Re: [Marxism] General claims Fallujah outcome has broken back of insurgency

[<g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The loss of a no-go area is always a blow to insurgents,
surely?

But it is far from clear that Fallujah is lost to the
Resistance.  Once the Marines pack up and go, the Resistance
will come back.  The Iraqis who are left to patrol will have
to pay a price for their loyalty to the Americans.  Besides
the only reliable allies that the USA have got are the Kurds.

If the Marines stay in Fallujah then that means they will be
not be somewhere else -simple.  The dominant imperative
remains that the Americans have too few soldiers on the
ground to secure the Occupation.  The brunt of that truth
will be borne by the collaborators of course.

As to the elections, that was always a deeply crazy
justification for destroying Fallujah.  Whether there is a
boycott or not, the fact remains that the USA have only got a
base of support among the Kurds and there are definite
political limits to the use of that support.

regards

Gary
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:46:03 -0500
>From: "Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [Marxism] General claims Fallujah outcome has
broken back of insurgency
>To: "'mxmail'" <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'snews'"
<snow-news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Iraq insurgency 'broken,' general says
>Commander: Loss of Fallujah has scattered, disrupted rebels
>IMAGE: U.S. MARINE PATROL IN FALLUJAH
>Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images
>A U.S. Marine Humvee passes a badly damaged building in
Fallujah on
>Thursday.
>       
>MSNBC News Services
>Updated: 4:55 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2004
>
>BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. offensive in Fallujah has "broken
the back of
>the insurgency" in Iraq, disrupting rebel operations across
the country,
>a senior U.S. commander said on Thursday.
>
>advertisement
>Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force
>at Fallujah, said the all-out assault on the city, which had
been a
>stronghold for Iraqi insurgents who rose up after last
year's ouster of
>President Saddam Hussein, had flushed the rebels out of
their lair and
>scattered them.
>
>The comments by the top Marine commander in Iraq came as
insurgents in
>Mosul attacked the governor's office and amid bloodshed
elsewhere in the
>north, while U.S. forces and allied Iraqi government troops
continued
>house-to-house sweeps to find remaining insurgents in
Fallujah.
>
>"We feel right now that we have . broken the back of the
insurgency and
>we've taken away the safe haven," Sattler said in a briefing
from
>outside Fallujah monitored at the Pentagon.
>
>
>Sattler, citing records captured from rebel positions inside
Fallujah,
>said insurgents had lost its "means for command and control"
and "the
>turf where you're operating, the town that you feel
comfortable moving
>about in, where you know your way about."
>
>'Now you are scattered'
>Speaking as if he were addressing the insurgents, he
added, "Now you are
>scattered. . You've been flushed from your hide-out. You
have no friends
>in the area you move into. You must make new contacts."
>
>"Each and every time we can force these individuals to go to
new
>locations, expand their circle of friends - if you want to
call it that
>- to include some that they don't know and they don't trust,
they'll
>bring in rookies, more junior people that will, in fact,
make mistakes,"
>Sattler added.
>
>"And that's why I mentioned that this has disrupted them, I
believe - my
>personal belief - across the country. This is going to make
it very hard
>for them to operate. And I'm hoping that we'll continue to
breathe down
>their neck," Sattler said.
>
>Sattler said 51 U.S. troops had been killed in the offensive
and 425
>wounded. He said eight Iraqi government troops had been
killed and 43
>wounded. He said about 1,200 insurgents had been killed, and
U.S. forces
>hold about 1,025 prisoners.
>
>Sattler spoke as U.S. troops continued to mop up pockets of
resistance
>in Fallujah, occasionally coming under heavy fire.
>
>Other action
>In other action Thursday:
>
>    * U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested 104 suspected
guerrillas in an
>insurgent neighborhood in central Baghdad, including nine
who are
>believed to have fled Fallujah, Interior Ministry spokesman
Sabah Khadim
>said. Most were Iraqis, although Syrians and non-Iraqi Arabs
were among
>the group, he said.
>    * Insurgents detonated a car bomb near a U.S. military
convoy in
>Baghdad and a roadside bomb exploded at a job recruiting
center in the
>northern city of Kirkuk in attacks that killed a total of
four people
>and wounded eight, police and officials said. Insurgents
also fired 10
>mortar rounds at the provincial administration offices in
the northern
>city of Mosul, wounding four of the governor's guards,
authorities said.
>    * Gov. Duraid Kashmoula was unhurt in the attack,
spokesman Lt. Col.
>Paul Hastings said. The rest of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest
city, with
>more than 1 million residents, remained calm for a second
day since the
>U.S.-led offensive operation began Tuesday to wrest control
of the
>western part of the city from insurgents.
>    * The Iraqi government warned that Islamic clerics who
incite
>violence will be considered to be "participating in
terrorism," and it
>said a number of them already have been arrested. Thair al-
Naqeeb, a
>spokesman for Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, did not specify
how many
>clerics have been detained.
>
>Assessment is more optimistic
>Sattler's assessment of the impact of the offensive on
Fallujah was
>markedly more optimistic than those offered recently by other
>commanders.
>
>Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the top U.S. military officer,
last week
>said it was "never our hope" that the offensive would end the
>insurgency.
>
>U.S. commanders previously have made pronouncements that
turned out to
>be premature about crippling the insurgency only to have the
rebels
>intensify their campaign of violence aimed at chasing U.S.
and other
>foreign troops from Iraq and undermining the American-backed
interim
>government.
>
>Army Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno said on Jan. 22 that Iraq's
insurgents
>"have been brought to their knees" and reduced to "a
fractured, sporadic
>threat."
>
>The timing of the latest assault was partly driven by the
need to reduce
>violence ahead of elections planned in January.
>
>Relief organizations estimate up to 250,000 Iraqis have fled
Fallujah to
>nearby villages and Baghdad, but the groups have not been
able to assess
>the refugees' needs because of fighting around the former
insurgent
>bastion, a U.N. official said Thursday.
>
>Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the U.N. High
Commission for
>Refugees in Amman, Jordan, said Thursday that there didn't
appear to be
>an immediate threat of a lack of food because most of those
who fled
>either took supplies with them or are being fed by their
hosts. But she
>worried that the increased population may be overwhelming
water and
>sanitation facilities in some areas.
>
>"We hope that we can access these people soon to know what
the exact
>needs are and to make sure that these needs are met," van
Genderen Stort
>said. "The access is very difficult. You just can't give the
support you
>would give in an ordinary refugee crisis."
> C 2004 MSNBC Interactive
>
>
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