Posted on 11/08/2004 8:39:55 AM PST by epluribus_2
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - More than 4,000 U.S. Marines and Army troops punched their way into northeastern Fallujah on Monday, kicking off a massive assault dubbed Operation Phantom Fury that seeks to put an end to half a year of insurgent control of the Sunni Muslim city.
The prelude to the assault on the Askari neighborhood was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that rose to a crescendo by Monday evening, with U.S. strike jets dropping bombs around the clock and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.
Meanwhile, insurgents in Baghdad and nearby Ramadi tried to keep up the pressure on the coalition forces with new attacks, including one on a Catholic church in the capital.
Earlier Monday U.S. troops had fought their way into the city's western outskirts, seizing two bridges over the Euphrates River and helping Iraqi soldiers take the city's main hospital in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
looks to be both
The advance on Fallujah, known codenamed Operation Dawn, is being backed by Operation Phantom Fury, a wave of heavy-firepower airstrikes by US warplanes.
Looks like we have found the 2004 Darwin Award winner.
Washington, DC, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- An Iraqi police vehicle was used by a suicide bomber against U.S. forces in downtown Ramadi Monday, injuring 17, at least one of them seriously.
The bomber was dressed as an Iraqi policeman -- his identity is still unknown -- and was directing traffic in eastern Ramadi when a U.S. military convoy rolled by. The man jumped into his vehicle after four Humvees had already passed and when a large, seven-ton truck full of troops came by, according to a U.S. military official.
More than 100 Iraqi police cars and many Iraqi police uniforms have been stolen from police stations throughout Anbar province, where police are frequently targeted by insurgent attacks.
The 17 injured suffered burns, deep cuts and fractures. At least one is very badly injured and may not survive.
The attack is believed to be "spillover" connected to the U.S. attack that has begun in nearby Fallujah, the official told UPI.
November 08. 2004 6:11PM
By The Associated Press
Developments in Iraq on Monday:
- Thousands of U.S. troops backed by thunderous air and artillery barrages launched a ground offensive to seize key insurgent strongholds inside Fallujah, the city that became Iraq's major sanctuary for Islamic extremists who fought Marines to a standstill last April. Iraqi troops were also participating in operations, and took over the Fallujah train station.
- Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates River.
- A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day. A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he gave the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at re-establishing government control before elections set for January.
- Allawi announced he was using emergency powers he was granted the day before to impose a curfew on Fallujah and the nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown. All roads into the two cities were closed, and residents were barred from carrying weapons. Also, he announced the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International Airport was closed for 48 hours.
- In Baghdad, militants attacked two churches with car bombs and set off blasts at a hospital, killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, officials said.
- A U.S. soldier was killed when his patrol was fired on in eastern Baghdad, the military said.
- The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has threatened to boycott elections, condemned the assault on Fallujah, calling it "an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people."
- A National Public Radio correspondent embedded with the Marines outside Fallujah reported desertions among the Iraqis. One Iraqi battalion shrunk from over 500 men to 170 over the past two weeks - with 255 members quitting over the weekend, the correspondent said. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called reports of some Iraqi recruits not showing up to fight "an isolated problem."
- A British soldier was killed and two others wounded in an apparent roadside bombing southwest of the capital, the British Ministry of Defense said.
- Arab leaders were muted in their response to the Fallujah offensive. Media attention focused on ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which may explain in part why the start of the campaign elicited none of the uproar that met the American attempt to storm the insurgent stronghold in April.
- A Marine major implicated in the death of an Iraqi prisoner testified at his court-martial that he thought the prisoner was uncooperative and faking illness.
During World War II, that would be called Treason. Used to be treason would call for the death penalty. I'm still for that....
Mark for later.
Oh I kinda like Phantom Fury, cause it gives the idea that the terrorist won't ever see what kills him!
A similar thought occurred to me. It appears to be Greg Palkot who's imbedded this time.
Man, the Iraqi Police need new uniforms.
The stolen ones have been used before by the terrorists.
now they are MSM liberal reporters.. the norm. and yest traitors is a very good word, although I am sure they think they are patriots
I agree about all the hype about the .223 but if it hits bone it has a tendency to do some serious damage.But in the Moro war in early 1900's a 30.06 wouldn't stop the drug induced Moros.They uses M-97 Winchester shotguns with )) and .45 handguns.
In close combat accuray is not that important.In Korea we could just point & shoot into the masses.Pump shotguns didn't freeze as miuch as the M-1.
The AK-47 is a reliable deadly weapon in the right hands.
But the stamped metal mass produced AK's lave a lot to be desired in accuracy.
They've gotten like Drudge. ANYTHING for ratings/web hits. Sickening.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi slaps Kofi Annon of the UN back into reality. Bwahahha this guy is Great.!!!(excerpted)
"Allawi told Annan, "I was a little surprised by the lack of any mention in your letter of the atrocities which these groups have committed."
In his response, Allawi told Annan he shared his preference for a political solution over military confrontation.
"But I did not find in your letter a new plan or a new strategy beyond this strong preference, which has already guided my thinking throughout," he wrote.
"Essentially, the violent groups have rejected the rule-of-law, without which there can be no democracy," Allawi said. "I believe that it is the government's duty now to act in order to safeguard lives, elections and democracy in Iraq from those choosing the path of violence and atrocities."
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/10130606.htm?1c
Most likely, not. 'Patriot' implies a feeling for the country. They probably consider themselves as the "Enlightened Ones." Sad.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1274632/posts
Diogenesis latest
GOTTA SEE THIS-WarEndur.Freedom 11/8/04-Fallujah,Sana'a,Syrian-Iraqi border
true..
3:00Am in Iraq, almost time for a brand "New Dawn".
Sure you can, Dog. It's just hard to fathom their rampant anti-Americanism.
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