A third round of negotiations aimed at ending the fighting in the besieged city of Fallujah will be held Sunday, a U.S. commander said. Arab TV stations reported that Sunni militants have agreed to a U.S. offer of a cease-fire.
But as you read further you find they haven’t.
There were few sounds of clashes in the city Sunday and a Marine commander in the south said the rebels hadn’t attacked them for several hours. Earlier, insurgents who kidnapped a U.S. civilian Friday threatened to kill and mutilate him if Marines did not withdraw from Fallujah by 6 a.m. Sunday local time, or 10 p.m. Saturday EDT. The deadline passed with no word on his fate.
| I'd guess he's toast by now. We'll have to hunt down the killers and kill them. We can't let any of these incidents slide, just as we can't give in to any of the demands of the hostage takers. |
Mahmoud Othman, a member of Iraq’s Governing Council, said the militants have agreed in principle to a truce starting Sunday, but the deal depends on the doubtful prospect of American soldiers withdrawing from the city.
| Can't do it. If we do it, we lose. |
The insurgents made the offer through mediators in negotiations between council members and city representatives in Fallujah, he told The Associated Press. There was no confirmation from U.S. commanders that a deal had been struck. Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which is deployed in the city’s south, said "there has been no contact this morning from the rebels. I can confirm that we are going to continue" attacks on the insurgents. Byrne said another round of talks would be held between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. Arab TV station Al-Jazeera quoted an unidentified insurgent leader in Fallujah as saying a cease-fire would begin at 10 a.m. and last for 12 hours. A few hours earlier, Al-Arabiya reported that the truce started at 6 a.m. U.S. commanders have said that for a truce to hold, the militants must hand over the Iraqis who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31 and allow the return of Iraqi police to their stations to keep order, Othman said.
| They won't comply with that. It means they lose. |
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters Saturday that fighters must also "lay down their arms" and renounce their membership in extremist groups to fully end the insurgency that has made Fallujah its stronghold.
| They won't do that, either... |
The Marines warned of an assault to take the entire city if the negotiations failed and moved in reinforcements around the city. Kimmitt said a third battalion of Marines had moved to the city, joining two battalions totaling 1,200 troops and a battalion of nearly 900 Iraqi security forces. "Were we not at this point observing suspension of offensive operations ... it could well have been that we would have had the entire the city by this point," Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.
I think "lay down their arms" means the whole city will be disarmed. An extremely effective punishment in a gun culture like Iraq. As well as one the Left can’t excited about. |