Friday, 30 April 2004 - 8:46 PM CDT

Your a little behind on events, aren't you? Take a look over at Informed Comment and read the guest piece by former CIA station chief for Saudi Arabia, Ray Close.

"This represents a humiliating defeat [in Fallujah] for those who have argued that the United States had no choice but to "pacify" Fallujah, arrest the insurgents, confiscate their weapons, and reestablish the authority of the American military occupation forces. The new plan would accomplish none of those explicit and uncompromising assertions made repeatedly over the past few weeks by the president himself, by US military commanders in the field, and (please note) by politicians in the United States of BOTH PARTIES".

Saturday, 1 May 2004 - 2:42 AM CDT

The savages are still holed up there, so how am I behind on things? Let those rotten cowards come out of their mosques and stop hiding behind women and children and Cpl. Reyes will reach his bag limit inside of half an hour.

Sunday, 2 May 2004 - 12:52 AM CDT

You just don't seem to be following the news on this.

The US has climbed down in Fallujah and hired one of Saddam's generals to run a security force. It's really a stark reversal and defeat for the Americans. Read this.

"US marines handed over control of Fallujah to a former general in Saddam Hussein's army yesterday and began to withdraw troops from positions close to the besieged city.

"In a significant climbdown by the US, the former Republican Guard general Jasim Mohammed Saleh arrived in Fallujah to take command of 1,100 soldiers from the disbanded Iraqi army who live in the city".

Sunday, 2 May 2004 - 9:21 PM CDT

It's too soon to declare me uninformed, Deep Blade. Our boys haven't gone anywhere and that generalissimo/savior you seem to think so much of isn't all he appears to be. Stay tuned. So will I.

Sunday, 2 May 2004 - 11:35 PM CDT

Since when do I "think so much" of former Republican Guard general Jasim Mohammed Saleh? According to a story I cited, "Gen. Saleh was a level-two Baath member, a position of power and privilege normally only earned by paying more than lip service to Saddam. And in 1991, when Shiites rebelled, he was among those ordered to crush it by all means necessary".

Shouldn't YOU too be concerned about the rehab of Saddam's tools after all that fine rhetoric the president has given about mass graves over the last many months? Look, I've wanted Saddam removed as badly as most war supporters, and for a lot longer (since 1975) than most war supporters. I just thought attack, conquest, and occupation were the wrong ways of going about it. But I also felt it was wrong, in April 1991, for G. H. W. Bush to send Schwarzkopf to tell Saddam's generals they should crush the rebellion with Iraq's US-supplied helicopters?especially after Bush inspired the rebellion in the first place. How do you think those mass graves got filled?

General Myers's denials notwithstanding, the Marines are in the process of standing down in Fallujah, according to reports from the scene. But I agree, Myers has very much confused the situation. So, yes, we'll see.