Correspondence
Correspondence A Note from Falluja Here in Falluja, Iraq, I have been following closely the series of articles written by William Kristol, Fred Barnes, Frederick W. Kagan, Reuel Marc Gerecht, and...
...Gens...
...I'm not sure this message is reaching those it should...
...Let me tell you, the impacts were loud...
...From a Marine officer on active duty (name withheld) Falluja, Iraq Go-Time for Generals Regarding Frederick W. Kagan and William Kristol's "Time for a Heavier Footprint" (Nov...
...27): It's about time someone criticized Gen...
...John Abizaid—in fact, Gen...
...No True Glory, an account of the battle of Falluja by military scholar and Vietnam veteran Bing West, shows how many erroneous decisions were made by Gen...
...They have written the most accurate assessments of our current situation on the ground...
...13), which concisely stated why we are here and why we have to stay no matter what...
...Abizaid and Paul Bremer...
...Your efforts mean a lot to those of us on the ground who want to fight this reckless evil and crush it where it hides in the towns and cities...
...now they should be gone, too...
...We knew it was incoming right away, but there was nothing to do: It is truly a helpless feeling to hear the incoming sirens after an impact...
...I also read Frederick W. Kagan's "No Third Way in Iraq" (Nov...
...The latter two were 20 and 22 years old, and the major, whom I knew as an acquaintance, was only three weeks younger than I. On top of that, I witnessed the killing of a civilian 75 meters from where I was sitting by a 120 mm mortar five weeks ago...
...Abizaid and Casey have had their heads in the sand long enough...
...About three to four weeks ago I had a series of conversations with numerous peers who all agreed that things must change on the ground...
...Correspondence A Note from Falluja Here in Falluja, Iraq, I have been following closely the series of articles written by William Kristol, Fred Barnes, Frederick W. Kagan, Reuel Marc Gerecht, and others...
...It was exactly what I needed to read at that point in this deployment...
...Unfortunately, Kagan's predictions of what may happen if we abandon the cities too soon may indeed prove true if we continue on our current course...
...George Casey should be included in the criticism, too...
...They also delayed the attack on Falluja, which resulted in heavy Marine losses...
...At least someone is posing a plausible solution to the endless violence...
...I have seen some dark days recently...
...I tell you with full certainty that we are at a true crossroads out here, and it would do the United States well to listen to the advice of such men as yourselves, advice that can be summed up in one sentence: Send more troops to establish real security in the cities so that we may provide more time and logistics for the Iraqi army and police to train effectively before they take control of those cities...
...T. Kevin Moriarty Libertyville, Ill...
...Rumsfeld is gone...
...Kagan actually managed to change my thought process regarding our problems in Iraq...
...They had a chance to kill Moktada al-Sadr but didn't do it because they feared being wrong...
...We need The Weekly Standard's writers and thinkers to continue to press on in attempting to influence the quagmire that is Washington politics...
...Just this month, I attended two memorial services—one today for a female major (also a triathlete) who was killed in Ramadi last week, and another last week for two soldiers who were part of our Camp Vallejo Quick Reaction Force (QRF...
...I blame President Bush for letting these two lead American troops...
...We have some serious problems, and unless we do something drastic to change our current course of action, unless we provide a secure environment, there is a good chance Iraq will succumb to the worst sectarian violence as soon as we leave...
Vol. 12 • December 2006 • No. 15
