[TexKat]

US Abrams tanks take their positions at the main entrance of the flashpoint town of Fallujah, 50kms west of Baghdad, as an Iraqi Police convoy drives out of the town. Hundreds of panicked residents in cars, buses and pick-up trucks flooded out of Fallujah as explosions and gunfire crackled across this flashpoint Iraqi city after insurgents shot down a US helicopter.(AFP/Mauricio Lima)

A Cobra helicopter gunship (L) and UH-1 Huey search for insurgents after a U.S. Marine patrol from the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Marine Division was attacked near Falluja June 24, 2004. Falluja was one of several Iraqi cities hit by what appeared to be coordinated attacks. (Bob Strong/Reuters)

A helicopter flies above a road in Fallujah, Iraq, in this image made from television, Thursday, June 24, 2004. Guerilla forces clashed with US forces in the restive Iraqi town 60 km (40 miles) outside of Baghdad Thursday. Amid the fighting, a US Marine helicopter made an emergency landing outside Fallujah. (AP Photo/APTN)

[TexKat]

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[gilliam]

well, it looks like the cops are fleeing anyway.

[pgkdan]

I just wish we'd level the damned place.

[Prime Choice]

This is what happens when you "negotiate" with terrorists like al-Sadr.

Flatten the area. Leave no stone on top of another. Deprive the enemy of sanctuary. How difficult is that to comprehend?

[My2Cents]

The AFP news service really likes the word "flashpoint," doesn't it.

[rj45mis]

It's time to rout the enemy in Fallujah. Let's stop playing mother may I with these primitives.

[gathersnomoss]

Ok, a simple solution that has been stated here by others needs repeating. Enclose the toilet. Remove all women and children one by one. Search each male that "will come out". Kill those who are armed. Those who do not remove themselves can be killed with a bomb that does not destroy the infrastructure, ie flush.

Kind of like a Roach Motel. We should not continue to let thugs run this city.

[Badeye]

The mistake of not taking al Sadr down, of not taking over Fallujah immediately after the four contractors were killed, butchered, burned and then strung up on the overpasses is coming home to roost.

This is the single biggest mistake we have made since the invasion of Iraq last year. And now we are going to pay a very high price to correct this error in judgement. Not so much in lives lost, althought thats now going to happen. But politically.

I support this President and this Administration. I support the invasion of Iraq. I support the war on terror.

But I said this was a mistake (how we handled Fallujah three months ago) and to date nothing has occured to change my view.

[TexKat]

Armed militants drive through the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, chanting pro-resistance slogans after battles with U.S. forces Thursday June 24, 2004. Militants launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Iraq Thursday, less than a week before the handover of sovereignty. (AP Photo/Abdul-Kadr Saadi)

This image taken from a video posted on an Islamist web site purports to be the beheading of the South Korean hostage, Kim Sun-il killed by militants in Iraq. Kim's body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, 22 miles west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. Iraq time, Tuesday June 22, 2004. (AP Photo/APTN)

[Gator113]

Kill them all!!!!!!!!

[RightWhale]

the city of 500,000 residents

It was 300,000 before the Jihadi Zealots showed up.

[GraniteStateConservative]

A series of checkpoints manned by young men toting Kalashnikov rifles and wearing red or black keffiyeh headscarves stopped and searched cars heading toward the southern exit of the city of 500,000 residents.

Some of the checkpoints were also guarded by members of the Fallujah Brigade, the force made up of remnants of Saddam Hussein's former army now patrolling the city after the US marines' withdrawal two months ago.

Are these guys fer us or agin' us? I can't tell. I think that's a bad sign, right?

[LoudRepublicangirl]

I guess we had given Fallujah time to get it's act together and it failed. Whatever has to happen has to happen. I just pray for the safety of our guys.

[jolie560]

..."people were shouting "Allah-u-Akbar" (God is great), celebrating the downing of the US helicopter on the city's outskirts"...

As, no doubt, are the many thousands of Muslim 'Allahu-s' living throughout the world. Islam had better enjoy these celebrations while they last--the end of Mohammed's reign is about to end. Muslims around the world will all be at risk. It's part of their culture.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

If the residents are leaving ... no innocents will be harmed if we raze the city ...

[TexKat]

DEN NYE BIN LADEN: Slik ser han ut, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Han ser ut til å bli farligere og farligere for hver dag. Foto: Scanpix/Ap

U.S.: Intelligence Led to Fallujah Airstrikes - FoxNews

[Jim Noble]

Gangs of insurgents, some as young as 16 and some wearing extra bullet clips on their chests, stood on street corners as confused residents tried to flee or hide.

"It was total chaos inside. Everyone was confused, everyone was running. Everyone was trying to find shelter or get out of the city. It was just like a state of emergency," said a witness.

"You can feel the stress and the danger. You start to shiver because you think at any moment they may shoot you. There were hundreds of insurgents at every corner, at every intersection."

Some people were shouting "Allah-u-Akbar" (God is great), celebrating the downing of the US helicopter on the city's outskirts.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again-it was a terrible mistake not to reduce Fallujah in April.

The electorate is in a mood like that of 1864 (however unjustified it may be this time). President Bush needs an "Atlanta moment", when it becomes clear that the corner has been turned, that uncertainty of outcome is turning into victory, and that there is an end ahead.

Pulverizing Fallujah to dust and evacuating or killing its inhabitants would have provided such a moment.

There's still time-is there will to do it?

[Cicero]

As a military officer said the other day in an article posted here, the way to deal with terrorists and insurgents is to get together them in one place and kill them. Fallujah is an obvious place to do just that. When you see a gang of demonstrators complete with AK 47s and strings of ammunition belts marching down the street, shoot them.

We used that tactic when young Pakistanis went over the border to join the Holy War in Afghanistan. We should be doing the same thing now. The media will make the worst of it no matter what we do, so we need to go ahead and settle this, firmly and quickly.

[TexKat]

Rebels bent on disrupting a handover to Iraqi rule bloodied five cities on June 24, 2004 with coordinated assaults on local security forces in which about 75 people, including three U.S. soldiers, were killed. The violence in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi, Mosul and Baghdad intensified a sustained campaign by Iraqi insurgents and foreign militants to sabotage Iraq's formal transition from U.S.-led occupation to an interim government in six days' time. (Reuters Graphic)

At Least 85 Die in Rebel Attacks in Five Iraq Cities

By Alistair Lyon

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 85 people died and more than 320 were wounded in Iraq on Thursday when insurgents launched bloody assaults in five cities to disrupt next week's formal handover to Iraqi rule.

Three U.S. soldiers were among those killed in bold assaults on Iraqi security forces in Baghdad and the mainly Sunni Muslim cities of Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi and Mosul.

A group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, who Washington says has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement on an Islamist Web site.

"Your brothers in Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad launched a wide assault in several governorates in the country which included strikes against the apostate police agents and spies, the Iraq army alongside their American brothers," it said.

"Your brothers in the martyrdom brigade also carried out several blessed operations including five in Mosul on Iraqi police centers, two in Baquba and another in Ramadi," said the statement, indicating that suicide bombers had carried out attacks in Mosul and elsewhere.

Iraq's Health Ministry said the casualty toll was worse than initially feared, revising the number of dead up to 85 people from 75. It said the number of wounded hit 320 from 250.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi blamed a group linked to Zarqawi for multiple car bombings that killed at least 44 people and wounded 216 in the northern city of Mosul.

But he told a news conference that "remnants of the ex-regime," meaning Baathists loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, were behind attacks in Ramadi and Baquba.

However, witnesses said some of the black-clad gunmen who attacked a police station and government buildings in Baquba, 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Baghdad, proclaimed loyalty to Zarqawi and wore yellow headbands linking them to his group.

It appeared to be the first time members of Zarqawi's underground network had surfaced in street combat.

"We think the Mosul incident was committed by Ansar al-Islam, which is a parallel organization to the infidel Zarqawi," Allawi said of the bombings in the northern city.

STRICKEN CITY

At least seven large explosions shook Mosul and local television stations ordered residents to stay at home. Police blocked all major roads and announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The U.S. military said an American soldier had been killed and three wounded in the blasts. It said a security guard was killed in a separate attack on a private security firm.

Gunfire rattled across Mosul as insurgents fought running battles with U.S. troops and Iraqi police.

Fighting in Anbar province, which includes Falluja and Ramadi in the Sunni heartlands of central Iraq, killed at least nine people and wounded 27, the Health Ministry said.

Four Iraqi national guardsmen were killed and two civilians wounded by a car bomb blast in southern Baghdad, an officer in the force said. Hospital staff put the death toll at five.

The U.S. Army said two soldiers had been killed and seven wounded in an ambush in Baquba. The Health Ministry said 13 people had been killed and 15 wounded in the town.

U.S. air strikes destroyed three buildings that guerrillas were using to fire on 1st Infantry Division soldiers and Iraqi security forces near Baquba's sports stadium.

Many fighters wore headbands marked "Saraya al-Tawhid wal-Jihad" (Battalions of Unification and Holy War), a name that closely resembles Zarqawi's Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad group.

They handed out leaflets warning Iraqis not to work with U.S.-led occupation authorities. "The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans," the leaflets said.

Zarqawi's group has claimed many attacks in Iraq, including this week's beheading of a South Korean hostage. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for Zarqawi's capture.

In Ramadi, insurgents fired mortars at two police stations and the governor's house in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad. Allawi said the governor was not there at the time.

The U.S. military said seven Iraqi police and 12 insurgents had been killed in the fighting.

Fierce clashes raged for two hours in Falluja where U.S. Marines called in air strikes by planes and helicopters on guerrilla targets in the rebellious town west of Baghdad.

A U.S. Cobra helicopter was shot down during the fighting but the crew walked away unhurt, Marines said.

Allawi's government takes over when the U.S.-led occupation formally ends on June 30, but a multinational force of more than 160,000 mostly U.S. troops will stay on to support it.

Iraq's fledgling security forces, the main target of the violence, are crucial to the new government's prospects for imposing order after the handover.

(With reporting by Faris Mehdawi in Baquba, Fadel Badran and Bob Strong in Falluja and Maher al-Thanoon in Mosul)

[TexKat]

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