[lbo-talk] Military above criticism

[C. G. Estabrook]

Perhaps, although they didn't do so in April, when the 1st Marine Division
took over from the army's 82nd Airborne (for whom the marine cadre had
contempt) and killed 600 civilians, mostly women and children. The marines
were forced to retreat and want revenge. (Admittedly, the mix of fighters
in the Fallujah resistance many be different now from what it was in the
spring.)

The experienced Patrick Graham wrote in the Guardian, "First, they were
occupied by the US army's 82nd Airborne, an incompetent group of louts
whose idea of cultural sensitivity was kicking a door down instead of
blowing it up. Within eight months of the invasion, the 82nd had killed
about 100 civilians in the area and lost control of Falluja, leaving it to
the US marines to try and retake the city last April. After killing about
600 civilians, the marines retreated ... there is no question [however
that] the marines can take the city. But the US has a developed a habit of
winning engagements while losing the war -- while breaking the laws of war
in the process. This is what Britain's redeployment will help to unleash."

Of course, Kerry will do a "better" job...  --CGE

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:


> C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
> >John Pilger finds a "surreal quality" in a campaign about a war where "the
> >degree of censorship by omission is staggering," of which "the coming
> >atrocity in the city of Fallujah ... is a case in point."
> 
> According to one reliable source, the insurgents will just melt away 
> from Fallujah and disperse elsewhere in the country, so there may be 
> no bloodbath - but lots more car bombings and such when they're 
> reposted.
>