Not bad. What would be great, actually, is turning pacification of Fallujah over to the Kurds, who'd love to to take care of this little problem for us. This would also be the Baathist's worst nightmare--there wouldn't be enough room on the girders of that bridge for all of them. The only American role would be to enforce, under some pretense or other, a media-blackout of the area.

How quickly the Noble Liberators turn into Annoyed Imperialists!

Chris,

I can't believe the snideness of your comment. You and Jade, while frequently wrong and obnoxious, usually seem to actually care about this country and the people in it. This comment unequivocally betrays that notion.

Annoyed? Savages mutilate burned bodies and display them, showcasing Muslim barbarism the world hasn't seem since Mogadishu, and you take issue with the fact the CPA is pissed off about it?

Do I actually detect a little glee in the tone of your comment? I guess something like this would score some points for your crowd. Enjoy the moment. I, unlike you, pray there no more of these acts.

Can't cut off basic services - against the Geneva convention.

Had enough time to blow up the bridge tho, according to the Convention. Should have done that for starters.

There's no glee, I assure you.

After watching the footage of the carnage in Fallujah, and the equally disgusting response by the LGF crowd, Bill O'reilly, and now this, I feel nothing but sadness and disgust.

Snide? Yes, I'm snide. Some days the cycle of violence spawned by ignorance and hatred hits harder than others. This is one of them.

Bill: Thanks for the link.

Sandy: Geneva convention? I fail to see how they apply to the actions of the Iraqi Governing Council, which is soon to be sovereign over Fallujah.

CW: Can't we be the Annoyed Liberators? What does becoming annoyed have to do with imperialism vs. liberation? You might be annoyed too if the cat you rescued from a tree persisted in clawing at you.

As I posted to another blog--the people who perpetrated this foul and barbaric atrocity are hoping for us to react with a Klaus Barbie-type response.

Use the response advocated by the LGF hate crowd or Mr. Williams and you'll be rewarding those who dragged the bodies of US citizens through the streets. You'll be creating more people who see the US as an enemy.

What you rightwingers don't seem to understand is that while many Iraqis hated and feared Saddam---that doesn't necessarily mean they're big fans of the US.

You also have to understand why Fallujah is the way it is. Anybody remember what happened there in the first days of the occupation?

Fallujah is hardly representative of most Iraqis--they want Saddam back so they can continue to grind the rest of their countrymen underfoot. But yep, Jadegold, we're accustomed at this point to being told that getting machine-gunned, bombed and incinerated by American forces is exactly what these folks are hoping for so we should just sit on our hands and wait for it to happen again.

No, Phil, you're misreading the situation badly. Yes, there are Saddam loyalists scattered throughout Iraq but they're few and far between. If you're looking for the epicenter of Saddam support, Fallujah isn't it. You;d expect to find more loyalists in Tikrit or Baghdad proper.

Again, you're missing the central takeway: those who hate Saddam don't necessarily love the US. An awful lot of Iraqis dislike both Saddam and the US.

In the opening days of the occupation--in Fallujah--US troops opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators, killing a number of Iraqis. Imagine. After nearly 4 decades of being unable to demonstrate, the first chance you get--you're gunned down. Not exactly the way to win hearts and minds.

So, Phil, your solution is just to raze Fallujah and turn it into smoking rubble? I guarantee that won't make our troops safer.

Jade,
Not long ago, a poll taken of Iraqis showed 70% anti-American sentiment in Fallujah, a much higher number than most of the rest of Iraq (sorry I can't find a link on short notice.) It is indeed a viper's nest, and needs to be cleaned out. Pick the method, I prefer the siege over extermination, but if continued progress is to be made, it needs cleaned out.

Patrick: I don't doubt such a poll if it exists.

Again--you're ignoring why Fallujah is anti-American. If you think genocide is going to make Iraqis pro-American, I think you live in an alternative universe.

Of course, little Jade has no clue why Fallujah is anti-American, he just wants to attempt to sound smart. But, since people here have been slapping him around ever since he first raised his little pointy head, it's a futile effort.

Just want to pose this question....if say, the Chinese or the Russians or...who knows...the Canadians came rolling in to the US to "liberate" us from GWB's administration, and in the process killed your wife or your kids or brother or sister, what would you do? As someone who loves America and the people in it, I seriously hope that you all would have the balls to do something about it. What I am having a hard time getting past with everything happening in Iraq these past few days, is the question of what I would be doing right now if I was an Iraqi.