US commanders welcome Fallujah revival
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
9 Feb 2008
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Women shrouded in black shop for gold jewelry and fabric. Young boys tote trays of tea. The smell of tangerines wafts through the air. This is Fallujah 2008 — a former insurgent stronghold that U.S. commanders now hold up as an example for the rest of Iraq.
...
Fallujans were all smiles on Saturday as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, strolled helmetless through the central bazaar in the city. He stopped to drink tea and chat with vendors in a maze of stalls peddling everything from fruit to patterned rugs, most imported from Syria.
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Abdul-Rahman Muhsin, a 42-year-old clothes vendor in the Fallujah market, said the turning point came when Americans began allowing residents to maintain one weapon at home.
"This overdue measure helped the people to defend themselves," he said. "Now, whenever we see al-Qaida attacking our neighbor, we don't have stand watching from the sidelines but we can all fight al-Qaida together."
Ah, yes: allowing limited 2nd Amendment rights does the trick!
Almost four years after W cited Fallujah as a model for Iraqi/American cooperation, at long last, maybe today it really is!
Could stability in Fallujah have been achieved if we'd not been there? Could it have been achieved more quickly?
We'll never know.
Can we afford another four years to stabilize another city?
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