Word: fallujah
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...battle for Fallujah is won - at least for now. The city's insurgent defenders ultimately proved no match for the awesome organization and firepower brought to bear by some 15,000 U.S. and allied troops, and resistance appears to have been mostly overcome within six days of fierce fighting. But despite the decisive tactical victory, the battle to recapture Fallujah has also produced indicators suggesting that winning the counterinsurgency war in Iraq may have become even more difficult...
...even as they began rolling into Fallujah a week ago, U.S. field commanders warned that hundreds of the insurgents had already slipped away, having known for months that a frontal assault was coming. These insurgents, and others located elsewhere throughout the Sunni areas in Baghdad and to the north responded to the Fallujah offensive by taking to the streets of cities from the capital all the way up to Mosul, emerging from the shadows in groups numbering up to 50 fighters at a time to brazenly confront U.S. and Iraqi government forces in broad daylight. Within a day of pronouncing...
...allies plan to maintain control. In Samarrah, cleared of insurgents by U.S. forces working with Iraqi troops some six weeks ago, the U.S. left behind Iraqi troops on garrison duty to safeguard reconstruction efforts, and the idea is to follow a similar model in Fallujah. But over the past two weeks, the insurgency has proved itself to be very much alive in Samarrah, with insurgents taking a heavy toll on the Iraqi security forces. And the tactics that the insurgents employed in and around Fallujah suggest there's good reason to suspect they are likely to begin reentering the city...
...Fallujah so far has done little to assuage doubts over the capability and reliability of the Iraqi forces. Those deployed in the city have mostly been used to search areas already cleared by the U.S. forces - hence the far lower casualty figure among the Iraqis, who are reported to have lost only five men. Reports of hundreds of desertions shortly before the battle from one Iraqi unit deployed on the frontline around Fallujah, and the disappointment expressed by the U.S. commander at Mosul over the fact that most of the Iraqi police in the city had simply fled their stations...
...Smashing Fallujah's insurgency might make voting in that city easier, but it could also drive embittered Sunnis everywhere to boycott the balloting, as many hard-line clerics are urging. U.S. officials acknowledge that violence in some areas could make it too dangerous for residents to vote. The U.S. wanted the U.N. to organize and monitor the balloting to ensure credibility, but it won't send more than a few trained experts as long as its staff may not be safe. Insurgents are sure to challenge the legitimacy of any government elected under questionable circumstances. "Iraqis have no experience with...