WHATEVER THE SOVEREIGN SAYS:

Fallujah Strikes Herald Possible Attack: U.S., Iraq Move To Retake City From Insurgents (Karl Vick, October 16, 2004, Washington Post)

Sharply intensified U.S. strikes on Fallujah, which continued Friday night, were aimed at preparing for a possible military offensive that would return control of the insurgent-held city to Iraq's interim government, U.S. officials said.

"We'll continue to do these operations for the next few days, and then we'll see where we are," said a U.S. official in Baghdad. "It's pretty much all what the Iraqis want."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described 12 hours of overnight strikes by American helicopters, fighter-bombers, field artillery and tanks as "shaping operations." Military commanders use the term as shorthand for battlefield preparation, combat operations specifically intended to remove enemy strong points in advance of an assault.

The new wave of strikes, which also included U.S. and Iraqi infantry firing toward the city from its outskirts, was bracketed by clear signals that Iraq's interim government had lost patience with efforts to avoid a final assault on the city through negotiations.

The first explosions were heard two hours after a senior Iraqi official threatened to "smash" the city if it did not surrender foreign fighters. The State Department on Friday officially designated as terrorists the fighters led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads the Monotheism and Jihad group.

Also Friday, a Fallujah cleric who had been the most prominent member of a delegation negotiating for a peaceful handover of the city was arrested. Khalid Hamoud Jumaili, who heads an insurgent group known as Mohammad's First Army, was taken into custody after Friday prayers at a mosque in a town 10 miles south of Fallujah.

"I think it's more military than political for sure," a U.S. diplomat said of the arrest. The diplomat asked not to be identified further because the interview had not been cleared by his superiors in Washington. "Not to say that when it's done, this won't be seen as a turning point in the political process here."

Officials stopped short of saying that a final decision had been made to retake Fallujah, a city of 300,000 that has been controlled by a volatile mix of local insurgents and foreign fighters since April, when a Marine offensive was abruptly halted on orders from the White House. Since political authority was turned back to the Iraqis in June, the final say on major U.S. military operations has resided with the government of the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

The transfer of sovereignty is one of those cases where the neocons misjudged President Bush's intentions as spectacularly as the Left usually does.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 16, 2004 1:48 PM