BREAKING: Bremmer: US unilaterally suspend offensive in Faluja

[OrioleFan]

They need time to dig their "spider" holes...

[CyberAnt]

Well .. I heard that we had suspended forces in Najaf because of all the people coming there for some religious observance.

I remember it last year .. we had just ended major combat, and we allowed these people to hold this observance for the first time in many, many years. I have never forgotten who the dems were panicked because all these people were gathering and we were letting them. It turned out there was no violence, and the people were so happy to be allowed this observance.

[CyberAnt]

Thank you so much for this info .. I knew it was some special celebration.

[TexKat]

A US soldier takes cover on a rooftop in Fallujah. A US field commander said that his troops had ended their suspension of a six-day-old offensive in the Sunni Muslim rebel bastion of Fallujah after just 90 minutes.(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)

Iraqis sitting on a truck pass a burning US convoy attacked in Abu Gharib. An AFP correspondent confirmed that armed insurgents seized control of the highway linking the predominantly Sunni Muslim town of Abu Gharib with the besieged city of Fallujah.(AFP/File/Karim Sahib)

A US marine from the First Battalion Fifth Marines, takes cover in an industrial zone of Fallujah as he escorts a Civil Affairs unit visiting the area.(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)

US Marines give first aid to a slightly wounded comrade on April 8 in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad. Pictures of body bags and groups of US soldiers praying around dead comrades are creeping into American media coverage of Iraq, highlighting the growing unease at events(AFP/Getty Images/File/Cris Bouroncle)

US forces pressed their drive against insurgents in the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah after trying to suspend the operation and allow talks on bringing relief supplies to the battered city.(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)

U.S. Marines with the 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment prepare a mortar to fire in the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq, Friday, April 9, 2004. U.S. Marines have been fighting insurgents in several neighborhoods in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah in order to regain control of the city. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

U.S. Marines with the 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment fire mortar shells in the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq, Friday, April 9, 2004. U.S. Marines have been fighting insurgents in several neighborhoods in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah in order to regain control of the city. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Iranian boy kisses the coffin of an Iranian 'martyr,' returned to Iran from Iraq, in Tehran April 9, 2004. Bodies are still being found in the war torn border region after hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the 1980-88 war between the to neighbors. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

[CyberAnt]

That's true, but this week was a special celebration.

See post #51

[Poundstone]

Take a look at recent news articles; some members of the Iraqi Governing Council are publicly threatening to resign.

[Da Mav]

Let them resign. Surely there are other Iraqis who would like to have a vote on the Council.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Not anymore, it's back on. We should pull out our people and level that place, then pick off anybody running away. Sorry to say, it's the only way they'll know we're serious.

[WOSG]

088GMT Friday is *NOT* breaking that is 16 hours old, and superceded by later events (the bone-crushing of the b*st*rds was resumed shortly thereafter).

[Cap Huff]

Yes, I see. Bad situation. Had you heard about it earlier?

[Jorge]

This halt may be because a number of members of the interim Iraqi council were threatening to resign if the attack on Fallujah continued.

If they are sympathetic with this radical Islamic cleric Sadr, then they don't belong on the Iraqi council to begin with. Fire them.

[Polybius]

This is beginning to sound like Viet Nam, for those of us old enough to remember. Every time the war was being won, LBJ and the Democrats in Washington would suspend fighting because the wily old Gen. Giap would want to talk peace...just long enough for the Viet Cong to regroup. Why don't we ever learn from past mistakes?

There is a difference between a lull in a battle and "talking peace". Whatever the pretext given for this lull, what strikes me is this news report posted earlier on this thread:

Evacuation ...... At dawn on Friday, US forces asked the residents of Falluja to evacuate the city, reported our correspondent...

The way I see it, this is a lull to have the civilians get the hell out of Dodge. Earlier reports state that civilians are being allowed to leave only on foot with what they can carry.

Once the civilians are gone, it's just the Iraqi Baathists, our Marines, our tanks, our artillery and our air power in an evacuated city that we can turn into a free fire zone.

[piasa]

I'd hate to be one of those nutjob holdouts knowing that Spectre was coming. And sure enough, the AC130 is what they're going to get.

[Poundstone]

They're not sympathetic to Sadr; quite the opposite. They want to see him taken out. But they're also extremely conscious that many ordinary Iraqis, whether they're Sadr's followers or not, nevertheless perceive him as some kind of hero for standing up to the Americans. So these council members, very understandably, are trying to find some outcome to this crisis other than a full-scale US attack on Fallujah, with all the Iraqi casualties that will result -- and with a lot of ordinary Iraqis perceiving them (the council members) as being complicit in that.

[Jorge]

They're not sympathetic to Sadr; quite the opposite. They want to see him taken out. But they're also extremely conscious that many ordinary Iraqis, whether they're Sadr's followers or not, nevertheless perceive him as some kind of hero for standing up to the Americans. So these council members, very understandably, are trying to find some outcome to this crisis other than a full-scale US attack on Fallujah, with all the Iraqi casualties that will result -- and with a lot of ordinary Iraqis perceiving them (the council members) as being complicit in that.

Sounds like the council members are either skitzo or cowards or both.

How do they suggest taking out Sadr, and how many Americans do they expect to be killed without a military response?

Or perhaps they would like Sadr's followers to kill them and everybody on the council in his quest for power.
Do these people have a clue as to how you have to deal with a man like Sadr?

[Theophilus]

So, are you a Truman fan?

I thinks it natural and good to be skeptical when a leader grins and says: "So I lost the battle but I won the war". I think most wars are won by bold audacity rather then too clever by half scheming.

[Theophilus]

So, are you a Truman fan?

I thinks it natural and good to be skeptical when a leader grins and says: "So I lost the battle but I won the war". I think most wars are won by bold audacity rather then too clever by half scheming.

[Theophilus]

So, are you a Truman fan?

I thinks it natural and good to be skeptical when a leader grins and says: "So I lost the battle but I won the war". I think most wars are won by bold audacity rather then too clever by half scheming.

[Moonman62]

The U.S. military today said it was suspending offensive operations in Fallujah to allow negotiations with a delegation of local tribal leaders. Fallujah has been the site of fierce fighting between U.S. Marines and Iraqi insurgents.

This just gives us the time we need to gather more intelligence and come up with a new list of targets. Go Marines!