The New York Times is reporting "As military officials here prepare to start letting the first residents return to Falluja, possibly as soon as mid-December, they face an unusual challenge: how to win back the confidence of the people whose city they have just destroyed."
Those testy Iraqi's. Merely because their homes have been destroyed they don't feel any confidence in the United States of America.
More after break ...
"The full extent of the damage inflicted by American bombs, tanks and artillery is only now becoming apparent. The number of buildings destroyed in the fighting is far higher than 200, the figure released last week by the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi, engineers and commanders say. The city's power lines are so badly damaged that in most of the city, they will have to be ripped out and rebuilt from scratch - a project that will take six months to a year, American engineers say. Damage to the city's water and sewer pipes, already badly corroded before the invasion, is milder but will also take months to repair."
Never fear, however, U.S. corporations are on the job!
"Reconstruction projects undertaken in Najaf since the fighting there in August, for instance, have been plagued by corruption, overpayment and shoddy work, relief officials said."
However, there is some indications We Are Winning Hearts and Minds!
"They are all liars, the government and the Americans," Mr. Humood said, a 38-year-old cigarette seller who had stayed in the city during the battle. "The mujahedeen didn't hurt us. They helped us."
But success can not - and should not - be measured by the quality of life of the People Formerly Known as Residents of Falluja. The goal of the Urban Renewal project was to destroy the insurgents and bring peace and democracy to the embattled city.
"So far, it is far from clear that the Americans can keep insurgents out of the city. Some appear to be living there now, relying on the Americans for emergency food and water during the day and attacking them by night, according to both American commanders and Iraqis living in the area. All of them are young men, some with suspicious wounds, and all have the same story: they stayed in the city to protect their family's property. Some even wear the distinctive black clothes and tennis shoes favored by the insurgents. "
What more could one ask?
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!