Falluja has to be the longest running drama since Gunsmoke. How many weeks/months have we read about negotiations, months ago between Shiite clerics and Muqsada al-Sadr, and now between the Iraqi "government" and Falluja "representatives." Bombing raids on suspected insurgent strongholds seem to take place daily, with the requisite statements from each side - the "carefully targeted strongholds based on reliable intelligence" from the U.S. and the reports of dead women and children from doctors at hospitals.
Whom are we to believe?
The mainstream press says it can't confirm either because the area is too dangerous. The Lancet report didn't include Falluja in its calculation of 100,000 dead civilians.
And how many weeks have we been reading about the marines preparing for the big assault? Some here are suggesting that they will attack in the next 24 hours or so to try and rally voters around Bush. I doubt that. I don't see anything they have to gain by more U.S. casualty reports, and even the commanders on the ground concede that the battle will be bloody. Having said that, I could be wrong; I wouldn't put anything past these guys.
But the invevitable tragedy is that the attack is coming at some point, and the human price will be large on both sides, and that won't change even if we elect Janene Garofolo on Tuesday. [Have any of you yet allowed yourself to think about just how weird it will be to have a lame duck President during a war? Will they consult with the Kerry team on major moves? Will Kerry have to immediately name a Secretary of Defense, and would he be kept informed? Not the time for this discussion I suppose...]
And even if Kerry was immediately in charge, who really knows what his approach to Falluja would be? In the first debate, as part of a response to a question about getting troops out of Iraq, he responded:
What I want to do is change the dynamics on the ground. And you have to do that by beginning to not back off of the Fallujahs and other places, and send the wrong message to the terrorists.
Perhaps he was just saying the type of thing he needs to in order to get elected. [MY GOD!! DEMOCRATS DO THAT TOO?] Given his remarks in the past about the horrors of the free fire zones in Vietnam, I suspect he would have a better plan. Let's hope we find out soon.