More Than a City 
Hangs in the Balance in Fallujah

	There seems to me some real folly in the thinking
that Marines should patrol a city they have not yet
subjugated with Iraqi recruits. Who is it that wants
to make our people daily targets out on Fallujah’s
streets? Some have said taking the city by force will
give al-Jazeera and other anti-American media such as
the BBC and CNN an opportunity to criticize the
American campaign to bring democracy to a people who
do not have a clue about freedom. I have news for
those who hold that opinion. These “news agencies” are
going to do whatever they can to put us in a bad light
anyway, and going easy in the Muslim world is a sign
of weakness guaranteed to spawn uprising elsewhere.
	If you are going to have peace in Iraq, the Baath
party members jihadists and criminals who are causing
trouble in Fallujah, along with al-Sadr have to be
killed. That is the reality of life, people who are
making policy about the War on Terror, better deal
with. They cannot be bargained with and they cannot be
reasoned with. What has happened in Fallujah so far
has demonstrated to me that someone making policy has
no concept about how either the Islamic or the
terrorist mind works. Apart from conversion to Christ,
you do not change people with corrupt minds, so in a
war on evil the only alternative is to make them dead.
	In Vietnam we had terminology that fitted what I am
trying to convey to you here. When you kill or destroy
a target, you utterly devastate what you are shooting
at so that nothing is left of the enemy; when you
neutralize the target, you simply destroy its ability
to make war. Neutralization did not work in Vietnam
because the enemy simply faded away and regrouped
until it could once again come out and attack. This is
what happened with some of those we had compassion on
in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now we are being shot at
by some of these same people, along with terrorists
from other countries such as Syria and Iran. While you
know where they are at, do not patrol them! Kill them!
	If it is necessary to level the towns of Fallujah and
Ramadi, so be it. In the long run this will be less
expensive in terms of human life than allowing this
insurgency to go on. I hold all human life sacred, but
common sense says that you have to sometimes act
aggressively in order to minimize casualties and this
is the situation in these towns, just as it was
necessary to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to save both
American and Japanese lives in World War II.
	One of the evidences that I am right in my opinion
comes from a review of those who are on the opposite
side and counseling restraint. Lakhdar Brahimi, the
United Nations envoy says any U.S. attack in Fallujah
is unjustified. He represents the organization that
cut and run with one terrorist bombing, failed at
weapons inspections, and had some of its officials
profiteered in the “Oil for Food” program after Desert
Storm. He has done what he could to damage U.S.
interests in Iraq over the past few weeks, which means
he is a good United Nations man and will be trusted
with greater evil in the future. French radio is of
the opinion contrary to my own. It has been doing its
best to link U.S. policy in Iraq to Israel and the
Palestinians, the propaganda that Arab news agencies
and Imams around the Middle East has been spouting.
There is an old saying about a man being known not
only by the character of his friends, but also by the
kinds of enemies he has. These I have mentioned do not
even know I exist, but if they did they would count me
as an enemy, and I am. We need as a nation to be l
clearer about our friends and enemies.
	I think much damage has already been done. Our
enemies are convinced U.S. resolve has weakened. In
the Middle East, that is a bad opinion for enemies and
even so-called friends to come to. There is a solution
that needs to be enacted immediately. We declare that
anyone shooting at Americans will immediately be
killed, and any building a person shoots from is a
hostile barricade that will be leveled. If a mosque is
a place of worship, use it for that and there will be
no problem. If it is a fortress, it will be razed to
the ground. We have seen the agencies of the Federal
government assault religious places in the U.S. on
pretences, but here in Iraq there is a legitimate
reason for action. Why not act? If the insurgents
respected their mosques they would not use them for
fortresses. If they do not respect them, then why
should we?