Eventually, the Iraqis will eject the Americans from their country. The fact is, they live there and we don’t, so victory will eventually be theirs. Until then, it’s just a stalemate. I think it’s ironic when the Americans make claims against the other side’s propaganda since there has never been a more media-aware American military intervention. I found the following passage revealing:
One key reason to take Fallujah hospital early was likely to control information: The facility was the main source of Iraqi death tolls during the first U.S. siege of Fallujah in April, and U.S. commanders accused doctors there of exaggerating numbers.
The U.S military said Monday that insurgents had been in control of Fallujah General Hospital — located on the west bank of the Euphrates — and were “forcing the doctors there to release propaganda and false information.”
The media has lauded the ‘capture’ of the Fallujah hospital as a win for the Iraqis fighting “shoulder to shoulder” with the Americans, specifically this refers to Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion. The Americans use the brown-skins to put an “Iraqi face” on the assault on Fallujah. Who are the 36th Commando Battalion?
“The 36th was originally known as the ‘political battalion,’”
he said. That’s because it was formed from the militias of five major
political groups in Iraq: Iyad Alwai’s Iraq National Accord (INA), Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress (INC), the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which backs Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and the two main Kurdish groups, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). About 110 soldiers were originally culled from each group.
This group isn’t representative of Iraq. They are splinter groups who have an interest in gaining more power in Iraq. When you have 10,000 American soldiers and a few hundred Iraqi mercenaries leading the assault, it’s clear who’s in charge. More importantly, it’s clear that the Americans do not have the support of the Iraqi people on the ground.
l amour
saluy les dangereux
Well, don’t let the fact that there were close to a dozen other Iraqi Army battalions right in the thick of Operation Al-Fajr stop you.
1st Bn, 1st Brigade, Iraqi Intervention Force
2nd Bn, 1st Brigade, Iraqi Intervention Force
4th Bn, 1st Brigade, Iraqi Intervention Force
5th Bn, 3rd Brigade, Iraqi Army
6th Bn, 3rd Brigade, Iraqi Army
… each of these fought pitched close-quarters battles in the initial assault. Several battalions of the 2nd Brigade IIF rotated in afterwards to help search the south and northeast, and saw plenty of combat.
Concur with Obsidian’s comments. I was an Advisor within 2nd BDE IIF from it’s inception through Fallujah. The original post is clearly self-serving and wildly uninformed, but then people will believe what they want to believe.
Most of 2nd BDE IIF is still in Fallujah maintaining security on infrastructure sites and keeping insurgents out.
As for Fallujah General Hospital… well, I’ve been there many times and spoken to some of the Iraqi soldiers (from HHC 1st BDE) who fought there. Apparently the so called Doctors were deeply involved with the Insurgency (as were so many of Fallujah’s residents). The Docs were calling in Coalition troop movements via cell phone when the Iraqis arrived.
Moreover, after the fight we had to stop bringing Iraqs to the hospital due to the shear incompetence of the Doctors. We began treating them ourselves and at American aid stations, which is what we should have done from the start. Iraq medicine is stone-age by comparison. Those guys would amputate your nose for a head cold.