while the election may be behind us, the issues that propelled such strong feelings and passionate criticism of the administration's handling of iraq havent gone away. 

offered for your consideration:

insurgents--most likely hoping to blunt the imminent attack on fallouja--launched a series of attacks today  killing a number of civilians and injuring many more, including nearly 2 dozen american troops according to ap reports.  the fiercest fighting was centered in samarra--the city which had been 'recaptured' in september.  coalition commanders and the iraqi government planned to make samarra the model on which fallouja would be brought under control.

samarra was once the capital of the muslim caliphate that extended from spain to india.  today's violence included an attack on the police station, mortar attacks and two suicide car bombs. one of the vehicle used was reportedly a stolen iraqi police truck (a second iraqi police truck was used in a suicide bombing in ramadi that wounded 16 us soldiers).  samarra  victims included the local iraqi police commander who was killed ; 17 iraqi police were wounded.   responsibility for the samarra-based violence has been claimed--but not verified--by the al-quaida affiliate headed by abu masab  al-zaqawi (believed to be headquartered in fallouja).

"The experience that occurred in Samarra is now being repeated again in Fallouja, and we can see that nothing was achieved in Samarra," ayad al-samaraei of the sunni-led iraqi islamic party told al-jazeera television, referring to attacks today.. "The situation is still as it was before"  the sunni  association of muslim scholars plans to call for a nationwide boycott if fallouja is attacked. 

26 saudi scholars and religious preachers posted a group missive online friday opining their belief armed resistance against american troops and their Iraqi allies was a "legitimate right" and issuing a fatwa prohibiting iraqis from supporting us military operations that included the following text:

"Fighting the occupiers is a duty for all those who are able.  It is a jihad to push back the assailants ... Resistance is a legitimate right. A Muslim must not inflict harm on any resistance man or inform about them. Instead, they should be supported and protected."

while  the attacks today,  the sunni clerics'  reaction to them and  the fatwa in anticipation of a coalition attack on fallouja are unlikely to impact the us strategy or  the upcoming assault by us troops--at least as far as our determination to see it through--it may well change the minds of iraqi troops who have been considered a crucial strategic element in pacifying iraq in anticipation of an election in january.  without a clear iraqi presence/participation in the process of retaking iraq from the insurgency, that election timeline is serious jeopardy. 

several issues need to be carefully considered in light of today's insurgency' resurgence in samarra.  is samarra a failed model?  to what extent is the deplorable handling of fallouja last april haunting our current efforts there?  if you have any question as to my using 'deplorable' as a characterization, please read this Link before offering your opinion. (i wont troll you or anything if you dont but dont blame me if you wind up lookin foolish).  finally, now that it's clear that the explosives in al-aqaqaa were taken by iraqi looters and looking at that in light of the other serious mistakes made in iraq over the past 2 years, is this administration--with, or despite, its mandate--capable of successfully prosecuting a war unless or until it divests itself of rumsfeld and his neopack?