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Rebels craved killer conflict
THE daily discovery of thousands of weapons amid the ruins of Fallujah has stunned coalition troops, who say rebel arms caches are a sign of how well prepared the Iraqi insurgency was for a fight that could have ended in a much less decisive victory for US-led forces. "The sheer amount of caches we've found would stun you," US Marine Lieutenant Colonel Dan Wilson said. "You could literally take over this country with the number of weapons we've found."Marine combat engineers and explosives experts were again scouring homes yesterday amid the battered streets in south Fallujah's Shuhada district, where the day before gunmen traded shots with units trying to seize two homes that were later found to be hiding nearly 700 mortar shells. "We knew south Fallujah was a pretty good strong point (for the rebels)," Staff Sergeant Tim Oberst of the 1st Battalion 8th US Marines said. "They had weapons stacked up like they knew what they were doing. If they had enough people who knew how to use this stuff it could have been a lot worse, but they were definitely ready. They wanted to fight." As US troops largely cleared the city of rebels this week, reducing the insurgency to what military officials say are a few isolated pockets of fighters harassing troops with sniper fire and booby-traps, the extent of the rebels' preparations was becoming alarmingly clear. For more than an hour yesterday a daisy chain of marines passed mortar shells - from 60mm rounds the size of a small water bottle to large 120mm mortars and artillery shells that had to carried in both hands - to a waiting truck as a convoy of vehicles snaked its way through one ruined neighbourhood cleaning out weapons caches. Elsewhere, reporters saw a captured arsenal laid out in the dirt on the edges of another neighbourhood: rockets and antiquated shotguns jumbled next to clean, well oiled assault rifles, heavy machine guns and several homemade bombs. Outside one house, marines piled boxes of medical bandages, IV bags, saline solution and other medical supplies they say had been stockpiled before the assault before torching the home where the cache had been discovered. "These guys were prepared - medical supplies, food that would last forever," Lieutenant David J Lee said. But brutal artillery barrages before the assault had succeeded in destroying the insurgents' commanders, he said. "Once they did that it was just a fight with a bunch of disorganised guys, and a lot of them didn't know how to use this stuff. "But don't get me wrong, it was tough. But it could have been a lot worse." Posted by: God Save The World 2004-11-25 |
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