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Junkie
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Ground assault on Faluja commences
Quote:
US ground forces drive into Fallujah
November 8, 2004 - 12:04PM
US forces have stormed into western districts of Fallujah, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates River in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the insurgent stronghold.
An AC-130 gunship raked the city with 40mm cannon fire as explosions from US artillery lit up the night sky. Intermittent artillery fire blasted southern neighbourhoods of Fallujah, and orange fireballs from high explosive airbursts could be seen above the rooftops.
US officials said the toughest fight was yet to come - when American forces enter the main part of the city on the east bank of the river, including the Jolan neighbourhood where insurgent defences are believed the strongest.
The initial attacks on Fallujah began just hours after the Iraqi government declared 60 days of emergency rule throughout most of the country yesterday as militants dramatically escalated attacks, killing at least 30 people, including two Americans.
In Fallujah, Dr Salih al-Issawi, the head of the city's main hospital, said he had asked US officers to allow doctors and ambulances to go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded but they refused. There was no confirmation from the Americans.
"The American troops takeover of the hospital was not right because they thought that they would halt medical assistance to the resistance," he said by telephone to a reporter inside the city.
"But they did not realise that the hospital does not belong to anybody, especially the resistance."
AFP journalists embedded with the military said silver flashes lit up the skies over Fallujah in the latest aerial bombardment.
At least eight people were wounded in the strikes, according to medical sources.
"We have admitted eight wounded in our establishment,'' said one Fallujah doctor, who asked his name not be used. He added they had appealed for foreign aid as they had insufficient resources to handle the wounded.
The eastern and western outskirts of the city came under intense fire from 8pm yesterday to 1am today (0400-0900 AEST today), AFP journalists said.
North-west of the city in the town of Karma, US artillery batteries shelled suspected insurgent positions with support from tanks and helicopters, an AFP photographer said.
AP/Reuters/AFP
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REF: http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Sad...81272661.html#
And from earlier today...
Quote:
Mission Falluja: the final assault
November 8, 2004
Thousands of US troops were poised last night to storm the insurgent-held city of Falluja as UN chiefs and rebels scrambled to cut a peace deal amid fears innocents would be slaughtered.
More than 10,000 US Marines were camped on the outskirts of the city ready for the order to attack the estimated 1200 militant followers of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein.
In an effort to soften the rebels, the US pounded the city at the weekend with some the heaviest air and mortar attacks Iraq has seen in six months. However, the strikes destroyed a hospital and a medical warehouse and killed at least two people and wounded several more.
The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has warned coalition leaders that an assault on Falluja "would be very disruptive of Iraq's political transition".
Most of the city's 300,000 inhabitants have already fled, and after the weekend barrage, many more streamed out. No one knows how many civilians are still in the city, but it is believed that those left are either diehard supporters of the insurgents or too old or sick to leave.
Many of the marines circling Falluja have no major combat experience and commanders are pinning their hopes on training and superior firepower.
"About 95 per cent of my men have no major combat experience and many have none at all," said Sergeant Michael Edwards, a tank company master gunner.
CNN reported on Saturday that an Iraqi military commander deserted US forces hours after he received a full briefing on the attack plans but US commanders said the strike would go ahead.
Experts have warned that militants are spilling out of the city, past coalition troops and into an area near Baghdad known as "the triangle of death".
Eight-hundred and fifty British Black Watch soldiers have moved into the area to free up US troops for the assault. The US military said it expected about 5000 insurgents in Falluja but revised its estimate to 1200 at the weekend.
Insurgents stepped up their assaults on coalition forces on Saturday with attacks in Baghdad, the rebel-held city of Ramadi and Samarra, where they killed about 37 people.
Yesterday rebels executed 21 policemen in Haditha, a small town just outside Falluja, in an armed raid on a police station.
Police also bore the brunt of the rebels' wrath in Samarra, with insurgents attacking four police stations, one of which was rammed by a suicide car bomber. Three other car bombs were also set off in the city. Police said the onslaught killed 34 people - 19 police officers, four security officers and 11 civilians - and wounded 43 people.
In a bid to avert the Falluja assault, a number of Sunni Muslim leaders have drafted a plan to reinstate law and order in Falluja peacefully and reduce insurgency in Iraq.
The leaders, who have been enthusiastic backers of violent resistance in Iraq since the US-led invasion 18 months ago, said they would withdraw their support for violence if Iraq's interim government reassured them that Sunnis would be represented in the national elections in January.
They also want US forces to remain confined to bases in the month before voting.
They have hinted the plan may be open to negotiation. The US embassy in Baghdad offered no reaction to the proposal, but US and Iraqi officials indicated it was unlikely to avert the assault on Falluja.
Coalition leaders have angrily dismissed Mr Annan's warning, which was contained in private letters sent to them last week. Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, said the comments were confused and unclear.
Support for the insurgents inside Falluja has remained strong but many former residents have accused them of ruling the city through fear.
"Roughly a quarter to a third of the people in Falluja support the [Iraqi] Government, but they're afraid to say anything," said a Western diplomat who refused to be named.
Reuters, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times
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REF: http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Sad...781250203.html
I've highlighted portions I think are noteworthy.
I guess the desertion of an Iraqi who has first-hand knowledge of the assault plans is not a good thing.
Hopefully it won't turn out to be a massacre; either of civilians or US/Iraqi forces.
And now my own, non-partisan, question.
How on Earth can this battle be won? I don't want a political answer. I'm just at a loss as to how this kind of resistance can be overcome without wholesale death and destruction being inflicted upon the Iraqi people. And even then, that's not a real victory.
What do you think about the suggested compromise that would allow the Sunni's carefully guaranteed freedom to contest the poll in January? Would the US allow that and, if not, why not? Fear of another Iran? But if it was democratic, would that not be hypocracy?
Mr Mephisto |