I get this feeling that when Real Amurkins hear Fallujah described as "a city outside of Baghdad," they probably think "suburb" in an extended metropolitan area, like Plano outside of Dallas, or Alpharetta outside Atlanta.

According to Wikipedia, Fallujah had a pre-war population of 350,000.

That's the size of Pittsburgh. The one in Pennsylvania, not the one in Kansas (that one's "Pittsburg" anyway.)

So when you hear the 101st Fighting Keyboarders foaming at the mouth to "raze Fallujah to the ground," or braying that anyone smart would have left the city by now, substitute "Pittsburgh" in your mind and you'll see the scope of the problem. Five to twenty thousand armed insurgents are hiding in a city the size of Pittsburgh, and the military wants to take them out. Somehow.

I know our guys are good - the best in the world - but this is a helluva thing.