The hard lessons of Fallujah

• This is not the type of military operation United States forces want to engage in reports the San Franciso Chronicle, especially with the potential to spark resistance in other Iraqi cities. Contemplating scenarios in which the death of Iraqi civilians could stir mass uprisings before and after the July 1 handover of power to an Iraqi transitional government helped concentrate the minds of military commanders to seek a "middle" ground.

• Ending the siege of Fallujah and pulling back US troops while at the same time handing over security responsibility to Sunni forces inside the city demonstrates a real transfer of authority to Iraqis, writes the Guardian.

• The pullout allows a critical minority group in Iraq, Sunnis, to feel a sense of "enfranchisement" in what life might be like after full Iraq sovereignty and the withdrawal of coalition forces leave a Shiite majority controlling the government, reports The New York Times.

• Successfully resolving the siege of Fallujah serves as a model for dealing with a similar situation in the city of Najaf with the radical, militia-backed cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, reports the San Franciso Chronicle.

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Whether the FPA can end a month of deadly clashes with Sunni insurgents, however much desired, remains to be seen, reports the New York Times.

It is unclear, however, how much power the new Iraqi force will be able to exert over the embattled insurgents, who have shown some military skill and are said to include foreign fighters. There is much skepticism among United States forces about the effectiveness of Iraqi soldiers, many of whom refused to fight alongside Americans in Fallujah.

Placing Iraqis - not Americans - on the front lines to control Fallujah with its thousands of Baathist loyalists, Islamic insurgents, and foreign fighters eases a number of problems for US forces. Yet too many of the details of the military handover to Iraqi forces are still unknown, writes conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan in his Daily Dish blog.

I'm aware that we have to strike a balance here - between quelling unrest and provoking more of it. But if we had the chance to eradicate a whole swathe of Baathist/Islamist terrorists and walked away, then it would amount to a huge miscalculation. In my lower moments, it makes me worry if the Bush administration has begun to abandon Iraq to internal chaos. I cannot believe they would do that. But this Fallujah reversal is mystifying, to say the least.

Sullivan uneasily wonders if the US decision to pull out of Fallujah furthers that strategy. He raises these concerns in the context of the bigger geo-political war against terrorism and approvingly quotes a German blogger, Davids Medienkritick, as having President Bush's war on terror strategy correct.

Only when two things come together can the network of self-declared holy warriors really be weakened: Tough resistance from the outside through the Western democracies and a clear distancing of the moderates in the Moslem world, especially among the clerics, from such extremists. George Bush has realized that from the beginning and made that excessively clear with his visits to mosques: The terrorists can only be stopped together with Islam.

The BBC reports that "US Marines will remain in positions around the city to support the Iraqis and will still be in overall command."

Also...
• Poll: Majority of Iraqis are optimistic ( UPI
• On the beat with a plastic helmet ( Aljazeera
• Britain seeks legal resolution for deployment after June 30 ( The Washington Times)
• US tests way out of Fallujah ( The Christian Science Monitor)

• Feedback appreciated. E-mail Jim Bencivenga .