Another ominous sign is the growing number of towns that U.S. troops simply avoid. A senior Defense official objects to calling them "no-go areas". "We could go into them any time we wanted," he argues. The preferred term is "insurgent enclaves". They're spreading.
All right. So the "Multinational Force" "could go into" the "enclaves" from which the "insurgents" and "terrorists" operate "any time we wanted". That it doesn't go into them means, apparently, that it doesn't want to do.
In other words, it is (to use its own logic) "soft on terror". Or, the "senior Defense official" is lying.
Most likely the latter.
The Bush Administration would surely love to flatten the entire Sunni Triangle to smithereens with a series of 9-million-pound bombs (or whatever their maximum-bomb-tonnage is these days) -- but it fears the global outrage that would ensue. That's what we did in Korea and Vietnam, and nobody said a word. But times have, alas, changed. (Not that carpet bombing was able to win those wars, anyway....)
A Fallujah- or Najaf-style siege would result in not only significant American casualties, but more PR headaches. The Bush Administration has already announced that it's not willing to risk such a maneuver before the election.
The Bush Administration would surely love to expedite the "Iraqization" process, but acknowledges that its puppet military force is nowhere near ready to take on the Resistance without the help of the American military (not to mention that most of those recruited into the puppet force are unwilling to fire on their countrymen).
The Bush Administration probably wouldn't even mind leaving the "enclaves" to the "insurgents" to do in as they please -- so long as they would leave the oil pipelines alone. But they're not leaving the oil pipelines alone.
So, again we say: the war is over. The Bush Administration has lost. The only thing it can do now is bring more death and destruction.
Or get the fuck out, apologise, and pay reparations.
The Financial Times has a story saying that the Green Zone is becoming an insurgent enclave:
US military officers in Baghdad have warned they cannot guarantee the security of the perimeter around the Green Zone, the headquarters of the Iraqi government and home to the US and British embassies, according to security company employees.
At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences.
The US major said it was possible weapons or explosives had already been stashed in the zone, and warned people to move in pairs for their own safety.
Posted by: Vin Carreo on September 16, 2004 05:55 AMVin, glad to see you're still around. I got that FT link on my own, since it was screaming from the top of ft.com. Shocking news.
Lots of articles today about the insurgency taking the upper hand. Maybe they're gearing up for the rumored "October offensive."
Posted by: dack on September 16, 2004 08:08 AMMaybe they're gearing up for the rumored "October offensive."
Is George Will the person that introduced this rumour? He's the first person I saw make reference to it.
Seeming more plausible by the day....
Yep, I think Will started it. Makes sense to me. Or maybe it was September, judging by U.S. casualties.
Posted by: dack on September 17, 2004 08:44 AM