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FALLUJAH, Iraq - Hundreds of reinforcements joined Marines besieging Fallujah on Saturday, and the military said it would move to take the entire city if negotiations fail. Fighting raged through the center of the country, killing 40 Iraqis and an American airman. Gunfire crackled in Fallujah even as Iraqi government negotiators met with city leaders, trying to persuade them to hand over militants who killed and mutilated four Americans in the city March 31. Nearly 60,000 Fallujah residents — about a third of the population — have streamed out of the city over the past two days, a Marine commander...

Press Release Source: White House Press Office Radio Address of President Bush to the NationSaturday April 10, 10:07 am ET WASHINGTON, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of a radio address by President Bush to the nation: THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week in Iraq, our coalition forces have faced challenges, and taken the fight to the enemy. And our offensive will continue in the weeks ahead. As the June 30th date for Iraqi sovereignty draws near, a small faction is attempting to derail Iraqi democracy and seize power. In some cities, Saddam supporters and terrorists have...

Another cease fire.

 MAG-16 repositions forces to support Vigilant ResolveSubmitted by: 3d Marine Aircraft WingStory Identification Number: 20044993633Story by Sgt. Nathan K. LaForte AL TAQADDUM AIR BASE, Iraq(April 9, 2004) -- Marine Aircraft Group 16 recently moved elements of its Marine Light Attack Squadron 167 in support of Operation Vigilant Resolve, which began early this month. The move occurred April 5-6, and flight operations for the squadron kicked off as soon as boots and skids were on the deck. A small contingent of aviation maintenance Marines, aircrews and helicopters was sent to the Sunni Triangle area to bolster forces already in place...

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- American tanks blasted their way through the streets, and jets pounded neighborhoods with 500-pound bombs in Fallujah on Thursday as Marines continued for a fourth day fighting Iraqi insurgents who have made a determined stand in the city. Insurgents fought back with mortars and rockets that narrowly missed U.S. positions. They also deployed snipers with scopes and high-powered rifles that had Marines keeping their heads down all day and sometimes pinned them down. Troops in the fight say they have a green light for such heavy firepower because most residents have evacuated the area and because the...

Members of Iraq's US-appointed governing council have condemned the US military operation in Falluja after four days of bitter fighting. One member described the operation as "genocide" after doctors in the Sunni Muslim city of 300,000 reported 450 deaths and 1,000 injured this week. The fugitive leader of the country's parallel Shia unrest has demanded the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The US has declared a truce in Falluja but fighting continued as night fell. We went into pause but the enemy kept attacking us on the western side of the city - Maj Pete Farnum, US marine officer Late...

Fallujah — U.S. marines briefly halted offensive operations in Fallujah on Friday, but the suspension ended after only an hour and a half, a marine commander said, apparently after negotiations with a city delegation fell through. Lieutenant-Colonel Brennan Byrne said his forces, the 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment, were given the go-ahead to resume offensive operations. The halt was called at noon to allow a delegation from the city to meet with U.S. commanders, let humanitarian aid into the city and give city residents a chance to tend to their dead. Col. Byrne did not know why the suspension was...

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Splits grew between Iraqi leaders and the U.S. administrators who picked them, as a senior politician met Friday with a radical Shiite cleric and announced he was suspending his membership in the Iraqi Governing Council. Another council member threatened to quit over the Marines' bloody siege of Fallujah. The Fallujah assault was halted Friday on request of the council to allow for talks on reducing the violence, U.S. coalition spokesman Dan Senor said. But a top commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, insisted the talks "are not negotiations." Several of the council's...

WASHINGTON (AP) - As a week of mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq drew to a close, the Bush administration pledged Friday to take the fight to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other Iraqi resisters. "We're worried, but I am not panicked about it," said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage of the upsurge in resistance to U.S. occupation. "They've chosen to fight," Armitage told the semiofficial Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram. "We'll fight. And they will see that we understand strength as well." The cleric's militia has been in battle with U.S. and other coalition forces this week. Armitage dismissed the al-Sadr...

WASHINGTON - With each new battle in Iraq (news - web sites), two things are tallied: The enemy killed and the enemy created. That observation by retired CIA (news - web sites) operations officer Milt Bearden highlights one of the U.S. military's worst dilemmas: as it fights street by street to crush an insurgency, it is causing resentment among the very Iraqis whose hearts and minds it hopes to win. This week's siege on the city of Fallujah to capture suspects in the deaths and mutilations of civilian U.S. contractors brought condemnation even from one of the most pro-American members...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - US forces pressed their drive against insurgents in the Sunni Muslim bastion of Fallujah after trying to suspend the operation and allow talks on bringing relief supplies to the battered city. Amid conflicting reports on the state of the offensive from the coalition's Baghdad headquarters and its field commander, US marines prepared to advance on a residential area for possible house-to-house fighting. Intelligence reports said Friday that insurgent snipers were taking positions in mosque minarets in the town west of Baghdad where hundreds have been killed in six days of fighting. "It's going to get worse...

LANDSTUHL, Germany - The hills of southwestern Germany, lush with fir trees and red-tiled houses, are thousands of miles from the theater of war. But for American troops wounded in Iraq, Landstuhl is a first stop on the long road to recovery. Wards at the U.S. military hospital here also offer rare and fresh details about battles in Iraq, as American troops face the most serious challenge to the U.S. occupation since the fall of Saddam Hussein one year ago. Stretched out on hospital beds, the grime of war still visible on their bodies, soldiers and Marines described their battles...

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 450 Iraqis were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in fighting in the city of Falluja this week, the director of the main hospital, Rafi Hayad, told Reuters U.S. Marines launched a major mission last weekend to confront guerrillas in the town. The U.S. military said on Friday it had agreed a temporary suspension of offensive operations in Falluja.

<p>April 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S.-led forces in Iraq plan to maintain a halt in their offensive against the town of Fallujah in the heart of the ``Sunni Triangle'' where resistance to coalition forces is specially fierce, after reports the truce had failed after 90 minutes, Cable News Network said.</p>

There is confusion over the status of a ceasefire called by US troops besieging the Iraqi town of Falluja. The suspension of hostilities was declared in an effort to open talks with local insurgents. The move came on the fifth day of a battle for control of the Sunni town that has left up to 300 Iraqis dead. A US commander on the ground said fighting had resumed after talks fell through, but a US general said the suspension was still in place. One year to the day after the fall of Saddam Hussein, fierce battles are continuing further south...

Both BBC and Sky reporting that offensive operations are resuming in Fallujah

<p>FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. forces killed dozens of insurgents and seized three suicide explosive belts during heavy fighting in this Sunni Muslim city yesterday, while preparations for a religious festival complicated plans to retake southern cities held by followers of radical Shi'ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr.</p>

<p>It's no Mogadishu, it's no Tet -- in fact, the ugly, baiting murders in Fallujah and Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr's made-for-TV rebellion may be an extraordinary opportunity for the United States and Iraqi democrats, if the military operations and politics are handled with finesse.</p>

Fighting in Iraq escalated today as Shiite Muslims took control of parts of three cities and insurgents kidnapped foreigners from Japan, South Korea and Jerusalem. A U.S. Marine was killed in a battle to control Fallujah, while followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took full control of the city of Kut and held part of Najaf, the Associated Press reported. Insurgents also controlled part of the town of Kufa, residents said. Captors who hold Japanese hostages were shown on Al-Jazeera TV with rifles and swords, threatening to "burn them alive" if Tokyo did not remove its troops from Iraq. The...

Marines Fight Insurgents in Fallujah 38 minutes ago By ABDUL-QADER SAADI, Associated Press Writer FALLUJAH, Iraq - Marines backed by tanks and helicopters battled Sunni insurgents around Fallujah Thursday, trading fire from the minaret of a mosque and peppering the outskirts of the city with mortar rounds. Thousands of Iraqis traveled 30 miles from Baghdad to deliver supplies and medicine to the besieged city. For the second time in the four-day battle for Fallujah, U.S. forces called in one of their most devastating weapons — an AC-130 gunship that laid down heavy fire. One Marine was killed Thursday, the fourth...