Posted on 04/21/2004 4:54:18 PM PDT by saquin
FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- Thousands of U.S. Marines poised on the fringes of this besieged city relaxed their stranglehold Tuesday, allowing residents to return to their homes, ambulances to pick up the scores of injured and dead and vehicles to distribute humanitarian aid.
In exchange for the loosening of the military cordon, city leaders say they will redouble their efforts to persuade insurgents to surrender their weapons ---- and themselves.
The aim: a peaceful solution to a standoff that is now in its third week.
"If they are sincere, and we're seeing them turning in weapons and identifying bad guys, then we'll slowly, slowly pull out of the city," Col. John Toolan, commander of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Regiment and task force surrounding Fallujah, told his troops during a visit Tuesday to the front lines.
In Washington, however, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a news conference Tuesday that he saw only a remote possibility that negotiations in Fallujah would succeed, and that he was skeptical they would lead to the detention of those responsible for the killing of four American civilians three weeks ago.
Toolan said the Iraqis only have "a couple more days" to produce results before they are judged and the decision to attack is again on the table.
"They (Iraqi leaders) say they've had enough; they want it to stop," Toolan told a few Marines from Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, in the living room of an Iraqi home the Marines have occupied for nearly two weeks.
The troops listened closely, staring up at the towering, fatherly New Yorker whom Marines say they trust to make the right decisions.
"We'll give them a chance ---- a couple of more days to find out if they are really sincere," he said. "Then we'll judge how they did."
Other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have been more specific, saying that Friday is the deadline for cooperation.
Under the terms of the renewed cease-fire, which has been peppered with attacks by insurgents but largely honored by the Marines, Iraqis pledged to disarm and turn in insurgents to avoid a major assault by the Marines, many of whom seem to be chomping at the bit for decisive action.
Residents will be allowed to keep and travel with assault rifles, but machine guns, rockets, grenades and mortars have to be surrendered.
Military officials also have asked that the town turn over the key leaders of the insurgency, as well as those responsible for killing and mutilating four American contractors in Fallujah on March 31.
For their cooperation, U.S. officials postponed an attack and granted several key concessions.
A strict 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was rolled back to 9 p.m. and relaxed to give violators the benefit of the doubt unless they show hostile intent.
Many residents who fled during the fighting have been able to return to their homes. The conditions of their return, however, were still unclear Tuesday as several commands seemed to be following different rules.
During his visit Tuesday, Toolan told the troops that many military leaders around Fallujah and those "running the show in Baghdad" wanted to exploit the Marines' hard-earned foothold in the city and strike a final blow against the insurgents who are concentrated in the western third of the city.
But, he said, they would first give peace a chance.
According to BBC reports, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, the chief Coalition spokesman in Baghdad, made it clear Tuesday that military operations will resume in Fallujah if the regional and local Iraqi leaders do not satisfy American demands.
Troops in and around Fallujah say they wish they had continued their push into the city with the momentum they had achieved in the first few days of fighting. Then, tanks blasted buildings, the Spectre gunship ruled the night and American fighter jets dropped 500-pound bombs on enemy positions to protect the troops on the ground.
Now that they've been stationary, some have had second thoughts about what will be achieved if the Americans go in for the kill, and at what cost. Some say that the only way to attack without a massive loss of American life would be to level Fallujah in order to save Fallujah.
"This could be it for Fallujah for awhile," Cpl. Jong Kim, 20, of Sunnyvale, said of a Marine offensive against the town.
Brushing dust off his machine gun, poised over the same still and vacant quarter of northwest Fallujah that he and others have watched for days, Kim said he wished that something ---- anything ---- would happen soon. He said he was tired of being on the defensive.
"We could do it, but if we leave, they'll come back," he said of the insurgents. "They're crazy. They're not scared of anything."
Lance Cpl. Anthony Dilling ---- who was patrolling alongside one of his best friends when the Marine was shot in the head on the first day of fighting in Fallujah ---- said he has had enough of the dusty river town.
"I wish they'd just pull us out. I hate this place," he said Tuesday while peering through his rifle scope at the same cluttered section of the city he has stared at for nearly two weeks. "To tell you the truth, I'm scared (expletive) of this place. That first day was the deciding factor for me."
Most of the troops said they were sure they would prevail in an attack, but agreed that whether they take the town by force, the rebels will return.
Toolan seemed to sense or share some of the troops' frustration.
Before he left to visit other units along the cordon around Fallujah on Tuesday, Toolan congratulated the troops for their courage in taking and holding one of the toughest sections of the city, and thanked them for being patient and remaining motivated during the political negotiations.
"Hang in there," he said, patting a corporal on the shoulder. "We'll all know what's going to happen soon enough."
Many here don't seem to realize this. These are fanatical religious freaks, that will blow themselves to pieces to make a point. They only way they will ever fear us, is when we get down to their level of brutality.
Being humane at the cost of American lives is not acceptable.
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