Surprise

As you've no doubt heard, US and Iraqi forces are in action in Fallujah, in what appears to be an escalating series of raids into the city.

The military is playing their intentions close to the vest:

Maj. Francis Piccoli, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told The Associated Press that two Marine battalions were engaged in the fight backed up by aircraft.

He would not say the attack was the start of a major campaign to recapture the city, saying he did not want to jeopardize any future operations.

Piccoli said the goal of the operation was to ''disrupt the capabilities of the anti-Iraqi forces.''

Speaking as someone who has grown deeply cynical over the media's role in this election and in trying to shape US policy, this remark from Gandelman was interesting:

And the L.A. Times piece [claiming that the administration was holding off on offensive operations untl after the election] may have been "information" released as a smokescreen to gain the elementary of surprise. As someone who worked on a newspaper I can attest that there is an ongoing battle about whom will use whom -- will the source use the reporter or the reporter use the source? In this case, this certainly qualifies as a major military operation -- so it looks as if military sources used misinformation to lull the "insurgents" into a false sense of normalcy..

Did it work against the insurgents? Possibly.

It seemed to work against the less-astute lefty bloggers...

Posted by Mitch at October 15, 2004 03:00 AM | TrackBack