Military backing down from an all-out assault on Fallujah

News 24 ^ | /25/2004 | Associated Press

[yonif]

Fallujah, Iraq (AP) -- The military is backing down from warnings of an all-out assault on Fallujah, now saying troops will begin patrolling the Iraqi city with Iraqi security forces.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says force may be used down the line but "at this point it would not seem to be constructive for either side to be laying down ultimatums."

Also coalition spokesman Dan Senor says the U.S. is "cautiously optimistic" over the situation in Fallujah, having seen progress in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a U.S. general says troops will move into a base on the edge of Najaf that Spanish troops will abandon when they withdraw from Iraq in the coming weeks. But the Americans will remain away from holy sites at Najaf's center to avoid outraging Iraq's Shiite majority.

The Americans are aiming to clamp down on the militia of a radical Shiite cleric.

Senor says weapons are being stockpiled in mosques and schools in Najaf, and that must stop.

[yonif]

U.S. Considering Sending Troops to Najaf
By JASON KEYSER

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. troops will begin patrols with Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, the military said Sunday, as the United States backed down from warnings of an all-out assault that could spark new bloodshed and deepen anti-American sentiment.

The patrols are to begin Tuesday, and Fallujah officials will announce in the city that anyone seen carrying a weapon will be considered hostile, the military said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. general told The Associated Press troops will move into a base on the edge of the holy city of Najaf that Spanish troops will abandon when they withdraw from Iraq in the coming weeks. But the Americans will remain away from holy sites _ an effort to avoid outraging Iraq's Shiite majority, which opposes any U.S. foray near their most sacred shrine.

Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling said the troops aimed to "counter the forces" of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A coalition spokesman, Dan Senor, said weapons were being stockpiled in mosques and schools in Najaf, a practice he said must stop.

The measures in Fallujah and Najaf were announced a day after President Bush held a teleconference with senior national security and military advisers to discuss the situation in Fallujah and the rest of Iraq.

The moves appeared aimed at bringing a degree of control over the cities without re-igniting the intense violence that began when U.S. authorities moved on the two fronts simultaneously at the start of April.

The wave of fighting since has killed up to 1,200 Iraqis and 111 U.S. troops, nearly as many in 25 days as the 115 Americans who were killed during the two-month invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein a year ago.

The deal to bring patrols into Fallujah meant extending the cease-fire for at least another two days, U.S. officials said. Military action in Fallujah was still an option, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said, but the warning was dramatically toned down from those in the past week.

The new steps in Fallujah were not without risks.

There was little guarantee that guerrillas in Fallujah won't attack joint U.S.-Iraqi patrols. Some Marine commanders said privately they had hoped to push on with an offensive deeper into the city and were concerned Marine patrols would become targets.


Iraqi security forces due to patrol with them were equally ill at ease.

"I don't feel safe because the Americans themselves are not safe," police Capt. Jassim Abed said. "They get shot at. They can't guarantee safety for themselves, so how can they guarantee my safety?"

U.S. occupation leaders are under pressure not to launch major military action. Some U.S.-picked Iraqi leaders were angered by the Fallujah siege. The top U.N. envoy for Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi _ who has been asked by Washington to help pick a new government _ warned the United States against assaults on Najaf or Fallujah

"When you surround a city, you bomb the city, when people cannot go to hospital, what name do you have for that? ... If you have enemies there, this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more people support them rather than you," Brahimi said of Fallujah on ABC's "This Week."


"In this situation, there is no military solution," he said.

In the latest U.S. deaths, a soldier was killed Sunday when a roadside bomb hit his patrol in eastern Baghdad. A U.S. Coast Guardsman also died of wounds suffered the night before in a suicide boat attack on oil facilities that killed two Navy sailors.

Iraq's main outlet for oil exports, the Al-Basra terminal, was damaged and won't be able to resume loading tankers until Monday at the earliest, said Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulloum. The closure cost Iraq around 1 million barrels in exports the first day.

Mortar attacks in the northern city of Mosul killed two Iraqis outside a hotel, and an explosion outside a hospital killed two Iraqis and wounded 10, the U.S. military said.

As U.S. officials toned down recent warnings, they also spoke of progress in Fallujah. "At this point, it would not seem to be constructive for either side to be laying down ultimatums," Kimmitt said.

Still, he said there had been no more weapons handed over _ not even the kind of rusted, broken or otherwise useless ones that were surrendered last week. U.S. officials have been complaining for days that guerrillas were not abiding by a call to disarm issued under the agreement reached with American negotiators.

He also said insurgents were still shooting at U.S. troops in the past 24 hours. A helicopter gunship fired on a house in Fallujah where guerrillas had been seen preparing a mortar on Friday, killing 25 fighters, Kimmitt said.

The patrols are "the first step to returning the city to a sense of stability," he said.

Hachim al-Hassani, a top Iraqi mediator in negotiations over Fallujah, said city officials had promised the patrols would be respected. "We hope the U.S. soldiers will not be attacked when they enter the city. If they are attacked, they will respond and this will lead to problems," he said.

Marine commanders have expressed concern that the city officials cannot speak for the insurgents.

Marines on Sunday began allowing more families who fled Fallujah amid recent fighting to return. Kimmitt said 67 families would be let in Sunday. More than a third of the city's population of 200,000 fled the siege. Marines had halted their return because guerrillas were not turning in weapons and because they wanted to keep civilians out in case fighting resumed.

Meanwhile, Hertling told troops based outside Najaf that the U.S. military was "coordinating to move" into the Najaf base being vacated by Spanish forces.

"We probably will go into the central part" between the adjacent cities of Kufa and Najaf, where the Spanish base is located. "Will we interfere in the religious institutions? Absolutely not," said Hertling, a deputy commander of the 1st Armored Division. He gave no timeframe for the move.

In Baghdad, Kimmitt said "it is not our understanding that we will have soldiers going into Najaf soon."

Hertling said the move aimed to increase pressure on al-Sadr and his militia.

"It's not going to be large-scale fighting, the likes of other places," he said. But "we're going to drive this guy into the dirt."

AP correspondents Denis D. Gray in Najaf and Louis Meixler in Baghdad contributed to this report.

http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/04/25/ap/Headlines/d8261t781.txt

[LuigiBasco]

Yada Yada yada

[JeeperFreeper]

Thanks for post. This decision is driven by Nov 4. Count on dead Americans for political gain. As Gen. Mattis(USMC) said,"this is bulls***." And he is utterly and completely right.

[LuigiBasco]

More Yada Yada Yada

[af_vet_1981]

"When you surround a city, you bomb the city, when people cannot go to hospital, what name do you have for that? ... If you have enemies there, this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more people support them rather than you," Brahimi said of Fallujah on ABC's "This Week." "In this situation, there is no military solution," he said.

If there is no military solution, withdraw the military now.

[nothingnew]

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt says "at this point it would not seem to be constructive for either side to be laying down ultimatums."

Blah blah blah.....The radical muslim ultimatum has already been layed down numerous times...they want to KILL YOU General Mark Kimmitt.

What a bunch of crap.

FMCDH

[nothingnew]

If there is no military solution, withdraw the military now.

Bump

FMCDH

[Spottys Spurs]

Sounds like the f&%$king politicians are calling the shots! If we are not in it to win, why the blazes are we there? This is total bullshit! These bastards are never going to give up their ways. If we are there, let's do it right. Although I have been a strong Bush supporter, this is where I draw the line. I can't see giving up one more American life if we are going to strangle-hold our troops with politicially correct BS.

[LuigiBasco]

You are so right. Talk, talk, talk and in the mean time Our people are being picked off.

[John Lenin]

This story has more flip-flops than John Kerry.

[oceanview]

and that's why at this point, no one really knows what is going on (publicly).

the more reports I see, the more I think the status quo "seige" is the plan - just keeping knocking off a couple dozen of these guys every day with snipers, an occassional laser guided bomb.

and there is no way that the same decision to not use military force on Fallujah, decides to use military force in Najaf. Najaf has the most risks for use of force - the enemy force is bigger, spread out more, and if the Shia get angry, we could have a real uprising on our hands.

[af_vet_1981]

If we are not in it to win, why the blazes are we there?

Either give the military what they need and orders to fight and win, or withdraw them. We don't need more Vietnams, Mogadishus, and Fallujahs.

[LS]

Well, I think most of you are being shortsighted and presumptuous. How do YOU know that it's being "driven by Nov. 4?" Quite the contrary, if it were being driven by Nov. 4, they'd get it over with NOW.

How does ANYONE know what the "military" thinks? I happen to think the the military does not want to alienate the 80% of the people on our side by indiscriminately blowing stuff up. From what I read, 3/4 of the city is operating under pretty normal processes, and it's a quarter of the city that has a lot of these bad guys.

I think they are doing exactly the right thing here: gaining control, quietly and steadily, over the sections we can control, while isolating that section that needs work. Meanwhile the local Iraqi leaders who WANT to work with us look like heroes and wise men, enhancing their stature. There is a place for a sledge hammer, but there is also a place for a scalpel, and this apparently is the latter.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

This is the first time I say this anywhere.

It's time to pull out.

We lost.

From now on we will always lose because we'll never be allowed to finish.
The enemy might get upset.

[oceanview]

many truths here - but see post 12 then.

how can the same military that wants to quiet down any talk of an assault on Fallujah, start beating the drum about Najaf? that makes no sense. the Fallujan insurgents have almost zero support across iraq - they are Sunni holdouts and foreign fighters. In Najaf, they are Shia, most of the country.

[yonif]

In the beginning of the US war in Iraq an IDF officer gave an interview to an Israeli newspaper where he said the two main problems the US is having in Iraq are:

1. Political correctness

2. They worry too much how they will be looked on TV (like, for example, not using tanks more, instead using open humvees, which leads to less "agressive" picture of US forces in Iraq, but the cost is in protection for soldiers who are more vulnerable)

As a result, more deaths of Americans have come, and the terrorists have gotten less weaker.

[John Lenin]

I hope you are right, backing down is sending the wrong message to the Iraqi people who fear these punks.

[xm177e2]

$#!@#%$@#%$

To describe this as "backing down" is ludicrous. The Falluja city leaders have agreed to a sort of ceasefire/peace agreement, and the US is "backing down"???

@#$%^#^&%#^$

When they do go on patrol, they will expect to be attacked, so they will use their new mobility to seal off parts of the city and wipe out the resistance (if it shows its head). It will be less difficult than a straight-out assault on the city.

How can this be described as "backing down," like some kind of retreat?? We're going INTO the city!!

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Bush wants the home grown Islamic vote. Further, he wants to avoid the body count attendant upon urban warfare.(I'm inclined to agree as the truce has allowed the 'bad guys'to further equip). In short "POLITICS."