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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi Criminal Investigation set for Fallujah |
| 2004-04-01 |
| An angry Paul Bremer, the US overseer in Iraq, blasted the killing of nine civilian and military personnel in western Iraq as "despicable and inexcusable" and vowed that their deaths "will not go unpunished." Addressing 479 new graduates at the Iraqi police academy here, Bremer said "the acts we have seen (Wednesday) are despicable and inexcusable. They violate the tenets of all religions, including Islam as well as the foundations of civilized society. He should be addressing U. S. Marines not Iraqi Clouseaus "These murders are a painful outrage for us in the coalition but they will not derail the march toward stability and democracy in Iraq," he told the graduation ceremony. "Their deaths will not go unpunished." It better not nearly as painful for us as the response is for Fallujah Speaking at the same police graduation ceremony Thursday, Iraqi Interior Minister Nuri Badran pledged that his forces would do their best to find the killers and bring them to justice. He should have told them there was still a war on and this was not a Police matter but a USMC matter. Best to know the line and stay on the correct side because Police always come up short against Marines. "What happened in Fallujah is a flagrant criminal, terrorist act targeted at innocent people," he said. Wrong again, Asked whether he planned to send Iraqi security forces into Fallujah, a bastion of die-hard opponents to the US-led occupation, Badran told AFP: "Forces will be sent there. We don’t know when, but we are planning to do that." Did this guy work for Dick Clarke? He said the police needed to build a very efficient, mobile force to go after the elusive insurgents, who are launching hit-and-run raids. Why? The Marines have armor, aircraft and footwear. They can be effective as well as efficient and mobile. And they won’t wait around for a plan everybody has aproved. US Marines have been relieving soldiers of the army’s 82nd Airborne Division in the restive Fallujah area for the past two weeks, mounting almost daily patrols to gather intelligence on the rebels and try to win the support of the local population. The one who needs to be relieved is Bremer for allowing a situation in which anybody could even imagine that this is an acceptable response. This is smelling like Mogadishu II, New and Improved. With response by unmotivated, underarmed native peace keepers. |
| Posted by:Mr. Davis |
| #9 I'll say what I said yesterday...this was a failure of command, or the Rules of Engagement foistered on the Marines. You can beat your breast all you want about how the Maines will kick ass...but the ass kicking needed to be Yesterday, during the incident. That's the truth of it. |
| Posted by: Traveller 2004-04-01 8:23:52 PM |
| #8 Let the Marines do what Marines do best. Do a Sherman on thier ass. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-04-01 5:45:08 PM |
| #7 The only law enforcement activity that should be required is a post-JDAM DNA analysis of the resultant mush to see if there happened to be anyone interesting amongst the culprits. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-04-01 5:35:37 PM |
| #6 Dan, My comment on Mogadishu II is based on civilian interference in military operations and with enemy personnel not being held swiftly to account in a military fashion. This situation is even worse as while we all agree the US will not pull out of Iraq, a flaccid response will only invite additional attacks. Unity of command is important in providing a consistent message to the Iraqi people about what we will tolerate. This is something about which civilian and military personnel should not be issuing contradictory statements. We look divided and weak. Too often when we are divided, the party urging the lower level of action prevails out of inertia. That is what happened in Mogadishu and Bremer's comments make me fear it will happen here. The lack of consistency is further demonstrated this week where we have the U. S. shutting down a news paper yet possibly not going after these attackers forcefully. It is also sort of ridiculous to expect the Iraqi police and judiciary whose lives are in danger just by wearing the uniform and going to the police station and who reside and have families in the city to address an attack of this magnitude using the law enforcement model. This is not a crime. It is an act of war which should be dealt with in that fashion promptly and unequivocly by military personnel unencumbered by armchair quarterbacks (like me as well as Bremer). |
| Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-04-01 4:47:23 PM |
| #5 .com - good point about the arab view of Dire Revenge™ time. We are an impatient people, but like apuppy, if you wait too long, the punishment is linked with the act in their tiny little brains. If they wait til the weekend to smack Fallujah, it'll be too late. I'd do it during Friday prayers. F*&k their sensitivities |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-01 4:42:12 PM |
| #4 Mr D - I love righteous indignation - and I share yours completely! Bremer should've deferred to the CA Military when the question came. He should do so in all FUTURE press conferences, as well. He is an administrator, not a warrior. He is in charge of administration of Iraq until the handover. After that day I dont' know if he is supposed to leave or what. All security questions should be directed to the security people - the CA Military Command. Sanchez. Let's see if Sanchez "gets it" or not. If he hasn't got the stones to recommend a hard boyz response to Dubya, then he should retire his ass to Golden Acres. If he does, then say so, plan it, execute. Rinse. Repeat. I said this elsewhere, but it bears repeating: In the Arab mind the time for Dire Revenge is open-ended. If it takes a month to come up with what Old Spook so clearly described here on RB yesterday, no problem - the Arabs don't share our sense of time. We all talk about "cause -> effect" and how they don't get it. It's true. But subconsciously we also have an unspoken timeframe attached: we expect action within a very narrow window of time. The Arabs don't have this Short Attention Span - they believe revenge can be extracted centuries after the fact. The OBL obsession with the Crusades should be sufficient proof of that statement. So, Sanchez & Co, check out Old Spook's post. Read it. Learn it. Live it. Love it. Get it ON - or get out of the way. On FoxNews Gen. Vallely (Ret) is saying he expects the response within the next 24-48 hrs. I hope he's right. He sez we must set an example and it has to be one that will be understood. He discounts the notion that we are short on "boots" to do the job. I happen to agree with him, but who really knows. We shall see - and I hope the Mil Cmd is smart enough to do it right and with extreme prejudice. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-01 4:08:35 PM |
| #3 Bremer doesn't control the military response in Iraq if I'm not mistaken.. That having been said, Bremer shouldn't be saying anything about bringing the killers "to justice", as it isn't difficult to figure out just what he means by that. Justice in a place like Fallujah means that trial by jury, conviction, and imprisonment isn't really all that practical or desirable. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-04-01 3:14:49 PM |
| #2 Mr Davis just how is the Mogadishu II? You comments evokes a situation where the US pulls out. The US cannot and will not pull - either in a Skerry or Bush admin.. The only similarity is that the terrorists believe by acting like this we would pull out just like in somalia. These acts will bring only more death and suffering to these pussy ass sunni arabs. |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-04-01 2:17:14 PM |
| #1 Let's wait and see what the response is before we condemn Bremer. Btw, 2 things... Bremer doesn't control the military response in Iraq if I'm not mistaken... he just controls the CPA. And 2, I think overall Bremer is doing a pretty good job overall. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-04-01 1:29:32 PM |