Quote Of The Day: Fallujah

Here's Bing West, a former assistant defense secretary, from the July issue of the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute (not yet on line), quoted in an editorial in today's WSJ:

"Their valor is absent from this war because it is not reported. In Fallujah for instance, 100 Marine squads engaged in 200 firefights in cement rooms, using rifles, pistols, grenades and knives. By any historical comparison, this was extraordinary. In Hue City in 1968, there was one fight inside a house. In the entire history of the SWAT teams in the United States, there have not been 200 fights with automatic weapons inside rooms. Yet the courage of our soldiers and Marines in battles in Fallujah, Najaf, etc. received little press notice. Now we face the test of whether the press will place the tragedy of Haditha in perspective, or whether Haditha will unfairly become a false symbol....

"What happens if the youth of America adopt the same fractious attitudes as their political leaders? Who then will serve? In the tone of our criticisms while we are at war, we as a nation should be very careful that we do not undercut our own martial resolve. If we as a nation lose heart, who will fight for us?"

Did you know that stat about Fallujah vs. SWAT? I sure didn't. Where are the Ernie Pyles? Where is the next John Wayne?

Photo: Luis Sinco, LATimes
Related Tags: Iraq, Fallujah, Hadditha, Global War on Terror