He does a bit less for Fallujah's elderly, sick and infirmed in his post In Praise of Civilian Casualties where he declares: "I don't give a damn how many civilians get killed in Fallujah, as long as we get the bastards." Further, he says:
If we show restraint and allow [insurgents] to escape, we will have shown that taking hostages is a successful tactic and endanger God knows how many more innocents down the line. We have to stand firm and show them that there is no escape, no shelter, no sanctuary.
I don't want there to be a single innocent death in Fallujah. And having faith in our military's equipment, training, and scruples, I know they will be minimized as much as possible. But there will be many heart-breaking stories and images from this battle. We mustn't let them cloud the real issue -- if we let it stop us now, there will be many more Fallujahs in the future, and eventually we'll have to disregard hostages or simply give up. And we can't afford to surrender in this war.
It's fascinating how much energy wingnuts waste on worrying about "messages" sent to a brainwashed enemy. Fanatics already have their "escape", their "shelter", their "sanctuary"... it's the sick ideology of martyrdom that's been inculcated into their minds. They believe paradise awaits those who fight the enemy of Allah, whether or not the enemy shows (relative) restraint or not.
Everyone should give a damn about the number of civilians killed, because from such tragic circumstances arises the next recruiting class of young insurgents. But, if you truly don't give a damn about civilians, then why risk a single American life trying to weed out hostages from terrorists? Given Jay Tea's supposition, his logic should dictate: kill'em all. I mean, if the precious "message" is jeopardized by anything less than complete destruction of the insurgents in Fallujah (civilians, hospitals, mosques... be damned) why shouldn't we do precisely what Wizbang commenter joey advocates:
Bring back carpet bombing. Start at all sides and work your way to the middle. [Let the] bulldozers clean up the mess.
Killing civilians to punish those who kill civilians... as morally clear as a pure azure sky. Of the 60 or so comments to Jay Tea's post (thus far), 95% supported his cluttered argument, and many seem to expect that after Fallujah "major combat operations" will (once again) conclude.
There's another bet I'd like to take.