In the most recent post on the Belmont Club, Retreat, Hell!, Wretchard provides typically clear and detailed insight into the tactical and strategic significance of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s activities in Fallujah:
Although the appearance of the Fallujah Protection Army (FPA) and its effects still remain to be seen, the mystery of it origins has been solved at last. It appears to be a creature of the Marines themselves, tricked out in Iraqi uniform. This would go a long way toward explaining the kind of training Marines were providing to Iraqis in southeastern industrial area of the city. They were training locals who will be assigned police duties.
Read the whole thing.
I sincerely hope that Wretchard’s analysis is correct. A more disquieting possibility is that the Marines are turning Fallujah over to the very force that they were fighting. I also wonder how we–or CENTCOM–could tell.
UPDATE:
Wretchard wonders the same thing (via email):
This is the essential question. It will be settled in a couple of days, at most.
