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US forces to 'flatten Falluja' before Iraq's first vote
WHILE all eyes are on the US presidential election on November 2, the White House is also concerned with another poll planned for January. Iraq's first free and democratic elections early next year drive US military policy in the region and the war on terror as much as President George Bush's battle against Senator John Kerry next month. As the insurgency in Iraq intensifies and the conflict dominates the political agenda, US military strategists aim to have quelled all rebel controlled parts of the country before the January election. At the US presidential election voters will choose between Bush and his unilateral militarist approach, and Kerry who blames the president for the current crisis and has vowed to seek international co-operation before the White House embarks on any further armed adventures. Faced with the most ferocious fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Bush faces a tricky strategical balancing act in the run-up to the election. On the one hand, he must be seen to be asserting some control over the Iraqi and foreign al-Qaeda-backed militants attacking US forces. But he also knows he cannot risk incurring high US casualties because the sight of large numbers of American troops coming home in body bags would benefit the Kerry campaign. But after November 2, the gloves can come off, allowing Bush the chance to launch a no-holds barred blitz on the insurgents in the two month window until the January elections. And if some reports from the intelligence community are correct, Bush is planning an all-out crackdown with some suggesting it would involve practically flattening Falluja, the base of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-10-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=45006 |