Posted on 04/30/2004 3:59:59 PM PDT by saquin
FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- A dozen former Iraqi generals and intelligence officers met Friday with U.S. military leaders and pledged to lead a brigade of 1,000 Iraqi soldiers to replace the Marines fortifying the city's borders.
But U.S. military officials cautioned that the arrival of the Iraqi forces in this embattled city, possibly as early as today, does not necessarily mean peace.
"They are still doing some planning on how to do a transition from U.S. forces to Iraqi security forces in Fallujah," Marine Col. John Toolan said Friday, choosing his words carefully while describing the new arrangement that other officials Friday called "delicate."
"I've been saying all along that this was all about leadership," Toolan said following a 30-minute meeting with the ex-military leaders of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "And, finally, we've got someone stepping up."
That someone is Staff Gen. Jasim Muhammed Salah, who will lead the newly formed 1st Battalion of the Fallujah Protection Brigade.
Salah said his brigade, which seemed to come out of nowhere over the course of the last week, is part of the "new Army of Iraq."
"We are very happy [to] cooperate with the Marines and Army," he said.
After shaking Salah's hand and telling him they would speak again soon, Toolan said the brief meeting was meant to confirm the Iraqis' commitment to taking over the cordon around Fallujah, which thousands of Marines shed blood to establish and fought hard to hold for nearly a month.
Toolan said he was confident in the generals and their forces, but he refused say when the troops would be in the city or when the Marines would pull back, though some troops started packing Friday.
Even while the generals talked of today's operations and reporters bantered about the sudden outbreak of peace in Fallujah, fighting continued Friday along the city's troublesome northern and western regions along the Euphrates River.
Exploding mortars, probably the same 82 mm shells that insurgents have volleyed at Marines day after day, crashed to the ground where Marine patrols have ventured in the last week.
A 15-minute firefight raged near the old bridge over the Euphrates near where four American security contractors were slain on March 31. Heavy machine guns ripped away furiously for so long that Marine gunners across the river commented that their barrels were probably melting.
And late Friday afternoon, mosques broadcast military marches advocating jihad and speakers called Fallujah the "city of heroes" for battling the Marines.
Marine leaders in the field urged their men not to let their guards down, even though it looked like they would soon be pulling back.
Toolan said the arrival of Iraqi forces does not guarantee peace.
"It still remains a concern that not all the cells operating in the city are buying into their effort," Toolan said of continued fighting Thursday afternoon and night.
He and other officials said there was still much talking to do before taking action.
According to a draft statement issued Friday by I Marine Expeditionary Force officials in Fallujah, the new Iraqi force will work with the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and Iraqi Police to replace the Marines at checkpoints and strategic points along the cordon around Fallujah.
"The mission of the battalion will be to assist in returning peace and stability to the city of Fallujah, facilitate the flow of support, and foster the rapid reconstruction and employment of citizens inside the city," the statement read.
The arrangement was touted as a "new model of cooperation" that recognized the "security of Al Anbar (province) will ultimately be an Iraqi responsibility. This will be an important step in the transition from Coalition to Iraqi authority."
While the sudden development of an Iraqi force to take over Fallujah may have surprised some on the ground, where Marines have said for weeks they were ready and poised to crush the thousand or more insurgents dug in the city at all cost, there was a growing realization among Marines and their leaders that a victory in Fallujah would have to have an Iraqi face.
"The way I look at it, it had to happen this way," said Lt. Josh Jamison, the young leader of Fox Company's 2nd Platoon, the first infantry platoon to lose a Marine during the initial cordon on April 5 and the first to fight its way into the city from the northwest on April 6.
"We could have attacked them and killed them all ---- and, believe me, all my boys are still ready and capable of doing it," Jamison said Friday after being shown on a map the town some 10 miles from Fallujah where his 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment would soon pull back to. "And Fallujah would pretty much be in rubble. What would we have then?"
Security in Fallujah has to be something the Iraqis do for themselves, Jamison said, adding the Marines would not be too far off if the new Iraqi forces needed help.
"This is really good because we're not really going anywhere," he said. "We're still right here. So if they mess it up or if the Iraqis need us, we're more than ready to come finish the job. I think the people of Fallujah believe that now."
Other troops occupying hard-won positions in the city at first seemed to treat the news that they might be pulling out in a matter of days with some natural skepticism. Plans change every day, they say; besides, insurgents were still shooting at them.
But by Friday evening, many seemed encouraged by the news.
"I still think we should push forward," said Lance Cpl. Ayron Kull, 20, of Niles, Mich., who was just coming off a shift monitoring the late-afternoon firefight in the city Friday.
"But maybe it's good. Let's give the Iraqis a chance. Maybe they can do it and we won't have to come back here and start all over again."
No doubt...but we will have to see for WHOM they are guarding Fallujah....
If they accept the surrender, and then release the anti-coalition thugs -- then the U.S. will have to go in or admit they've been suckered - again.
Semper Fi
Who is this guy..
But you know all from 6,000 miles away, nevermind.
I know it is a terrible analogy but however it is characterized it is a GAMBIT and I hope it works!!
I'm delirious... I'm having a vision... it's blurry... it's slowly focusing... a building... a small building... something moving around the building watching it very carefully... four legged animal... ah... now I see... it's a fox guarding a hen house. 'Nuff said?
I didn't say SS. I said nazi military.
IMHO, it seems like the brigade of 1,000 Iraqi soldiers will take up defensive positions, be joined up with the dirty nightshirts and challenge the Marines to "come and take it."
If not, it can always be destroyed. That option is always there.
I believe THAT remains to be seen...
I'm of the school that believes it is counterproductive to negotiate with Islamist lunatics...
Their ONLY options should be to die, or UNCONDITIONAL surrender.
If this new "Iraqi Army" goes in to destroy or capture - that is one thing...
If they go in to negotiate a sweetheart surrender, and then release -- that will be a catastrophe...with long term consequences.
For one thing.. I would mean a Democrat President - whomever they run..
Semper Fi
Thank god our early Presidents didn't feel that way about paying tribute to the Islamic barbary pirates -- for "safe passage"...
Get real..
The ONLY path to victory, lies over the graves of every Jihadists that wishes to impose his will on a non Jihadist.
Peace through the death or total defeat of the enemy....is a more reliable peace...
Semper Fi
Uh, Washington, Adams and Jeferson all paid tribute to the Barbary Pirates for safe passage for our ships.
When Jefferson came to office it was over 1/5th of the entire federal budget.
The pirates messed up a good thing by not keeping their part of the deal. But that's what pirates always do.
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