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Knighthawk
Commander
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 323
Location: Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo
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 Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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I am not sure whether to be happy or sad. I am happy that we are finally doing something about Falluja, on the other hand, I am scared for my fellow soldiers, because urban warfare and fighting is like nothing else.
I know my fellow warriors will get the job done, and I hope and pray for minimum casualties.
_________________
Regards,
Brian
Beware of the lollipop of mediocrity! Lick it once and you'll suck forever.
If guns kill people, then I can blame misspelled words on my pencil.
Knighthawk's Pictures! |
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noc
PO1
Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 492
Location: Dublin, CA
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/313/world/U_S_forces_storm_into_northern:.shtml
snip...
Before the main assault, Allawi visited the main U.S. base outside Fallujah to rally Iraqi troops.
''The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip,'' he told the soldiers at the camp, who swarmed around him when he arrived. ''Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them, then so be it.''
''May they go to hell!'' the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied: ''To hell they will go.'' |
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Let's hope the infiltrator who stayed long enough to get the plans and then "deserted" is the first one to enter the gates of Hell. |
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misako
Ensign
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 53
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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May our troops win a fast and total victory with minimum casulties on our side. And elimination of all terrorists is our goal and their destiny.
God bless our brave military and vistory to the right and brave and all honour to out forces. |
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sleeplessinseattle
LCDR
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 430
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| noc wrote: | http://www.boston.com/dailynews/313/world/U_S_forces_storm_into_northern:.shtml
snip...
Before the main assault, Allawi visited the main U.S. base outside Fallujah to rally Iraqi troops.
''The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip,'' he told the soldiers at the camp, who swarmed around him when he arrived. ''Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them, then so be it.''
''May they go to hell!'' the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied: ''To hell they will go.'' |
Wow, this really is good vs. evil in some real way...may the good and right win out! May freedom reign!
Did anyone see what Kofi the UN leader said about Fallujah?
"I have in mind not only the risk of increased insurgent violence, but also reports of major military offensives being planned by the multinational force in key localities such as Falluja.
I wish to express to you my particular concern about the safety and protection of civilians. Fighting is likely to take place mostly in densely populated urban areas, with an obvious risk of civilian casualties...
Of course, I understand that there is an imperative need to restore security throughout Iraq. But I equally believe that, ultimately, the problem of insecurity can only be addressed through dialogue and an inclusive political process."
_________________
"We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." -- President Bush 2001
Thanks W, Swifties, POWs & brave soldiers everywhere fighting for America and for freedom |
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Inatizzy
Former Member
Joined: 28 Sep 2004
Posts: 439
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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Kofi Annan's opinion is as welcome as a turd in the punchbowl. He's totally irrelevant now. He needs to go back to sleep.
Ya know who I want to see running the UN?
Norman Schwarzkopf. Ole Stormin' Norman would do a grand job of running things don't ya think? |
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JB Stone
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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Fallujah Battle 'Going to Plan', Say US
"PA"
Thousands of US troops attacked the toughest strongholds of Sunni insurgents in Fallujah today, launching a long-awaited offensive aimed at putting an end to guerrilla control of the Sunni Muslim city.
After darkness US troops advanced slowly on the northwestern Jolan neighbourhood, a warren of alleyways where Sunni militant fighters have dug in. Artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district’s northern edge, softening the defences and attempting to set off any bombs and boobytraps before troops moved in.
At the same time, another force pushed into the northeastern Askari district, the first large-scale assault into the insurgent-held area of the city, the military said. Marines could be seen on rooftops inside Jolan.
Some 5,000 US Marines and soldiers were massed in the desert on Fallujah’s northern edge participating in the assault. Iraqi troops deployed with them took over a nearby train station after the Americans fired on it to drive off fighters.
The top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, predicted a “major confrontation” on the streets of Fallujah in the operation called “al-Fajr,” Arabic for “dawn.”
He told reporters in Washington that up to 15,000 US troops along with Iraqi forces were encircling the city.
Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates near Fallujah earlier today. A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardment and skirmishes before the main assault began.
A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people killed. Seventeen others, including a five-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he gave the green light for troops to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at re-establishing government control before elections set for January. He also announced a round-the-clock curfew in Fallujah and another nearby insurgent stronghold, Ramadi, flexing emergency powers he was granted the day before.
“The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip,” he told Iraqi soldiers who swarmed around him during a visit to the main US base outside Fallujah just before the attack began.
In Washington, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: “Iraqi security forces, supported by the coalition and by the Iraqi people, are committed to returning stability and removing the threat of terrorism and insurgency from Iraq.”
Earlier, US and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah’s western edge that they said was under insurgents’ control. A team of Marines entered northwestern Fallujah and seized an apartment building.
US commanders have avoided any public estimate on how long it may take to capture Fallujah, where insurgents fought the Marines to a standstill last April in a three-week siege.
Commanders have estimated around 3,000 insurgents are barricaded in the city. Casey said that some insurgents managed to slip away, but others “have moved in.”
He estimated between 50 – 70% of the city’s 200,000 residents have fled the city.
As the main assault began in Fallujah, thunderous explosions could be heard across central Baghdad, some 40 miles to the east. Militants bombed an Orthodox Christian church in the capital, killing three people and wounding 34, police said.
A US soldier was killed when his patrol was fired on in eastern Baghdad, the military said. Southwest of Baghdad, a British soldier was killed in an incident that appeared to involve a roadside bomb.
And at least three people were killed in an explosion near Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad tonight when mortar rounds were fired at police cars parked outside of the hospital.
The prelude to the Fallujah offensive was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that built from the night before, through the morning and afternoon then rose to a crescendo by tonight – with US jets dropping bombs constantly and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.
Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault. “We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep,” the clerics said in a statement.
| Quote: | 'Fallujah will take time'
08/11/2004 23:14 - (SA)
At a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld shied away from a question whether the operation in Fallujah would be a "final showdown" and said that insurgents holed up in the city were determined to resist.
"I think it's a tough business, and it's going to take time," he said.
US marines laid siege to Fallujah in April but later pulled back after a negotiated agreement. But Rumsfeld suggested the current push would be different.
"I could not imagine that it would stop without being completed," he said.
Go-ahead
He made his remarks as US artillery, war planes and tanks pounded the rebel bastion at the start of an operation by some 12 000 US and Iraqi troops to retake the city.
The onslaught was unleashed after Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced he had given the go-ahead for the military to retake the city, the symbol of the potent insurgency that is bent on undermining his US-backed interim government.
Both Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, signalled that other operations were likely against the insurgency in Iraq, where elections are scheduled for January.
Use of force
"This will not be the last use of force in Iraq to rid Iraq of the former regime elements and the foreign fighters who do not want Iraq to be successful," Myers said.
"There will be other opportunities, maybe not as dramatic and as big as Fallujah but other opportunities."
Rumsfeld said it was necessary to eliminate "terrorist" havens such as Fallujah in order for the Allawi government to do its work.
"But I think that it wouldn't be for me to suggest when (is) the last step in this process. I think it's something that's been going on for a period now, it's going on for a period ahead.
"Over time, you'll find that the process of tipping will take place, that more and more of the Iraqis will be angry about the fact that innocent people are being killed by the extremists, a number of them from outside the country, and they won't like it."
Rumsfeld brushed off reports that some of the Iraqi army troops did not show up for battle, saying, "I would characterise it as an isolated problem.
"They did well in Najaf, they did well in Samarra. They did well in the peninsula yesterday (on Sunday). And there have been instances where they have not done so well.
"It seems to me that's not surprising."
He said such problems were common with "new units that have a mixture of people who haven't worked together intimately and haven't developed the kind of confidence you develop over time.
"So I think what one ought to expect from time to time, we're going see this type of thing," adding that some Iraqi army and police forces that had performed well. |
US-led forces unleash 'Phantom Fury' to regain Fallujah
Tuesday, 09 November , 2004, 00:33
Fallujah: US and Iraqi forces unleashed an all-out offensive to seize Fallujah from the hands of rebels, with marines advancing on the city's heart following massive strikes by artillery and warplanes.
The skies above Fallujah, west of Baghdad, burned red as Operation Phantom Fury began with an aerial bombardment and a major ground offensive, said an AFP journalist embedded with the military.
US marines stormed the Jolan district in the northwest of Fallujah - a notorious stronghold of rebels holed-up in the city - and took the Iraqi city's train station, a marine officer said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had finally given the formal go-ahead for the 20,000 strong multinational force to launch the offensive and also visited troops ahead of the battle at a US camp just outside the city.
"The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage just like the people of Samarra and you need to free them from their (the insurgents') grip," he told the soldiers.
"Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them then let it be," he said, warning the soldiers not to harm civilians.
Allawi had earlier announced a stringent package of security measures to protect Iraq during the attempt to recapture the city, including a curfew in Fallujah and the closure of Baghdad's international airport.
In earlier skirmishes multinational forces seized a hospital and two bridges on the western edge of the city. Clashes with the insurgents holed up in Fallujah were fierce, with a barrage of rocket, mortar and gunfire raining down as they tried to raise the new Iraqi flag above the hospital.
Allawi said that 38 insurgents had been killed in the initial clashes and four foreign fighters detained, including two Moroccans.
The battle could prove the most intense since last year's war to topple Saddam Hussein, with 2,000 to 2,500 fighters, some loyal to Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, inside the city and prepared for brutal street fighting.
"The predictions are that they are going to stay and fight us here," said Major Todd Desgrosseilliers.
The action came one day after Allawi declared a 60-day state of emergency across most of the country in a bid to control an escalating insurgency ahead of elections promised by January.
US troops forbade men aged from 15 to 50 from entering or leaving Fallujah and the surrounding areas, saying that anyone else who wanted to leave would not be allowed to return until order is restored.
"Attention, attention! All men aged between 15 and 50 are forbidden from entering or exiting (the area)," loud speakers on top of US vehicles declared in Arabic as they drove around the outskirts of the city.
"If they do, they will become a target," the military warned.
"Only women and children are allowed to leave on condition that they do not return until order is restored."
Rebels have transformed Fallujah into their fiefdom since a marine assault on the city in April ended in stalemate and left hundreds dead. It is estimated now that 80 to 90 percent of the city's 300,000 inhabitants have already left in fear of greater bloodshed.
US and Iraqi troops have been massing around the city since mid-October, while the US military is doubling its manpower in Fallujah's sister city of Ramadi to 2,000 amid expectations of a double-pronged assault to regain control.
As part of the security measures, Allawi said Iraq's international airport would be closed to civilian flights for 48 hours and the country's borders with both Jordan and Syria would be closed except for trucks carrying necessary food.
Allawi also declared a curfew from 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) would be imposed on the restive cities of Fallujah and neighbouring Ramadi along with other emergency measures.
| Quote: | U.S. forces in Iraq have experience in urban warfare
BY DOGEN HANNAH
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - If the battle for Fallujah unfolds like other urban-combat operations in Iraq, a big part of it will involve troops on foot working closely with heavily armored vehicles to probe the city's neighborhoods, drawing fire that reveals enemy positions.
Once soldiers have pinpointed insurgents' positions, they can call in fire from jets and gunships orbiting overhead, from artillery and mortars stationed outside the city, from snipers close to the front or from tanks designed during the Cold War that are advancing with the troops.
"I believe you're going to see a major use of tanks and infantry," said David Aaron, the director of Rand Corp.'s Center for Middle East Public Policy. "It turns out that the tank we thought we were going to fight the Russians with is the best thing we've got to fight in an urban environment."
A combined U.S.-Iraqi ground assault by about 15,000 troops began Monday on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, about 35 miles west of Baghdad.
Last year, as American forces invaded Iraq, many analysts warned that the fight for Baghdad could involve a long period of close-quarters combat. Instead, tanks rolled into the city with far less resistance than expected, and Saddam Hussein's regime fell within days.
But the battles against the insurgency that sprang up after the invasion have been fought mostly on the densely packed streets and among the buildings of Iraqi cities, where it's difficult for tanks to maneuver. The battle for Fallujah is shaping up to be the largest of such confrontations.
From a tactical perspective, it's no surprise that insurgents stay in cities, said Lt. Col. Raymond Millen of the U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, who's an urban warfare expert. Insurgent fighters are relatively easy prey in the open of Iraq's desert or agricultural areas. There, American forces can quickly apply superior technology and overwhelming firepower to find and kill them.
In a city, insurgents can hide in fortified buildings, firing from inside or scooting from one to another as they fend off approaching troops or lure them into ambushes.
In Fallujah, they're likely to fight as they have elsewhere: firing assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at troops and funneling them down routes lined with homemade bombs.
"The big fights, where you're going to see lots of casualties, are when defenders create miniature fortresses," Millen said. "Your infantry gets sucked into those things, and that's when you see casualties building up."
U.S. forces have managed to keep casualties relatively low in previous urban battles in Iraq. In three weeks of fighting a Shiite Muslim insurgency in the streets and massive cemetery of Najaf this summer, seven Marines and two soldiers were killed out of a force of about 3,000.
"If you go in there well and you go in there methodically - if you have a good plan - you're not going to have as many casualties," Millen said.
It also might turn out that many insurgents slipped out of Fallujah during the weeks-long buildup or will try to blend in as noncombatants now that the offensive is under way.
Gen. George Casey, the American commander in Iraq, said Monday that he estimated that 3,000 insurgents were in Fallujah.
"We're either to have a major battle or showdown, or we'll have a sizable one but they (the insurgents) will melt away again," said Aaron, the Middle East analyst. "My guess is there will be a sizable battle, but it will not be a definitive event."
Maj. Francis Piccoli, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Fallujah, said last week: "If there's a fight in Fallujah, there would be no holds barred. We would go after the enemy with an overwhelming force. ... We're prepared to run over these people."
Since mid-October, U.S. forces have ringed the city and launched almost daily airstrikes and artillery barrages on insurgents' positions and weapons caches. |
Bomber was 'white terrorist'
8 November 2004
The suicide bomber responsible for the death of three Black Watch soldiers last week is thought to be a white Europe-based al Qaida terrorist.
A video of the attack - which left eight Black Watch soldiers injured and a civilian Iraqi interpreter dead - has been aired on an extremists' website.
It apparently shows images of insurgents stamping on victims' body parts left at the scene.
A senior military source in Iraq said: "The bomber was Caucasian. That means he could be from anywhere between Bosnia to Birmingham. We don't know any more because there wasn't much left of him.
"But it confirms our fears that the Black Watch are now up against foreign terrorists."
Last Thursday's attack happened as troops crossed into the dangerous territory east of the River Euphrates for the first time.
The 850-strong Black Watch battle group was deployed to Iraq to relieve US forces preparing for the assault on the rebel stronghold of Fallujah.
They are tasked with cutting off the "rat runs" from the city, preventing insurgents escaping and supplies getting in.
| Quote: | 
Fallujah assault launched
By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer
In an operation named for the Arabic word for dawn, roughly 15,000 U.S. troops have launched a major offensive into the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in an attempt to pave the way for Iraq’s critical national elections in January.
Preliminary actions for Operation al-Fajir began Sunday with U.S. and Iraqi forces securing an Iraqi hospital as well as major exit routes from the city, Army Gen. George Casey, chief of multinational forces in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters Monday in a telephone news conference from his Baghdad headquarters.
Fallujah has been a “no-go” zone for U.S. and coalition forces since April and has become a magnet for anti-U.S. fighters. The city’s peacetime population was 200,000, and thousands have departed in recent weeks as the United States signaled the likelihood of a major offensive following the American elections Nov. 2.
Between 50 percent and 70 percent of the city’s population appears to have departed, Casey said. That means as many as 100,000 residents remain. Casey acknowledged a “ballpark” estimate for the number of insurgents at about 3,000.
The Iraqi government has declared martial law and has ordered Iraqis to stay indoors and away from windows to minimize casualties.
In the hours ahead, U.S. and Iraqi forces will attempt to crack the city’s outer defenses, which include car bombs and remotely triggered explosives, then converge onto the city center.
Casey said captured insurgent plans call for using schools and mosques to store weapons. Casey also said he expects some anti-U.S. forces to flee and attempt to regroup in other regions of the dangerous Sunni triangle.
“I suspect that they’ll try,” Casey said. “But I don’t know that we’ll let them. We have to eliminate the safe haven. Yes, they’ll go off to other places and try to get set up, but when they’re doing that, they have to look over their shoulder, they have to worry about who’s at the door, they have to put guards out all the time.”
Casey also said he is aware that some of the Iraqi government’s military units failed to deploy from their home bases to the battlefield. |
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JB Stone
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 12:39 am Post subject: |
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Rumsfeld: Fallujah Offensive 'Will Deal a Blow' to Terrorists
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2004 -- The Defense Department's top civilian today predicted victory for U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces as they launched large- scale attacks on insurgent positions in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld noted at a Pentagon news conference that he couldn't imagine that the Fallujah operation would be terminated before achieving victory over the insurgents.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave the green light for the assault, and U.S. Marines, U.S. Army soldiers and Iraqi forces have advanced into the city while pounding insurgent positions with air and ground fire.
Insurgents and extremists have been using Fallujah as a base and haven for their anti-government operations.
The Fallujah insurgents "have chosen the path of violence" instead of participating in a negotiated, peaceful outcome, Rumsfeld said.
This is "an important time" in the history of the new Iraq, Rumsfeld observed, noting, "No government can allow terrorists and foreign fighters to use its soil to attack its people."
Success in Fallujah "will deal a blow to the terrorists" in Iraq, Rumsfeld predicted, and "should move Iraq further away from a future of violence to one of freedom and opportunity for the Iraqi people."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, who accompanied Rumsfeld at the press briefing, extended his condolences for the families of U.S. servicemembers who had fallen so far in the Fallujah operation, as well as to those who had died in earlier campaigns.
America's military members "are making a big difference in this world" as the war against global terrorism continues, Myers said.
Over time, Myers said, "people will reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave American servicemembers and remark about how they changed the course of history -- and changed it for the better."
| Quote: | 
Zarqawi rallies Muslims to fight
November 9, 2004 - 10:18AM
A statement in the name of al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi called on Muslims today to take up arms against their US enemy as American troops mounted a massive offensive against the rebel-held Iraqi city of Fallujah.
"Oh people, the war has begun and the call for jihad has been made," said the Zarqawi statement posted on an Arabic internet Web site often used by Islamists.
"Despite all the agonies that we are suffering, by God, the enemies will only see things that will harm them," he said. "Let us resist them with all our might and let us spend all that is precious in fighting them. Be patient, it is only a matter of days before victory will come with the help of God."
Zarqawi made his appeal as Iraqi and US troops began a huge operation to wrestle back Fallujah from Muslim insurgents -- though his statement did not mention the city by name.
Another militant group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, posted a statement on its Web site calling for intensified attacks on US-led forces and for more hostage takings.
"In such circumstances the leadership of the Islamic Army in Iraq orders all its forces to escalate operations to the highest level and urges the mujahideen everywhere to repel the infidel," said the statement which also did not mention Fallujah by name.
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The US military says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters - Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign Islamic militants led by Zarqawi - are holed up in the town's alleyways and on rooftops.
"Why don't you seize the opportunity so that you will be spared the pain of the grave? You should know that martyrs are considered alive in heaven," Zarqawi's statement said.
It accused Muslim scholars of leaving militants "to face the most powerful force on earth" and surrendering land to "Jews and crusaders and their tails - the infidel rulers".
Zarqawi's al-Qaeda Organisation of Holy War in Iraq has claimed responsibility for hostage beheadings and some of Iraq's bloodiest suicide attacks. |
Thousands of Iraqi, US Troops Enter Fallujah
By Nick Simeone
VOA, Washington
8 November 2004
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops have begun a long-awaited ground offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah from terrorists and insurgents. The top U.S. military commander in Iraq predicts the battle that could become one of the toughest ground combat operations of the Iraq war may last for days. Even so, at the Pentagon, U.S. military officials do not see the assault on Fallujah as the final showdown for the Iraqi insurgency.
Days of heavy U.S. air strikes and artillery fire gave way after dark Monday to an invasion of Fallujah by as many as 15,000 American Marines and soldiers, backed by Iraqi troops as well as tanks and armored vehicles. Reporters embedded with coalition forces describe a night of intense ground fire with U.S.-led forces moving into Fallujah hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for the ground assault to begin.
By telephone from Baghdad, the top American commander in Iraq, Army General George Casey, told reporters he expects a tough fight against an estimated 3,000 insurgents and terrorists who have turned the city into a base of operations ever since American Marines abandoned the fight to retake it in April. "Our estimates tell us that they will probably fall back toward the center of the city where there will probably be a major confrontation," he said.
While vowing that this time coalition forces will succeed in bringing law and order to the Sunni stronghold, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is warning the battle for Fallujah will not necessarily be the last showdown with insurgents. "It's a tough business and it's going to take time. And I wouldn't want to suggest that this one city [will be the last we are going to have to fight for]; it's important and it needs to be done and you obviously can't have terrorist safe havens in a country and expect the government to be able to function as a government must," he said.
The U.S. military acknowledges that among the thousands of Fallujah residents who have fled the city are terrorists and insurgents the military coalition is trying to capture or kill. A curfew has been imposed in part to minimize civilian casualties and coalition aircraft have been dropping leaflets warning people to remain indoors. "There aren't going to be large numbers of civilians killed, certainly not by U.S. forces," Secretary Rumsfeld said.
Fallujah is believed to be the base of operations for the terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian wanted for some of the deadliest attacks on foreigners in Iraq since the start of the war. At this point though, U.S. defense officials are not saying who, if anyone, may have been apprehended or killed in these early hours of the Fallujah invasion.
| Quote: | 
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U.S. Troops Penetrate Insurgent-Held Area Of Fallujah
First Infantry Division tanks and Humvees have penetrated the insurgent-held northeastern Askari district of Fallujah.
The offensive began on the northwestern Jolan neighborhood,
where Sunni militants have dug in.
Artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district's northern edge, attempting to set off any bombs and booby traps before troops moved in.
Iraqi troops with the U.S. soldiers took over a train station.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq said up to 15,000 U.S. and
Iraqi troops have surrounded the city.
Gen. George Casey told reporters Monday that the battle for Fallujah is on schedule, but Casey predicted a "major confrontation" on the ground inside the city.
Troops from the 1st Cavalry Divisions 2nd Brigade “Black Jack” Combat Team are supporting the 1st Marine Division in the attack.
The brigade raised its colors on Friday at a camp outside Fallujah.
The city of 300,000 is a base for insurgents and extremists, military officials say.
The Fallujah insurgents "have chosen the path of violence" instead of
participating in a negotiated, peaceful outcome, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday.
The first ground assault Monday came from the north of the city, where more than 4,000 troops from the 1st Marine Division and the Army’s 1st Infantry Division swept into the city with armor support.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is in command of coalition and Iraqi forces.
U.S. and allied forces hit the Iraqi city of Fallujah with warplanes and artillery early Monday before the ground assault started.
As many as 42 insurgents were killed in the opening round of attacks, military officials said.
In the preliminary stages of t the assault on the city, which is believed to be the biggest urban attack since the Vietnam War. Marines seized several targets and Iraqi troops captured 38 insurgents.
U.S. Forces control a hospital and two key bridges over the Euphrates River.
The White House is vowing that the insurgents in Fallujah "will be defeated."
Iraq’s interim prime minister authorized the assault, saying he is “determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists.”
Ayad Allawi said militants have left officials with no other options, “but to take the necessary measures to protect Iraqi people from these killers and liberate Fallujah”
"I have given my authority to the Iraqi forces to spearhead the attacks,"
Allawi said.
U.S. and Iraqi troops will restore the “rule of law to Fallujah very soon” Allawi said.
He said militants in the city are not interested in a peaceful settlement and accused them of using mosques and hospitals as refuges.
Allawi said Iraq is closing its border with Syria and Jordan for the time being and is shutting down the international airport in Baghdad.
In Fallujah clerics urged Iraqi troops not to take part in the fight.
They warn the troops "we will slaughter you just like
sheep."
The offensive is one of “the most telegraphed military operations in
history,” defense officials said in a prepared release.
The advance warning of the attack gave residents of the city of 300,000 time to leave and Pentagon officials estimate that as many as 60,000 did.
According to residents, insurgents have threatened to use the civilians who remained behind as human shields.
http://www.mnf-iraq.com
http://www.i-mef.usmc.mil
http://www.1id.army.mil
http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/test.htm?http&&&www.cpp.usmc.mil/1MarDiv
| Quote: |
Iraqi, U.S. Troops Begin 'Al Fajr' Operation in Fallujah
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2004 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces began their long-awaited assault today against insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in an operation dubbed "Al Fajr," the Iraqi word for dawn.
According to various news reports, thousands of soldiers and Marines have moved into Fallujah neighborhoods believed to be harboring the most insurgents. Earlier, Iraqi troops took two bridges and a hospital in northern Fallujah, Multinational Force Iraq officials said today. Officials described the situation around the insurgent stronghold as "fluid."
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave the go-ahead for Iraqi and U.S. forces to rid the city of insurgents and foreign terrorists. In a news conference today in Baghdad, Allawi said his government is determined to drive the terrorists out of Fallujah. He said he makes this move after all peaceful means to solve the problem have not worked out.
"I have given my authority to the Iraqi forces to spearhead the attacks," Allawi said.
On Nov. 7, the prime minister declared a state of emergency in all of Iraq except for the Kurdish-controlled area in the north.
The Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion took the bridges and hospital today and detained 38 men.
Marine artillery and U.S. aircraft have hit terrorist hideouts in the city. Pentagon officials said Marines and soldiers in the area have observed secondary explosions after the strikes. This often signifies that ammunition or explosives were at the site that was struck, officials explained.
Coalition forces are hitting anti-Iraqi forces where they show themselves. News reports indicate U.S. Marines and soldiers are firing mortars and artillery at concentrations of insurgents and foreign terrorists.
The offensive in Fallujah is one of the most telegraphed military operations in history. That is by design, said Pentagon officials. The city normally has a population of about 300,000. With all the warnings, officials estimate that between 50,000 and 60,000 people are left in the city. Even so, Multinational Force Iraq officials report terrorists in the city are preventing families from leaving Fallujah. According to residents, terrorist plan to use citizens as human shields, then claim they were attacked by friendly forces.
News accounts said that officials estimate between 5,000 and 6,000 insurgents and foreign terrorists are in the city.
Multinational Force Iraq officials have received reports that terrorists in Fallujah are building a system of tunnels joining mosques and schools within the city. The tunnels reportedly would be used to transport weapons and ammunition throughout protected sites in the face of the Multinational Force assault.
Under international law, mosques are granted protected status because of their religious and cultural significance. However, such sites lose their protected status when insurgents use them for military purposes.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is in command of coalition and Iraqi forces at the city. The 1st Marine Division and U.S. Army armored units from the 1st Infantry Division -- along with Iraqi allies -- stand ready on the northern part of the city, news accounts said. |
Iraqi prime minister tells U.N. chief Fallujah attack is best way to safeguard elections
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press, 11/8/2004 19:12
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi insisted that uprooting extremists from Fallujah is the only way ''to safeguard lives, elections and democracy in Iraq,'' rejecting the U.N. chief's warning against attacking the city, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.
Allawi's diplomatic rebuke was in response to Secretary-General Kofi Annan's letter late last week warning the leaders of the United States, Britain and Iraq that an all-out assault on Fallujah could undermine national elections set for January and further alienate Iraqis.
Early Monday, U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi forces launched a long-awaited offensive against Fallujah after Allawi gave the green light. The invasion is aimed at wresting control from insurgents and re-establishing government control of the Sunni Muslim city before elections.
Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie met Annan on Monday afternoon and told reporters afterwards that attacking Fallujah was ''the least damaging, the least dangerous'' option to restore law-and-order to the city, which is now under ''a Taliban-like rule.''
He said Annan ''shares our abhorrence at the terrorists and their actions'' and ''I think the secretary-general accepts that this is an Iraqi matter, and a decision must be taken by the Iraqi government.''
He wouldn't discuss Allawi's letter but said in his discussion with the secretary-general, ''we have emphasized the agreements rather than disagreements.''
According to a U.N. statement, however, ''they discussed their differing perspectives on Fallujah'' in ''a serious, yet friendly, discussion, with both agreeing on the importance of establishing a relationship based on mutual understanding.''
In his three-page letter, Allawi told Annan he could not give violent extremist a veto over Iraq's democracy or let them ''continue to terrorize the vast majority of Iraqis who want to live in peace and freedom.''
The Iraqi prime minister said he shared Annan's view that an escalation in violence could disrupt Iraq's political transition.
''But I believe that this argues for taking firm steps now to tackle the violence we face today,'' he wrote. ''Unchecked, this violence will escalate perhaps even into a sectarian struggle which threatens the elections altogether. We cannot afford to run that risk.''
Allawi said it was ''unacceptable'' that civilians in parts of the country have been ''hijacked by the terrorists and insurgents.'' He said the extremists had been time enough to join the political process.
''Worse still is that the terrorists and insurgents operating from places like Fallujah are exporting their violence to other parts of the country, terrorizing and killing innocent Iraqis and those seeking to protect them,'' he said. ''I cannot allow these terrorists to continue to murder with impunity.''
Allawi told Annan, ''I was a little surprised by the lack of any mention in your letter of the atrocities which these groups have committed.''
In his letter dated Oct. 31, Annan said Iraq has to attract more Iraqis to join the electoral process for it to succeed. He said he feared that major military offensives in places like Fallujah would cause civilian casualties, alienate Iraqis and jeopardize the election's credibility.
The influential Sunni clerical Association of Muslim Scholars has threatened to call for a boycott of elections if Fallujah is attacked. But Sumaidaie insisted there was no link between the action in Fallujah and participation in elections, which he said was ''a political issue.''
In his response, Allawi told Annan he shared his preference for a political solution over military confrontation.
''But I did not find in your letter a new plan or a new strategy beyond this strong preference, which has already guided my thinking throughout,'' he wrote.
''Essentially, the violent groups have rejected the rule-of-law, without which there can be no democracy,'' Allawi said. ''I believe that it is the government's duty now to act in order to safeguard lives, elections and democracy in Iraq from those choosing the path of violence and atrocities.''
The prime minister said every effort would be made to safeguard civilians, and he said humanitarian relief and reconstruction packages have been prepared for Fallujah.
Sumaidaie, the Iraqi ambassador, said he was ''very encouraged'' that Annan is doing everything possible to raise the ceiling of 35 international staff in Iraq to help prepare for elections in January. ''The general direction is more, and as soon as possible, and that's going to happen, and we'll hear about it soon,'' he said.
| Quote: | Bush administration confident in capturing Fallujah
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AM - Tuesday, 9 November , 2004 08:04:00
Reporter: John Shovelan
TONY EASTLEY: Today's battle for Fallujah is the second time US forces have attempted to take control of the place considered the epicentre of the insurgency. Six months ago US troops withdrew without a decisive victory, partly because of the number of civilian casualties.
From Washington, John Shovelan reports the Bush administration says this time the battle will be finished.
JOHN SHOVELAN: The battle for Fallujah is the most important since the US invasion one and a half years ago.
DONALD RUMSFELD: This is an important time in the history of a new Iraq.
JOHN SHOVELAN: The long anticipated offensive is the second time in six months fighting has raged for control of the city. With just three months to general elections the Bush administration is striving to bring the insurgency under control.
Between ten and fifteen thousand marines and US infantry backed by Iraqi troops are taking part in the operation. The US Government wants this assault on the city to have a definite Iraqi face on it.
General George Casey, the commander of the multinational force, says the operation has even been given an Arabic name.
GEORGE CASEY: It's called� it's al-Fadje, and it's an Iraqi word for dawn. And the Iraqi Prime Minister suggested this, selected this, for obvious reasons.
JOHN SHOVELAN: The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, says the decision was made in consultation with the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: Our commanders are in close constant contact with the interim government, with Iraqi forces, as is our government, and I think that's the way you should look at it, but as I said, it's a two-way discussion between our forces and between the forces of the interim government.
JOHN SHOVELAN: Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, says the operation this time won't be stopped before it's completed, and he says the aim is to destroy what's become a terrorist haven.
DONALD RUMSFELD: No government can allow terrorists and foreign fighters to use its soil to attack its people, and to attack its government, and to intimidate the Iraqi people. Success in Fallujah will deal a blow to the terrorists in the country, and should move Iraq further away from a future of violence to one of freedom and opportunity for the Iraqi people.
REPORTER: How do you define success in this case, and is this actually a final showdown with the insurgents?
DONALD RUMSFELD: Oh, I wouldn't use the word final.
REPORTER: Last April in the battle for Fallujah the US decided, I think in part back there in Washington, to pull out, to end the battle before it was done, for a myriad of reasons.
Can you make a statement here that there's not going to be anything stopping this battle from going through to a clear and final victory, or is there still some sort of room for it to stop once again without being completed?
DONALD RUMSFELD: I cannot imagine that�
REPORTER: You can't imagine what?
DONALD RUMSFELD: I cannot imagine that it would stop without being completed.
REPORTER: Your bottom line is it's going to be finished and...?
DONALD RUMSFELD: Absolutely. No question.
REPORTER: Does that mean you will capture Zarqawi in this instance? Are you hoping to?
DONALD RUMSFELD: I have no idea if he's there.
JOHN SHOVELAN: The battle for Fallujah generated controversy before it even began. UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, warned last week that a military offensive could put at risk the credibility of the elections.
In a letter to President Bush and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Mr Annan wrote an escalation in violence could be very disruptive for Iraq's political transition. He also suggested that with US forces providing most of the troops, it would discourage a broader participation by Iraqis in the political process, including in the elections.
John Shovelan, Washington. |
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JB Stone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 12:52 am Post subject: |
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Iraqi troops condemned, threatened for fighting; at least 200 desert
BY HANNAH ALLAM AND TOM LASSETER
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - U.S. military officials said Monday that at least 200 Iraqi troops had deserted their posts in the American-led offensive on Fallujah, illustrating the predicament faced by men who are torn between orders from commanders and outrage from their countrymen.
Prominent Iraqi clerics, including influential Sunni Muslims and top aides to rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, condemned the Iraqi troops who were serving alongside Americans in Fallujah, the Sunni stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad. The insurgent council that's controlled Fallujah for the past six months threatened to behead Iraqi troops who entered the city to "fight their own people."
The U.S. military and Iraqi commanders estimated that up to 200 Iraqi troops had resigned, with another 200 "on leave."
"Some people were afraid because they received threats," said Sgt. Abdul Raheem, an Iraqi soldier. "They were afraid of death."
Clerics in Fallujah blasted the Iraqi troops in a statement, calling them "the occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen."
"We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep," the statement said.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi made a surprise visit Monday to bolster the morale of Iraqi troops at the Camp Fallujah base. The men gathered around him and sang and danced to show their allegiance to Iraq and to him. In a rousing speech punctuated by their cheers, Allawi told the young men they were making history.
"The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage just like the people of Samarra, and you need to free them," Allawi said. "Your job is to arrest the killers, but if you kill them, let it be."
"May they go to hell!" the soldiers cried.
"To hell they will go," Allawi answered.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni umbrella group said to include 3,000 mosques, issued a religious edict calling for all Iraqi soldiers, national guardsmen and police officers to quit immediately or become legitimate targets for the rebels. The fatwa included a warning to the forces not to repeat the experience of Najaf, where Iraqis joined an American-led effort to crush al-Sadr's uprising in the southern Shiite holy city in August.
Hundreds of Iraqi troops are playing a support role in Fallujah, mainly providing security for areas that American forces already have cleared.
Fallujah isn't the first battle to elicit mass desertions by Iraqi troops. Hundreds were reported in the August standoff over Najaf, and many troops reportedly deserted the last time U.S. troops entered Fallujah, in April.
"Those who kill Iraqis are not Iraqis," said Sheik Mohammed Bashar al Faidhi of the scholars' association. "We told them: You made a terrible mistake in Najaf. Be careful not to repeat this experience because the occupier will leave one day, but the people will stay."
Sheik Abdulhadi al Darraji, the head of an al-Sadr office in Baghdad, said militant Shiites also condemned the incursion into Sunni territory.
"They shouldn't be tools in the hands of the occupiers," he said. "An assault against Fallujah is an assault against all Iraqis."
Despite the desertions, Iraq's nascent security forces celebrated two apparent victories Monday. In the flash-point town of Iskandariyah, a deadly zone south of Baghdad, Iraqi police disguised as civilians ambushed a rebel checkpoint and killed 25 insurgents, according to Iraqi government officials.
A Babylon province intelligence officer who wouldn't give his name for security reasons told Knight Ridder that 60 officers stormed the checkpoints and sustained no casualties. The all-Iraqi operation came after a string of large-scale attacks on Iraqi security personnel throughout the country.
"They were criminal, armed terrorists and we destroyed them all," the officer said.
The second success was part of the initial push into Fallujah late Sunday night. Men described as elite Iraqi commandos backed by U.S. troops stormed across a bridge and took over Fallujah's main hospital amid enemy fire, according to a news release from the Iraqi government. Four suspected foreign fighters, including two Moroccans, were seized in the operation just outside the city on the western bank of the Euphrates River.
The Iraqi forces blasted open doors and handcuffed patients as they searched the building for gunmen, American military spokesmen said.
Medical staff at the scene offered a different version: An overzealous, thuggish band of Iraqi troops stormed a place where there were no rebels and terrified ill and injured patients.
"They looted from us, they hurt us and they didn't respect the jobs we were trying to do," said Khaled Hindi, 38, an ambulance driver, who said Iraqi forces stole his cell phone and money. "There were fighters outside the hospital, but there were none inside."
Just before the battle began, Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan addressed the Iraqi troops at Camp Fallujah.
"I swear by God we will fight until the last drop of our blood," he said. "When we came to Iraq with the coalition forces, our decision was to build Iraq through its sons. Today is your day, and jihad is for you - not for those rats."
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(Allam reported from Baghdad, Lasseter from Fallujah. Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents Qassim Mohammed in Najaf and Shatha al Awsy in Baghdad contributed to this report.)
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| Quote: | 
Blair vows to hold firm in Iraq font size ZoomIn ZoomOut
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday that Britain had to hold firm in Iraq, including tosee it through in Fallujah.
"Defeat of terrorism in Iraq is defeat for this new and virulent form of global terrorism everywhere. A democratic Iraq isthe last thing the terrorists want to see. It is precisely for that reason, because victory for the terrorists would damage security round the world including here in Britain, that we have to hold firm, be resolute and see this through, including in Fallujah," Blair told the House of Commons, lower house of the parliament.
"The action by allied and Iraqi forces underway in Fallujah would cease now, immediately, if the terrorists and insurgents whoare using Fallujah as a base for terrorism would lay down their weapons and agree to participate in the elections," Blair told thelawmakers.
Blair, the staunchest US ally on Iraq, also blamed insurgents in Iraq of not fighting a foreign occupation but democracy.
"They are fighting to stop democratic elections supervised by the United Nations and due to take place in January," Blair said. "They know that whilst Fallujah remains outside the control of theUN-endorsed government, they can use it to wreck elections."
Blair's comments came as US-led forces in Iraq have begun a full-scale attack on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in central Iraq.
The move, which had been expected for weeks, came after interimIraqi President Iyad Allawi gave the US and Iraqi troops the go-ahead. |
U.S., Iraqi forces fight their way into the heart of Fallujah
BY TOM LASSETER AND HANNAH ALLAM
Knight Ridder Newspapers
FALLUJAH, Iraq - (KRT) - American-led forces bombed and fought their way into the heart of Fallujah on Monday, and insurgents fought back with mortar rounds, machine gunfire and hidden explosives.
Guerrilla fighters also retaliated with attacks across a swath of Iraq. Explosions shook Baghdad as fighters attacked bridges, churches and a hospital.
In Fallujah, U.S. air strikes and artillery barrages turned the night sky fiery red. Rain turned the ground to mud as soldiers with the Army's 1st Infantry Division punched into the city in armored vehicles. They advanced along routes cleared of roadside bombs and behind a smokescreen.
The assault by 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops on the mostly Sunni Muslim city prompted the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraq's most powerful Sunni party, to threaten to withdraw from government posts and boycott elections scheduled for January.
Retaking Fallujah is vital to preventing insurgents from blocking Iraq's Sunni minority from voting, Iraqi and U.S. officials have said. But an offensive that kills many civilians could widen the chasm between the U.S.-backed government and an outraged electorate. And even if the Fallujah offensive succeeds, insurgents can sow disorder elsewhere.
U.S. and Iraqi forces fought block by block, house by house. The sides of many homes were caved in, leaving rubble littering streets. Soldiers pushed through the darkness, their progress interrupted by enemy sniper fire and machine-gun rounds.
Soldiers fired illumination rounds into the sky to signal areas they'd cleared.
"You know we're going to destroy this town," said Capt. Travis Barreto, 22, as he and other soldiers advanced in an armored vehicle.
"I hope so," replied the soldier sitting next to him.
At one point, soldiers found a building that was apparently booby-trapped, with a battery and wires leading to a nearby propane tank. A tank was called in to destroy the building before the convoy could progress.
U.S. Marines pushed down the west and center of the battle's front, moving toward the neighborhoods of Jolan and Askari, thought to be sanctuaries for foreign fighters. The foreigners and former Iraqi military leaders have commanded Fallujah for the last six months.
Overhead, fighter jets unleashed a barrage of air strikes. At least six Iraqi civilians were killed and more than 16 were wounded, according to hospital officials in Fallujah.
To the east, armored units from the 1st Infantry Division cut off the main road into town. Tanks from the 1st Cavalry Division set up defense lines in a circle around Fallujah to block fighters trying to flee along alleyways, tunnels and dirt paths.
"We don't want them to leave Fallujah," said 1st Infantry Lt. Col. Pete Newell. "We want to kill them here."
The military said 42 insurgents were killed and at least four foreign fighters were captured as American and Iraqi forces fought their way across two bridges and seized the city's main hospital overnight. Two Marines died Monday when their bulldozer overturned and plunged them into the Euphrates River during the early hours of the operation.
The U.S. military had been calling the attack on Fallujah Phantom Fury, but the Iraqi government renamed it al-Fajr, Operation New Dawn.
Barely an hour after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signaled the start of the Fallujah offensive Monday by declaring that "the time of action has begun," retaliatory attacks began across the country.
Insurgents launched mortar volleys, coordinated car bombings, detonated roadside explosives and initiated small-arms attacks, killing an American soldier, a British soldier and at least 15 Iraqi civilians. Dozens more were wounded in attacks that stretched from the northern city of Mosul to villages south of Baghdad.
Allawi imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Fallujah and its sister city of Ramadi, sealed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan, closed highways and government buildings near the battle and shut down the Baghdad airport for 48 hours. The prime minister said he had hoped to prevent the violent takeover of Fallujah, but on Monday he had "reached the conclusion that the terrorist groups don't want a peace agreement."
An American soldier died of gunshot wounds Monday after his patrol came under fire in eastern Baghdad, the military announced. A British soldier was killed and two others injured in a roadside bomb at their new post south of Baghdad. Members of the British Black Watch regiment were moved north from their safer southern positions to free up American troops for the Fallujah fight.
Insurgents bombed bridges and a main hospital in Baghdad, while fierce gun battles erupted along the city's notoriously dangerous Haifa Street.
After sundown, two car bombs detonated within minutes of each other outside Christian churches in southern Baghdad, killing at least three Iraqis and wounding 52, church and medical officials said.
Two drivers died when their Turkish fuel trucks were attacked in the northwest city of Samarra. In addition to the church attacks, another rash of car bombings killed at least six Iraqis and wounded more than 12 in Baghdad, Ramadi and Mosul. Large explosions continued to rock Baghdad late into the night.
Guerrillas reached by cell phone in Fallujah said the mayhem in Baghdad and other cities was planned payback for the offensive on Fallujah. Mohammed Salman, the 34-year-old leader of a cell he wouldn't identify, said he called allies in Baghdad and urged them "to work to repay their debts. Retaliation will start tomorrow."
American warplanes bombed a makeshift cemetery in a soccer field in central Fallujah with strikes so forceful they unearthed the dead and scattered bodies throughout the area, several residents said. They told a Knight Ridder correspondent that American forces had seized a railway station and damaged three popular mosques in air strikes and gun battles.
Residents on the west side of the city said they could see Iraqi army troops in the distance.
Hassan Mahmoud, a 28-year-old fighter, said he saw his comrades shooting at U.S. surveillance planes. He reported seeing "lots of injured militants being taken to houses" for medical treatment.
The main road leading into Fallujah from the east was packed with hidden explosives, with row after row of black cables leading into roadside ditches. Fighters said even grocery stores were booby-trapped.
Residents who intended to stay in town during the offensive changed their minds once the battle began. Skirting curfew, some even threw themselves into the Euphrates River to escape.
"I felt that my life was going to end at any moment. I decided to play my last card - I jumped into the river," said Ali Taha, 33, who swam in the dark with three friends until they reached a bank near a camp of displaced families. "We survived the snipers' bullets only by a miracle."
When U.S. troops reached the border of the city, they massed behind dirt berms and buildings. They sat for hours, watching artillery shells and air strikes send tall plumes of smoke and debris into the air.
Standing next to his Humvee, Capt. Kirk Mayfield yelled for mortar strikes on a five-man team of fighters rushing into a building on the northern edge of the city. After the ensuing bombs, a voice called over the radio: "Can I get a battle damage assessment?"
"An assessment?" the reply came. "There is no more building."
Minutes later, sniper shots zipped by, pinging off the Humvee.
"Where is that sniper? Here it is," Mayfield barked, turning to a gunner behind an automatic grenade launcher. "Blow him away."
The red-hot streak of another bullet whizzed past. The gunner pounded out round after round, with explosions echoing across the town, then pulled a pair of binoculars to his face and announced, "He is not there anymore."
Maj. Jim West, a Marine intelligence officer, estimates that there were 5,000 insurgents in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi.
"There is indication that they're coming and going, especially the leadership," West said.
U.S. military officials have said that Jordanian militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi operates his al-Qaida-allied terrorist network from the town. The military suspects he's set up factories for car bombs and roadside explosive devices. He's also claimed responsibility for the beheadings of several foreign hostages.
Residents, however, insisted that al-Zarqawi wasn't in Fallujah and complained that recent air strikes and artillery barrages often killed civilians packed in the city's dense neighborhoods. The Fallujah branch of the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni Muslim umbrella organization said to include 3,000 of Iraq's mosques, announced a hunger strike to begin Tuesday to protest civilian casualties. |
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JB Stone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 1:49 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 
Nov. 8: Insurgents load a rocket-propelled grenade during an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah. AP
Nov. 8: Insurgents, using small arms and mortars, launch an attack on U.S. forces in Fallujah. AP
[there's no way in HELL that guy with the pillbox hat is an IRAQI...!!!!]
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On the OTHER HAND....
[Allah....WHO...???]
Allah THIS...
"You know, we're going to destroy this town," Capt. Travis Barreto, 22, said, as he and other soldiers advanced in an armored vehicle.
"I hope so," replied the soldier sitting next to him.
"We don't want them to leave Fallujah," said 1st Infantry Lt. Col. Pete Newell. "We want to kill them here."
[img]http://tinypic.com/knt45[/img]
| Quote: | U.S.-led forces push into central Fallujah, spark retaliatory attacks
By Tom Lasseter and Hannah Allam
Knight Ridder Newspapers
FALLUJAH, Iraq - American-led forces bombed and fought their way into the heart of Fallujah on Monday, and insurgents fought back with mortar rounds, machine gunfire and hidden explosives.
Guerrilla fighters also retaliated with attacks across a swath of Iraq. Explosions shook Baghdad as fighters attacked bridges, churches and a hospital.
In Fallujah, U.S. airstrikes and artillery barrages turned the night sky fiery red. Rain turned the ground to mud as soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division punched into the city in armored vehicles. They advanced along routes cleared of roadside bombs and behind a smokescreen.
The assault by about 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops on the mostly Sunni Muslim city prompted the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraq's most powerful Sunni party, to threaten to withdraw from government posts and boycott elections in January.
Retaking Fallujah is vital to preventing insurgents from blocking Iraq's Sunni minority from voting, Iraqi and U.S. officials have said. But an offensive that kills many civilians could widen the chasm between the U.S.-backed government and an outraged electorate. And even if the Fallujah offensive succeeds, insurgents could sow disorder elsewhere.
U.S. and Iraqi forces fought block by block, house by house. The sides of many homes were caved in, leaving rubble littering streets. Soldiers pushed through the darkness, their progress interrupted by enemy sniper fire and machine-gun rounds.
Before moving into Fallujah, 1st Infantry Division soldiers fired a rocket pulling a line studded with a ton of high explosive. Usually used to clear minefields, the rocket was used to clear roadside bombs and created a wall of fire that lit the night sky.
Across the city, soldiers fired illumination rounds to signal areas they'd cleared.
"You know, we're going to destroy this town," Capt. Travis Barreto, 22, said, as he and other soldiers advanced in an armored vehicle.
"I hope so," replied the soldier sitting next to him.
At one point, the soldiers found a building that was apparently booby-trapped, with a battery and wires leading to a nearby propane tank. A tank was called in to shoot and destroy the building before the convoy could progress.
Marines pushed down the west and center of the battle's front, moving toward the neighborhoods of Jolan and Askari, thought to be sanctuaries for foreign fighters. The foreigners and former Iraqi military leaders have commanded Fallujah for the past six months.
Overhead, fighter jets unleashed a barrage of airstrikes. At least six Iraqi civilians were killed and more than 16 were wounded, according to hospital officials in Fallujah.
To the east, armored units from the 1st Infantry Division cut off the main road into town. Tanks from the 1st Cavalry Division set up defense lines in a circle around Fallujah to block fighters trying to flee along alleyways, tunnels and dirt paths.
"We don't want them to leave Fallujah," said 1st Infantry Lt. Col. Pete Newell. "We want to kill them here."
The military said 42 insurgents were killed and at least four foreign fighters were captured as American and Iraqi forces fought their way across two bridges and seized the city's main hospital overnight. Two Marines died Monday when their bulldozer overturned and plunged them into the Euphrates River during the early hours of the operation.
The military had been calling the attack on Fallujah Phantom Fury, but the Iraqi government renamed it al Fajr, Operation New Dawn.
Barely an hour after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signaled the start of the Fallujah offensive Monday by declaring that "the time of action has begun," retaliatory attacks began across the country.
Insurgents launched mortar volleys, coordinated car bombings, detonated roadside explosives and initiated small-arms attacks, killing an American soldier, a British soldier and at least 15 Iraqi civilians. Dozens more were wounded in attacks that stretched from the northern city of Mosul to villages south of Baghdad.
Allawi imposed a round-the-clock curfew on Fallujah and its sister city of Ramadi, sealed Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan, closed highways and government buildings near the battle, and shut down the Baghdad airport for 48 hours. The prime minister said he'd hoped to prevent the violent takeover of Fallujah, but on Monday he had "reached the conclusion that the terrorist groups don't want a peace agreement."
American warplanes bombed a makeshift cemetery in central Fallujah with strikes so forceful they unearthed the dead and scattered bodies throughout the area, several residents said. They told a Knight Ridder correspondent in Fallujah that American forces had seized a railway station and damaged three popular mosques in airstrikes and gun battles.
Residents on the west side of the city said they could see Iraqi army troops in the distance.
Hassan Mahmoud, a 28-year-old fighter, said he saw his comrades shooting at U.S. surveillance planes. He reported seeing "lots of injured militants being taken to houses" for medical treatment.
The main road leading into Fallujah from the east was packed with hidden explosives, with row after row of black cables leading into roadside ditches. Fighters said even grocery stores were booby-trapped.
Residents who intended to stay in town changed their minds once the offensive began. Skirting curfew, some even threw themselves into the Euphrates River to escape.
Maj. Jim West, a Marine intelligence officer, estimated that there were 5,000 insurgents in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi.
"There is indication that they're coming and going, especially the leadership," West said.
U.S. military officials have said that Jordanian militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi operates his al-Qaida-allied terrorist network from the town; they suspect he's set up factories for car bombs and roadside explosive devices. Al-Zarqawi also has claimed responsibility for the beheadings of several foreign hostages.
Residents, however, insisted that al-Zarqawi wasn't in Fallujah and complained that recent airstrikes and artillery barrages often killed civilians packed in the city's dense neighborhoods.
Guerrillas reached by cell phone in Fallujah said the mayhem in Baghdad and other cities was payback for the offensive. Mohammed Salman, the 34-year-old leader of a cell he wouldn't identify, said he called allies in Baghdad and urged them "to work to repay their debts. Retaliation will start tomorrow."
In eastern Baghdad, an American soldier died of gunshot wounds on Monday after his patrol came under fire. A British soldier was killed and two others injured in a roadside bombing at their new post south of Baghdad. Members of the British Black Watch regiment were moved north from their safer southern positions to free up American troops for the Fallujah fight.
Insurgents bombed bridges and a main hospital in Baghdad, while fierce gun battles erupted along the city's notoriously dangerous Haifa Street.
After sundown, two car bombs detonated within minutes of each other outside Christian churches in southern Baghdad, killing at least three Iraqis and wounding 52, church and medical officials said.
Two drivers died when their Turkish fuel trucks were attacked in the northwest city of Samarra. In addition to the church attacks, another rash of car bombings killed at least six Iraqis and wounded more than 12 in Baghdad, Ramadi and Mosul. Large explosions continued to rock Baghdad late into the night.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the Fallujah offensive was critical because "one part of the country cannot remain under the rule of assassins."
Secretary of State Colin Powell called counterparts around the Middle East in an apparent effort to contain international reaction to the violence. He spoke with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to tell them that the assault on Fallujah was necessary to bring it back under Iraqi government control and that every effort was being made to avoid civilian casualties, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
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(Allam reported from Baghdad. Lasseter reported from a U.S. military position in Fallujah. Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents Warren P. Strobel and Dogen Hannah of the Contra Costa Times in Washington, and special correspondents Shatha al Awsy, Huda Ahmed, Yasser Salihee and David George contributed to this report. An Iraqi correspondent who reported from Fallujah is not named for security reasons.) |
So, when is it CORRECT to start the 'MOP' up...???
| Quote: | Eglin Studying Massive 30,000-Pound Bomb
Bomb Would Be 40 Percent Bigger Than MOAB
POSTED: 1:01 pm EST November 8, 2004
UPDATED: 1:13 pm EST November 8, 2004
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Air Force built a weapon so big it was nicknamed "Mother of All Bombs" on the eve of the war with Iraq, but MOAB would be dwarfed by a much larger munition now under study.
The proposed Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, would weigh 30,000 pounds, nearly 40 percent more than the 21,000 pound MOAB -- officially Massive Ordnance Air Blast -- that never saw combat.
"The reason it's heavier than MOAB is that it has to penetrate a target," said Fred Davis, technical director for assessment and demonstrations at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate.
MOP would be designed to explode deep in the ground or inside a structure to destroy tunnels and bunkers or topple tall buildings.
MOAB, on the other hand, explodes just above the ground. It is a larger version of the BLU-84 "Daisy Cutter" that was used during the Vietnam War to blast out helicopter landing zones in jungle areas.
The 15,000-pound Daisy Cutter also was dropped during the 1991 Persian Gulf War to clear minefields and more recently to blast caves believed to be hiding terrorists in Afghanistan.
MOAB can be against similar targets and structures or vehicles susceptible to surface blast damage. Both also are seen as psychological weapons that can demoralize an enemy.
During the next 16 months the Munitions Directorate at this Florida Panhandle base will look at everything from MOP's shape to its guidance. The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency is providing $500,000 in initial research money.
If the project gets beyond the initial research and development phase, MOP probably won't see its first armed drop until 2006 or later.
MOP would have inertial and satellite guidance, just like MOAB, but it would have a more slender shape so it could be dropped from high altitude by a B-52 or a B-2 stealth bomber.
The Daisy Cutter and MOAB are too bulky to be carried by sleek bombers and must be pushed out of the rear door of lower-flying and slower cargo planes. |
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JB Stone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:25 am Post subject: |
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Desert, Muslim leaders urged Iraqi soldiers
November 09 2004 at 03:49AM
By Lin Noueihed
Baghdad - Muslim leaders have urged members of Iraq's fledgling security forces on Monday to refuse to fight alongside US troops storming the rebel-held city of Falluja, where Iraqi units have deserted in the past.
Anti-US Shi'a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr joined a call by a powerful Sunni Muslim group, saying the siege of Falluja risked further destabilising the rest of Iraq.
"We have called on the Iraqi National Guard, army and police not to participate with the occupation forces in attacking Fallujah," Sadr spokesperson Abdul Hadi al-Darraji told Reuters.
Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference desertions were a problem
"We condemn this attack that will escalate the security situation inside Iraq."
When US forces tried to take Falluja in April some Iraqi units refused to fight and the assault failed.
An uprising led by the fiery Sadr was also raging in the holy Shi'a city of Najaf at the time and spread to Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
Iraqis, just a fraction of the total 10 000 to 15 000 combined troops in the latest offensive, did join Monday's initial push into Sunni Muslim Fallujah.
But US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference desertions were a problem.
On Friday, an Iraqi commander deserted hours after receiving a full briefing on US plans to storm Fallujah, where US and Iraqi leaders say Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign Islamists leading a relentless insurgency are entrenched.
But US commanders said the captain, a Kurd, had no known contacts in Fallujah and was unlikely to contact the rebels.
It was not clear if other Iraqi soldiers, including former Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas and former members of Saddam's army, had refused to fight in Fallujah this time.
Hours before the assault, the Muslim Clerics Association, a national group with influence over some rebels in Fallujah, urged Iraqi troops not to join the US-led action.
"We call on the Iraqi forces, the National Guard and others who are mostly Muslims to beware of making the grave mistake of invading Iraqi cities under the banner of forces who respect no religion or human rights," it said in a statement.
"Beware of being deceived that you are fighting terrorists from outside the country, because by God you are fighting the townspeople and targeting its men, women and children and history will record every drop of blood you spill in oppressing the people of your nation."
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has vowed to crush insurgents behind daily bombings, killings and kidnappings in Iraq ahead of elections due by the end of January.
He visited frontline troops to offer encouragement just before the assault began.
"Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them then let it be," he said, according to a pool report.
"May they go to hell," shouted the soldiers. "To hell they will go," Allawi replied.
The clerics association, which has helped negotiate the release of foreign hostages in Iraq, has threatened to boycott the poll if assaults on the Sunni heartland escalate.Desert, Muslim leaders urged Iraqi soldiers |
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commdog
Ensign
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 68
Location: Disneyland, CA
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:25 am Post subject: |
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Nice strategy. Lay in the weeds and let the city fill up with bad guys then put up a fence so they can't get out. GIT SOME MARINES!
/CD
_________________
Sgt of Marines, 1965 -> Forever
"Society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases." - John Adams |
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sleeplessinseattle
LCDR
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 430
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:45 am Post subject: |
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| arkadyfolkner wrote: | the AC-130 and the A-10, two of the most feared ground attack aircraft on the planet...
I bet some of those Fajullahs who were in this last main fight and the previous Gulf War are about to get some flashbacks as to exactly what it means to be in their pain when they let loose with the steel rain. |
The US is a reluctant giant. Those Islamo fascists who worship death like a cult, those who live by the sword will certainly die by the sword...may Peace reign for those who remain in the land of the living...
_________________
"We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." -- President Bush 2001
Thanks W, Swifties, POWs & brave soldiers everywhere fighting for America and for freedom |
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JB Stone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:46 am Post subject: |
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.........OK.........
| Quote: |
'I got my kills ... I just love my job'
(Filed: 09/11/2004)
Toby Harnden in Fallujah observes American soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division taskforce avenging their fallen comrades as battle begins
After seven months in Iraq's Sunni triangle, for many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead friends by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration.
As they approached their "holding position", from where hours later they would advance into the city, they picked off insurgents on the rooftops and in windows.
The attack on Fallujah graphic
The attack on Fallujah
[Click to enlarge]
"I got myself a real juicy target," shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of Phantom's Humvees.
"Prepare to copy that 89089226. Direction 202 degrees. Range 950 metres. I got five motherf****** in a building with weapons."
Capt Kirk Mayfield, commander of the Phantoms, called for fire from his task force's mortar team. But Sgt Anyett didn't want to wait. "Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out - I'm from Alabama."
Two minutes tick by. "They're moving deep," shouted Sgt Anyett with disappointment. A dozen loud booms rattle the sky and smoke rose as mortars rained down on the co-ordinates the sergeant had given.
"Yeah," he yelled. "Battle Damage Assessment - nothing. Building's gone. I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job."
Phantom Troop had rolled out of Camp Fallujah, the main US military base, shortly before 4am. All morning they took fire from the Al-Askari district in Fallujah's north-east, their target for the invasion proper.
The insurgents, not understanding the capabilities of the LRAS, crept along rooftops and poked their heads out of windows. Even when they were more than a mile away, the soldiers of Phantom Troop had their eyes on them.
Lt Jack Farley, a US Marines officer, sauntered over to compare notes with the Phantoms. "You guys get to do all the fun stuff," he said. "It's like a video game. We've taken small arms fire here all day. It just sounds like popcorn going off."
Another marine stepped forward and began to fire an M4 rifle at the city. "He's a reservist for the San Diego police. He wants a piece of the action, too".
A Phantom Abrams tank moved up the road running along the high ground. Its barrel, stencilled with the words "Ali Baba under 3 Thieves" swivelled towards the city and then fired a 120mm round at a house where two men with AK-47s had been pinpointed. "Ain't nobody moving now," shouted a soldier as the dust cleared. "He rocked that guy's world."
One of Phantom's sniper teams laid down fire into the city with a Barrett .50 calibre rifle and a Remington 700. A suspected truck bomb was riddled with bullets, the crack of the Barrett echoing through the mainly deserted section of the city. The insurgents fired 60mm mortars back, one of them wounding a soldier.
There were 25mm rounds from Phantom's Bradley fighting vehicles, barrages from Paladin howitzers back at Camp Fallujah and bursts of fire from .50 calibre machineguns. One by one, the howitzers used by the insurgents were destroyed.
"Everybody's curious," grinned Sgt Anyett as he waited for a sniper with a Russian-made Dragonov to show his face one last, fatal time. A bullet zinged by.
Dusk fell and 7pm, "A hour", the appointed hour to move into the city, approached. The soldiers of Phantom all reflected.
"Given the choice, I would never have wanted to fire a gun," said Cpl Chris Merrell, 21, manning a machinegun mounted on a Humvee. "But it didn't work out that way. I'd like a thousand boring missions rather than one interesting one."
On his wrist was a black bracelet bearing the name of a sergeant from Phantom Troop. "This is a buddy of mine that died," he said. "Pretty much everyone in the unit has one."
One fear playing on the mind of the task force was that of "friendly fire", also known as "blue on blue".
"Any urban fight is confusing," Lt Col Newell, the force's commander, told his troops before the battle. "The biggest threat out there is not them, but us."
His officers said that the plan to invade Fallujah involved months of detailed planning and elaborate "feints" designed to draw the insurgents out into the open and fool them into thinking the offensive would come from another side of the city.
"They're probably thinking that we'll come in from the east," said Capt Natalie Friel, an intelligence officer with task force, before the battle. But the actual plan involves penetrating the city from the north and sweeping south.
"I don't think they know what's coming. They have no idea of the magnitude," she said. "But their defences are pretty circular. They're prepared for any kind of direction. They've got strong points on all four corners of the city."
The aim was to push the insurgents south, killing as many as possible, before swinging west. They would then be driven into the Euphrates. |
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JB Stone
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| Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 2:57 am Post subject: |
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Moving in on Fallujah, battalion prepares for a fierce fight
BY JAMES JANEGA
Chicago Tribune
FALLUJAH, Iraq - (KRT) - The soldiers of the 2-7 charged into Fallujah's Jolan neighborhood Monday night after a tense day of scouting the enemy through high-tech and low-tech means.
In one high-tech effort, they studied pictures beamed back by unmanned aircraft flying over the city.
Going low-tech, they probed the edge of the city with tanks and dared insurgents to shoot at them and expose their positions.
The 2-7 is the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, one of the key units in the battle of Fallujah. The unit punched a hole into the city with two dozen Abrams tanks, 30 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 650 soldiers. Behind them came be a flood of Marines and Iraqi army troops fighting on foot.
But first came a day of preparation.
In the predawn hours Monday, the 2-7's armored columns rolled down empty roads and across the desert to a post just north of Fallujah. By 11 a.m., their presence was known.
"God is great! The Americans want to kill us! Fight for your homes!" came the cry of the imam at the nearest mosque.
His voice, magnified by a loudspeaker, echoed over the sands and competed with the steady fall of American artillery and bombing runs.
In the 2-7's field headquarters in a dirty tent, young officers with dust-caked faces and foam cups of steaming coffee moved among laptop computers and folding chairs.
Within view were elements of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, who gritted their teeth midday as two 120 mm rockets crashed into the desert around them. They called for mortar support from the neighboring 2-7.
"Your mortars - they are on the freakin' money!" a jubilant Lt. Col. Will Buhl, the Marine commander, shouted around the stub of a Montecristo cigar as the 2-7's leader, Lt. Col. James Rainey, screeched to a halt in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
In the 2-7's tactical operations center, soldiers studied images from drones flying over Fallujah. The grainy video on a lieutenant's laptop computer showed mostly empty streets.
Only occasionally did tiny figures run across the screen, instantly zeroed in on by powerful cameras and studied with intensity by Army intelligence officers communicating on a secure chat room.
In a move to scout their expected route into the city and to see if insurgents would give away their positions by fighting, Rainey and his staff spent the afternoon rolling with Marine Abrams tanks closer to the city.
A few mortars fell around them, but the streetscape facing the dusty countryside was otherwise empty. The gunner on an Army Bradley fired at a man with an AK-47 on a nearby roof.
"First of many," commented Rainey. Then, to his executive officer, Maj. Scott Jackson: "It's interesting that we didn't find more of them."
The role of the 2-7 is among the most crucial in the attack. Marines were tasked with fighting house-to-house in the notorious Jolan neighborhood, where Marines faced some of the fiercest fighting in their assault on the city in April.
Alongside them, the 2-7 was assigned to open the way for more Marines and a contingent of Iraqi troops to pour in behind them.
Later Monday afternoon, their importance was underscored by a visit from Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of ground forces for the attack.
"Ready to kick some butt?" he asked the 2-7's officers. Speaking louder so that soldiers pretending not to eavesdrop could hear, he added: "This is the finest fighting force on the face of the Earth right now. Wait until tonight."
What concerned Rainey and his officers was the likelihood that parked cars on Fallujah's empty streets contained bombs - a suspicion later proved true. An Air Force captain in the 2-7's command center arranged for an AC-130 Spectre gunship to destroy cars along the battalion's expected path.
Rainey told his officers to be sure to keep moving.
"I don't want to get sucked into basements. We've got 600 Marines behind us," he said. He ticked off the threats of car bombs, exploding buildings and suicide bombers waiting in houses that will be searched by American troops.
"It's going to be a big night for the team," he concluded.
His operations officer, Maj. Tim Karcher, warned the battalion's commanders and ranking sergeants not to feel too relieved at sunrise.
"These guys are relatively solar-powered," he said. "When the sun comes up, be ready to receive an enemy attack." |
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