U.S. Extends Fallujah Cease-Fire 2 Days

Associated Press ^ | April 25, 2004 | Jason Keyser

[AntiGuv]

FALLUJAH, Iraq - The U.S. military extended a cease-fire for Fallujah on Sunday for at least two more days, backing down from warnings of an all-out Marine assault and announcing that American and Iraqi forces would begin joint patrols in the city.

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

Meanwhile, a U.S. general told The Associated Press that troops will move into a base on the edge of the holy city of Najaf to be abandoned by Spanish troops 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.

The troops aim to "counter the forces" of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling said. 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, the U.S. military said. Military action in the city 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?"

Marine Lt. Col Brennan Byrne, on Fallujah's outskirts, said patrols may not start until Thursday as Marines and Iraqi forces organize them.

He said the patrols would be backed by armor and air support but for now will steer clear of Fallujah's Julan district, a poorer neighborhood where many insurgents are concentrated.

"It will be a combat patrol in the city that is prepared to deal with anything they run into," he said. "If we are attacked, we will absolutely eradicate that source of fire." But he added that individual attacks would not lead to a wider engagement.

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.

[kinghorse]

As long as Iraqis are allowed to react like jackals when a US asset gets destroyed, there is a big damn problem. I for one am in favor of a policy clearly explained to the general populace that these vehicles will be destroyed from the air when they are damaged on the ground. And then vaporize the remnants along with all the jackals. Shouldn't be long before the notion of property rights is registered into their heads.

[mhking]

Cease fire = appeasement.

'Nuff said.

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[prairiebreeze]

Ping to post 7. The ex-FReeper known as TBLSHOW (aka TroubleSuck) latched onto this post which I put up in response to txflakes prior comment about the other very long thread of this subject that got so many posts last night, becoming too visceral. I had seen quite enough disparaging talk about our military, and I won't stand silent to it.

I was referring to the knee-jerk jerks and jackals who came on the other thread like they were all called by jungle drums, to hand-wring, second guess Generals Abizaid and Kimmit, criticize the troops on the ground and ultimately bash the President. I was opining that they would probably show up on this newer thread. I haven't checked to see if any did.

Anyway, I was alerted to TroubleSucks feeble attempt at communication by another FReeper. He put this post on #7 up with some headline about "Call Sean Hannity, Prairiebreeze and Bush Bots are Eating Their Own"...or some such twaddle.

Predictably moronish, infantile and superficial of TroubleSuck. A real yawner. But I wonder Peach, does this mean I've hit the Big Time? Can I give up my day job now??

Prairie

[Peach]

LOL!

Yes - give up that day job and stick around and help catch trolls. It's such fun - troll hunting. They don't look good or taste good, but they provide entertainment rarely found elsewhere these days.

[Peach]

Hold your hat.

If we bring our troops home, all those killed will have died in vain.

Iraq will become a breeding ground like Aghanistan was for terrorists.

Things look bad in France too during WWII for our troops; would you have preferred we cut and run then too?

Don't believe everything you read.

[TexasCowboy]

"Lord, I learned to hate that sound..."

Fingernails on blackboard stuff.......

[prairiebreeze]

They don't smell good either.

[HiJinx]

Fingernails on blackboard stuff.......

How appropriate, I was in the third grade at the time.
Wheelus AFB, Tripoli, '61-'63.

[jpsb]

We'll see, but after Korea and Vietnam I thought we learned our lesson. Do not get involved in a war if you are not prepared to fight and win.

[Peach]

My reaction was the exact same as yours when I first read this thread.

But after listening to some military people, I believe there MAY be good reasons to hold off a while.

We will see. There are military blunders in every war and shown still on the History Channel. I pray this isn't one of them.

[jpsb]

The problem we have in Iraq, is that Iraq has not yet been defeated, Sudamn was over thrown, but the Iraqis did not come out and fight, now there are comming out to fight and they must be defeated. There is no other way, if the USA wants to build a new Iraq then the old Iraq has to be defeated.

I am surprised the neocons at DOD don't get it, this is a war, a real war. Either fight to win or leave.

[Peach]

It's been disappointing to see the Iraqi people not take up the fight for their own cause in bigger numbers.

I understand that years of living in tyranny and fear make their mindset different than we can really comprehend, but unless they are willing to risk their own lives, they will find little support from the me.

[petercooper]

Cease-Fire sounds oh so French. Why are we pussyfooting around with talks of deals, and negotiations. We have never looked so weak.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Actually it's the commnder in chief that runs the war. Do you have a problem with that?

So you're perfectly happy with the commander-in-chief's decision to not go after Saddam in Gulf War I because the "UN Mandate" had been achieved?

LOL, that was a total KO response.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

Perhaps the delays are being imposed by us because it's easier to whittle down the opposition with snipers than to go through the city house-to-house and root them out.

House to House is never pretty. Doing the sniper thingy is having an effect. Someone on Freerepublic suggested that ALL sniper units, plus those in school be sent over to get some experience..

[agincourt1415]

The Marines have a great technique for fighting, they draw fire then laze the position for the 500lb bombs.

[Judith Anne]

I agree. Sniping is far better than house-to-house.