It's impossible to scheme with continuity when members of terrorist executive circles turn up dead on a daily basis (emphasis mine):

On September 28, 2004 at 4:04 a.m., Baghdad time, Multi-National Force-Iraq conducted a precision strike on a confirmed Abu Musab Al Zarqawi terrorist site in southern Fallujah. Several credible intelligence sources confirmed that members of the terrorist group were operating at the site at the time of the strike.

Specifically identified at the location were rising AMZ associates. Recent strikes against the AMZ network have changed the leadership structure of the terrorist group causing numerous reorganizations within the group.

If intelligence is accurate, then American forces are, with the help of Iraqi intelligence and informants, making the Islamofascist stay in Fallujah a painful one, keeping the host of scarf-wrapped thugs off-balance until the promised Iraqi-led offensive arrives. An added benefit is the chance to destabilize the tangled web of compacts centered around Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; since strongmen are never in league because of mutual trust, a significant loss of power in leading factions could introduce an irresistable opportunity for power seizure.

Incidentally, why would the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff practically set a calendar date for an operation intended to wipe out the last authoritarian enclave in Iraq? He probably wouldn't — so the end of Fallujah's terrorist presence might come sooner than expected.

EXPECTATIONS: Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is promising electoral participation by residents of terrorist-threatened locales — and military action in an insurgent-controlled Fallujah, having "waited more than enough." Last week, the Prime Minister spoke with Israel's foreign minister, the two apparently discussing diplomatic arrangements. Given that Baghdad's leadership will receive more ridicule than admiration from their backwards, dictatorial Arab neighbors, an alliance with the one regional power dedicated to fighting Iraq's enemies is wise.