Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Fallujuh is not under seige nor is it encircled.
The media is getting on my nerves. Everyone one from the NY Times to CNN is calling what is happening in Fallujah as a siege. The thing is that it is just plain silly to describe what is happening in Fallujah as a “siege” and it is even more ridiculous to say that the Americans have the city encircled. Yes, the Americans do have enough troops to seal off the major roads. However, the population of the city itself is around 300,000 and when the surrounding area is included you are talking about 500,000 people. 3500 could not possibly encircle the area. Once more, the area to the east is flatland with plenty of back roads still left open. As for siege tactics, the US is not using any. The Americans have little in the way of amour and basically no artillery. For the most part, small teams of American foot soldiers trade pot shots with insurgents armed with AK47s and RPGs. Not surprisingly, a disproportionate number of Iraqis have been killed by snipers. When insurgents attempt any sort of board scale attack, the marines call in air support.
The media is getting on my nerves. Everyone one from the NY Times to CNN is calling what is happening in Fallujah as a siege. The thing is that it is just plain silly to describe what is happening in Fallujah as a “siege” and it is even more ridiculous to say that the Americans have the city encircled. Yes, the Americans do have enough troops to seal off the major roads. However, the population of the city itself is around 300,000 and when the surrounding area is included you are talking about 500,000 people. 3500 could not possibly encircle the area. Once more, the area to the east is flatland with plenty of back roads still left open. As for siege tactics, the US is not using any. The Americans have little in the way of amour and basically no artillery. For the most part, small teams of American foot soldiers trade pot shots with insurgents armed with AK47s and RPGs. Not surprisingly, a disproportionate number of Iraqis have been killed by snipers. When insurgents attempt any sort of board scale attack, the marines call in air support.
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