The AP says that 10,000 Marines and US Army soldiers have surrounded Fallujah, that air attacks are underway, and that a ground assault is apparently imminent.
The operation appears to be under command of I Marine Expeditionary Force, a corps-level organization that has command of Marine units, (including part of the 1st Marine Rgt.), as well as part of 1st Cavalry Division, parts of 1st, 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions, as well as assorted other units.
Meanwhile, the BBC has talked to a reporter in Fallujah who states that conditions are very bad. Most of the population has fled, the US troops have blocked the roads, and supplies are running out. The reporter had an election comment: "Many people were hoping John Kerry would win because they felt he would not have allowed our city to be attacked like this."
It is hard to muster much pity for Fallujah, the epicenter of rebellion in Iraq, the good citizens of which hacked American civilian contractors to death, mutilated them and burned their bodies like so much rubbish.
If the people of Fallujah had cooperated with the occupation, remained quiet, gone about their lawful business, joined the political process and participated in the forthcoming elections; their city would be unbombed, there would be food in the shops and they would be living in peace. But they traded the practical benefits of peace and submission for the empty, squalid and bloody path of pointless resistance.
If Fallujah wants mercy, its inhabitants had damn well better surrender, hadn't they?
"Just send in your Chief and surrender -- it's worse if you fights or you runs: You may hide in your caves, they'll be only your graves, but you can't get away from the guns !" -- Rudyard Kipling, "Screw Guns."
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