Marines Await Orders to Attack Fallujah

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is seen during a meeting with Sunni Muslim clerics at his offices in Baghdad's 'Green Zone.' The standoff between the interim Iraqi government and insurgents in the rebel city of Fallujah has entered its "final phase," Iraq's interim prime minister Iyad Allawi said, warning of imminent military action.(AFP/Awad Awad)

Fallujah standoff has entered final phase, warns Iraqi PM

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The standoff between the interim Iraqi government and insurgents in the rebel city of Fallujah has entered its "final phase," Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister Iyad Allawi said, warning of imminent military action.

The tough-talking prime minister laid out three conditions that would spare Fallujah a military showdown insisting that the government was not negotiating or bargaining with any party over its legitimate right to assert its authority in the flashpoint city.

"We have entered the final phase to solve the Fallujah problem," Allawi told reporters in a grave tone.

"If we cannot solve it peacefully, I have no choice but to take military action. I will do so with a heavy heart."

Allawi said he met on Saturday night with religious and tribal leaders from the Sunni Muslim insurgency bastions of Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad, and from the northern city of Mosul.

He said all wanted the government to assert its authority in these hotspots.

"Terrorists have taken the people of Fallujah hostage and we are determined to eliminate this terror centre."

The prime minister laid out three conditions that would spare Fallujah and other rebel cities military action as his government appeared determined to subdue the vicious insurgency ahead of January's elections.

These include the exit of foreign fighters and insurgents, the handover of heavy- and medium-sized weapons and allowing the government to begin the process of reconstruction in these cities.

"The people of Fallujah can hand over the foreign fighters and insurgents, kick them out or allow Iraqi forces to go in and do the job," said Allawi flanked by Kassim Daoud, his national security advisor.

Allawi became visibly upset when pressed about the status of negotiations between a government-backed group from the country's interim parliament and delegates from Fallujah.

"Your question is wrong, there are no negotiations with Fallujah. Fallujah is part of Iraq and we are working with the people of Fallujah and other nationalists all over Iraq to rid them of the killers," snapped Allawi.

"We cannot stand by while killers slaughter innocent Iraqis."

The talks between national council members and Fallujah community leaders appear to be a last ditch effort to avert a military showdown.

"We will put our hand in their hand if they really have the influence to solve the problem peacefully," Allawi said.

"But the window is closing for a peaceful settlement."

Previous direct talks between government ministers and Fallujah delegates collapsed in mid-October after Allawi issued a warning to the city to handover suspected Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or face an assault.

"The Iraqi government is still holding the olive branch ... but there will be no dialogue with Zarqawi, (Osama) bin Laden and former regime loyalists."

Since October 14, US troops have encircled Fallujah, where the military has repeatedly launched air strikes and some limited ground incursions.

Both the Iraqi and US governments say Fallujah is in the grip of operatives loyal to Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who has a 25-million-dollar bounty for his killing or capture.

He is accused of some of the worst attacks in the violence-plagued country over the past few months.

Allawi said some of the deadliest recent attacks in Iraq were plotted and carried out by militants from Fallujah including the execution one week ago of 49 unarmed army recruits and three of their drivers in eastern Iraq.

He softened remarks made on Tuesday blaming the killings on "gross negligence" by US-led forces and promised to unveil shortly the results of a government investigation.

"We are facing a ruthless enemy bent on killing us," warned Allawi.

The more insurgents we can kill before the elections, the better it is for Bush. But troop casualties are bad, so we need to BOMB BOMB BOMB!!1

You mean like this, post #95.

Thanks for the ping!

US Marines and The Black watch. Better airdrop some diapers to the insurgents.

In Fallujah, about 50 religious leaders met with members of the Shura Council of Mujaheddin, the self-appointed group that governs the city. The council closed the meeting to reporters, but a source familiar with the discussions said the group agreed to issue a fatwa, or religious order, calling for a holy war if U.S. forces pushed into Fallujah.

These clowns need to be the first strike. That way the only fatwa they will be able to issue will be one from the fires of hell.

Here is the back story on that firefight video I posted. Turns out it was in Mosul, not Ramadi.

I don't like to see fellow jar heads get killed, and I know some of them will, they know that too, it comes with the job, but the sooner we clean that rat's nest out, the sooner we can stand up an elected government in Iraq. What is left of Saddam's followers can not be allowed to stop the march toward a new day in Iraq.

We need to identify these people, help the ones who want to meet Allah to do so, and start the remainder down the road of rehabilitation.

God Bless our Marines !

What is left of Saddam's followers can not be allowed to stop the march toward a new day in Iraq.

What is left of Saddam's followers is not the only terrorist that is putting up a resistance in Fallujah, Ramadi, and other areas of Iraq. Abu Zarqawi, Al Queda, Iran influence, etc. are among and/or leading the resistance.

Bump

Falluja surrounded....75% of population gone...70% of the place already in rubble...5000 enemy hol'ed up inside.

Can't get better than this.

You're welcome FRiend...

I just got back in, where are you tracking this? TIA

Mostly likely Fox report. Tend not to follow CNNABCCBSMSNBC (except occasionally to keep tabs on the enemy talking points.)

Rebels are vowing to release a Chemical Attack on US Forces

AS the US reeled from the death of nine marines in Iraq at the weekend, insurgents in Fallujah claimed to have obtained chemical weapons and threatened to use them in any battle for control of the rebel stronghold.

Rebel commanders said chemicals such as cyanide had been added to mortar rounds and missiles that would be deployed against coalition troops reported to be preparing for a major assault on the town west of Baghdad.

A military committee made up of former officers in Saddam Hussein's army, including experts on chemicals and guerrilla warfare, is said to have been organising forces in Fallujah and planning tactics.

The committee is understood to include members of all the main insurgent groups, including that of Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader behind the beheading of several foreign hostages and a string of car-bomb attacks.

The US suffered its worst day in Iraq since May when the marines were killed as violence flared across Iraq's rebel heartland.

About 30 Iraqis were killed as the US troops hit back.

A marine spokesman said eight of the soldiers died in a suicide car-bomb attack near Fallujah and the other was killed in Ramadi.

Nine marines were also wounded, he said, but the US military refused to provide further details.

The deaths take the US casualty toll since the war started in March last year to at least 1120. Aid groups say up to 10,000 Iraqis have been killed.

Seven Iraqis died and 19 were wounded on Saturday when a car bomb was detonated outside the Baghdad offices of Arabic broadcaster al-Arabiya.

A group calling itself Thawrat al-Ishrin (Revolution of the 1920s Brigades) claimed responsibility for the attack on "the infidels' television".

"The building was destroyed on (the heads of) the spies, the Americanised journalists ... the mouthpieces of the US occupation in Iraq," it said in a statement.

The majority Saudi-owned satellite channel has often been attacked on Islamist websites for its perceived pro-Western stance in the Arab world.

Sheikh Mahdi al-Sumaidi, a Sunni cleric in Baghdad, warned the US and interim Iraqi Government against attacking Fallujah.

He said they risked incurring a fatwa, or binding religious decree, that would command Muslims to launch street protests and a campaign of civil disobedience.

But US forces continued preparations for the widely expected offensive, with jets and artillery pounding targets in the city. US military officials have claimed there are up to 5000 Islamic militants, Saddam loyalists and criminals barricaded in the town.

"We're gearing up to do an operation and when we're told to go, we'll go," said Brigadier General Dennis Hejlik, deputy commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

"When we do go, we'll whack them."

The US military emphasised that the final order to attack should come from Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has told the people of Fallujah to hand over Zarqawi's followers.

Peace talks to avert an assault on Fallujah, believed to have started last Wednesday, are being held by a Government-backed delegation and leaders from the rebel-held Sunni city of 200,000 people.

Dr Allawi has demanded foreign militants be expelled from Fallujah and Iraqi forces, backed by American troops, be allowed into its centre.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call a general election in February rather than May or later next year as had been expected, London's Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday.

Mr Blair, who will be seeking a third term, hoped to benefit from a "Baghdad bounce", if Iraq staged successful elections in January as scheduled, the newspaper said.

The Sunday Times

US Marines of the 1st Division train in an abandoned primary school outside Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

A U.S. Marine looks through the sight of a machine gun as they patrol a position close to Falluja, west of Baghdad, November 1, 2004. U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and shelled Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election. Photo by Eliana Aponte/Reuters

Heavy Clashes in Ramadi as U.S. Troop Buildup Begins By Alistair Lyon

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and pounded Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election.

Kidnappers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades seized an American, a Nepali and two Arabs from their Saudi company's office in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said.

A spokesman said the attackers killed a guard when they stormed the company villa in the affluent Mansour district.

The U.S. military said it had begun to increase its troop strength in Iraq ahead of nationwide elections due in January.

"The Second Brigade Combat Team has been informed that its departure has been delayed for 30 to 60 days to provide a secure environment for this election," a military spokesman said.

While the 1st Cavalry's Second Brigade will stay longer than planned, new troops have begun arriving, he said. The United States already has about 138,000 troops in Iraq.

Three people were killed in the Ramadi fighting, including an Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters, apparently killed by a sniper after fierce clashes had died down.

Dhia Najim was near his house in the Sunni Muslim city's Andalus district when he was shot in the back of the neck. A video taken from a nearby building shows him appearing from behind a wall when a single shot cracks out and he falls dead.

Footage he took earlier shows U.S. Humvees racing across a junction and flashes from gunfire and explosions, but there was no sound of fighting on the tape recording his death.

Najim's colleagues and family said they believed he had been shot by a U.S. sniper. U.S. Marine snipers are posted in Ramadi. There was no immediate response from the U.S. military to questions about the incident from Reuters.

FALLUJA AIR STRIKES

U.S. forces hit the eastern part of the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja with on-off artillery barrages through the day and air strikes in the evening, but there were no reports of casualties.

The Marines are preparing to attack Ramadi and Falluja in a drive to pacify Iraq before the Iraqi national assembly polls.

It is not clear if the assault will begin before Tuesday's American presidential poll. Iraq has been a divisive campaign theme, President Bush defending the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and his handling of its aftermath against fierce criticism from Democratic challenger John Kerry.

Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar criticized the planned offensive in remarks published in the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas.

"The coalition's handling of this crisis is wrong. It's like someone who fired bullets at his horse's head just because a fly landed on it; the horse died and the fly went away," Yawar said.

"What's needed is that the coalition forces continue dialogue so that the Iraqi armed forces will come, which will prompt those on the sidelines not to join the rebels ..."

Gunmen assassinated the deputy governor of Baghdad, Hatem Karim, and wounded two of his bodyguards in a drive-by shooting in the southern Dora district of the capital.

The Islamic militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement on its Web site.

Rebels have assassinated many officials seen as cooperating with U.S.-led forces in Iraq, while revenge killings against former Saddam loyalists are also common.

Gunmen killed retired Republican Guard Lieutenant-Colonel Athir al-Khazraji and a passerby in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. A morgue official there said he had also received the body of an Iraqi contractor working for U.S. forces. GUERRILLA BASTIONS

The government says former Saddam loyalists and militants led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi operate in Falluja and Ramadi, which have long been hotbeds of anti-U.S. resistance.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday the government, which has demanded that Falluja people hand over Zarqawi's men, was losing patience and would soon "free this town from the grip of terrorists who came from abroad."

The Ramadi clashes broke out in the east of the city around 7 a.m. (11 p.m. EST Sunday). Black smoke rose from buildings as gunmen fired grenades and mortar rounds amid heavy U.S. return fire.

Families began to flee their homes as fighting intensified and witnesses said they saw a U.S. military vehicle ablaze.

(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy near Falluja, Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra and Faris al-Mahdawi in Baquba)

US marines with 2/5 Marine Whiskey company battle insurgents as they protect a convoy driving through the center of the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.(AFP/Patrick Baz)

A U.S. Marine looks through the sight of a machine gun at a position close to Falluja, west of Baghdad, November 1, 2004. The U.S. has begun to increase the number of its troops in Iraq to provide security for January elections expected to face possible disruptions by insurgents, the U.S. military said Monday. Photo by Eliana Aponte/Reuters

US Marines of the 1st Division gather for a morning briefing outside Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

US Marines of the 1st Division walk to a briefing prior to a mission outside Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

US Marines of the 1st Division clean their guns prior to a mission outside Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

US Marines of the 1st Division train in an abandoned primary school outside Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

A U.S. Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, inspects a mortar fin at the most advanced marine position in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, November 1, 2004. Insurgents fired rocket propelled grenades and mortars at the outpost hours earlier. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment prepare to leave their base on a mission, as sporadic fighting continued in Ramadi, Iraq, Monday Nov. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

U.S. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment crash their Humvee through a gate to take cover during a gun battle with insurgents, as sporadic fighting continued in Ramadi, Iraq, Monday Nov. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

U.S. Marine Lcpl. Brice Schleuter from Rockford, IL, with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, fires a machinegun from the turret of his Humvee during a gun battle with insurgents, as sporadic fighting continued in Ramadi, Iraq, Monday Nov. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

British soldiers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team from First Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) battle group, take cover as an unexploded rocket fired at their base at Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad, is destroyed in a controlled explosion, November 1, 2004. The camp was hit by several explosions on Monday morning after rockets were fired at it, though no injuries to army personnel or major damage were caused. A number of rockets failed to detonate and were later located and made safe through controlled explosions. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Giles Penfound/Handout

British soldier Sergeant Steve Goulding, 34, from Sheffield, serving as a Bomb Disposal Officer with 49 Field Squadron 33 Engineer Regiment EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), excavates an unexploded Chinese-made 109mm rocket which was fired at their base at Camp Dogwood, south of Baghdad, before destroying it in a controlled explosion, November 1, 2004. The camp was hit by several explosions on Monday morning after rockets were fired at it, though no injuries to army personnel or major damage were caused. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Giles Penfound/Handout

Chaplain Mark Grant-Jones holds a service for members of B Company of the First Queen's Dragoon Guards, as they prepare to move out to support the Black Watch at Camp Dogwood, 20 miles west of Baghdad(AFP/Pool/File/Maurice McDonald)

U.S. Marine Lcpl. Jason Hash of Baltimore, MD, with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, raises his M16 rifle on a patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, Monday Nov. 1, 2004. A gun battle with insurgents soon followed but there were no casualties. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

bttt. Lord, bless and keep these soldiers, fighting to protect our country, and one of it's key elements, freedom of practice of religion. Amen.