One goal of the Fallujah offensive was to make the city safer for the upcoming elections. But the offensive itself rained so much destruction on the city that it’s not clear the city can be rebuilt in anything under a year or two. Plus we face the additional burden of trying to tell who is or is not an insurgent among the people wanting to return to Fallujah. This isn’t something we’re really good at.
The U.S. death toll in the Fallujah offensive has climbed to 71. Overall, November was the worst month yet for U.S. military deaths. I haven’t seen any definitive count of Iraqi civilian deaths in the Fallujah assault.