Posted on 11/09/2004 3:11:25 AM PST by Dog
Thanks Dog.
They have had desertion problems with Iraqi troops.
In excess of 200 of them just didn't show up, or slipped away.
Fox has placed the number at 150 who deserted FYI.
Oh my god 150 out of 2,000 didn't show up...its the end of the world as we know it.
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. forces pushed to the centre of the Iraqi city of Falluja on Tuesday, a U.S. military source said.U.S and Iraqi forces thrust into the city after starting a full-scale offensive on Monday night.
I think the Kurdish Special Forces are our best fighters..The rest are kept as "guards" at the rear..(just on what I read.)
WRKO radio in Boston had an interesting Arab analyst on this am. (They have his link on their website, which should be WRKO.com) He was saying that mullahs preach Jihad against the west and the US and that most Arabs have no access to news other than Al Jazeera or street gossip, so they're brainwashed that dying for Allah is great. They don't think there's another option, which is why a democratic Iraq is so important. Iraqi opinion and that of the Iraqi army are changing.
They're fighting not for Paul Bremer and the US now, but for their own country and coming elections...so maybe they won't run away. But tribalism is still rampant(Sunnis, Shiites), and the last thing they need is Baathist(Saddam's thugs)(sp.?), back in power. What we're doing is dragging them into modern life, but we have no other choice. Once al Qaeda gets hold of nukes, they'll use them.
US pushes towards central Falluja
US and Iraqi soldiers have seized the northern third of Falluja from insurgents on the second day of a full-scale assault, the US military says.Troops have been advancing towards the centre, fighting rebels armed with rifles and mortars street by street.
Early on Tuesday the US-led troops reached a key objective early - a mosque in the north part of Falluja.
US and Iraqi officials hope the assault - deeply unpopular with some Iraqis - will help prepare for January's poll.
It is estimated there could be tens of thousands of civilians still in Falluja.
A correspondent in Falluja for the BBC's Arabic service says he can see heavy street-fighting in the centre of the city, with US soldiers moving from house to house.
Some reports say US units have crossed the central highway in the heart of Falluja.
Earlier, a US tank commander said guerrillas were putting up a strong fight in the north-western Jolan district.
"These people are hardcore," Capt Robert Bodisch told Reuters news agency.
"A man pulled out from behind a wall and fired an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) at my tank. I have to get another tank to go back in there."
Sensitivities
The BBC's Paul Wood, embedded with US soldiers - and whose reporting is subject to military restrictions - says US-led forces reached their first major objective, al-Hidra mosque 1km (0.6 miles) into Falluja from the north, early on Tuesday.
The US military said the building was being used as an arms depot and a meeting point for the leaders of the insurgency.
The mosque is surrounded, and Iraqi forces fighting alongside US marines will in due course storm it.
Our correspondent says the US military is intensely aware of local political sensitivities.
In other developments:
There is no indication of casualty numbers from the main assault.
- An indefinite night curfew is introduced in Baghdad
- Iraq's largest Sunni-led political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, pulls out of the interim government in protest at the Falluja assault
- The US military denies reports that one of its helicopters has been shot down over the city
- The US military says five of its troops were wounded and five insurgents killed in a clash in the neighbouring city of Ramadi
- A militant group vows to attack targets around Iraq in response to the Falluja offensive
- A suspected car bomb hits an Iraqi National Guard base near the northern city of Kirkuk
- Rebels attack police stations in Baquba, north of Baghdad, wounding a number of officers
No way out
One Falluja resident, Fadril al-Badrani, speaking by phone to the BBC, described conditions as like hell and said hundreds of bombs and shells were exploding every minute.
Most of the 250,000 civilians who live in Falluja have fled the city ahead of the offensive.
But 30,000 to 50,000 are estimated to remain there, and their escape routes are closed.
Our correspondent says that despite efforts by US forces to select targets carefully, their use of heavy artillery and tanks is bound to lead to civilian casualties.
The top US commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey, said US and Iraqi troops were facing an estimated 3,000 insurgents inside the city.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for the assault.
Asked to comment on the start of the Falluja assault, United Nations spokesman Fred Eckhard said Secretary General Kofi Annan was concerned that the attack could "destabilise the country at a critical point in the preparation for the elections".
Falluja is a predominantly Sunni Muslim city that has been a hotbed of resistance to the US-led occupation of Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein last year.
Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to be behind the kidnapping and killing of foreigners in Iraq, has urged resistance and said victory will come "in a matter of days".
The Kurds seem to be quite reliable.
Pray for troop safety and good hunting!
Prairie
Surely they are the equivilent to a resistance force?
They are objecting to the continued occupation of their country. Admittedly, if they laid down their arms the elections could go ahead much more smoothly. But, to brand them all as terrorists, when they are clearly not, is wrong IMHO. They are clearly demonstrating as Insurgents and that is what they are.
They are rising in revolt against established authority. This is the dictionary definition. This is what they are doing.
MSNBC: US military is reporting 3 US soilders have been killed in the last 12 hours. Bringing US loses up to 5.
IIRC, a large segment of their group is composed of non-Iraqi forces, brought in to the country by al Quaida. Personally I prefer the term "insurrectionists"
Well...you have segments of Al Queda, segments of Al Zarqawi loyalists and segments of Islamic extremists..
They are executing their own people inside Fallujah and blowing up innocent women and children, Iraqi soldiers and policemen all aver the area..They are beheading innocents.
You can call them minutemen like Michael Moore does..I'll call them TERRORISTS..That is what Allawi called them,too.
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