The battle for Fallujah

The US Marine assault on Fallujah has been far more costly in terms of lives
than the comparable attacks by the IDF on Jenin or other Palestinian cities
in Gaza. This is because they are softening it up in advance with the use
of artillery and aerial bombardment. From a military point of view this is
the correct approach, as used by the Russians to deadly effect in Grozny.
They are also dropping leaflets telling civilians to leave, so the
population has been reduced from 300,000 to ca. 50,000. But, the IDF never
employed this initial phase, preferring to go in on the ground to avoid
civilian casualties.
American Jews who are so sensitive to the casualties caused by the IDF, and
who were disposed to believe the outright lies that the IDF had massacred
civilians in Jenin two years ago, are not putting comparable complaints to
their own Government to stop these tactics as they did against the Israeli
Government then.
However, now that the initial phase is over and the Marines are invading the
city, they will follow the tactics developed by the IDF in Jenin and
elsewhere for close combat in narrow city streets. Unfortunately, in one
incident the IDF lost 32 soldiers when a whole alley that was mined was
blown up ambushing them. This is the danger that the Marines face in
Fallujah. But, they must re-take the city from the insurgents in order for
Iraq to be truly free and united and to have a democratic election.
There has been a lot of fuss in the UK about the Black Watch Scottish
regiment going north about 100 miles from Basra to guard the southern
approaches to Fallujah. Already 3 of them were killed in a suicide attack.
But, until now they have had a relatively easy war, since the Shi'ites in
the south were very anti-Saddam. Now they are in a Sunni area where the
support for Saddam was strongest and where the resistance to the Coalition
forces has been brutal. It is good that they should support their US ally
in this major confrontation with the insurgency.
In Fallujah there are ca. 10,000 US troops vs. ca. 3,000 estimated
insurgents of three different groups, the foreign fighters, mainly Syrians
and Iranians, supporting al Qaeda, the pro-Saddam Sunni revanchists, and
former Iraqi army left-overs who want to continue the fight against the
Americans. They will be defeated, but in the course of the fighting there
will be US casualties. At least this time the new Iraqi armed forces will be
fighting alongside the Americans and let's hope they perform well. If so it
will be a breakthrough for the interim Iraqi Government, and they can then
claim that they liberated their own territory.