Posted on 11/14/2004 8:50:59 AM PST by TexKat
U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski stands at the bridge in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A US Marine of the 1st Division writes the words 'Dark Horse' on a beam of the bridge western Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. An earlier message left by soldiers reads: 'This is for the Americans of Blackwater that were murdered here in 2004, Semper Fidelis 3/5.' (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Hammorabi the blog has some interesting tidbits this am.
Sunday, November 14, 2004 Founds in Falluja!
Our hearts is with the innocent people of Falluja who were exposed to a lot of pressure and hardship from the anomalous and pervert insurgents.
Until now horrible atrocities have been found in Falluja by the outlawed outsiders and their supporters. Examples of the atrocities are:
1. Thousands of Arabs from different countries have been killed or captured. Some were from Iran, Chechnya, Afghanistan and other countries.
2. Several sites for beheadings tortures and videoing
3. Captured victims with miserable states
4. Mutilated bodies and one of them was a limbless body for a western woman whose throat was cut, face was disfigured and her limbs were amputated!
5. Large amounts of weapons and using worship places for that.
6. Lists of those who were kidnapped and beheaded and other lists of names of targeted people
7. Some documents related to the previous beheaded hostages like the Passport of the Japanese S Kudo who was beheaded few weeks ago!
More secret will certainly be revealed soon.
It looks that the new strategy is not to allow the insurgents to regroup in another city and to get them before they can catch the breath.
In Ramadi the Iraqi/Coalition forces refused to give a truce and entered the city with tanks and armoured vehicles while in Baji the insurgents' positions are under continuous air and ground bombardments.
One of the most dangerous areas which is called the triangle of death is still to be managed! This is south of Baghdad in Yosfyiah, Mahmodyiah and Latyfiyah where many people (Iraqis and non-Iraqis) killed daily by the insurgent groups there.
Posted by: hammorabi / 11/14/2004 08:18:21 AM
http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/
US Marines of the first division move towards the bridge in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, at background centre, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division take up position as they advance in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday.(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
U.S. Marines of the 1st Division push further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marine of the 1st Division take up positions Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004 near the bridge in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, 2004, sparking the earlier U.S. siege. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division approach the bridge in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, 2004, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Iraq security forces start to regain control of Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Iraqi security forces started reasserting control over the northern flashpoint city of Mosul, an AFP reporter said, as the US military denied its forces had withdrawn under rebel pressure.
Clashes took place between insurgents and government forces in the centre of Mosul, with the two sides exchanging automatic gunfire and rockets. They were particularly heavy close to the police headquarters in the Zanjali area.
The national guard had deployed its personnel in several districts in Mosul midmorning, as well as alongside the river Tigris and in the west of the city, the reporter said.
Two police stations were retaken in the centre and the north, and members of the national guard were seen patrolling several districts armed with anti-tank missiles and assault rifles.
Meanwhile, a convoy of 12 armoured US vehicles started to patrol in the centre and the north for the first time since the recent bout of lawlessness broke out.
Armed rebels, who had deployed in force on Thursday, taking up positions in front of public buildings, had disappeared from the streets. However, they were still seen moving around in cars at break-neck speed.
The US military acknowledged it had been involved in intense fighting with the insurgents, who said they were trying to draw resources from the assault on Fallujah, but said in a statement that troops had never withdrawn.
"Three days ago, a number of groups ranging in size from 15-50 AIF (anti-Iraqi force) insurgents moved through the city conducting attacks on police stations, Iraqi government facilities and other fixed sites," it said.
"During this time the fighting was intense, but ... many of the insurgents were defeated. Sporadic fighting followed on Friday and Saturday," it added.
"Only a small number of terrorists are operating in the city ... and resistance is sporadic."
The AFP reporter said he saw the US military take up a position on one of five city bridges crossing the Tigris.
The military said it had killed three insurgents as it took a bridge in the south after coming under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
The Iraqi-led operation in this city of more than one million people came a day after Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said that Iraqi special forces had arrived in Mosul and would soon move to re-impose order.
"We will be moving in the next day or so in Mosul to restore the rule of law," he had said, without giving details.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041114/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_mosul_control_041114160818
Just saw on another thread that there was an attempt on Abbas' life. I do not know if this is true.
An Iraqi youth walks past a blazing pipeline near the town of Taji November 14, 2004 after it was attacked by insurgents. (Stringer/Iraq (news - web sites)/Reuters)
By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege.
Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski said he and other commanders learned from April's failed three-week Marine assault on Fallujah, which was called off by the Bush administration after a worldwide outcry over civilians deaths. This time, the military sent in six times as many troops and 20 types of aircraft. Troops also faked attacks before the assault to confuse enemy fighters.
"Maybe we learned from April," Natonski said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We learned we can't do it piecemeal. When we go in, we go all the way through. We had the green light this time and we went all the way.
"Had we done in April what we did now, the results would've been the same."
Natonski spoke during a visit to the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade, the unit charged with isolating Fallujah under a security cordon.
More than 1,200 insurgents have been killed during the operation, he said.
The offensive has killed at least 31 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers, said Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The number of injured Americans was "up in the high 200s," although some have returned to duty already, Sattler said.
Rebel attacks elsewhere _ especially in the northern city of Mosul _ have forced the Americans to shift troops away from Fallujah.
Exploiting the redeployment, insurgents stepped up attacks in areas outside Fallujah, including a bombing that killed two U.S. Marines on the outskirts of the former rebel bastion 40 miles west of Baghdad.
On Sunday, Marines and Army units were still battling gritty bands of defenders scattered in buildings and bunkers across the Sunni Muslim stronghold. Behind them, Iraqi troops were enmeshed in the painstaking task of clearing weapons and fighters from every room of Fallujah's estimated 50,000 buildings.
U.S. forces now occupy _ but have yet to subdue _ the entire city. It still could take several days of fighting to clear the final pockets of resistance, the military said.
On Sunday, Marines were expected to reopen the bridge where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, sparking the earlier U.S. siege.
"This is a big event for us," said Maj. Todd Des Grosseilliers, 41, from Auburn, Maine. "It's symbolic because the insurgents closed the bridge and we are going to reopen it."
Also, Marines in Fallujah found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman. The body was lying in the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth.
A Marine officer speaking on condition of anonymity said he was "80 percent sure" it was a Western woman. Two foreign women were kidnapped last month _ Margaret Hassan, 59, the director of CARE International in Iraq and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq.
In Warsaw, the Polish Foreign Ministry said it was seeking more information.
In central Buhriz, 25 miles northeast of Baghdad, demonstrators marched to protest the Fallujah offensive and denounce Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi.
Associated Press Television News footage showed some armed men, heads covered with black hoods and brandishing Kalashnikov rifles, among the marchers. The demonstrators, estimated by police to number about 70, carried banners calling Allawi a "thug" and "traitor."
"Allawi, Fallujah will be your tomb!" some chanted. "You are a coward, an American agent!"
In Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, militants attacked two police stations, killing at least six Iraqi National Guards and wounding three others, Iraqi officials said. One insurgent was killed and three others were wounded, they said. Iraqi security forces regained control of both stations, witnesses said.
About 300 Iraqi National Guards and a battalion of police from Baghdad patrolled the streets in a visible show of force after an insurgent uprising believed to have been mounted in support of Fallujah's militants.
On Thursday, armed and masked militants stormed police stations, bridges and government buildings in Mosul as Iraqi police apparently failed to put up a fight. Mosul's police chief was fired after criticism that militants infiltrated police forces.
Planning for Fallujah began in September, with Natonski given responsibility for the combat phase, said Lt. Col. Dan Wilson, a Marine planner with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
After troops uproot the insurgents, contractors are supposed to swarm into Fallujah to cart away rubble, repair buildings and fix the city's utilities, Wilson and Natonski said.
The Iraqi government already has picked leaders for Fallujah, and thousands of Iraqi police and paramilitary forces have been recruited to impose order.
Natonski described the six days of ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."
Several pre-assault tactics made the battle easier than expected, he said.
Insurgent defenses were weakened by bombing raids on command posts and safe houses. Air-dropped leaflets also may have demoralized some defenders and convinced some residents the city would be better off under government control, he said.
In the days before the raid, ground troops feinted invasions, charging right up to Fallujah's edge in tanks and armored vehicles. Natonski said these fake attacks forced the insurgents to build up forces in the south and east, perhaps diverting defenders from the north, where six battalions of Army and Marine troops finally punched into the city Monday.
The deceptive maneuvers also drew fire from defenders' bunkers, which were exposed and relentlessly bombed before the ground assault.
"We desensitized the enemy to the formations they saw on the night we attacked," Natonski said.
Another key tactic was choking off the city, the responsibility of the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, Natonski said.
That prevented insurgents from slipping out during the assault, although many, including top leaders like Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar al-Hadid, are believed to have fled.
"We never expected them to be there. We're not after Zarqawi. We're after insurgents in general," Natonski said.
Please remind me who Abba's is, the governor of Mosul?
Yes I am watching it as it is being reported on MSNBC now. There was a tent that was set up with many chairs in order for some type of celebration for Arafat when all hell broke loose.
A masked insurgent carries a police flak jacket and rocket propelled grenade launcher after a police station was attacked in Mosul November 11, 2004. Islamist groups, including one led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed in a video obtained on November 13 to take their battle in the rebel city of Falluja to all corners of Iraq (news - web sites). (Namir Noor-Eldeen/Reuters)
Abbas = Prime Minister of Palestine that was undermined by Arafat. Could possibly become Palestinian president with the demise of the terrorist groups. Long shot!!!
BTW Good Morning!!!
(I also wish we could have seen these photos and this action on 14 May 2004, not 14 November 2004 and hundreds of US military and civilian casulties and meaningless ceasefires and respect of mosques-cum-terrorist lairs, later.) But then again, I'm not runnin' the show.....
The deceptive maneuvers also drew fire from defenders' bunkers, which were exposed and relentlessly bombed before the ground assault.
I agree with you AmericanInTokyo.
Thanks, I sure wouldnt want that job. Its impossible.
Good morning. :)
Operation Phantom Fury-----Day 7----Mop Up Live thread
God bless our armed forces and all who fight the bad guys.
"A masked insurgent carries a police flak jacket and rocket propelled grenade launcher after a police station was attacked in Mosul November 11, 2004. Islamist groups, including one led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed in a video obtained on November 13 to take their battle in the rebel city of Falluja to all corners of Iraq (news - web sites)."
This looks like a chechen terrorist to me. ?? What ever 'it' is..'it' does not look Arab. What do you think?
*Notice the chains used to hand our contractors still hanging from the bridge above this Marines head.
Operation Phantom Fury-----Day 7----Mop Up Live thread
I wish we had given ourselves more than 2 months before the Iraqi election to clean these thugs clocks. Although 1200+ in a week isnt bad.
Looks like the poster boy for the "Targets R Us" society to me.
LOL! A snipers dream.
A U.S. Marine of the 1st Division carries a mascot for good luck in his backpack as his unit push further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. U.S. military officials said Saturday that U.S. Forces had now 'occupied' the entire city of Fallujah. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A U.S. Marine of the first Division passes by a burning house in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. U.S. military officials said Saturday that U.S. Forces had now 'occupied' the entire city of Fallujah. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US troops tackle last Fallujah rebels amid Mosul offensive
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - US troops tackled Fallujah's last tenacious insurgents but were still days away from completing major search operations, as the mutilated body of a Caucasian woman was found by marines.
With a convoy carrying aid for thirsty and hungry civilians in the rebel enclave still blocked by the military, US-led forces said that more than 1,200 insurgents had been killed in the assault launched late November 7.
Meanwhile, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the country's third largest, Iraqi and US troops moved in after days of unchecked lawlessness, with clashes erupting between rebels and security forces Sunday.
As US marines continued their slow, tense search of buildings in Fallujah, a senior officer warned that the operation would continue well into next week; belying the swiftness with which US-led troops first poured in.
"It is probably going to be another four to five days of clearing house to house," said Colonel Mike Shupp. "There is not going to be a stone unturned in the city."
With 25 marines killed, according to US figures, in the battle to take a city that is the symbol of Iraq's protracted insurgency, marine commander Major General Richard Natonski said: "We have killed over 1,200" rebels.
None of the figures could be independently verified.
Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi authorised the attack to bring Fallujah to heel, as a lesson to insurgents elsewhere, and to bring more stability ahead of key elections planned for January.
On Saturday, national security advisor Qassem Daoud announced that the so-called Operation Fajr (Dawn) was accomplished and "only the malignant pockets remain that we are dealing with through a clean-up operation."
He acknowledged, however, that Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose supporters had made Fallujah their base, and a top aide had slipped through their fingers.
But US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on a trip to Panama, said that while US troops were present in much of the city, the mission was not over.
"Needless to say there still will be pockets of resistance and areas that will be difficult, so I don't mean to suggest that it is concluded. It's not, to be sure."
Despite being hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, the insurgents in Fallujah have refused to surrender their stronghold without a fierce struggle.
Three marines were killed Saturday in an explosion as they entered a booby-trapped building, while another 13 were wounded in a firefight nearby, a marine officer said.
The latest deaths bring to at least 25 the number of US troops who have been killed in the fight for Fallujah. Five Iraqi soldiers have also died.
In the south of the city, where insurgents regrouped over the weekend, the butchered body of a blonde-haired Caucasian woman was found Sunday lying on a street.
"It is a female ... missing all four appendages, with a slashed throat and disemboweled, she has been dead for a while but only in this location for a day or two," said a Navy Corps hospital apprentice who had inspected the body.
Two foreign women have been abducted in Iraq and remain missing: Teresa Borcz, 54, a Pole, has blonde hair, and British aid worker Margaret Hassan, 59, has chestnut-coloured hair.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, meanwhile, said two French journalists kidnapped south of Baghdad nearly three months ago were thought to be in a "fairly safe" zone in Iraq.
The assessment was based on information from their driver found alive in Fallujah.
At Fallujah's main hospital, aid from the Iraqi Red Crescent was still waiting as relief workers negotiated with US troops for access to residents.
The Muslim relief agency said it fears civilians are dying of starvation and a lack of medical equipment. Of the city's 300,000 residents, as many as one-third were thought to have remained when the assault began.
"They are still in the hospital and they are trying to have the facility to distribute material in Fallujah but until now they have not been able to," said Ahmed Nasser, head of the Red Crescent's disaster management unit.
But Health Minister Alaeddin Abdul Sahib Adwan said the fears of a humanitarian crisis were groundless and that only a small number of civilians had been wounded in the week-long battle.
"The ministry of health is coordinating with the Iraqi military and the multinational forces in evacuating the civilian casualties, but so far the number has been very small," Adwan told AFP.
Meanwhile, with the insurgents growing bolder by the day in Mosul, 370 kilometres (230 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraqi and US troops moved in and appeared to be regaining control, an AFP correspondent there said.
Clashes took place between rebels and Iraqi security forces in the centre of Mosul, with the two sides exchanging automatic gunfire and rockets. They were particularly heavy close to the police headquarters in the Zanjali area.
The Iraqi National Guard had deployed in several districts, as well as alongside the river Tigris and in the west of the city, he said. Two police stations were retaken in the centre and the north.
Elsewhere, US helicopter and tank fire blasted a building harbouring suspected insurgents near the restive city of Baiji, also north of the Iraqi capital, killing several rebels, a US military spokesman said.
The home of the Brave.
The land of the Free.
Funny how the civilian casualty rate dropped off when we shut down that hospital that was being used as a Terrorist hideout and propaganda machine before we took it over.
Concern about the Iraqi police force.
Press conference coming up with Abizaid on Fox.
Iraqi Shia leaders condemn Falluja attack
(Al Jizzera barf alert)
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D8B90377-00D8-4D9D-A90D-670A45FCAEF8.htm
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- About 400 suspected insurgents have been arrested during the ongoing fighting in Fallujah, and some of them are foreigners, Iraq's prime minister said Sunday.
"We arrested a large number of them, around 400," interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in an interview broadcast by Iraqiya television. "Some of them are Iraqis and some from outside Iraq."
Allawi gave no figures for the number of foreigners but said they included Syrians, Saudis, Afghans and Moroccans.
Allawi: 400 Insurgents Held in Fallujah
BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 400 suspected insurgents have been arrested during the ongoing fighting in Fallujah, and some of them are foreigners, Iraq's prime minister said Sunday.
"We arrested a large number of them, around 400," interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said in an interview broadcast by Iraqiya television. "Some of them are Iraqis and some from outside Iraq."
Allawi gave no figures for the number of foreigners but said they included Syrians, Saudis, Afghans and Moroccans.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/10181278.htm?1c
Al Jazeera can stuff it.
I hope the Iraqis are harsh on these 400.
This gave me goose bumps, those Americans have been avenged! Thank you American troops.
U.S. Army soldiers take defensive positions after explosions and gunfire rattled central Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday night, Nov. 14, 2004. At least two big blasts could be heard near central Saadoun Street. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)
American Army doctors treat the broken leg of an Iraqi prisoner of war captured in Fallujah, according to hospital officials, after he was transported to the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/John Moore)
US Marines of the 1st Division raid a house where they found improvised explosive devices (IED) in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. U.S. military officials said Saturday that US Forces had now "occupied" the entire city of Fallujah. The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A US Marine of the 1st Division writes the words "Dark Horse" on a beam of the bridge western Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. An earlier message left by soldiers reads: "This is for the Americans of Blackwater that were murdered here in 2004, Semper Fidelis 3/5." (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division drive towards a bridge in the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, where the bodies of two American contractors killed by militants were strung up in March 2004, sparking the earlier U.S. siege, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A U.S. Marine of the 1st Division carries a mascot for good luck in his backpack as his unit pushed further into the western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday. The military said 31 Americans have been killed in the siege. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1279524/posts
US troops diverted to Mosul (with photos)
BBC ^ | November 14, 2004 | BBC
_ U.S. troops from Task Force 2-2 of the 1st Infantry Division discovered an immense series of underground bunkers linked by tunnels that insurgents stocked with medical supplies, a CNN correspondent embedded with the unit reported. Warplanes dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on the bunker network.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_developments_16
A musical tribute, my first.
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Islamist group has freed two women relatives of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi but is still holding his male cousin hostage, Arab satellite television Al Jazeera said on Sunday.
The channel, which was quoting unidentified sources, gave no further details. Iraqi officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.
A previously unknown Islamist group seized the prime minister's 75-year-old first cousin Ghazi Allawi along with Ghazi's wife and their daughter-in-law in Baghdad on Tuesday.
The group threatened to kill them in 48 hours unless Iraq's interim government called off the U.S.-led assault on the rebel-held city of Falluja and freed prisoners.
The government said it would not be influenced by the abductions, which took place a day after Allawi ordered a full-scale assault on Falluja, which his government and the U.S. military say had become a haven for foreign Islamist fighters.
On Thursday, relatives of one of the kidnapped women, identified as Wasnaa Mohammed Jaafar Husseini, begged her captors to release her saying she was nine months pregnant.
Scores of Iraqis and foreigners have been seized by Islamic militant groups and criminal gangs. Some have been freed while others have been killed, several by beheading.
Great news, I never thought they would survive.
FYI
MSNBC did a second report in which they reported that that was not an attempt on Abbas' life. Fox News is reporting that it was a protest of Arafat's successor.
I guess it is still developing.
The minister, Alaeddin Abdul Sahib Adwan, admitted however that he was unable to obtain information about residents in the thick of the fighting for the rebel-held city that was launched by US and Iraqi forces last Monday.
"The ministry of health is co-ordinating with the Iraqi military and the multinational forces in evacuating the civilian casualties, but so far the number has been very small," Adwan told AFP.
"We have about 20 civilian casualties," he said.
A further 400 civilians who were not in need of treatment have also been transported out of the city over the past 48 hours," he added.
The wounded were brought to hospitals in the Iraqi capital, where many had already been treated and released, he said.
Responding to claims by the Iraqi Red Crescent that a crisis was unfolding in Fallujah, Adwan charged that the relief agency had "no grounds" for that assessment.
"They have never been inside and I would like to know the source of their information.
(Excerpt) Read more at news24.com ...
Miracles still happens.
I pray Allawis cousin is released or rescued.
bttt
In that part of the world, the two quickly become one.
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 13, 2004
President's Radio Address
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq authorized military operations to rid the city of Fallujah of Saddam holdouts and foreign terrorists. American Marines and soldiers, alongside Iraqi security forces, are on the offensive against the killers who have been using Fallujah as a base of operations for terrorist attacks, and who have held the local population in the grip of fear.
Fighting together, our forces have made significant progress in the last several days. They are taking back the city, clearing mosques of weapons and explosives stockpiled by insurgents, and restoring order for law-abiding citizens.
Radio Address
Radio Interviews
In the course of this operation, Iraqi troops have discovered new evidence of the enemy's brutality. An Iraqi general has described hostage slaughter houses, where terrorists have killed innocent victims and proudly recorded their barbaric crimes. The terrorists have shown once again the stakes of this struggle. They seek to spread fear and violence throughout Iraq, throughout the Broader Middle East and throughout the world, and they will fail. The terrorists will be defeated, Iraq will be free, and the world will be more secure. Our commitment to the success of democracy in Iraq is unshakable and we will prevail.
Ultimately, Iraq must be able to defend itself, and Iraqi security forces are taking increasing responsibility for their country's security. As we see in Fallujah, and as we saw in Najaf and elsewhere, Iraqi security forces are standing and fighting and risking their lives for the future of their nation. As terrorists have targeted these forces, still more brave Iraqis have come forward as volunteers. Today, nearly 115,000 trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are serving their country. The Iraqi government is on track to meet its goal of fielding more than 200,000 security personnel by the end of next year.
In January, the Iraqi people will elect a transitional national assembly, which will draft a new constitution to prepare the way for the election of a permanent Iraqi government. The Iraqi people, like the people of Afghanistan before them, are embracing a democratic future, even in the face of threats and intimidation. Throughout the country, Iraqi men and women are registering to vote, political parties are forming, candidates for office are stepping forward.
International support for the Iraqi election is essential, and that support continues to grow. Military forces from some 30 nations are working alongside Iraqi forces, helping to establish stability and security. A U.N. team is providing critical technical support to Iraq's independent electoral commission. Other diplomatic personnel are helping the Iraqi people prepare for those elections, to be held on schedule in January.
As those elections draw near, the desperation of the killers will grow, and the violence could escalate. The success of democracy in Iraq would be a crushing blow to the forces of terror, and the terrorists know it. The defeat of terror in Iraq will set that nation on a course to lasting freedom, and will give hope to millions, and the Iraqi people know it. And a free, democratic Iraq will inspire reformers throughout the Middle East and make America more secure.
The United States and our allies have shown our determination to help Iraqis achieve their liberty. We will continue to stand by our friends, and we will finish the job.
Thank you for listening.
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - In April, 2,000 Marines fought for three weeks and failed to take Fallujah from its insurgent defenders. This time, war planners sent six times the troops, who fought their way across the rebel city in just six days — far more quickly than expected, the Marine general who designed the ground attack said Sunday.
"We had the green light this time and we went all the way," Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski told The Associated Press.
Natonski said he and other planners took lessons from the failed three-week U.S. assault on the city in April, which was called off by the Bush administration after a worldwide outcry over civilian deaths.
This time the military used swarms of aircraft — more than 20 types — that pounded the city before and during the assault. Troops also faked attacks before the assault to confuse enemy fighters.
"Maybe we learned from April," Natonski said. "We learned we can't do it piecemeal. When we go in, we go all the way through."
Privately, U.S. military officials say April's assault was botched by the Bush administration which forced the Marines to attack with insufficient forces on just a week's notice and then called off the assault before the city was taken.
For the latest assault, commanders had time to plan. Also, the Iraqi and U.S. governments were determined to wipe out the insurgent nest. And the Iraqi troops, who melted away in April, stood their ground.
Even the worldwide outcry was muted this time, by revulsion at an insurgency blamed for grisly beheadings of hostages.
Natonski described the first six days of ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."
As quick as the assault was, perhaps thousands were killed and maimed, most of them Iraqi defenders. Natonski put the toll of guerrillas killed at more than 1,200.
Later Sunday, Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said 31 American troops and six Iraqi soldiers died in the battle. The number of injured U.S. troops was "up in the high 200s," Sattler said.
There is still no estimate of civilians killed or wounded in the assault.
On Sunday, Marines and Army troops still battled pockets of hardcore defenders scattered inside the Sunni Muslim stronghold. Behind U.S. forces, Iraqi troops were engaged in the painstaking task of clearing weapons and fighters from every room of each of Fallujah's 50,000 buildings.
Bands of rebels were still roving neighborhoods crushed by tons of U.S. bombs and shells. The holdouts are harried by U.S. forces who occupy — but have yet to subdue — the entire city.
"There are groups numbering from five to 30," Natonski said. "They're trying to get behind us."
Military officials said it would take days to finish the fight.
As troops uproot the insurgents, contractors are supposed to swarm into Fallujah in coming weeks to cart away rubble, repair buildings, and fix the city's water, sewer and electricity systems.
The Iraqi government has already picked leaders for Fallujah, and thousands of Iraqi police and paramilitary forces have been recruited to try to impose order — critical to the U.S. goal of setting conditions for elections in Fallujah and the rest of Anbar province.
To prevent the insurgents' return, Iraqi forces will halt all traffic flowing in and out of the city — once roads reopen — checking IDs and looking for suspects, Natonski said.
U.S. and Iraqi leaders have long vowed to deal with Fallujah, which in May became a virtual independent rebel city-state and nationwide model for rebellion. One event in August crystallized their resolve.
Back then, an Iraqi National Guard commander acting as a liaison between Fallujah and the U.S. military, Lt. Col. Sulaiman Hamad Ftikan, was beaten to death by mujahedeen inside the city.
"That's when we realized Fallujah was the bright ember in the ash pit of the insurgency, and we needed to douse it," said Lt. Col. Dan Wilson, a planner with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Battle planning began in September, with Natonski given responsibility for the combat phase, Wilson said.
Hundreds of other U.S. military and civilian planners designed the overall effort, which is intended to mimic the ongoing post-siege rebuilding under way in Najaf, Wilson said.
Several pre-assault tactics made the battle easier than expected, Natonski said.
Insurgent defenses were weakened by bombing raids on command posts and safe houses. And in the days before the raid, ground troops feinted invasions, charging right up to the edge of Fallujah in tanks and armored vehicles.
Natonski said these fake attacks forced the insurgents to build up forces in the south and east, perhaps diverting defenders from the north, where six battalions of Army and Marine troops finally punched into the city Monday.
The deceptive maneuvers also drew fire from defenders' bunkers, which were exposed and relentlessly bombed before the ground assault.
"We desensitized the enemy to the formations they saw on the night we attacked," Natonski said.
Another key tactic was choking off the city, the responsibility of the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, Natonski said.
That move prevented insurgents from slipping out of the city during the assault, although many, including top leaders like Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar al-Hadid, are thought to have fled.
"We never expected them to be there," Natonski said. "We're not after Zarqawi. We're after insurgents in general."
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