Sunday, November 14, 2004

Another quagmire that wasn't

We are just pushing them against the anvil... It's a broad attack against the entire southern front." - Col. Michael Formica, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade.

MSNBC reports that the entire city of Fallujah has been occupied, after six days of fighting, at a cost of 31 American and six Iraqi lives, according to Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

This, of course, is vaguely reminiscent of the Battle for Baghdad in April 2003, which, despite preemptive cries of "quagmire," was over almost before it started, even with a three-day standstill for a sandstorm.

Do a Google search for "war in iraq," and you'll get over 15 million results. But even though people get very huffy when the phrase "mission accomplished" is tossed around, it seems to me that the actual "war" phase of the War in Iraq is indeed over, and has been for quite some time. Aren't we more in a police action / occupation stage at this point? There's a difference.

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