Posted on 05/20/2004 1:19:03 PM PDT by Flavius
Falluja Leaders Say City Is Now Safest in Iraq
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By Ibon Villelabeitia
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq (news - web sites) and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it.
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"Finally we have peace in Falluja. This city is today the safest and the calmest in Iraq," Mayor Mahmoud Ibraheem Al-Juraisi told reporters, under the watchful eyes of heavily armed U.S. Marines in Humvees mounted with machine guns.
At a news conference at which confiscated rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s were displayed, the Iraqi general entrusted by U.S. forces to control Falluja said the time for fighting was over and Americans and Iraqis should work together.
"Everybody wants peace back," said Gen. Mohammed Latif, commander of the Falluja Brigade that includes soldiers from Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s old army.
"The most important thing is that Iraqis and Americans are working together and this is going to be an example for all Iraq," said Latif. "When reconstruction begins, American engineers are welcomed to come."
U.S. CRACKDOWN
U.S. forces backed by warplanes and tanks launched a crackdown on the Sunni stronghold of 300,000 after a crowd killed and mutilated four American private contractors on March 31 and dragged their bodies through the streets.
Under a cease-fire agreement, Marines lifted their siege and pulled back to the outskirts, tasking the Falluja Brigade with restoring security.
The deal put an end to clashes, but U.S. commanders have expressed growing impatience at the brigade's slow pace in stripping guerrillas of heavy weapons and arresting the killers of the contractors.
In an apparent attempt to placate American impatience, Latif said guerrillas had "voluntarily" handed over the rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47s to his 1,800-strong brigade.
"The safer people feel, the more weapons are going to be turned over," he said.
Latif heaped praise on U.S. forces for "ridding Iraq of the worst dictator on earth" but said there were no foreign fighters left in Falluja, as the Americans say.
The killers of the contractors are still at large, but Al-Juraisi held in front of reporters what he said was a copy of a religious fatwa, or edict, issued by Falluja religious leaders condemning the killings.
Maj. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the Falluja Brigade had still to prove itself.
U.S. Marines are massed outside Falluja and have not ruled out renewing their crackdown if the brigade fails to restore order and hunt weapons. Three Marines have been killed in action this week in the volatile province that includes Falluja.
"The Falluja Brigade has to demonstrate it has control," Mattis told reporters. "This is just the beginning of things. Not the end of things."
Asked if he would send U.S. military contractors into Falluja to help with reconstruction after the city was battered by U.S. airstrikes, Mattis said: "I have no need to send American contractors if you have Iraqis who can do it."
3 way over oil, well 4 Turkey dont want Kurds well oiled sort of...
whats the end game
The Marines spent weeks picking off the enemy in groups or one at a time with sniers. They avoided killing the innocents. They won this peace. It's up the Iraqis to maintain it. Let's see if they can struggle for power without AK-47s being used.
Now safe hey? Amazing what a good head knocking will do for a fool's atitude adjustment.
And if any more contractors are taken hostage, burned, torn apart, there will be no more Fallujah... fool us once, shame on you... fool us twice, shame on us...
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