October 14, 2004
SO PREDICTABLE, I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE TO BOTHER
U.S., Iraqis launch attacks in Falluja: Suicide bombers kill five in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone (CNN, 10/14/04)
American troops and Iraqi special forces launched a major operation in Falluja late Thursday aimed at disrupting future attacks by insurgents who control the volatile city, the U.S. military said. . . .This decision to go into Falluja right before the election is the worse misuse of the military for political purposes since the President decided not to go into Falluja right before the election. Posted by David Cohen at October 14, 2004 10:52 PM"We've been looking forward to this for a long time," said 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Two infantry battalions -- one from the Marines and one from the Army -- were participating "in and near the city" along with Iraqi special forces, he said. Marine attack jets and helicopters provided close air support and troop transport.
Wait a second--are you trying to tell me that an article by a major newspaper that couldn't find a single "administration official" to go on record might have not been entirely accurate? The mind reels.
Posted by: brian at October 14, 2004 11:01 PMI am sure a major attack on Nov. 1 (around 5:00 PM Eastern time) was ruled out as well.
Fight hard and fight to the end.
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 15, 2004 12:08 AMYes, you called it. Bullseye!
It was funny this morning reading the letters to the editor in the LA Times, all the people saying what a manipulative, evil thing it was that President Bush was waiting to do this -- all the time thinking about your prediction. Cracked me up, which is the opposite reaction to how I usually feel reading the letters.
Posted by: Geo Walsh at October 15, 2004 1:41 AMYou guys slay me with your intellectual diarrhea. There are a half-dozen reports on the Internet that there's been a falling-out between local Ba'athists and Saddam hold-outs on one hand and foreign Arab troops on the other. The majority of Iraqis are totally disgusted with the brutality of Zarqawi and his gang of cutthroats and want them gone. Allawi has said that he wants Zarqawi's head. There are a number of news reports stating that the US and Iraq want to subdue the terrorist hot-spots before the January elections. And you think The President is only hoping to engineer victory in Iraq to interfere with the US election.
The US is exploiting a weakness in the enemy's unity, they're doing what Allawi wants, they're probably acting on fresh intelligence gained from a half-dozen raids (and several dozen high-level FOREIGN fighters captured), and the people of Fallujah are so disgusted with the Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis, Iranians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Sudanese, Yemenis and assorted and sundry other POS's they're probably helping out. If you can't figure that out, go into the used car business - you'll be more successful.
Posted by: Old Patriot at October 15, 2004 2:02 AMPatriot: Ever heard of sarcasm?
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at October 15, 2004 4:29 AMOJ's post and Old Patriot's response: Example #39786578 as to why sarcasm doesn't work well on the Internet.
Posted by: Joe at October 15, 2004 5:21 AMOP: A few days ago, Orrin blogged an LAT article which asserted that there would be no action in Falluja before the election. His headline was something like "THE FALLUJA OFFENSIVE BEGINS IN 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . ."
Posted by: Mike Morley at October 15, 2004 6:28 AMHey guys, the prescience was David's. Orrin's glimpse into the future is the collapse of Canada, Europe, Russia and China.
Posted by: Peter B at October 15, 2004 7:19 AM