" a cease-fire; it "called for" a ceasefire, and stated that if the Iraqi insurgents resumed hostilities in any way, all bets were off.

This administration isn't lacking in testicular fortitude.

It's odd that you would call on this administration to "grow a pair," as a recent post of yours suggested that Condi Rice needed to bring a "dose of humble" along with her when she faced the 9/11 Commission (as you accused the Bush administration of "hubris"):

When the erudite, intelligent, articulate Soviet expert Rice takes the stand on Thursday she had better bring a healthy dose of humble with her.

Taken side by side your posts don't pass the smell test.

[Archangelsk]

Chung,

1. I hate to be the one who breaks it to you but Dr. Rice was absolutely the wrong choice as NSA. As a school marm she's fine, but she lacks the equipment to deal with the threat, and rather than try to bluff or bluster her way through last week she should have been contrite, accepted her shortcomings, and resigned at the conclusion of her testimony. Which brings me to my second point.

2. WHAT IN THE NAME OF SAM HOUSTON AND DAVEY CROCKETT IS THE ADMINISTRATION DOING HIDING BEHIND A WOMAN'S SKIRT!!!!!!

If I were the President, whom I've supported through this whole war, I would have been the first goddamn witness in front of the commission. Or do I need to remind you of the last President to hide behind his woman?

[Polybius]

Maybe Bush is taking asking the Saudis what to do. Every military person I heard on the radio this am and pm, to a man, said we needed to kick ass and flatten the place. We'll know we're winning when THEY beg for a ceasefire. At which point we should hit them again, harder.

There is a very practical reasons for a temporary ceasefire.

News reports state that the U.S. military asked civilians on Friday morning to evacuate the city. They are being allowed to leave only on foot and must leave their vehicles and anything they cannot carry behind.

A lull in the fighting allows the civilians, who now know that the U.S. is using everything from tanks, to JDAM's to AC 130's in Fallujah, to get out of Dodge.

An urban battlefield devoid of civilians will then allow the U.S. to fully maximize it's strengths in air power, armor and artillery instead of having to engage in house to house infantry firefights in order to minimize civilian casualties.

War is a chess game and you have to think several moves ahead instead of taking every gambit at face value.

The Baathist die-hard leadership and their foot soldiers are a cancer within Iraq. They don't want "freedom". They want to resume their previous positions of power over the rest of Iraq and that will never change. The cancer cells must die if the body of Free Iraq is to live. Therefore, when these "negotiations" fail miserably, as they ceratainly will, the U.S. military can resume killing the Baathists in a Fallujah emptied of civilians.

As General Powell said of the Iraqi Army before the start of Desert Storm: "First we are going to isolate it. Then we are going to kill it".

The Baathists and foreign fighters are concetrated in Fallujah. We are going to isolate them. Then we are going to kill them.

[Chunga]

I have no interest in your opinion about Dr. Rice. Your post is non-responsive to the point I'm making here, which is that your two posts, one of which calls for someone in the Bush Administration to "grow a pair," and the other, which contends that the Bush Administration is rife with "hubris" and that Dr. Rice act humbly before the partisan Democrats on the commission, are inconsistent to the point of absurdity. Dr. Rice is in fact the National Security Advisor for the Bush Administration, yet your advice to her is sit down and take whatever the commission decides to dish out...rather than act as though she has a pair.

You can't have it both ways, although I can't say you didn't try.

[Archangelsk]

She's in way over her head. Nothing, not your convoluted logic, not your insane loyalty to her can convince me otherwise. Dr. Rice should pack her bags, leave and go back to Sanford where she belongs.

The apt replacement for her is either Wayne Downing or Bobby Inman.

[blackbart.223]

"I'm on the side of leveling Fallujah."

And I'd have to agree. War is an ugly thing at best. But once you commit to it you don't pull punches.

[Chunga]

You aren't reading my posts with anything resembling comprehension.

[Jorge]

"U.S. Asks for Ceasefire in Fallujah

The Washington Post ^ | 041004 | Chan and Barbash"

Funny when I click on the link the title says Iraq's Governing Council to Press for Ceasefire .

I don't see anything in the article about the US asking for a ceasefire at all. In fact quite the opposite. It seems the US is reluctantly going along with this at the request of the Governing Council.
The US military wants to take Sadr and his forces out.

[Chunga]

Actually, my previous post is unfair. I can't know that you're reading my posts and not comprehending them...but you're responding as though you aren't.

[Jorge]

She's in way over her head. Nothing, not your convoluted logic, not your insane loyalty to her can convince me otherwise. Dr. Rice should pack her bags, leave and go back to Sanford where she belongs.

Before I saw her testify before the commission I might have been more open to argument on this.

In fact I saw situations previously where I thought she came off a bit shakey.

But after seeing her performance on Thursday, I was extremely impressed, not only by her intelligence, but her overall grasp of the issues, ability to put things into perspective and more so her toughness and self confidence under pressure.

Bush made an excellent choice when he appointed her to his cabinet.

[Archangelsk]

That's the difference between what I've read here from others and myself: I listened to the testimony, over the net, rather than look at it on the tube. That, combined with reading the PDB last night, makes me draw vastly different conclusions.