ABC Reports U.S. Marines are moving into Fallujah

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...home-headlines

ABC reports U.S. Marines, Soldiers and Iraq forces are now moving into the city. Two Marines killed overnight.

U.S. & Iraqi troops took hospital and sealed city last night.

November 8, 2004

THE WORLD
U.S. Troops Advance to Fallouja's Edge
Interim Iraqi premier imposes state of emergency as all-out attack on rebel-held city looms. Coalition forces seal the town to prevent insurgents fleeing.

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Alissa J. Rubin and John Hendren, Times Staff Writers


BAGHDAD — U.S. warplanes pummeled suspected insurgent positions in Fallouja early today as thousands of American troops advanced to the edges of the rebel-held city and prepared to launch an all-out assault.

Iraqi commandos and U.S. troops captured a hospital in Fallouja late Sunday. The facility was seized "to ensure that there was a medical treatment facility available to the population as well as making sure the insurgents could not continue to exaggerate casualties," a senior Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.

U.S. forces halted traffic in and out of Fallouja by nightfall, and roads in the surrounding countryside were blocked, presumably to stop fighters from escaping and to prevent reinforcements or arms from entering.

As dawn broke and a thunderstorm poured down rain, hundreds of Marines streamed out of bases near Fallouja. Scores of tanks, Humvees, amphibious assault vehicles and tow trucks moved in slow lines toward the city.

Arriving at staging areas about a mile outside town, the troops dug ditches and built berms with shovels. Flames and smoke rose from the city as the U.S. launched a heavy artillery attack.

The military movements in Fallouja came hours after the Iraqi government declared a state of emergency in most of the country, anticipating that violence could escalate nationwide once U.S. forces stormed the city, about 35 miles west of Baghdad.

Although the looming showdown in Fallouja is in some ways a rematch of April's abortive five-day Marine assault on the city, this battle could be much larger and longer.

This time, the U.S. troops have taken longer to prepare, and say they are determined to go in with overwhelming force and finish the fighting instead of withdrawing halfway through.

In April, fewer than 3,000 troops were initially deployed. This time, U.S. forces are known to have trained two regimental combat teams — which could total more than 6,000 troops — to spearhead the assault, including Marines, soldiers and sailors. In addition, the Air Force and thousands of Army and other troops are supporting the effort.

In another contrast with April's assault, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has sent envoys to neighboring countries to explain his approach, hoping to avoid the kind of criticism Arab nations leveled at the United States over the spring attack.

The rebels, too, appear to be far more numerous and better organized and armed than they were in April, according to Falloujans who are in the city or have recently left.

U.S. intelligence officials estimate that up to 5,000 militants may be hunkered down in the city. Most are believed to be Iraqi, including many former members of Saddam Hussein's army, but several hundred foreigners may also be present.

Residents reported continual explosions Sunday evening, and some said that all the town wanted was peace.

"We are just a helpless and feeble town; a town like an old man! Still, the U.S. is accumulating its armies and troops against Fallouja … as if Fallouja is a superpower that stands in the face of America," said Haji Mahmood Allawi, a former colonel in the Iraqi army who has stayed in Fallouja for the fight. "If you look at what is arrayed against Fallouja, you would think World War III was going to take place."

Residents warned that U.S. troops who entered Fallouja could face booby-trapped buildings, mined streets and dozens of suicide car bombers.

"People of Fallouja have encircled the city with mines…. Whenever the American troops try to advance, they will find them in their way," said Fadel Jasim, 40, a shop owner.

Insurgents have threatened to launch attacks throughout the country if Marines storm Fallouja, and in recent days, militants have stepped up assaults on Iraqi police and soldiers. A number of insurgents are believed to have left Fallouja in recent days to conduct attacks in other cities.

At least 70 people have been killed in the last two days. At dawn Sunday, 20 Iraqi policemen were slain in the western town of Haditha. On Saturday, 30 people were killed in bombings and shootings in Samarra, and in a previously unreported incident, 20 Iraqi national guard recruits were slain near Latifiya, south of Baghdad, a senior Iraqi government official said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The increased violence prompted the government to invoke the emergency laws, which will be in effect for 60 days, said Thair Al Nakib, spokesman for Prime Minister Allawi.

Under the state of the emergency, the government has sweeping powers to impose curfews and cordons; use wiretaps and other listening devices; limit associations, unions and other organizations; and freeze bank accounts and seize assets.

In addition, authorities could detain anyone believed to be involved in "an ongoing campaign of violence … for the purpose of preventing the establishment of a broad-based government in Iraq, or to hinder the peaceful participation of all Iraqis in the political process," officials said.

Detainees must appear within 24 hours before an investigative judge, but there is no limit on the detention period. Once in effect, the state of emergency can be extended indefinitely.

The only area of the country exempt from the emergency law is the northern region of Kurdistan, which has experienced little violence in recent months. It is thought the assault on Fallouja will not inflame passions or spark attacks in the region, which is dominated by Kurds.

The emergency law "is in response to the violation we are feeling in Iraq and it's a clear message to all the people from outside who came to destabilize the country," Nakib said.

Allawi's invocation of the law was starkly at odds with his declaration in late September on a visit to the United States that of Iraq's 18 provinces, "14 to 15 are completely safe. There are no problems."

Mohammed Bashar Faidi, spokesman for the Sunni Muslim Scholars Assn., predicted that the emergency laws would only worsen matters.

"This will increase the violence," he said. "Now the government cannot protect itself, how can it control the country?"

A loud explosion was heard as Nakib briefed reporters on details of the emergency law. Later, it was reported that the blast was from a rocket hitting near the finance minister's home.

There were at least three other attacks Sunday, killing two U.S. soldiers, at least one Iraqi civilian and wounding several more people — both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers.

As Marines prepared Sunday to take up positions around Fallouja, commanders sought to motivate the troops.

The town is "being held hostage by mugs, thugs, murderers and intimidators," Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, head of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told troops at a base where several thousand Marines had prepared for battle. "All they need for us is to give them the opportunity to break the back of that intimidation."

Earlier, Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, who heads the 1st Marine Division, visited barracks and said the battle for Fallouja would probably stand in Marine history along with other celebrated episodes.

"The eyes of the world are upon you, and I know you won't let us down," Natonski said. "When they're talking about the history of the Marine Corps 100 years from now, they'll be talking about this battle."

Senior commanders, however, expressed confidence that Fallouja could be secured in a matter of days and rejected comparisons to the bloody 1968 fight for the Vietnamese imperial city of Hue. More than 100 U.S. troops died in that battle, which lasted four weeks and required house-to-house fighting, leaving the city in ruins.

"I think you're going to be so aggressive and so hard-hitting and so violent, this will be over very, very quickly," Natonski told the Marines. "We're going to kill these suckers who are just terrorizing the people."

U.S. forces are expected to impose a curfew once an invasion begins. Commanders say any car on the street will be viewed as a potential suicide bomber.

Military-age men would be questioned about any suspicious activity, officials said. U.S. commanders also warned Fallouja police officers — widely believed to be working with the insurgents — to put down their arms and stay in their homes or risk being shot. The prime minister has officially disbanded the Fallouja police, U.S. forces said.

Although promising a "decisive" victory, Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, head of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment, and other commanders acknowledged that many insurgents probably would stash their arms and pretend to be civilians, and return to fight another day.

That tactic has already blunted the effectiveness of recent U.S. offensives in Samarra and elsewhere, where rebels re-emerged after U.S. troops withdrew.

"When they start to lose the battle, [the insurgents] will go to ground and try to blend back in with the civilian population," Ramos said.

U.S. forces plan to help install new security services that will be loyal to Allawi's government. Many have already been recruited from outside Fallouja, officials say, a move that is expected to help reduce the threat of intimidation.

Rubin reported from Baghdad, Hendren from Washington and McDonnell from near Fallouja. Suhail Hussain of The Times' Baghdad Bureau and a special correspondent in Fallouja contributed to this report.




Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times

[Switch84]

I have the utmost confidence in our troops succeeding in this assault!

Thanks for posting it, Nick! (See? No 'Darling Nikki' this time! LOL!)

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Photos:

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Nightvision

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U.S., Iraqi troops brace for Falluja battle:

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CNN reports forces have crossed the "line of departure" and U.S. and Iraqi troops have now entered the city of Fallouja after cutting its power. I hope it goes well because this will be the largest urban combat operation since Hue City, Vietnam in 1968.

cnn.com

U.S., Iraqi troops brace for Falluja battle
Iraqi prime minister: Will 'clean Falluja' of 'terrorists'
Monday, November 8, 2004 Posted: 10:17 AM EST (1517 GMT)


Insurgents fire at U.S. and Iraqi forces in Falluja on Monday.
[img]Image:[/img]



FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines, Army units and Iraqi troops have assumed "battle positions" surrounding Falluja, an embedded CNN producer said Monday.

They are standing by, awaiting an order to enter the city, according to the producer.

U.S. warplanes and artillery fire hammered insurgent targets in Falluja throughout the day as thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops massed in the nearby desert and braced for all-out urban combat. (Gallery: Scenes from the field)

Late Sunday, Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. Marines seized the main hospital on the western outskirts of the Sunni Triangle city. The seizure is seen as the first step in what is expected to be a major push to retake the city from as many as 5,000 insurgents. (Minor resistance as hospital seized)

U.S. forces also secured the western ends of two key bridges over the Euphrates River. It's from one of those bridges that corpses of slain U.S. security contractors were hung last spring. (Special Report: The Struggle for Iraq)

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Monday he has given U.S. and Iraqi forces the green light to rid the city of Falluja of insurgents, and he promised to restore law and order.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from terrorists," Allawi said at a news conference.

Allawi imposed a 6 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) curfew for Falluja and Ramadi as part of a security law. He said that armed groups in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

He also closed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan -- allowing only food convoys -- to keep insurgents from escaping to other countries.

"Yesterday, we have seen more criminal acts committed by terrorists, who continue to use Falluja as a base for their operations. I reach conviction (that there is) no other option but to take necessary measures to protect Iraq from killers, and so they will go back and lead a normal life."

More than 10,000 forces -- Marines, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi forces -- are expected to be involved in the assault. On Monday morning, tanks and attack vehicles streamed through the desert, getting in position for the fight.

The U.S. and Iraqi forces hope to pacify Falluja in time for elections in January for a transitional national assembly.

Falluja is considered an insurgent command and control center for the rest of the country and a base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terror network.

Its population was estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000 before warfare escalated in the city earlier this year. Now, it is thought that 50,000 civilians remain there.

Military officials contend that 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may be inside the city, but they acknowledge many may have slipped away amid widespread reports that a new offensive was coming.

U.S. warplanes, including AC-130 gunships, have bombarded insurgent targets in recent days to weaken insurgent positions. American forces have pounded Falluja for months in an attempt to root out insurgents.

Marines attacked Falluja in April after four U.S. private security contractors were killed and mutilated. The ensuing battles led to many deaths. The U.S.-led forces established an indigenous Falluja brigade to restore peace to the city, but in the summer, the brigade fell apart and insurgents solidified control there.

Other developments

Two Marines died near Falluja Monday when their bulldozer flipped into the Euphrates River in an apparent non-combat incident, military sources said. There were no further details.


A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy on the Baghdad airport road Monday killed at least three Iraqis, hospital officials said. The car detonated at 9:30 a.m. The airport road has been the scene of many attacks.


Fourteen insurgents died and nine others were arrested in an Iraqi police operation against insurgents in the Babil province town of Latifiya Sunday night. Police dressed in civilian clothes stormed a checkpoint being held by insurgents and freed a "number" of hostages, including two women, a police official said. The operation, involving about 100 police officers, netted a number of weapons, including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and stolen cars.

CNN's Jamie McIntyre, Karl Penhaul, Jane Arraf, Cal Perry, Kevin Flower and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

[twonabomber]

just level the whole place and be done with it.

[Nickdfresh]

The offensive is called "Operation Phantom Fury."

U.S. Military Intelligence believes militants have actually gravitated to the city in recent weeks to "confront the Americans." -Jane Arraf CNN

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CNN's Jane Arraf reported that Marines detonated a line of homemade bombs and booby traps with a "line charge" causing a massive explosion to breech that north of the city.

U.S. Marine and Army infantry and tanks are trading heavy fire with insurgents well inside the city.

CNN inbedded reporters claim to hear chants of "Allah al Akbar" or God is great coming from the city.


U.S. Forces Launch Attack on Fallujah
U.S. Marines, Army's 1st Infantry Division Lead Operation Phantom Fury

By Jackie Spinner and Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 8, 2004; 11:50 AM

FALLUJAH, Nov. 8 -- U.S. forces entered the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah Monday, launching a long-anticipated urban offensive that is widely seen as the most significant and controversial battle since the U.S. invasion of Iraq 19 months ago.

The assault is code-named Operation Phantom Fury. It was led by U.S. Marines and members of the Army's 1st Infantry Division, followed weeks of bombing by U.S. aircraft. It came about 11 a.m. EST, hours after Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, announced that he had formally authorized the attack.

"I gave my authority to the multinational forces, Iraqi forces. We are determined to clean Fallujah from the terrorists," Allawi declared earlier Monday in Baghdad. "I have reached the belief that I have no other choice but to resort to extreme measures to protect the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate the residents of Fallujah so they can return to their homes," he told a news conference.

He said he was imposing a curfew on the city starting at 6 p.m. Iraq time and closing Baghdad international airport for 48 hours.

Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim city of 300,000 about 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been controlled by a volatile mix of local insurgents and foreign fighters since April, when a Marine offensive was abruptly halted on orders from the White House. Since political authority was turned back to the Iraqis in June, the final say on major U.S. military operations has resided with the government of Allawi.

Among those said to be operating out of Fallujah is the Jordanian-born militant Abu Musad Zarqawi, whose group has asserted responsibility for kidnappings, beheadings, car bombings and other suicide strikes in Iraq, including bombings inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone that recently killed three American civilians and as many as six Iraqis.

U.S. Marines have been pounding the city for weeks, targeting what officials have called safe houses and meeting places for fighters loyal to Zarqawi. The pounding has reportedly sent a large proportion of the population fleeing the city in fear.

The prospect of an attack on Fallujah has been intensely controversial internationally. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warned last week that a military offensive there could jeopardize the credibility of upcoming elections in Iraq.

In letters dated Oct. 31 and addressed to President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Allawi, Annan said using military force against insurgents in the city would further alienate Sunni Muslims already feeling left out of a political process orchestrated largely by Washington.

"I wish to share with you my increasing concern at the prospect of an escalation in violence, which I fear could be very disruptive for Iraq's political transition," Annan wrote to the three leaders.

"I also worry about the negative impact that major military assaults, in which the main burden seems bound to be borne by American forces, are likely to have on the prospects for encouraging a broader participation by Iraqis in the political process, including in the elections."

Annan's comments and criticism drew anger and frustration from U.S., British and Iraqi officials.

U.S. and Iraqi forces entered Fallujah General Hospital late Sunday night and immediately began an inventory of supplies and medical equipment, said Col. John R. Ballard, commander of the Marine 4th Civil Affairs Group based in Washington, D.C.

"We've surrounded it to protect it," Ballard said. "The key word here is to protect."
Permission to Republish
© 2004 The Washington Post Company

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Battle for Falluja under way
Monday, November 8, 2004 Posted: 4:49 PM EST (2149 GMT)

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun an all-out assault on Falluja aimed at driving insurgents out of the city.

U.S. Army troops have crossed "the line of departure into the northeast sector of Falluja to secure a foothold in the city," military officials said.

Pentagon officials said the operation involves about 10,000 U.S. troops and more than 2,000 Iraqis.

CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with U.S. troops on the northeast edge of the Falluja, said the forces cut power to the city before the start of the assault.

Military officials told Arraf that the Army had achieved one of its initial goals -- clearing a path through insurgent defenses in the northern part of the city.

U.S. forces entering northeast Falluja encountered barricades booby-trapped with bombs capable of causing heavy damage. U.S. tanks fired 120-mm rounds into the barriers for about an hour, igniting massive explosions. (Map of Falluja)

The Army said U.S. airstrikes hit a suspected insurgent position, killing an estimated 20 to 25 insurgents in the city.

Four Marines were wounded in one engagement, a medic told embedded CNN journalist Karl Penhaul.

Penhaul reported hearing an almost constant barrage of explosions and machine gun fire and said that tracer fire was lighting the night sky. Insurgents could be heard chanting in Arabic: "God is great."

Before the ground offensive, Falluja was pummeled for hours by airstrikes aimed at destroying suspected safe houses and other insurgent strongholds

U.S. and Iraqi troops had surrounded the city as they awaited the order for a full attack.

(Gallery: Scenes from the field)

Late Sunday, Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. Marines seized the main hospital on the western outskirts of the Sunni Triangle city. The seizure was seen as the first step in what was expected to be a major push to retake the city from as many as 5,000 insurgents. (Minor resistance as hospital seized)

U.S. forces also secured the western ends of two key bridges over the Euphrates River. It's from one of those bridges that corpses of slain U.S. security contractors were hung last spring. (Special Report: The Struggle for Iraq)

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Monday he has given U.S. and Iraqi forces the green light to rid Falluja of insurgents, and he promised to restore law and order.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from terrorists," Allawi said at a news conference.

Allawi imposed a 6 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) curfew for Falluja and Ramadi as part of a security law. He said that armed groups in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

He also closed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan -- allowing only food convoys -- to keep insurgents from escaping to other countries.

Allawi visited Iraqi troops as they waited to enter the city.

"First of all, this is our Iraq, and it is our duty to defend our country. We're counting on you to defend the country and regain its pride and its values," Allawi told them in Arabic. "I'm here to check on you and tell you that all of Iraq is with you."

Allawi announced a state of emergency in Iraq Sunday -- exempting the Kurdish north -- and told reporters the terrorists in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

U.S. and Iraqi forces hope to pacify Falluja in time for elections in January for a transitional national assembly.

Falluja is considered an insurgent command-and-control center for the rest of the country and a base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terror network.

Its population was estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000 before warfare escalated in the city earlier this year. Now, it is thought that 50,000 civilians remain.

Military officials say 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may be inside the city, but they acknowledge many may have slipped away amid widespread reports that an offensive was coming.

U.S. warplanes, including AC-130 gunships, bombarded targets in recent days to weaken insurgent positions. American forces have pounded Falluja for months in an attempt to root out insurgents.

Marines attacked Falluja in April after four U.S. private security contractors were killed and mutilated. The ensuing battles led to many deaths. The U.S.-led forces established an indigenous Falluja brigade to restore peace to the city, but in the summer, the brigade fell apart and insurgents solidified control there.

Other developments

A British soldier with the Black Watch Regiment was killed in an attack Monday and two other soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, the British Ministry of Defense said. The attack took place north of the Black Watch base camp at Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad. Last week, three Black Watch members were killed by a suicide bomber.


A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed by small arms fire Monday when a convoy was attacked in eastern Baghdad. A car bomb, apparently aimed at a U.S. convoy, wounded at least three Iraqis on the road to Baghdad International Airport.


Two Marines died near Falluja on Monday when their bulldozer flipped into the Euphrates River in an apparent non-combat incident, military sources said. There were no further details.


A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy on the Baghdad airport road Monday killed at least three Iraqis, hospital officials said. The car detonated at 9:30 a.m. The airport road has been the scene of many attacks.


Fourteen insurgents died and nine others were arrested in an Iraqi police operation against insurgents in the Babil province town of Latifiya Sunday night. Police dressed in civilian clothes stormed a checkpoint being held by insurgents and freed a "number" of hostages, including two women, a police official said. The operation, involving about 100 police officers, netted a number of weapons, including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and stolen cars.

CNN's Karl Penhaul, Jane Arraf, Jamie McIntyre, Cal Perry, Kevin Flower and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

Battle for Falluja under way
Monday, November 8, 2004 Posted: 4:49 PM EST (2149 GMT)


U.S. Marines take positions Monday on the outskirts of Falluja before the start of the assault on the city.

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun an all-out assault on Falluja aimed at driving insurgents out of the city.

U.S. Army troops have crossed "the line of departure into the northeast sector of Falluja to secure a foothold in the city," military officials said.

Pentagon officials said the operation involves about 10,000 U.S. troops and more than 2,000 Iraqis.

CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with U.S. troops on the northeast edge of the Falluja, said the forces cut power to the city before the start of the assault.

Military officials told Arraf that the Army had achieved one of its initial goals -- clearing a path through insurgent defenses in the northern part of the city.

U.S. forces entering northeast Falluja encountered barricades booby-trapped with bombs capable of causing heavy damage. U.S. tanks fired 120-mm rounds into the barriers for about an hour, igniting massive explosions. (Map of Falluja)

The Army said U.S. airstrikes hit a suspected insurgent position, killing an estimated 20 to 25 insurgents in the city.

Four Marines were wounded in one engagement, a medic told embedded CNN journalist Karl Penhaul.

Penhaul reported hearing an almost constant barrage of explosions and machine gun fire and said that tracer fire was lighting the night sky. Insurgents could be heard chanting in Arabic: "God is great."

Before the ground offensive, Falluja was pummeled for hours by airstrikes aimed at destroying suspected safe houses and other insurgent strongholds

U.S. and Iraqi troops had surrounded the city as they awaited the order for a full attack.

(Gallery: Scenes from the field)

Late Sunday, Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. Marines seized the main hospital on the western outskirts of the Sunni Triangle city. The seizure was seen as the first step in what was expected to be a major push to retake the city from as many as 5,000 insurgents. (Minor resistance as hospital seized)

U.S. forces also secured the western ends of two key bridges over the Euphrates River. It's from one of those bridges that corpses of slain U.S. security contractors were hung last spring. (Special Report: The Struggle for Iraq)

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Monday he has given U.S. and Iraqi forces the green light to rid Falluja of insurgents, and he promised to restore law and order.

"We are determined to clean Falluja from terrorists," Allawi said at a news conference.

Allawi imposed a 6 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) curfew for Falluja and Ramadi as part of a security law. He said that armed groups in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

He also closed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan -- allowing only food convoys -- to keep insurgents from escaping to other countries.

Allawi visited Iraqi troops as they waited to enter the city.

"First of all, this is our Iraq, and it is our duty to defend our country. We're counting on you to defend the country and regain its pride and its values," Allawi told them in Arabic. "I'm here to check on you and tell you that all of Iraq is with you."

Allawi announced a state of emergency in Iraq Sunday -- exempting the Kurdish north -- and told reporters the terrorists in Falluja "do not want a peaceful settlement."

U.S. and Iraqi forces hope to pacify Falluja in time for elections in January for a transitional national assembly.

Falluja is considered an insurgent command-and-control center for the rest of the country and a base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terror network.

Its population was estimated to be 250,000 to 300,000 before warfare escalated in the city earlier this year. Now, it is thought that 50,000 civilians remain.

Military officials say 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may be inside the city, but they acknowledge many may have slipped away amid widespread reports that an offensive was coming.

U.S. warplanes, including AC-130 gunships, bombarded targets in recent days to weaken insurgent positions. American forces have pounded Falluja for months in an attempt to root out insurgents.

Marines attacked Falluja in April after four U.S. private security contractors were killed and mutilated. The ensuing battles led to many deaths. The U.S.-led forces established an indigenous Falluja brigade to restore peace to the city, but in the summer, the brigade fell apart and insurgents solidified control there.

Other developments

A British soldier with the Black Watch Regiment was killed in an attack Monday and two other soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, the British Ministry of Defense said. The attack took place north of the Black Watch base camp at Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad. Last week, three Black Watch members were killed by a suicide bomber.


A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed by small arms fire Monday when a convoy was attacked in eastern Baghdad. A car bomb, apparently aimed at a U.S. convoy, wounded at least three Iraqis on the road to Baghdad International Airport.


Two Marines died near Falluja on Monday when their bulldozer flipped into the Euphrates River in an apparent non-combat incident, military sources said. There were no further details.


A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy on the Baghdad airport road Monday killed at least three Iraqis, hospital officials said. The car detonated at 9:30 a.m. The airport road has been the scene of many attacks.


Fourteen insurgents died and nine others were arrested in an Iraqi police operation against insurgents in the Babil province town of Latifiya Sunday night. Police dressed in civilian clothes stormed a checkpoint being held by insurgents and freed a "number" of hostages, including two women, a police official said. The operation, involving about 100 police officers, netted a number of weapons, including machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and stolen cars.

CNN's Karl Penhaul, Jane Arraf, Jamie McIntyre, Cal Perry, Kevin Flower and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

A map for that summer road trip:

[Nickdfresh]

U.S. Marines and Army troops are facing lighter than expected resistance in Falluja, which may be a bad sign. The military was hoping to engage a large number of insurgents in order to destroy them enmasse. This may mean that many of the Iraq insurgents have slipped away.

U.S. forces are still facing sporadic, unorganized defenses of boobytraps, sniper fire and small numbers of guerillas firing at them. It has been reported on CNN that possibly six soldiers were killed yesterday in Falluja while it was a bloody day overall in Iraq with nine combat deaths yesterday.

American commanders are still wary that the insurgents may be "baiting" them into the city and waiting until they begin to really defend the town in its urban interior.

[Nickdfresh]

November 11, 2004 E-mail story Print

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/

Forces Cross Key Road Into Fallouja's Heart
After three days of combat, U.S. and Iraqi troops may have killed 600 rebels, officials say.




CArab Anger Over Fallouja Assault Muted
November 11, 2004
Sunnis, Shiites Divided in Response to Attack on Fallouja
November 11, 2004
Flash




By Patrick J. McDonnell, Alissa J. Rubin and Mark Mazzetti, Times Staff Writers


FALLOUJA, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces pressed into the heart of Fallouja on Wednesday, chasing insurgents out of the city's battered northern neighborhoods and crossing a key highway into densely packed quarters to the south.

After three days of combat in which as many as 600 rebels may have been killed, military officials estimated that U.S. and Iraqi troops loosely controlled about 70% of the longtime insurgent stronghold. They cautioned, however, that they had not yet conducted coordinated, house-to-house clearing operations, and commanders believe that small bands of guerrillas are still operating in areas said to be in U.S. hands.







Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said the rebels were moving about haphazardly and "blind," without communications. As troops flushed armed insurgents from their hiding places, U.S. gunships and tanks cut them down in the streets.

Elsewhere in Iraq, other militants struck back, abducting three relatives of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and killing at least 10 Iraqi policemen and seven Iraqi national guardsmen in scattered attacks. A U.S. soldier was killed in Balad, and four Turkish truckers were slain in the northern city of Mosul.

Military commanders said troops in Fallouja had discovered homes where hostage-takers had apparently held and beheaded several captives.

Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan told reporters at a base near Fallouja that in the homes, Iraqi soldiers found black outfits and masks similar to ones that insurgents have worn in videotapes that show foreign hostages. Banners and videos that may depict some beheadings were also discovered, the official said.

There was no indication, though, that troops had found any of the foreigners still thought to be in militants' hands, including at least one American, two French journalists and Margaret Hassan, director of CARE International's operations in Iraq and a dual British-Iraqi citizen.

Al Jazeera television aired a videotape from a militant group that claimed to have captured 20 Iraqi national guardsmen in Fallouja. The recording showed at least a dozen men in military uniforms with their backs to the camera. There was no immediate confirmation from Iraqi officials that any troops were missing.

U.S. officials offered no updates on American casualties in Fallouja on Wednesday; a day earlier, they said 11 U.S. troops and two Iraqi soldiers had been killed since the invasion began Monday.

As for an insurgent death toll, one senior Defense official who has read classified situation reports said commanders in Iraq estimated that 500 to 600 had been killed in three days of fighting. Prior to launching the offensive, officials estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents may have been in Fallouja.

Although some units have encountered fierce resistance, commanders have indicated that the rebels have put up less of a defense than anticipated. That has fueled speculation that many rebels may have fled Fallouja before the invasion.

Commanders said that some fighters no doubt escaped, but they emphasized the significance of U.S. and Iraqi troops finally taking control of a city that had been a key insurgent operating base — and symbol of their strength — since U.S. Marines halted an offensive in the city in April.

"There was never any attempt to try to round up every single insurgent in Fallouja," said the senior Defense official. "We're taking a safe haven away from them, and that's what's important about this operation."

U.S. and Iraqi forces have steadily seized key buildings. On Wednesday, U.S. forces took control of Fallouja's Iraqi national guard headquarters. Early today, U.S. and Iraqi troops captured the Al Rawdha al Muhammadiyah mosque, one of Fallouja's signature structures where a key insurgent spiritual leader, Abdullah Janabi, had been presiding.

U.S. military officials said the mosque was a legitimate target because it had been used by enemy fighters as a base of operations.

An attempt to take the dual-domed mosque was called off Wednesday because of heavy sniper fire. Marines approached again under cover of darkness and blew a hole in the complex's wall with tank fire. Iraqi police entered and cleared the building. A group of people fled and came under fire from an American AC-130 gunship; it was unknown whether Janabi was among them.

"We know we killed a whole lot of them running away toward the south," said Lt. Brandon Turner, the platoon leader, as he stood in the carpeted main room of the grand mosque. One of the building's two minarets was damaged earlier by a U.S. munition.

The U.S. military acknowledged dropping four bombs on another mosque, the Khulafah Rashid, saying it did so because insurgents were using the building to fire on U.S. and Iraqi troops.

After three days of combat, northern Fallouja is a landscape of blown-out buildings and charred cars. Electricity has been cut off, and tracer bullets arced across the cloudless, starry sky early today.

In light of the continued fighting in Fallouja, Allawi, the prime minister, closed Baghdad's airport for a third day. Many roads around Fallouja and Ramadi, to the west, remained shut.

A previously unheard of group calling itself Ansar al Jihad, or Holy War Followers, claimed responsibility for kidnapping Allawi's relatives from a Baghdad neighborhood late Tuesday. In a statement posted on the Internet, they said they would behead the three captives within 48 hours unless all detainees were released and the siege of Fallouja lifted.

In a brief statement, Allawi spokesman Thair Nakib said the captives included 75-year-old Ghazi Allawi, a cousin of the prime minister. Also seized were Ghazi Allawi's wife and daughter-in-law. Ali Baqir Allawi, a distant cousin of Allawi, said Ghazi Allawi's son escaped through the roof.

Neighbors reported that two cars of gunmen came to the household, which is somewhat isolated, bounded by railroad tracks on one side and an empty area on a second side. They fired barrages of bullets as they burst into the area.

Umar Abdul Malik, 30, owner of a nearby minimarket, said he was going out to turn on his generator when the shooting started.

"They fired a hundred or more bullets," he said. They shot not only at the Allawi home, "but also at the houses of the neighbors, to guarantee that no one would come out and try to help the victims."

On Wednesday, the house was surrounded by police vehicles.

Violence gripped other areas of the capital Wednesday. A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police checkpoint near the Culture Ministry, killing at least seven officers, wire services reported.

To the north of Baghdad, nine civilians were killed as clashes broke out between Iraqi police and gunmen in Baiji, Reuters reported.

About 40 miles south of Kirkuk, six Iraqi national guardsmen were killed when a roadside bomb exploded under their vehicle, said Maj. Gen. Anwar Hama Amin, the national guard commander in the city.

In Mosul, authorities declared a curfew after insurgents killed four Turkish truckers early Wednesday and later clashed with U.S. troops for several hours. Armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the rebels attacked two American convoys.

A reporter on the scene said two cars were destroyed and four people were killed. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the attacks but said only that a foreign contractor was killed in one of them.

A spokesman for a local hospital said three Iraqi police were also killed.

In one Mosul neighborhood, insurgents boasted that they had killed an Iraqi national guardsman and showed reporters the body of a lieutenant, his head riddled with bullets.

One fighter said: "This is a traitor who worked with the ING [Iraqi national guard], and he helped the Americans in killing his brother Iraqis!"

Another said: "What is happening in Mosul is retaliation for our brothers in Fallouja. There is nothing that can stop us."

Despite the 4 p.m. curfew, Mosul was still in chaos at dusk. There was no sign of government forces or American military; insurgents controlled the streets.

*


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McDonnell is traveling with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in Fallouja. Rubin reported from Baghdad and Mazzetti from Washington. Warren Vieth in Washing- ton and special correspondent Roaa Ahmed in Mosul contributed to this report.




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[Nickdfresh]

Thursday, November 11, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Execution chamber discovered in Fallujah

By Seattle Times news services
The Associated Press

FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi military commanders said yesterday that troops had found at least one house in Fallujah that appeared to be the base of some of the hostage-takers who have terrorized foreigners and Iraqis for months with their gruesome, filmed beheadings.

An American military commander said yesterday that the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marines had discovered one site.

"They found a room they suspect was used for the executions," said the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They found dried blood, banners up on the wall, a wheelchair used to restrain hostages. They found a guy who was still restrained down in a tunnel. ... They believe he's one of the Iraqi hostages."

Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan, leader of the Iraqi forces in Fallujah, said Iraqi troops had found more than one such house. He said they were in the northern part of the city.

"We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages," he told reporters at a military base outside Fallujah.

It appeared troops did not find any of the at least nine foreigners still in kidnappers' hands — including two Americans.

Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, is the centerpiece of the Sunni Muslim insurgency that has stymied U.S. efforts to secure Iraq and prepare for national elections that are scheduled for January.

U.S. commanders said yesterday the fighting in Fallujah was going better than expected. Resistance was lighter than expected, they said, but rebels in small teams attacked U.S. and Iraqi soldiers from many directions.

Sgt. Randy Laird, who was riding in the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, said he had had no real sleep in days and was having a hard time keeping track of the times he had taken fire. There were reports at least two suicide bombers had been shot to death before detonating explosive belts in neighborhoods to the east.

"Somebody said the news is saying we face light pockets of resistance," Laird said. "But it hasn't been light for us."




At least 71 militants had been killed as of yesterday, the third day of intense urban combat, the military said. As of Tuesday night, 10 U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi security forces had been killed. Marine reports yesterday said 25 American troops and 16 Iraqi soldiers were wounded. There was no new report yesterday on U.S. military deaths.

Throughout the day, Americans hit the militants with artillery and mortars, and warplanes fired on the city's main street and market as well as Jolan, one of several neighborhoods where troops were skirmishing with militants.

In what could be a sign of progress, the Marines began turning over Jolan to Iraqi forces, signaling that Marines consider the area relatively secure. Jolan was considered one of the strongest positions held by militants inside Fallujah.

One Marine officer estimated U.S. and Iraqi forces controlled about 70 percent of the city, but the commander of the Iraqi force said he believed the figure was closer to 50 percent.

In one of the most dramatic clashes of the day, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of the Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, the military said. Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported. The troops called in four precision airstrikes that destroyed the minarets but left the mosque standing.

Most of Fallujah's 200,000 to 300,000 residents are believed to have fled the city before the U.S. assault. Civilian casualties in the attack are not known, though U.S. commanders say they believe the numbers are low.


Also yesterday:

A car bomb in Baghdad struck a police patrol as night fell, killing 10 people. A total of 28 people died in insurgent attacks yesterday.

Al-Jazeera television reported 32 people were killed and about 50 injured in politically motivated violence yesterday throughout Iraq, but it was unclear if the figures included deaths and injuries in Fallujah. The toll included 10 who died when a car bomb targeted a police patrol in the capital after sunset. U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in Baghdad and the cities of Ramadi, Mosul and Latifiyah.

An Arabic TV station broadcast video from what appeared to be a militant group holding captured Iraqi soldiers hostage. The tape, Al-Jazeera said, showed some men wearing Iraqi National Guard uniforms from behind. A masked militant, the station said, read a statement saying that the group would not kill the captured men but would kill others captured in the future.

Compiled from Newsday, Knight Ridder Newspapers and The Associated Press reports.


Gunmen abduct

3 in Allawi's family


BAGHDAD, Iraq — The gunmen who abducted three members of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family from their Baghdad home said the hostages would be beheaded in two days if the siege of Fallujah was not lifted, Allawi's spokesman said.

A cousin of the premier, Ghazi Allawi, the cousin's wife and their daughter-in-law were snatched Tuesday night from their house in the western Yarmouk neighborhood, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said.

"Ghazi Allawi is 75 years old. He has no political affiliation, and is not holding a government post," the statement said.

A group calling itself Ansar al-Jihad group claimed in a Web posting that it carried out the abductions.


Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...44_iraq10.html

[ODShowtime]

"hostage slaughterhouses" that's some colorful wording, isn't it? I wonder who coined that phrase?

[Nickdfresh]

I think it may have been coined by the Iraqi National Guard commanders that stormed the place and later gave a press conference. But the U.S. media has repeated the phrase.

[Nickdfresh]

Street-to-street fighting in Falluja
19 killed, 15 wounded in Baghdad car bomb attack
Thursday, November 11, 2004 Posted: 5:54 PM EST (2254 GMT)

cnn.com
U.S. Marines of the fifth division arrest Iraqi men in the center of Falluja, Iraq, Thursday.


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S.-led forces engaged in fierce street fights Thursday in Falluja, part of an operation that has claimed the lives of 18 U.S. troops and five Iraqi soldiers.

Combat has become more difficult as the U.S.-led forces have entered the heart of the city, which is west of Baghdad.

The troops have begun to dismantle hundreds of homemade bombs left by the insurgents, often while under fire.

Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, reported Thursday's death toll, an increase from 11 the day before.

Natonski said 178 U.S. service members and 34 Iraqi soldiers have been wounded.

He went out of his way to praise the Iraqi forces.

"They are our brothers in arms and they are the future of this country," he said, adding that "the respect and camaraderie between U.S. and Iraqi forces is something to behold."

Natonski said that Thursday's focus was on clearing operations.

He said that arms caches, bomb factories, fortifications or weapons repair facilities were found at nearly every mosque the troops searched.

He added that the fighters used schools for weapons storage and sniped at soldiers from minarets.

"We respect the law of war, unlike our adversary, who uses mosques," said Natonski.

The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany received 58 wounded U.S. troops, mostly from Falluja, on Thursday.

On Wednesday, 68 troops were sent to Landstuhl, spokeswoman Mary Shaw said. These totals were a sharp increase from earlier in the week when the American-led forces began moving into the city.

Shaw said the patients suffered from blast and gunshot injuries, and some are in serious condition.

So far, more than 500 insurgents have been killed, officials at the Pentagon said Thursday.

The ground troops battled pockets of insurgents in street-by-street battles. The troops were backed by artillery and airstrikes during the fourth day of fighting in the offensive against hard-core insurgents.

The troops continue to locate insurgents in buildings and along alleys.

Natonski said earlier that U.S. forces found a beaten, shackled captive at a site believed to be a "hostage slaughterhouse." (Full story)

In another part of the city, two AH-1 Marine Cobras made safe landings "after being engaged by ground forces" in the Falluja area, the U.S. military said.

"The crews landed their aircraft under their own power and the areas in Falluja where they landed have been secured by [U.S.-led multinational] forces," according to a spokesman for the Combined Press Information Center.

Military officials said Wednesday that U.S. and Iraqi forces have taken control of about 70 percent of Falluja, including key buildings.

An estimated 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines, along with about 2,000 troops from Iraq's new army, have been running into small pockets of fighters as they fight their way through the city.

The offensive, launched Sunday, is dubbed Operation New Dawn and targets an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 insurgents. (Gallery)

Falluja was considered an insurgent command-and-control center for the rest of the country and a base for Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network. (Falluja map)

Suicide attack in Baghdad
A suicide car bomb attack Thursday killed at least 19 people and heavily damaged storefronts in a busy commercial district of central Baghdad, an Iraqi police official said.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack, which targeted a vehicle carrying Americans and a police vehicle.

Twenty-five cars were destroyed and burned, and 20 shops and buildings were damaged in the explosion.

The blast left a hole on the ground about three meters deep and four meters wide.

The attack shook al-Nasser Square near Saadoun Street at 11:35 a.m. (3:30 a.m. ET) in the capital's Rasafa district.

Police targeted by insurgents
In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police have become the targets of insurgents, prompting an offensive from U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi national guard.

In overnight raids, insurgents attacked and burned several government facilities, mostly police stations, a Task Force Olympia spokeswoman said.

An Iraqi police official said there have been confrontations between insurgents and Mosul police inside their stations.

As a result of the overnight raids, U.S. soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division joined the Iraqi national guard in offensive operations in southeastern and southwestern Mosul, according to a statement from Task Force Olympia.

Iraqi security forces and multinational forces established checkpoints in different locations throughout the city.

Imams broadcast messages from loudspeakers on top of mosques asking residents not to burn police stations because they are public property.

Police visibility on the streets appeared to be low.

According to one resident, stores were closed Thursday morning and the streets were quiet. Insurgents were seen roaming freely on streets. The resident described the city as dangerous and tense.

Nineveh's provincial governor, Duraid Kashmoula, imposed a 48-hour curfew on the city Wednesday.

Other developments

The governor of Kirkuk survived an assassination attempt Thursday by Iraqi insurgents, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division said. Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa was traveling from his home to a government building when a car bomb exploded near his convoy at about 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET). The governor was not hurt in the attack, but four Iraqi security guards were wounded. Kirkuk is north of Baghdad.


At least two members of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's extended family were abducted at gunpoint Wednesday from their home in Baghdad amid conflicting reports from government officials and sources close to the family. A group called Ansar al-Jihad claimed responsibility for the kidnapping on a Web site, saying there were three hostages. The prime minister's office Wednesday said it was aware of the abduction of two family members -- Allawi's cousin, Ghazy Allawi, 75, and his cousin's daughter-in-law. (Full story)

CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. Army, Cal Perry; Faris Qasira; Nic Robertson, embedded with the U.S. Marines; and Mohammed Tawfeeq and Pentagon correspondent contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

Fallouja Insurgency Chaotic, Persistent
Guerrillas may lack a battle plan, but 'they just keep coming at us,' a Marine notes. The U.S.-led troops say they are killing the fighters.
Battle for Fallouja (Flash)
Related Stories

Beyond Embattled City, Rebels Operate Freely
November 12, 2004
Fallouja Toll Rises; Bombing in Baghdad
November 12, 2004
Complete Coverage

Two Marine Corps Buddies Inseparable in Life, Death


Fallouja Insurgency Chaotic, Persistent


Beyond Embattled City, Rebels Operate Freely

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer


FALLOUJA, Iraq — The mosque had been taken, but the fire kept coming.

"We've got chunks of territory, but these guys [insurgents] are all over the place," Marine Lt. Brandon Turner said Thursday as he stood amid shattered glass and concrete under the green dome of the Khulafah Rashid mosque, his fellow Marines resting on a plush red carpet.


"They just keep coming at us."

There is no real pattern to the fighting in Fallouja — a fierce, chaotic battle that continued to rage Thursday, house to house, street to street. But if there is any accepted truth so far, it is this: The insurgents are not going away easily.

And that truth has a corollary: The Marines are doing all they can to draw the guerrillas out and kill them.

"The enemy is right where we want him. He's coming to us," said Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, which has experienced perhaps the toughest fight of all the units penetrating the city. "And we're killing him."

Many of the 3,000 to 5,000 insurgents estimated to have been in Fallouja before the invasion are believed to have fled this Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad. But those who have remained are tenacious, even though Marines say they have killed hundreds of them.

Guerrilla snipers crouch in buildings and amid the rubble. Small squads of insurgents rush Marine positions. Dozens of rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, have struck tanks and other military vehicles. A pickup with six men carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers was spotted near one mosque.

Several snipers on rooftops halted the advance of a platoon of Marines heading out on foot Wednesday to attack insurgents in a mosque where they had been firing on U.S. troops.

"They seem to be communicating with each other," said 1st Sgt. Jose Andrade of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, as he crouched on a main street, taking cover. "It makes it harder to get at them."

Marines on the streets are constant targets. Troops accustomed to getting around on foot are being transported in tracked amphibious vehicles whenever possible. But street patrols inevitably must be done on foot, with no lapse of concentration.

"The enemy just pops out of anywhere and fires off rounds and RPGs," said Cpl. Adam Golden, 21. "We're just looking to get him when he pops out."

Marines have advanced through more than half of Fallouja. But no one here believed Thursday that the city was close to being under control.

"We've still got to impose security," said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment.

U.S. forces are doing all they can to force the guerrillas into the open.

Army psychological operations teams have been broadcasting Arabic-language tapes excoriating fighters in the most explicit terms.

"Liars and cowards, you are nothing but dogs!" goes the text of one tape, the dog reference especially insulting in the Arab world. "You have no honor! You hide behind women and children!"

The idea is not to offend most Iraqis, said Army Spc. Jose Rincon, 24, who is heading one of the psychological operations teams. "We just want to get the terrorists angry enough to fight."

On occasion, guerrillas put up fights for buildings, as was the case when Marines attacked a former Iraqi national guard headquarters. The troops called in tanks and flattened the place.

More frequently, though, key buildings — such as Fallouja's City Hall and various mosques associated with the resistance — have been taken without major battles.

Then, once the Marines are ensconced, the insurgents arrive in waves.

"Getting in here wasn't so hard," Gunnery Sgt. James Cully said of the municipal compound seized largely without a fight Wednesday. "But since we got here the firing hasn't stopped."

Gun battles resounded Thursday around the City Hall complex, which was filled with abandoned and wrecked office equipment. The deep thud of the Marines' heavy weapons matched the distinctive crackle of Kalashnikov assault rifle fire. Mortar rounds and exploding rockets shook the buildings.

From rooftops, plumes of smoke rose into the air — the result of U.S. artillery and airstrikes, or possibly mortar shells and rockets from insurgents. Flares and illumination rounds lighted up the night sky. Marines demolished buildings as guerrillas scrambled amid the ruins and through alleyways. Roof-to-roof gun battles raged.

"The enemy is like camel spiders," said Lance Cpl. Rajai Hakki, an Alpha Company interpreter. "You try to squash 'em and they crawl to the next spot."

Sometimes, insurgent tactics can be more complex. On the morning of the invasion, a squad of 30 guerrillas drew Marines into an intersection, then opened fire with AK-47s and grenades. Three Marines were hurt.

"They pretty much set us up," said Marine Lance Cpl. Craig Winthrow, who escaped uninjured when a grenade exploded a few feet from him.

In that instance, several guerrillas were killed in the initial engagement. Others were wiped out by C-130 gunships that prowled the skies looking for fleeing fighters.

Mosques being used as military positions by insurgents have come under attack from Marines. The troops usually enter the facilities on the heels of U.S.-allied Iraqi forces after the guerrillas are flushed out. Laser-guided bombs have felled at least two minarets in which snipers were holed up. Marines have found extensive weapons caches and anti-American propaganda in several mosques.

"We have a lot of mosques in our AO [area of operations], and to the best of my knowledge in only one instance did we not receive fire from a mosque," said Capt. Matt Nodine, judge advocate for the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. "These mosques have lost the protections of the Geneva Convention. We are not here to destroy mosques. But the terrorists are using them and we will go after them."

At the majestic Khulafah Rashid mosque, on the highway that divides the northern and southern portions of Fallouja, Marines attacked after taking sniper fire from one of the facility's two minarets. That minaret now lies crumbled after being struck by a 500-pound laser-guided bomb from a U.S. aircraft.

The U.S.-led attacks on mosques have also served to halt the announcements from mosque loudspeakers urging people to resist the Americans. The taped recordings castigating the "infidels" could be heard throughout the first days of the invasion, infuriating Marines.

In one mosque, Iraqi troops fighting with the Marines discovered what might be the body of Abdullah Janabi, a cleric who was considered a guerrilla leader in Fallouja, said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.

Ramos said the identity had yet to be confirmed, but the body appeared to be Janabi, who was a member of the town's de facto governing council during the insurgency. Iraqi military officials declined to comment on Janabi's possible death.

There was no confirmed sign of two other high-value targets: Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born militant leader said to be operating from Fallouja; and Omar Hadid, an Iraqi extremist said to be allied with Zarqawi. U.S. commanders speculate that both may have fled the city in the face of the U.S.-Iraqi onslaught.

Few civilians appeared to have remained in Fallouja, which will probably stay a war zone for some days more.

Once noncombatant residents begin trickling back in, the tableau of destroyed buildings, burned-out cars, battered mosques and piles of rubble will probably make their city all but unrecognizable.

U.S. officials say tens of millions of dollars have been set aside for the rebuilding of Fallouja. Thousands of newly trained Iraqi police and armed forces are said to be ready to be brought into town once a semblance of order has been restored.

Whether the people of Fallouja will accept the U.S.-designed plan remains to be seen. American officials cite as a model Najaf, where an August offensive against Shiite Muslim guerrillas destroyed much of the Old City. A massive rebuilding plan is underway, and Iraqi police have maintained order.

In Najaf, however, the guerrillas were known to be unpopular with a conservative, business-oriented population. The Shiites of Najaf, long suppressed under President Saddam Hussein, welcomed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in spring 2003.

The Sunnis of Fallouja have never embraced the U.S. military presence.

Clashes between U.S. forces and the citizens of Fallouja began almost immediately after Hussein was toppled. U.S. troops shot more than a dozen people dead here in spring 2003 clashes after Army positions came under fire, U.S. officials said. Many in Fallouja called it a massacre. For months after the fall of Hussein, not a shot was fired at U.S. forces in Najaf.

For now, it's difficult to gauge the sentiment of Fallouja residents because there are so few around. The dearth of civilians has been a plus for the Marines.

"We have got to take advantage of this period when the civilians are not present to kill as many enemy as we can," said Ramos, the lieutenant colonel. "We have to keep pressing this against the enemy before the civilians return."


McDonnell is traveling with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.


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By visiting this site, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy

[Nickdfresh]

Causualty figures: U.S. Military and Iraqi Forces 23 Killed/200 Wounded

Insurgents: Between 500 & 600 Killed
A small number taken prisoner

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Fallouja Insurgency Chaotic, Persistent
Army psychological operations teams have been broadcasting Arabic-language tapes excoriating fighters in the most explicit terms.

"Liars and cowards, you are nothing but dogs!" goes the text of one tape, the dog reference especially insulting in the Arab world. "You have no honor! You hide behind women and children!"

The idea is not to offend most Iraqis, said Army Spc. Jose Rincon, 24, who is heading one of the psychological operations teams. "We just want to get the terrorists angry enough to fight."

This is great!

[Nickdfresh]

Childhood friends die together in Iraq
Friday, November 12, 2004 Posted: 10:40 AM EST (1540 GMT)

FRESNO, California (AP) -- Childhood friends who enlisted in the Marine Corps together and died together in Iraq were buried side by side.

Jeremiah Baro and Jared Hubbard, who played together, wrestled each other in high school and toughed it out together through boot camp, died November 4, after a roadside bomb exploded. They were in Iraq's Anbar province, where the military was preparing to attack the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Members of the armed forces, classmates from the nearby high school, more than 700 friends and family members packed the church pews and stood pressed against the walls at Thursday's memorial.

Many wore red armbands with the Marine motto -- Semper Fi, or always faithful. Friends said the phrase described the young men's dedication to each other and their families as much as it defined their commitment to their country, and to their mission as Marines.

"You couldn't say anything about Jared without saying something about Jeremiah, and you couldn't say something about Jeremiah without saying a little something about Jared," said the Rev. Tim Rolen.

Hubbard, who wrestled and played football in high school, and the slighter but pugnacious Baro were "two peas in a pod," said Bert Baro, Jeremiah Baro's father.

"You can't have one without the other," he told the Fresno Bee. "If one or the other survived, I don't think they would have been the same people."

Hubbard, 22, and Baro, 21, enlisted in December 2001, acting on an idea they'd had since high school, but motivated by the terrorist attacks that September.

The two men were dedicated athletes with a close group of friends -- among them the dozens of high school classmates who attended the memorial.

When a group of friends went out, Hubbard was the last to go home, and the first up in the morning, ready for breakfast and a hike, said Benny Clay, who had known him since the fifth grade. Baro was more intense, and had a way of earning the respect of those around him, said Rolen.

Baro's girlfriend, Stephine Sanchez, also showed his lighter, caring side by reading a poem he gave her. Her voice broke into sobs before she reached the end: "You were meant to be my heart, my soul mate, my everything."

It was their second tour in Iraq. They returned home during the summer and trained together as snipers when they returned to their unit.

Two weeks before he was killed, Jeremiah Baro told his father of the latest action they had seen, when they had run into insurgents setting up a roadside ambush, Bert Baro said.

Bert Baro said he wished he had paid closer attention to the 30-minute conversation, not knowing it would be their last. He had been concentrating, he said, on enjoying "the sound of my son's voice."

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Childhood friends Jeremiah Baro, left, and Jared Hubbard died together in Iraq.

[Nickdfresh]

November 13, 2004

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Marine Whose Photo Lit Up Imaginations Keeps His Cool


By Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writer


FALLOUJA, Iraq — The Marlboro man is angry: He has a war to fight and he's running out of smokes.

"If you want to write something," he tells an intruding reporter, "tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs and I'm here in Fallouja till who knows when. Maybe they can send some. And they can bring down the price a bit."

Such are the unvarnished sentiments of Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, 20, a country boy from Kentucky who has been thrust unwittingly and somewhat unwillingly into the role of poster boy for a war on the other side of the world from his home on the farm.

"I just don't understand what all the fuss is about," Miller drawls Friday as he crouches inside an abandoned building with his platoon mates, preparing to fight insurgents holed up in yet another mosque. "I was just smokin' a cigarette and someone takes my picture and it all blows up."

Miller is the young man whose gritty, war-hardened portrait appeared Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times, taken by Luis Sinco, a Times photographer traveling with Miller's unit: Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

In the full-frame photo, taken after more than 12 hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat, Miller's camouflage war paint is smudged. He sports a bloody nick on his nose. His helmet and chin strap frame a weary expression that seems to convey the timeless fatigue of battle.

And there is the cigarette, of course, drooping from the right side of his mouth in a manner that Bogart or John Wayne would have approved of. Wispy smoke drifts off to his left.

The image, printed in more than 100 newspapers, has quickly moved into the realm of the iconic.

That Miller's name was not included in the caption material only seemed to enhance the photograph's punch.

The Los Angeles Times and other publications have received scores of e-mails wanting to know about this mysterious figure. Many women, in particular, have inquired about how to contact him.

"The photo captures his weariness yet his eyes hold the spirit of the hunter and the hunted," wrote one admirer in an e-mail. "His gaze is warm but deadly. I want to send a letter."

The photo seems to have struck a chord, as an image of America striking back at a perceived enemy, or just one young man putting his life on the line halfway across the globe.

Whatever the case, top Marine brass are thrilled.

Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, dropped in Friday on Charlie Company to laud the featured unit.

"That's a great picture," echoed Col. Craig Tucker, who heads the regimental combat team that includes Miller's battalion. "We're having one blown up and sent over to the unit."

Miller, though, has been oddly left out of the hoopla.

Sattler did not single him out during his visit. In fact, Miller only heard about it from the two Los Angeles Times staffers traveling with his unit.

He seemed incredulous.

"A picture?" he asks. "What's the fuss?"

What does he think about the Marines, anyway?

"I already signed the papers, so I got no choice but to do what we're doing."

The photo was taken the afternoon after Charlie Company's harrowing entry into Fallouja under intense hostile fire, in the cold and rain. Miller was on the roof of a home where he and his fellow 1st Platoon members had spent the day engaged in practically nonstop firefights, fending off snipers and attackers who rushed the building. No one had slept in more than 24 hours. All were physically and emotionally drained.

"It was kind of crazy out here at first," Miller says. "No one really knew what to expect. They told us about it all the time, but no one knows for sure until you get here."

In person, he is unassuming: of medium height, his face slightly pimpled, his teeth a little crooked.

Miller takes his share of ribbing as a small-towner in a unit that includes Marines from big cities.

And it has only increased as word of the platoon radio man's instant fame has spread among his mates.

"Miller, when you get home you'll be a hero," Cpl. Mark Waller, 21, from Oklahoma, says.

Miller is now obliged to provide smokes to just about anyone who asks. It's just about wiped out his stash.

"When we came to Fallouja I had two cartons and three packs," Miller said glumly, adding that his supply had dwindled to a mere four packs — not much for a Marine with a three-pack-a day habit. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Even in the Marines, where smoking is widespread, the extent of Miller's habit has raised eyebrows.

"I tried to get him to stop — the cigarettes will kill him before the war," says Navy Corpsman Anthony Lopez, a company medic.

Miller, who was sent to Iraq in June, is the eldest of three brothers from the hamlet of Jonancy, Ky., in the heart of Appalachian coal country.

Never heard of Jonancy?

"It's named after my greatgreat-great grandparents: Joe and Nancy Miller," the Marine explained. "They were the first people in those parts."

His father, James Miller, is a mechanic and farmer, and the young Miller grew up working crops: potatoes, corn, green beans.

His mother, Maxie Webber, 39, is a nurse. She last talked to her son Sunday via a satellite phone. He could only speak for a few minutes, long enough to say hello and reassure his family.

After the U.S. attack on Fallouja began Monday, family members waited for some message that he was alive. Days later, they sat in shock as newscaster Dan Rather talked about The Times' photograph. Who is this man, Rather asked, with the tired eyes and a look of determination?

"I screamed at the TV, 'That's my son!' " Webber said.

Others in Jonancy, including his own father, didn't recognize the camouflaged and bloodied man as the boy they knew.



"He had that stuff on his face. And the expression, that look," said Rodney Rowe, Miller's high school basketball coach. "Those are not the eyes I'm used to seeing in his face."

Back in high school, Miller was an athlete, joining every team that played a sport involving a ball. The school, Shelby Valley High, is located in Pikeville, the nearest town of any consequence and the home of an annual three-day spring festival called "Hillbilly Days."

Miller was somewhat unsure what to do with himself after high school. His father never wanted him to work in the mines.

"He would have been disappointed if I did that," Miller says. "He told me it was awful work."

So Miller enlisted in the Marines in July 2003 after a conversation with a recruiter he met at a football game.

"What I really wanted to do was auto body repair," he says. "But before I knew it, I was in boot camp."

Now, he says, he is just trying to get through each day. His predecessor as platoon radio man was sent home after being injured in a car bomb attack.

Miller has three years remaining in active duty, but he appears disinclined to reenlist.

And he shrugs off suggestions he may cash in on his fame. "When I get out, I just want to chill out a little bit," he says. "Go back to my house, farm a little bit, do some mechanical stuff around the house and call it a day."

Oh, and one more thing: "I'll just sit on my roof and smoke a cigarette."

*

McDonnell is traveling with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, in Fallouja. Times staff writer P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

November 13, 2004

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Troops Shrink Insurgents' Turf
About 50 rebels give up. Most who remain are believed concentrated in south Fallouja.

"I understand from the enemy we have captured that their morale is low," said Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, who heads the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment. "They feel that the city is surrounded, and the only thing remaining for them is to surrender or die."

Most of those who capitulate are Iraqis, said Tucker, not the fervent foreign fighters who are said to have used the city as their base of operations in recent months. The Iraqis may be less willing to fight to the death, commanders said.

There also were indications Friday that the bodies of several fighters from Chechnya, the breakaway Russian republic, had been found in Fallouja. There was no official confirmation of the report. Muslim separatist fighters from Chechnya are rumored to have infiltrated Iraq, along with militants from other Muslim nations. There also have been reports of rebel fighters in Fallouja displaying white flags in a ruse to gain cover, to move their positions or to launch surprise attacks.

In central Fallouja, Marines said, several fighters carrying white flags — with rifles concealed below their robes — were seen among those gathered near a mosque. Marine snipers posted on a roof in the nearby U.S.-controlled municipal government complex opened fire, killing 10 to 12, said Staff Sgt. Jorge Olalde of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

"They were playing the game of surrendering but had their [AK-47s] under their cloaks," Olalde said.

The downtown mosque where the fighters were spotted, the Marines said, had been broadcasting a call to fight U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies. American snipers destroyed the mosque's loudspeakers.

The bulk of the rebel force — including most of the non-Iraqis — was believed to have concentrated in south Fallouja. Fighters fleeing U.S. troops were thought to have joined them. The rebels were being in an ever-tightening noose, U.S. commanders said. And U.S. forces also blocked the city's southern exits.

"They're basically surrounded," said Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl, commander of the 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment. "They know they can't go anywhere, so they're fighting hard…. We're crushing his back, one vertebra at a time."

The insurgents are said to have built earthen mounds and other fortifications, booby-trapped houses and dug tunnels and other underground positions.

"We've known for months that [south Fallouja] is where most of the foreign fighters are," Tucker said, displaying a satellite photograph of the city. "This is where we find fortifications. We've seen a lot of tunnels and spider holes…. These guys are probably better trained. They've got fortified positions."

American and Iraqi forces now control 80% of Fallouja, Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler told Pentagon reporters Friday in a telephone news conference from the embattled city. Coalition troops have killed about 600 insurgents and captured 300 who surrendered at a mosque plus 151 others. Twenty-two coalition troops have been killed and 170 wounded. Forty of the wounded have returned to duty.

Several Marine companies and at least one Army unit have moved into south Fallouja, fighting house to house and street to street, commanders said. Resistance has been stiff.

South Fallouja also may be where rebel leaders are holed up, although the most-wanted men — Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi and his Iraqi ally Omar Hadid — may have fled.

The whereabouts of a third leader, cleric Abdullah Janabi, remained a mystery. A man resembling Janabi was found shot to death at one of the mosques taken by Iraqi forces, U.S. commanders said. But the body had not been identified, Tucker said Friday. The circumstances of the shooting were unknown.

U.S. forces continued to draw sniper fire near the government center. But the intensity of the attacks had lessened since Thursday, when Marines fought around the clock.

The city center is considered strategic because a U.S.-backed Iraqi government will be based there after the fighting, U.S. officials said. Fallouja's central east-west thoroughfare, once bustling, is now a deserted row of mostly bombed-out storefronts.

Marines found City Hall, police headquarters and the school administration building abandoned when they arrived. They have since pushed furniture against the windows to block sniper fire.

The insurgents "obviously knew this was going to be the seat of government power and we were going to want to take this back," Brandl said, standing in the police station as incoming mortar fire shook the ground and snipers' bullets whizzed nearby. "We've been fighting a 360-degree battle here."

On Friday, Marines of Charlie Company attacked a mosque and the adjoining buildings, including an apartment house and an electronics warehouse that snipers had used to fire on U.S. troops in the government center. A U.S. missile hit one of the mosque's minarets, though the structure remained intact.

Marines attacking the mosque on foot came under fire from the building, then responded with overwhelming force. The mosque's walls were breached but no one was inside. On the second-floor balcony, Marines found a single AK-47, but the insurgents had slipped out the back.

It was a scene repeated over and over again. Insurgents chose to flee the superior force. "The enemy uses some pretty smart tactics," said Staff Sgt. Dennis Nash of Charlie Company. "They always have an egress set up so they can get out."

The extensive damage to Fallouja's mosques has provoked an outcry in the Arab media, and the issue is likely to resonate strongly throughout Iraq when the scale of the destruction is known. Fallouja is a conservative Sunni Muslim community often called the city of mosques.

Marines have avoided demolishing mosques, but they have entered many. Minarets on at least two mosques have been destroyed by 500-pound bombs. Domes have been damaged, ornate glass shattered and walls knocked down.

"If we are fired on, mosques lose their protected status," said Capt. Theodore Bethea, commander of Charlie Company, which attacked the mosque in central Fallouja on Friday.

During the fighting, Mohammed Joundi, a Syrian kidnapped with two French journalists for whom he worked as a driver, was rescued by Marines from a Fallouja house. He told authorities that he last saw the Frenchmen a month ago — the first confirmed word on the captives since they disappeared in August.

This city of almost 300,000 appeared to be largely devoid of civilians. Most are believed to have fled in anticipation of the U.S. invasion.

Some have come forward to seek protection from Marines and their Iraqi allies. But civilians have mostly been only glimpsed, their faces displaying terror as the fighting rages around them and their city turns to rubble.

Ahmed Aboud, 37, said he stayed in Fallouja because he could not afford to leave. This week, he said, two of his children were killed.

"I buried my two children in my garden yesterday because they were wounded by gunfire of American troops. I watched them bleed to death and die in front of my eyes," he said. "I had no way to treat them because the hospital is closed, and anyway, I cannot go out because people are shooting and the Americans are bombing."

McDonnell is traveling with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. A Times special correspondent in Fallouja and Times staff writer John Hendren in Washington contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

Iraqi official: 1,000 rebels killed in Falluja
Al-Zarqawi, lieutenant believed to have escaped city
Saturday, November 13, 2004 Posted: 8:04 PM EST (0104 GMT)

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- As many as 1,000 insurgents have been killed in the six-day battle for Falluja, an operation that is "almost finished," Iraqi national security adviser Kasim Dawood said Saturday.

But terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and a lieutenant, Abdullah Junabi, both escaped, he said.

Falluja is largely deserted, Dawood said, adding that up to 90 percent of the residents have left.

Dawood also reported that 200 insurgents have been captured and Falluja is "liberated except for some pockets."

Lt. Col. Pete Newell, commander of Task Force 2-2 of the 1st Infantry Division, said his unit has cornered the insurgents in southern Falluja -- a stronghold for fighters loyal to al-Zarqawi. He expected to have complete control of the area later in the day.

Relief efforts
The government and the Iraqi Red Crescent have initiated relief efforts to help civilians still in the city.

The city's general hospital is open and ready to treat injured civilians after being occupied by Iraqi commandos during the weeklong offensive. A convoy of medical equipment left Baghdad on Saturday, carrying 15 tons of medical equipment destined for the hospital, Iraq's health minister said.

Also, 20 civilian ambulances are at the city's edge, the minister said.

Before fighting first erupted in Falluja months ago, the city was populated by 250,000 to 300,000 people. (Falluja map)

Eight humanitarian groups in Iraq, including the Japan International Volunteer Center and the Mennonite Central Committee, have signed a letter expressing alarm for the safety of civilians in Falluja and other areas of Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

The groups urge the "international community" to develop conditions making it possible to deliver humanitarian aid and that a "humanitarian corridor should be created immediately to serve as an exit route for civilians trapped in the conflict zone."

"Aid workers on the ground estimate that more then 200,000 people have fled Falluja, seeking shelter and protection in neighboring areas.

"Those displaced communities lack drinkable water and food; the available shelters (private or public buildings) are overcrowded.

"Health facilities are facing difficulties for lack of personnel and shortage of drugs," the letter said.

Recording urges rebels to keep fighting
Even as the calls for humanitarian aid went out, U.S. forces continued to battle remaining insurgents.

A new audio message purportedly from al-Zarqawi urges insurgents in Iraq to press on with jihad and "burn the earth under the invaders." (Full story)

"To the heroes of Falluja, I pray to God to give you victory in your jihad," the voice says.

Insurgents in groups of five to 20 have been surrendering in northeast Falluja, where the U.S. military is in control, said Col. Craig Tucker, commander of 7th Regimental Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division.

Overnight, Task Force 2-2 elements cleared two blocks of the southern sector, finding significant weapons caches in five houses -- including rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials, Newell said.

U.S. military aircraft provided cover for house-to-house searches conducted by the Marines and Iraqi security forces

The battle, undertaken to wipe out what the U.S. military regards as an insurgent command-and-control center, continued to rage during the evening hours as troops went from building to building to uncover weapons caches, tunnels and bunkers. (Gallery)

So far, 22 U.S. troops have been killed in Falluja, Lt. Gen. John Sattler said Friday.

About 170 troops have been wounded, and 40 of them have returned to the battlefield.

Battles elsewhere
In other cities in Iraq, insurgents kept pressure on U.S. and Iraqi forces, who say they want to stabilize the country ahead of scheduled January elections for a transitional national assembly.

Northeast of Baghdad on Friday, insurgents shot down a helicopter, injuring three. One soldier died and three other people were wounded when a Task Force Baghdad patrol was ambushed Friday afternoon in the southern section of the capital.

In Baquba, north of Baghdad, four people were wounded during fighting between insurgents and police.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, U.S. airstrikes targeted insurgents they blame for attacking government buildings earlier in the week.

Other developments

Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday that the kidnapping of his relatives earlier this week won't discourage him from carrying out his duties. "I'm not going to be deterred by this," Allawi said. His cousin and cousin's pregnant daughter-in-law were seized, Allawi's office said, but a source close to the family said three people were kidnapped. There is no word on the fate of the hostages.


One coalition soldier was killed and three were wounded when insurgents attacked a military base outside Baghdad on Saturday evening, the U.S. military said. The nationalities of the casualties weren't immediately available.


Baghdad International Airport will remain closed to commercial traffic until further notice, a spokesman for Allawi said Saturday. The airport was closed to commercial traffic earlier this week because of security concerns. Iraqi authorities fear reprisal attacks for the U.S. offensive in Falluja.


U.S. troops seized a weapons cache in a mosque in western Baghdad, the military reported Friday. Twenty-three suspected insurgents and three Muslim clerics were detained. Two U.S. soldiers were wounded by sniper fire during the operation and were evacuated for treatment.

CNN's Jane Arraf, embedded with the U.S. Army; Nic Robertson, embedded with the U.S. Marines; and Cal Perry, Faris Qasira, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

Despite the high number of guerilla causualties, many foriegn fighters like Zarqawi fled.

The Associated press reported that Iraqi insurgents executed 20 'forgien fighters' for leaving the city.

This will probably be the last post by me on thise pet Falluja thread since the battle is winding down.

U.S.: 'Enemy is broken' in Falluja
U.S. death toll in assault rises to 31
Sunday, November 14, 2004 Posted: 11:47 AM EST (1647 GMT)

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines spread through the deserted streets of Falluja on Sunday, kicking in doors during a dangerous house-to-house search for insurgents --targets of the U.S.-Iraqi military operation.

American soldiers took sporadic gunfire from insurgents, who, a Marine general said, apparently want to "fight to the death."

Between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed in the week-long assault, Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler said. The American death toll rose to 31, with six Iraqi forces also reported killed. Nearly 300 Americans have been wounded, Sattler said.

"As of late last night, we have been in all parts of the city," Sattler told reporters. "We have liberated the city of Falluja."

"The enemy is broken," Sattler said, but troops "have to go back to still isolated pockets" of insurgents.

"If they are trapped and want to fight till death, we have no choice but to accommodate," the general said.

Sattler said the military had about 1,000 people in custody and expected as many as 700 would be released after interrogation.

Sattler accompanied the U.S. Central Command chief, Army Gen. John Abizaid, into the area. Abizaid spoke to many of the Marines and soldiers fighting the battle and told reporters they had "been very effective" in their efforts.

Earlier, Marine Lt. Gen. Richard Natanski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the assault on Falluja had deprived the insurgents of their "base of operations."

"This was their sanctuary," he said, describing the city as a place where insurgents could could rest and then re-arm themselves before attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops. "They no longer have that luxury."

Some insurgents fled Falluja in advance of the assault, and could launch attacks from elsewhere in the country. Before the assault on the city, U.S. officials said it was likely that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and a lieutenant, Abdullah Junabi, were among those who fled.

"We don't know where [al-Zarqawi] is right now," Sattler said. "Maybe he's dead; we don't know. But we never focused on him. We focused on ... reinstating the rule of law, which we are in the process of doing, and giving Falluja back to the Fallujan people, which will come fairly soon."

It's unclear how many civilians have been killed or wounded in the airstrikes or heavy ground battles that have gripped the city. Military officials said at least 14 civilians were wounded.

Overnight, U.S. forces dropped bunker-busting bombs on an underground complex used by insurgents, military officials said Sunday.

The Air Force -- working with Task Force 2-2 of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division -- dropped four 2,000-pound bombs and ordered C-130 air strikes, firing more than 100 rounds at the complex in southeastern Falluja. Military officials said the site was stocked with medical and other supplies, and may be as large as 400 meters by 300 meters (1,300 feet by 1,000 feet) and lined with tunnels.

The military has taken out other similar sites throughout the week.

The United States has said the Falluja operation was aimed -- in large part -- at helping pave the way for legitimate elections to take place as scheduled in January.

As major operations wind down in Falluja, there is increased focus on humanitarian needs.

It's unclear how many civilians are in Falluja. The city's population ranges from 250,000 to 300,000. U.S. and Iraqi officials estimated that 90 percent fled before the assault.

An Iraqi humanitarian organization set up a makeshift campground for displaced Falluja residents at the location of the Baghdad International Fair, about 30 miles away. Some children rode a Ferris wheel and played games, while some parents protested the ongoing violence in their home city.

Also in Falluja on Sunday, U.S. forces were barring from the city's center an Iraqi Red Crescent convoy carrying food, blankets, water purification tablets and medicine for hundreds of trapped families, a U.S. Marine officer told Reuters. (Full story)

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported Sunday that Marines in Falluja were expected to reopen a bridge over the Euphrates River where -- on March 31 -- insurgents hanged the bodies of two American contractors who were killed and mutilated by militants. The attack on the contractors of Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., sparked the first major U.S. military operation in Falluja, in April.

"This is a big event for us," the AP quoted Maj. Todd Des Grosseilliers, 41, from Auburn, Maine. "It's symbolic because the insurgents closed the bridge and we are going to reopen it."

Other developments

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a car bombing of an Iraqi national guard base Saturday night killed two guardsmen and wounded three others, Mosul police director Maj. Gen. Salim al-Hajj Issa said Sunday. Issa said that authorities planned an Iraqi police program throughout the Nineva province aimed at finding infiltrators within the force.


About 125 miles north of Baghdad, in Baiji, home of Iraq's largest oil refinery, insurgents attacked a 1st Infantry Division patrol Sunday, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll. U.S. forces returned fire, surrounded the insurgents in a building and fired Hellfire missiles from U.S. helicopters. The attack on U.S. forces followed a blast from several hundred pounds of explosives used to sabotage a railroad overpass, Coppernoll said.


On Sunday, Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday that the kidnapping of his relatives earlier in the week won't discourage him from carrying out his duties. "I'm not going to be deterred by this," Allawi said. His cousin and cousin's pregnant daughter-in-law were seized, Allawi's office said, but a source close to the family said three people were kidnapped. There is no word on the fate of the hostages.


One coalition soldier was killed and three were wounded when insurgents attacked a military base outside Baghdad on Saturday evening, the U.S. military said. The nationalities of the casualties weren't immediately available.


Baghdad International Airport will remain closed to commercial traffic until further notice, a spokesman for Allawi said Saturday. The airport was closed to commercial traffic earlier in the week because of security concerns. Iraqi authorities fear reprisals for the U.S. offensive in Falluja.

CNN's Jane Arraf, Nic Robertson, Cal Perry, Faris Qasira, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

cnn.com
A U.S. Marine arrests Iraqi men Saturday in the western part of Falluja.
Image:

[Sarge's Little Helper]

Despite the high number of guerilla causualties, many foriegn fighters like Zarqawi fled.

The Associated press reported that Iraqi insurgents executed 20 'forgien fighters' for leaving the city.

This will probably be the last post by me on thise pet Falluja thread since the battle is winding down.

U.S.: 'Enemy is broken' in Falluja
U.S. death toll in assault rises to 31
Sunday, November 14, 2004 Posted: 11:47 AM EST (1647 GMT)

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines spread through the deserted streets of Falluja on Sunday, kicking in doors during a dangerous house-to-house search for insurgents --targets of the U.S.-Iraqi military operation.

American soldiers took sporadic gunfire from insurgents, who, a Marine general said, apparently want to "fight to the death."

Between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed in the week-long assault, Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler said. The American death toll rose to 31, with six Iraqi forces also reported killed. Nearly 300 Americans have been wounded, Sattler said.

"As of late last night, we have been in all parts of the city," Sattler told reporters. "We have liberated the city of Falluja."

"The enemy is broken," Sattler said, but troops "have to go back to still isolated pockets" of insurgents.

"If they are trapped and want to fight till death, we have no choice but to accommodate," the general said.

Sattler said the military had about 1,000 people in custody and expected as many as 700 would be released after interrogation.

Sattler accompanied the U.S. Central Command chief, Army Gen. John Abizaid, into the area. Abizaid spoke to many of the Marines and soldiers fighting the battle and told reporters they had "been very effective" in their efforts.

Earlier, Marine Lt. Gen. Richard Natanski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the assault on Falluja had deprived the insurgents of their "base of operations."

"This was their sanctuary," he said, describing the city as a place where insurgents could could rest and then re-arm themselves before attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops. "They no longer have that luxury."

Some insurgents fled Falluja in advance of the assault, and could launch attacks from elsewhere in the country. Before the assault on the city, U.S. officials said it was likely that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and a lieutenant, Abdullah Junabi, were among those who fled.

"We don't know where [al-Zarqawi] is right now," Sattler said. "Maybe he's dead; we don't know. But we never focused on him. We focused on ... reinstating the rule of law, which we are in the process of doing, and giving Falluja back to the Fallujan people, which will come fairly soon."

It's unclear how many civilians have been killed or wounded in the airstrikes or heavy ground battles that have gripped the city. Military officials said at least 14 civilians were wounded.

Overnight, U.S. forces dropped bunker-busting bombs on an underground complex used by insurgents, military officials said Sunday.

The Air Force -- working with Task Force 2-2 of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division -- dropped four 2,000-pound bombs and ordered C-130 air strikes, firing more than 100 rounds at the complex in southeastern Falluja. Military officials said the site was stocked with medical and other supplies, and may be as large as 400 meters by 300 meters (1,300 feet by 1,000 feet) and lined with tunnels.

The military has taken out other similar sites throughout the week.

The United States has said the Falluja operation was aimed -- in large part -- at helping pave the way for legitimate elections to take place as scheduled in January.

As major operations wind down in Falluja, there is increased focus on humanitarian needs.

It's unclear how many civilians are in Falluja. The city's population ranges from 250,000 to 300,000. U.S. and Iraqi officials estimated that 90 percent fled before the assault.

An Iraqi humanitarian organization set up a makeshift campground for displaced Falluja residents at the location of the Baghdad International Fair, about 30 miles away. Some children rode a Ferris wheel and played games, while some parents protested the ongoing violence in their home city.

Also in Falluja on Sunday, U.S. forces were barring from the city's center an Iraqi Red Crescent convoy carrying food, blankets, water purification tablets and medicine for hundreds of trapped families, a U.S. Marine officer told Reuters. (Full story)

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported Sunday that Marines in Falluja were expected to reopen a bridge over the Euphrates River where -- on March 31 -- insurgents hanged the bodies of two American contractors who were killed and mutilated by militants. The attack on the contractors of Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., sparked the first major U.S. military operation in Falluja, in April.

"This is a big event for us," the AP quoted Maj. Todd Des Grosseilliers, 41, from Auburn, Maine. "It's symbolic because the insurgents closed the bridge and we are going to reopen it."

Other developments

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a car bombing of an Iraqi national guard base Saturday night killed two guardsmen and wounded three others, Mosul police director Maj. Gen. Salim al-Hajj Issa said Sunday. Issa said that authorities planned an Iraqi police program throughout the Nineva province aimed at finding infiltrators within the force.


About 125 miles north of Baghdad, in Baiji, home of Iraq's largest oil refinery, insurgents attacked a 1st Infantry Division patrol Sunday, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll. U.S. forces returned fire, surrounded the insurgents in a building and fired Hellfire missiles from U.S. helicopters. The attack on U.S. forces followed a blast from several hundred pounds of explosives used to sabotage a railroad overpass, Coppernoll said.


On Sunday, Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday that the kidnapping of his relatives earlier in the week won't discourage him from carrying out his duties. "I'm not going to be deterred by this," Allawi said. His cousin and cousin's pregnant daughter-in-law were seized, Allawi's office said, but a source close to the family said three people were kidnapped. There is no word on the fate of the hostages.


One coalition soldier was killed and three were wounded when insurgents attacked a military base outside Baghdad on Saturday evening, the U.S. military said. The nationalities of the casualties weren't immediately available.


Baghdad International Airport will remain closed to commercial traffic until further notice, a spokesman for Allawi said Saturday. The airport was closed to commercial traffic earlier in the week because of security concerns. Iraqi authorities fear reprisals for the U.S. offensive in Falluja.

CNN's Jane Arraf, Nic Robertson, Cal Perry, Faris Qasira, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

cnn.com
A U.S. Marine arrests Iraqi men Saturday in the western part of Falluja.
Image:

Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Sarge's Little Helper
Oops. I wasn't paying attention. Tell me again what is going on.

Fuck you bot.

[BigBadBrian]

bump

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
bump

Sure JC, right away!

[BigBadBrian]

bump