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Iraq-Jordan
U.S. patrols to begin in Fallujah
2004-04-25
Full version of the extracted item below...
U.S. troops will likely enter parts of Najaf soon in a move to clamp down on the rebel militia of a radical Shiite cleric but will stay away from sensitive holy sites in the center of the city to avoid rousing the anger of Shiites, a U.S general said Sunday. Shiite leaders have warned of a possible explosion of anger among the country’s Shiite majority
Yawn.
if U.S. troops enter Najaf, and until now U.S. commanders have been saying troops would not go in. With the new move, the military seeks to impose a degree of control in Najaf, while hoping that a foray limited to the modern parts of the ancient holy city would not inflame Shiites. Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling did not say when troops would move in, or how many.

American officials were attempting a similar limited step in the war-torn city of Fallujah, the other main front of fighting in Iraq this month. U.S. troops will begin patrols alongside Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, a top Iraqi negotiator, Hachim al-Hassani, said Sunday an apparent attempt to restore control over the insurgent stronghold without a full-scale Marine assault, which would spark new bloodshed. But like a previous agreement aimed at reducing the violence in the city, the new step hinged greatly on the response of Sunni guerrillas, who are called on to turn in their heavy weapons and not carry any weapons in public. ’’We hope the U.S. soldiers will not be attacked when they enter the city. If they are attacked, they will respond and this will lead to problems,’’ al-Hassani told The Associated Press.
No shit Sherlock
He said Fallujah residents have promised no attacks will take place. But U.S. officials have questioned whether Fallujah civic leaders who have been negotiating with the Americans have enough influence with the city’s guerrillas. Guerrillas have not been abiding by a previous call from the civil leaders to surrender their heavy weapons, U.S. commanders say.
Tap-Tap, Nope nothing
Violence across the country flared Saturday, killing 33 Iraqis in various attacks and four U.S. soldiers whose base was hit by two rockets north of Baghdad. On Sunday, a rocket hit near a hospital in the northern city of Mosul, killing three people including two women working at the hospital doctors said. Elsewhere the city, a mortar hit a residential area, killing one Iraqi. In Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. military convoy in an eastern neighborhood, setting a Humvee on fire. Witnesses reported U.S. casualties, but there was no immediate confirmation from the military. Meanwhile, U.S. military officials in the Gulf were trying to determine the launching point of an unprecedented suicide boat attack on two offshore oil terminals that are the sole outlet of Iraqi crude from the south. The attacks, using explosive-packed dhows, killed two U.S. Navy sailors and forced the shutdown of the two terminals for several hours.
A third sailor, a Coast Guardsman, died today...
Asked if the attackers came from inside Iraq or neighboring Iran or Kuwait, Navy Commander James Graybeal, of the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said, ’’That’s what were trying to determine.’’ Insurgents often attack oil pipelines in Iraq and have repeatedly shut down exports from northern oil fields to Turkey. Saturday’s bombings were the first such maritime attack on the industry and appeared to be a new tactic in the Iraqi conflict resembling al-Qaida-linked attacks in 2000 and 2002 against the USS Cole and a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen that killed 17 American sailors and a tanker crewman. The blasts Saturday caused little damage to the facilities, and Sunday morning tankers resumed loading crude at the two terminals, al-Basra and Khawr al-Amara, about 100 miles in Gulf waters off the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, said Shamkhi Faraj, head of the State Oil Marketing Organization.
I'm leaning toward the Iran interpretation, myself, but I could be wrong. I doubt it, though.
The new steps in Najaf and Fallujah came after President Bush held a conference call Saturday with his top commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, over the situation in Iraq. U.S. commanders have been threatening a full-scale offensive to take Fallujah and uproot insurgents unless guerrillas hand over their heavy weapons within days. But a new assault would revive bloody fighting that killed hundreds of Iraqis this month, helped set off a surge of guerrilla attacks across the country that killed at least 109 U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of April the deadliest period ever in Iraq for the Americans. The Fallujah siege also fueled anti-U.S. sentiment, rallying the Sunni minority and angering even U.S. allies among the Iraqi leadership. Al-Hassani told The Associated Press that joint U.S.-Iraqi patrols would begin in the city on Tuesday, when orders will be issued forbidding Fallujah residents from carrying weapons in the streets. He said 75 families who fled Fallujah during the fighting will be allowed to return on Sunday. ’’If things go well, all families will be allowed to return,’’ he said. Nearly a third of the city’s 200,000 residents fled the city since the siege began on April 5. The attempt to have guerrillas hand over their heavy weapons will continue, he said. So far, insurgents have only turned in a small number of weapons, most of them rusted, broken or otherwise unusable, U.S. commanders have said.
As was Expected
I don't think the commanders' surprise meters are pegged, either...
The new U.S. intention to move into parts of Najaf also carried heavy risks. ’’We probably will go into the central part of the city. Will we interfere in the religious institutions? Absolutely not,’’ Hertling, a deputy commander of the 1st Armored Division, told reporters outside Najaf. He did not say when the move would occur, but it appeared unlikely for several days. Hertling said the move aimed to tighten the clampdown on radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia. ’’It’s not going to be large-scale fighting, the likes of other places, but it’s going to be critical,’’ he said. ’’We’re going to drive this dead man walking guy into the dirt.’’
And 6 feet under
’’Either he tells his militia to put down their arms, form a political party and fight with ideas not guns or he’s going to find a lot of them killed,’’ he said.
I'll buy that for a dollar...
Also, an Army reservist missing in Iraq since a convoy attack April 9 was confirmed dead. The remains of Sgt. Elmer Krause, 40, were found Friday, according to a statement Saturday from the Department of Defense. It gave no other details. Another soldier and a U.S. contract worker abducted in the same attack remain unaccounted for. The latest deaths brought to 109 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of April. At least 718 servicemembers have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Anywhere from 900 to 1,200 Iraqis have been killed in April depending on various reports of the death toll from Fallujah.
Posted by:chinditz

#11  the local Iraqi patrols who will be accompanying U.S. Marines in such operations will need to assist in detaining and interrogating subjects swept up in such actions,..

I don't know of what value interrogation would be, unless there is a plan to capture the local leaders. I say find and kill them, and be done with them and their kind.

Much as it might be gratifying, the CAP cannot allow bloodbaths or 'take no prisoner' operations in places like mosques or hospitals. It would be politically unsupportable and probably counterproductive in the long run.

This is not a good sign. If something needs to be done, then for God's sake, get on with it and explain the necessities clearly to the proper people later. It's like firings or layoffs; can't spend time worrying about the effect on the remaining employees when the company is in dire straits and losing money.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-04-25 11:01:45 PM  

#10  Infidel Bob (love your name, BTW), Get a grip!
Drudge isn't God (or a moron, but somewhere in between).
Check out this story from the Telegraph:
 
Fallujah will be your Stalingrad, Americans told
On the dusty road to the Jordanian Hospital on the edge of besieged Fallujah a skull and crossbones flew defiantly from the bonnet of a US military Humvee yesterday as preparations were made for a renewed offensive.

I'm pretty sure that neither our generals in Iraq nor the Pentagon will politely inform the media or even quietly tip off Drudge as to what our real attack plans are.
Posted by: Jen   2004-04-25 10:27:41 PM  

#9  Just saw the latest headline on Drudge. Bush ordered this. The war's over, boys. We lost.
Posted by: Infidel Bob   2004-04-25 10:13:46 PM  

#8  I hate to say it, but I'm afraid Bob is right. We had momentum, we had 'em on the ropes, and then the "negotiation" charade started.
Posted by: docob   2004-04-25 9:53:47 PM  

#7  Jen:

I'll believe it when I see it. The only thing I see us appearing so far is brain dead.
Posted by: Infidel Bob   2004-04-25 8:42:05 PM  

#6  Patience, boys, patience.
Our Marines are staging the Siege of Falluja (although no one in the LLL press will call it that).
Remember Sun Tzu: "When you are near, appear far."
Time is on our side.
Posted by: Jen   2004-04-25 8:11:34 PM  

#5  Have to agree with Rafael. We all watched Kimmit swear that we were going to get retribution in Fallujah. "Wait and see," he said. Well, here it is almost a month later. We're still waiting, and frankly we're not seeing a whole hell of a lot. This stand down is going to be presented by the insurgents as a tremendous victory for their side. It will likely be presented the same way by both our own and the world press. Bush said he had the stomach for this fight, but for the first time I'm starting to think he doesn't. If we're going to do things by half measures like this, let's just get our men and women the hell out of there before any more of them get hurt. It's stupid to ask them to die for nothing. If we're going to cut and run, let's cut and run now, instead of pretending that we're "staying" some stupid "course" and getting a lot of good people killed. Fallujah would have been over and done and forgotten about weeks ago if the Marines had been given their heads. Now it's a huge clusterf**k. Same with Najaf. Methinks the War on Terror is starting to look a lot like that war in a certain jungle country. Fight to win, or don't fight at all.
Posted by: Infidel Bob   2004-04-25 8:08:13 PM  

#4  This is madness. Whoever is making the decisions in Iraq doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. Maybe Ted Kennedy was right. This will turn into Vietnam if this continues. If Fallujah is not conquered NOW, six months from now it will be the same shit all over again. The jihadis will resupply, get reinforcements, and continue ambushing the troops. Nothing will change.
Posted by: Rafael   2004-04-25 5:42:55 PM  

#3  Sorry, I'd disagree: the local Iraqi patrols who will be accompanying U.S. Marines in such operations will need to assist in detaining and interrogating subjects swept up in such actions, possibly using the facilities already constructed for exactly this purpose just outside of Fallujah.Much as it might be gratifying, the CAP cannot allow bloodbaths or 'take no prisoner' operations in places like mosques or hospitals. It would be politically unsupportable and probably counterproductive in the long run.
Posted by: BK   2004-04-25 3:21:12 PM  

#2  Quoted on CNN: '"Iraqis are stockpiling weapons in mosques, shrines and in schools", Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said'. y vote: at the first round or RPG fired from any such facility, the Marines go in (accompanied by the local forces of course) clean it out, arrest all found inside until it can be sorted out,..

No need to arrest anyone. Marines are not cops, and shouldn't be expected or asked to perform police duties. If cleaning out the mosque requires the use of Marines, then the objective should be to kill the people that are causing the problem.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-04-25 2:41:29 PM  

#1  Although the 'cease-fire' talks have been extended through April 27, this could certainly get nasty shortly thereafer. Quoted on CNN: '"Iraqis are stockpiling weapons in mosques, shrines and in schools", Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said'. My vote: at the first round or RPG fired from any such facility, the Marines go in (accompanied by the local forces of course) clean it out, arrest all found inside until it can be sorted out, and close the facility - "Holy Site" or not. It should be reopened only when the "Civic Leaders" and the CAP can agree on security procedures to prevent these from becoming armed strongholds again in the future. PS: Good rule-of-engagement: anyone seen carrying a weapon in any such site (mosque, school or hospital) is shot on sight.
Posted by: BK   2004-04-25 1:21:37 PM  

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