Posted on 04/10/2004 10:36:48 AM PDT by Destro
U.S. Military Seeks Fallujah Cease-Fire
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--A U.S. general on Saturday called on Sunni militants in the besieged city of Fallujah to join in a bilateral cease-fire.
``Today what we are seeking is a bilateral cease-fire,'' Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad. ``This is an aspiration.''
He added that he was ``hoping to get this message to the enemy through this press conference so they can join the cease-fire.''
U.S. Marines besieging Fallujah this week called a unilateral halt in offensive operations on Friday. There was no immediate response from insurgents to Kimmitt's call to join a bilateral cease-fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Transcript
This is a transcript from AM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 08:00 on ABC Local Radio.
You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA formats.
AM - Saturday, 10 April , 2004 08:00:58
Reporter: Peter Cave
TANYA NOLAN: It's the day after the 12-month anniversary of the toppling of Saddam's regime, and things appear bloodier than ever in Iraq.
The ceasefire called by US troops in Fallujah less than 24-hours ago seems to have already collapsed, with mortar rounds ringing out across the Sunni city where 450 Iraqis have died this week.
America has announced the death of six more of it's soldiers, taking the number of US troops killed since Shia unrest erupted on Sunday, to 39.
Meanwhile, insurgents are taking more foreign hostages, an alarming new strategy being used to try and drive coalition forces out of Iraq.
Our own ABC staff on the ground in Iraq have witnessed the taking of the latest hostage.
Hundreds of Sunni Mujahideen or Holy warriors armed with rocket propelled grenades, attacked a convoy of oil tankers taking fuel to US forces besieged in the town of Fallujah, destroying at least a dozen trucks and killing or wounding several drivers.
For hours, the Mujahideen ruled the main east-west highway in Iraq, where they took at least one American hostage.
Our Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Cave reports how he and his cameraman, Michael Cox, were taken by members of the Mujahideen to film the latest hostage, whose fate remains unknown.
PETER CAVE: It was a huge pall of thick black smoke billowing high into the air, west of the capital, that attracted our attention. As we drove closer we passed a burnt out oil tanker, a gaping hole in its side, then another and another.
(Audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: There appears to have been a major attack on oil facilities on the road just up ahead. There are three major fires burning up there with smoke going high into the sky, and just beside us here, an oil tanker is well on fire.
(End audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: But as we continued up the highway, it became clear it wasn't an oil facility, it was more oil tankers blazing furiously.
(Audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: On the road ahead, two oil tankers are burning. We've passed another half a dozen already on this road. There's been a major attack by Mujahideen. Just a short while ago, we spoke to an American who'd been taken prisoner by the Mujahideen.
(End audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: We'd been filming an oil tanker upside down in a ditch beside the road. Local people were braving the fierce heat trying to pull something from the cabin, most probably the driver, who was certainly dead.
(Audio of burning wreckage)
Suddenly, a large late model Toyota Saloon pulled up right in front of us.
(Audio of people speaking)
And three men, two of them masked, climbed out carrying assault rifles and insisted we look at the prize they had in the car.
(Audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: What's happened?
AMERICAN HOSTAGE: They attacked our convoy. That's all I'm going to say.
PETER CAVE: Okay.
(End audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: Their hostage, being held by two more masked men in the car, was wounded in the arm, his blue jeans covered in blood. He had blonde hair and a moustache and appeared more defiant than scared as they roughly yanked his head across so we could see his face.
(Audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: Do you want to give us your name?
AMERICAN HOSTAGE: Hamil (phonetic), Thomas.
(Audio of banging on car roof)
MASKED MAN: Go, go.
PETER CAVE: Okay, okay.
(Audio of car driving off)
(End audio excerpt recorded on scene)
PETER CAVE: As they drove off, another car full of armed Mujahideen pulled up.
"I swear in the name of Allah", he says, "we don't care about death or life, we're going to heaven. Death is welcome."
We had to driver some kilometres back towards Baghdad before we found any coalition troops. Several tanks and two APCs guarding an overpass and watching the huge palls of smoke on the road totally under the control of the Mujahideen.
(Audio excerpt recorded on scene)
AMERICAN SOLDIER: Just past that first burning tanker?
PETER CAVE: We're the first people on…
(End audio excerpt recorded on scene) We reported the fate of the American hostage but there was no immediate move to mount a rescue. (Audio of crowd chanting) Several more kilometres down the road and tens of thousands have gathered chanting "Jihad", or "holy war" in the huge Sunni mosque Saddam built on the western edge of Baghdad. (Audio of speaker yelling through loudspeaker) The speaker says, "we will say no with one voice. You Americans will not pass through here. There is no legitimacy in the new Iraq, except for those who fight." This is Peter Cave in Baghdad, for Saturday AM.
Give them what they want.
And pray for Thomas Hamil and the other hostages....
Why is the Saddam Mosque still standing?
Until he gets his arse shot off. What a dreamer.
Anyway, that's how I see it.
Unless it was for Good Friday and Easter, what is this unilateral ceasefire horsepucky? I thought sending such "signals" to the enemy went out with LBJ and Tricky Dick, considering how well it (did not) work then?(Although TD's "signaling" with B-52s over Hanoi and Haiphong worked pretty darn well, and is the sort of signal needed here)
The only signal I'd send at this point is "surrender or die, your choice", especially remembering that these are the animals who desecrated bodies during what appears to have been a staged media event. They get no consideration from me, and they shouldn't get any from the Marines either.
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