More INDC Journal INIRAQ
Bill Ardolino has left downtown Fallujah and returned to Camp Fallujah. In this post he sets forth “some anecdotes, random facts, amusing stories and personal reflections on the experience” of being in the police station downtown. Here’s a taste:
Over the weekend, several policemen were driving just outside the gate when rounds struck the hood of their vehicle. They dismounted to shoot at insurgents firing from a building and one patrolman was shot through the upper chest. He dropped to the ground, stood back up and continued to engage the enemy. Soon thereafter, his buddies threw him in the truck and drove him back to the station, where Corpsmen Doc J and Doc Watson treated him. The man had trouble breathing and the bullet had probably nicked his lung, but the docs were confident he would survive.
Days later, looking at the twisted remains of dead insurgents lent stark perspective: this is what death looks like, this is how and where the fiery struggle ends. All that these people were – very much like the animated Iraqis milling about them – is gone, and only a broken husk remains. I forced myself to look at them, and despite my respect for life and the tangible gravity of the reminder about war’s stakes, as well as the gruesome nature of their poses and and injuries, I remained oddly unmoved. Clinical. I’m not sure what to think about that, except an apathetic “fuck ’em, they’re terrorists.”
Once you’ve heard the first-hand stories and seen what terrorist insurgents are doing to both Americans and the people in this city, you might feel that way too. I don’t know.
Reading the entire post, together with Bill’s other posts from inside the city, I get the impression that our guys there are really impressive — and that the city is very, very dangerous and chaotic.
Patterico said…
Abu Wingnut (2c641e) — 1/12/2007 @ 10:23 pmNo shit, sherlock.
Abu Wingnut (2c641e) — 1/12/2007 @ 10:24 pmSo you agree that Bill, a moderately right-wing embed, is providing an accurate picture of Fallujah.
I’m thrilled to have your agreement, my dear Watson.
Patterico (a8fa4a) — 1/12/2007 @ 10:35 pmJust a reminder that the second Marine assault on Fallujah in November, 2004 was promised to “break the back of the insurgency.”
If you folks were the slightest bit intellectually honest, you’d hold the Bush Administration responsible for a claim like that. Essentially, the decision was made to destroy a city the size of Boston in order to end the insurgency. The city was destroyed yet the insurgency grew stronger. To me, this is a far more serious misstep than AP publishing the pseudonym of an Iraqi source – but that’s just me.
The Liberal Avenger (c93dac) — 1/12/2007 @ 10:44 pmIf that is your standard for intellectual honesty, then we’d be “holding folks accountable” until doomsday.
I mean, who hold Pelosi accountable for implying that the voting machines in the 06 election were being controlled by evil wingnut Diebolders (OH NOES)?
OHNOES (3b3653) — 1/13/2007 @ 12:06 amYou think Diebolds aren’t susceptible to fraud?
Try Googling for ‘Harri Hursti Diebold hack’
Abu Wingnut (2c641e) — 1/13/2007 @ 12:15 amOh man, were they ever susceptible to fraud! In fact, Pelosi was right, and you were right. The way those Rethuglikkkan hicks swept the nation in 06 courtesy of their ubar-l33t Diebold hax… it was RIDICULOUS!
OHNOES (3b3653) — 1/13/2007 @ 12:18 amApparently they didn’t use the hack.
But that doesn’t change the fact that it exists and is not being fixed.
Abu Wingnut (2c641e) — 1/13/2007 @ 12:24 amLiberal Avenger,
So, Fallujah is not really there? And the insurgency has grown stronger than what?
Promised? Like that pony for Christmas? Quote please.
Pablo (08e1e8) — 1/13/2007 @ 4:41 amAdvocates for the New InSURGEncy might want to think about the potential blowback upon our own domestic experiment in democracy. Constitutional confrontation with an Executive Branch consumed with it’s own importance is as grave, if not more so, than the plight of Iraq.
Semanticleo (e8f396) — 1/13/2007 @ 8:29 amThe problem with the GWOT and Iraq is that Americans are not serious about winning it. Instead the politicos are so frettful about what the other wimps in the world will think about us that they forget their primary purpose is to preserve, protect, and defend our nation.
Here’s one way they can correct that spinelessness and win this war.
CRUSH POLITICAL ISALM!
Dubya (c16726) — 1/13/2007 @ 8:47 aman Executive Branch consumed with it’s own importance
Good lord…I assume you are attempting to say that with a straight face in the wake of Congressional diarrhetic rants such as Uncle Teddy’s wish that Iraq’s end be like Vietnam’s, Babs Boxer “my uterus is better than yours” slam against Dr. Rice, and David Wu’s claim that the Whitehouse is not full of logical Vulcans but faux Klingons “Unlike the real (sic) Klingons, these faux Klingons have never been in a war. Don’t let faux Klingons send real Americans to war!”
Darleen (543cb7) — 1/13/2007 @ 9:00 amI don’t wish any more ill will upon Dr. Rice than that which she has suffered post-Bush. But if Kissinger can preserve his emeritus status despite his unindicted war crimes, I think she’ll be OK.
Semanticleo (e8f396) — 1/13/2007 @ 9:09 amI do hope she imitates Kissinger’s disdain for progeny.
Semanticleo (e8f396) — 1/13/2007 @ 9:11 am“I would never expose my child to a world I helped create” Dr. Henry Kissinger.
Semanticleo (e8f396) — 1/13/2007 @ 9:17 amI wouldn’t wish that upon their children, either.
Semanticleo (e8f396) — 1/13/2007 @ 9:20 am…including the right of
douchebagspeople like semantic leo to voice theirdumbassopinions.You think you’d be able to say anything but “Allahu Akbar” inder Islamic rule? You got a better idea than surrender to them, then voice it instead of throwing poo on the discussion.
Dubya (c16726) — 1/13/2007 @ 10:17 amActually, if we had “destroyed” the City of Fallujah immediately following the incident of the four Blackwater contractors, we would probably be having a lot fewer problems in Iraq now. Fallujah, then and now, in by book, is a prime candidate for “Carthagination”.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 1/13/2007 @ 2:21 pmAlthough Falluja escaped destruction, there’s was no better place to start fighting the real war against islam than there. It should have been leveled as a reminder to the terrorist scum that like them, we are now fighting for keeps and fighting for our survival. Each town that continually supports the insurgency should be bombed into the dustbin of history. There is no other way and to avoid the fight today means we’ll be fighting there again later.
Jack Burton (40fb78) — 1/13/2007 @ 3:50 pmYour article is very informative and helped me further.
Thanks, David
davidvogt (9ff32e) — 2/3/2007 @ 8:24 am