American commanders' new plan for Ramadi: 'Get rid of it'

RAW STORY
Published: Tuesday July 4, 2006

American commanders have a new plan for Ramadi, the "epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency and the focus of a grinding struggle between American forces and the guerrillas," according to an article slated for the front page of Wednesday's New York Times: "Get rid of it."

"In three years, the Marines and the army have tried nearly everything to bring this provincial capital of 400,000 under control," writes Dexter Filkins. "Nothing has worked."

"Now, American commanders are trying something totally new," the article continues. "They are going to get rid of it, planning to bulldoze about three blocks in the middle of the city and convert them into a "Green Zone," a version of the fortified and largely stable area that houses the Iraqi and American leadership in Baghdad."

Excerpts from the Times article:

#

The Government Center in the middle of this devastated town resembles a fortress on the wild edge of some frontier: It's sandbagged, barricaded, full of men ready to shoot, surrounded by rubble and enemies eager to get inside.

The American Marines here live eight to a room, rarely shower for lack of running water and defecate in bags that are taken outside and burned. The threat of snipers is ever-present; daytime temperatures hover around 120 degrees. The food is tasteless; the windows boarded up. The place reeks of urine. The casualties are heavy, too.

So it goes in this epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency and the focus of a grinding struggle between American forces and the guerrillas.

#

FULL TIMES ARTICLE HERE