The Senescent Man

This is from a post in Slate by Bing West, author and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the Reagan administration, which highlights just what it was we were fighting for in Fallujah, and what a tremendous success it was.  It stands as one of only a few bits from a MSM source (sort of) that hits it dead straight.  An excerpt:

Politically, Fallujah was as infected as the air at the torture house at the corner of the park. Many of the residents were complicit in the reign of terror. Whether the city returns to its murderous ways depends on the resolve of the Iraqi security forces now moving into the city. Voter turnout in January will be an indictor of how the political winds are blowing.

Militarily, the battle of Fallujah was an unqualified success. Zarqawi has been deprived of his sanctuary. He will spend more time on the run and have less time to blow up and decapitate people. His followers have been hit hard, many killed and others uprooted. Just today, an Egyptian, a Yemenite, and a Sudanese crawled out from the rubble and surrendered…

…After lynching … Americans on the Euphrates bridge [prior to the US invasion], the [Islamic] fundamentalists painted an Arabic verse on the right trestle. It read:

“Fallujah—Graveyard of the American Marine Corps.”

On the left trestle, in thick black paint a Marine had scrawled a newer inscription. It read:

"This is for the Americans of Blackwater

murdered here in 2004.

Semper Fidelis,  3/5  Dark Horse"

You can read the whole thing here.