Fran Poretto usually writes well in his Curmudgeon Emeritus page but the Falluja attack seems to have temporarily unhinged him (and he is personally one of the nicest guys I've met). His tantrum advocating Rome's solution to Carthage merited a decent response so I put one in comments. Here it is for you, below:
I'd like my military response to be effective, not merely viscerally satisfying on the lowest animalistic level. We're trying to create a new FRG without having to deal with the memories of a new Dresden firebombing. We want to move to Iraqi control of their territory as fast as possible and maintain a relationship that allows us significant facilities in Iraq for the follow-on campaigns we will need to do against Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.Posted by TMLutas at April 2, 2004 10:03 AMLooking past the first week, all of these goals will be set back or made impossible. We're playing a bigger game. I want the military to go in, get the guilty, spare the innocent, and continue the excellent job they have been doing up to now.
I expect death sentences for the war crimes of body desecration and purposefully attacking civilians. I would not be averse for sentence to be carried out at the infamous bridge over the Euphrates or at the site of the attack.
I expect justice to be carried out, swift, sure, relentless, with little pity but justice. Reprisals which will lead to increased US casualties in the long run are simply off the table. This is not for their sake, but for ours.