Iraq declares state of emergency: "The BBC's Paul Wood, embedded with the US Marines, says they believe that Falluja will be their biggest engagement since Hue, the Vietnamese city they captured in 1968, losing 142 men and killing thousands of the enemy. "

Oh and, um, Hue was pretty much destroyed during that offensive. Dare we hope that this will prove an inaccurate comparison? My "gut" tells me no, and if there is anything I learned from John Firetruck Kerry, it is to trust my gut.