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Rebels Smuggle Supplies Into Iraqi City
AP ^ | Mon, Apr 12, 2004 | LOURDES NAVARRO

Posted on 04/12/2004 3:44:54 PM PDT by Eurotwit

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Sunni insurgents are smuggling weapons and fighters into Fallujah in aid convoys and ambulances, making it difficult for U.S. troops to stem the flow of weapons, Marines said Monday.

On Monday alone, U.S. troops in Fallujah uncovered anti-aircraft guns buried in a load of humanitarian aid and saw an ambulance pull up to two shot insurgents and take away their weapons — leaving the casualties lying there.

"One guy was found hidden in a sack of grain in the back of a truck," apparently intent on joining fighters in the city, Army Military Police Capt. Kurt Barclay, 38, from Ridgeway, Pa., said at a checkpoint on a desert road leading into Fallujah.

Humvees blocked the road as troops checked through a line of cars, buses and trucks loaded with sacks and boxes of food, medicine, blood plasma and blankets.

Using sniffer dogs, Marines and MPs poked through truck cargo holds and car trunks. But the understaffed troops waved some vehicles through after only a cursory look. They said they don't have enough personnel or the right equipment, such as large x-ray machines, for comprehensive checks of every vehicle.

"There was bus with a false bottom filled with assault rifles and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers," Marine 1st Lt. David Denial said.

But the bus — with the weapons undiscovered — made it through the checkpoint. Troops inside the city happened to stop the vehicle and found the stash, Denial said.

The anti-aircraft gun stash hidden in a truckload of aid also slipped through the cordon but was discovered in the city later, he said.

Up to 100 vehicles have been ferrying aid into Fallujah every day since Friday, when U.S. forces halted major attacks on Sunni Muslim insurgents after five days of fierce fighting, Denial said. U.S. forces have set up checkpoints on all roads leading to the city, 35 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraqis, many outraged by the bloody Marine siege of the city, have been sending donations of food, fuel, medical supplies and other aid in convoys organized by relief organizations, religious groups and private individuals.

But rebels have been exploiting the relative calm to smuggle in the supplies they will need if fighting resumes, Marines say. Inside the city, insurgents have been using ambulances to transport weapons between neighborhoods, Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said.

On Monday, Marines shot and killed two insurgents seen setting up a machine gun near their position, Byrne said. An ambulance wheeled up, and a man got out to collect the machine gun, leaving the men, he said. The ambulance man also was shot and killed.

"We have to be careful because ambulances are being used for legitimate purposes, but we are also treating them with suspicion," Byrne said.

Troops at the roadblocks barred many military-aged men from entering, fearing they were coming join the battle against Marines as the fight for Fallujah becomes an anti-American rallying cry.

Denial said his troops turned back a seven-vehicle convoy claiming to be from an Islamic aid group, Denial said.

"Their credentials were shoddy. There were 36 men of military age," he said. "The head guy said he was a doctor with a white coat. We caught him in a lie. He tried to pass off his driver's license as a medical ID."

The men were not detained and later left the area, he said.

Most people waiting at the roadblocks to get into the city were there to bring much-needed supplies to Fallujah's residents.

Jamah Abdullah, 42, an ambulance driver for the Red Crescent Society, said he had been into the city several times in the past few days delivering aid.

"There are many people dead. Many wounded. Houses destroyed, damaged. I am doing this to help," he said.

More than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the past week of fighting in Fallujah and scores more wounded, according to Rafie al-Issawi, the head of the city's hospital. At least five Marines have been killed, the military says.


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: charliefoxtrot; fallujah; iraq
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1 posted on 04/12/2004 3:44:56 PM PDT by Eurotwit
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To: Eurotwit
Typical. Some ceasefire.
2 posted on 04/12/2004 3:51:20 PM PDT by BrooklynGOP (www.logicandsanity.com)
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To: Eurotwit
Troops at the roadblocks barred many military-aged men from entering, fearing they were coming join the battle against Marines as the fight for Fallujah becomes an anti-American rallying cry.

I would let them through - on foot with no weapons - so that we can kill them now instead of later.

3 posted on 04/12/2004 3:51:32 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn't be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Thud
The Israelis have seen all this before.
4 posted on 04/12/2004 3:52:52 PM PDT by Dark Wing
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To: Eurotwit
The only Aid allowed should be what we provide.
5 posted on 04/12/2004 3:54:58 PM PDT by WHBates
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To: BrooklynGOP
I hope this is like the roach motel. They check in, but don't check out.
6 posted on 04/12/2004 3:55:49 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (Sane, and have the papers to prove it!)
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To: Eurotwit
The AP also thought that Jenin was a massacre. I don't know which is worse, the lying arabs or the AP. It's a toss up.
7 posted on 04/12/2004 3:57:46 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Eurotwit
I would hate to have a name like Denial. Though maybe there would be a nice career waiting for him once he finishes his service, either as a Presstitute or a Democrat's legal counsel.
8 posted on 04/12/2004 3:58:09 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Eurotwit
What kind of last name is "Denial"?
9 posted on 04/12/2004 4:00:51 PM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: Eurotwit
Imagine that. The mo-slimes are liars! You can't believe how surprised I am. No really. (Smirk!)
10 posted on 04/12/2004 4:02:43 PM PDT by neutrino (Oderint dum metuant: Let them hate us, so long as they fear us.)
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To: Eurotwit
It seems pretty smart on our part, allow general folks out, allow moron-fighters in and then level the city from the air.
11 posted on 04/12/2004 4:08:07 PM PDT by alex
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To: Eurotwit
"More than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the past week of fighting in Fallujah and scores more wounded, according to Rafie al-Issawi, the head of the city's hospital."

To be honest I don't believe this. Maybe 600 (I hope) but not civilians.
12 posted on 04/12/2004 4:11:08 PM PDT by WHBates
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To: Eurotwit
"More than 600 Iraqis, mostly civilians, have been killed in the past week of fighting in Fallujah and scores more wounded, according to Rafie al-Issawi, the head of the city's hospital."

To be honest I don't believe this. Maybe 600 (I hope) but not civilians.
13 posted on 04/12/2004 4:11:17 PM PDT by WHBates
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To: Yaelle
He was probably named after the river in Egypt.
14 posted on 04/12/2004 4:13:53 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Eurotwit
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 1000 times, shame on me.
15 posted on 04/12/2004 4:18:17 PM PDT by omega4412
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To: Eurotwit; Dark Wing
Just let people out. Don't let anything in.
16 posted on 04/12/2004 4:27:44 PM PDT by Thud
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To: WHBates
Amazing. These engagements do not result in any murdering terrorists being killed, only innocent civilians.
17 posted on 04/12/2004 4:28:48 PM PDT by caisson71
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To: Eurotwit
This is why the cease fire was a terrible idea.
18 posted on 04/12/2004 4:29:55 PM PDT by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT!)
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To: Eurotwit
This is bullsh!t, all were doing is giving them time to prepare their defenses. And if they do end up accepting our terms on the cease fire, they will just end up hiding their weapons and blend in with society and just wait for another time to kill our troops. Lets just kill them and get it over with, this reeks of "pentagon pc"
19 posted on 04/12/2004 4:32:11 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: Eurotwit
I like the bit about the ambulance driver being popped after picking up the guns.

To that I say nice shot...
20 posted on 04/12/2004 4:32:15 PM PDT by toddly
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