Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Every day, the prospect of an all-out attack on the city of Fallujah seems both closer and realer. Bombing raids continue daily, always claiming to be "precision strikes against Zarqawi hideouts and fighting positions." (As I said the other day, just how many hideouts is this guy supposed to have in one city?) Ground-based raids in outlying areas have been added with the avowed intent of provoking a response from insurgents who then can be attacked from the air.

Oh, and progress is being made, yes it is. Reuters reported on October 23 that

[t]he U.S. military says the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Falluja is a shrinking sanctuary for Zarqawi's group....

Yeah, and "the noose is tightening" about Osama bin Laden, too.

And all those reports about civilian casualties? Ignore them. Because they don't exists amid our "precision strikes" and all those people in hospitals aren't really there and that isn't really blood.

Except of course for those who really are injured or killed, but that's not our fault, it's their own, US officials said in one of the more chilling comments of recent months:

"Those who associate with terrorists and kidnappers, including family members who support such efforts, are accountable," the U.S. statement said.

And if al-Qaeda had said in the wake of 9/11 something like "those who associate with the crusaders and imperialists, including those who work for them and support them, are accountable," how would we have described such a statement?