ABC Reports U.S. Marines are moving into Fallujah

[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]

19 Killed, 178 Wounded in Fight

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)

https://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]

Choatic Fighting Continues

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
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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.


Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
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[Nickdfresh]

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

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

[ODShowtime]

Re: Choatic Fighting Continues

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! :D

[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]

Even Marines Have Groupies-Semper Fi!

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]

50 Iraqi Insurgents Surrender

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]

Zarqawi Escaped

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]

Between 1,000 & 2,000 Insurgents Reported Killed

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.

https://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.

https://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!