Sattler: "We Have Liberated Fallujah"

Via the WaPo:

A top Marine commander in Iraq said on Sunday that "we have liberated" Fallujah six days after the U.S.-led assault against the insurgent stronghold began and efforts would continue against isolated pockets of resistance fighters.

"We will not stop until we have cleared each and every building in town," said Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, from a military outpost near the Sunni Muslim city.

Sattler said at least 31 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers have died in the assault and that the number of U.S. wounded was "up in the high 200s," with some of those already returned to duty.

Of course even the most heroic figure has his Nemesis.  Lest we be unduly encouraged by General Sattler's overly optimistic assessment: the Prince of Darkness rises from the dead to give us the true picture:

But in what sense is this "winning?"

To win means not just to occupy the city, but to do so in a way that knocks the local opponent permanently out of the fight, demoralizes broader resistance, and builds legitimacy for U.S. aims, methods and allies. Seen this way, the battle for Fallujah is not just a matter of shooting. It is part of a larger bargaining process that has included negotiations, threats and staged preparations to pressure insurgent groups into preemptive surrender, to deprive them of popular tolerance and support, and to demonstrate to the Iraqi people and to others that force was used only as a last resort in order to gain increased legitimacy for the interim Iraqi government.

Even the use of force required a further calculus. Had we relentlessly destroyed the city and killed large numbers of innocent civilians, or suffered crippling losses in the fighting, we most certainly would have been judged "losers." And if we can't hold on and prevent the insurgents from infiltrating back in -- as has now occurred in the recently "liberated" city of Samarra -- we also shall have lost.

Where is Donovan when you need him?  We should have put a stake through his heart after Super Tuesday...

- Cassandra