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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Returning Fallujans Will See High Security |
| 2004-12-10 |
| When Fallujans begin trickling back to their devastated city, they will be routed through sandbagged checkpoints where U.S. and Iraqi troops will take their fingerprints, issue them ID badges and scan their irises - part of an elaborate plan to keep insurgents out of the former militant stronghold. The first residents to be allowed in - possibly by Dec. 24 - will be heads of households, according to Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, who outlined the plan Thursday. They will be permitted to survey damage to their homes during last month's battle to retake the city and to file claims for compensation. Five checkpoints have been set up into Fallujah, with roads south of the city blocked by sand berms, said Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. All men of military age will be processed using a central database; they will be photographed, fingerprinted and have their iris scans taken before being issued ID cards. The entire process should take about 10 minutes per man, Sattler said. The system has been in use for several months in Iraq, but until now has only been used to catalog detainees. No civilian vehicles will be permitted within city limits as a precaution against car bombs, which, along with roadside bombs, are the deadliest weapons in the insurgent arsenal, Sattler said. All cars will be left on the outskirts of Fallujah and residents will be bused to their homes, district by district. The measures - though likely to be perceived as drastic - are necessary, said Maj. Francis Piccoli, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force near Fallujah. "Some may see this as a 'Big Brother is watching over you' experiment, but in reality it's a simple security measure to keep the insurgents from coming back," Piccoli said. Good. And I'd bet most Fallujans, those who did not belong to or profit by the jihadis, will agree when they realize it keeps the asshast quotient down. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #3 Good. Now, if we'd handle the Mexican and Canadian borders similarly, we'd be set. |
| Posted by: ST 2004-12-10 10:43:30 PM |
| #2 I suspect car bombs are becoming the preferred method of disguising IEDs because we've gotten good at spotting other methods of hiding them. Maybe the US should set up corridors for military vehicles only within all the Sunni cities. |
| Posted by: HV 2004-12-10 7:47:00 AM |
| #1 Good id system. check No automobiles. check Work battalions. check High and tight hair cuts. Next up. Writing home. After the hair cut but before lights out. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-12-10 7:38:25 AM |