They're also whining about the potential tens of thousands of innocent civilians still trapped in the city. Funny, I've never heard 'insurgents' described in quite that way before...
ping
Charles Sabine, appearing on Imus's show on MSNBC a while ago, was already going on about the prospect of a lot of civilian casualties.
|
|
 |
||
|
Smoke billows from Fallujah, Iraq (news - web sites), as U.S. Army and Marines pounded the city with airstrike and artillery early morning, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2004. U.S. Army and Marine units entered the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah through a breach near the railroad station at dawn Tuesday. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) |
|||
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".
Pray for troop safety and good hunting!
Prairie
Prayers for those brave soldiers.
There was a CNN radio report from an embedded reporter (sorry, can't remember the name or with what unit he was embedded) and it sounded pretty good--he said they're encountering less resistance than they expected.
Thanks, J.
Don Imus was ranting this morning about Rumsfeld's "lying" about the number of Iraqi troops participating. He says that Rumsfeld has tried to say that this was an Iraqi-led invasion. Of course Rumsfeld has never said that or implied that, but no one will tell Imus that he is all wet. They simply let him rant.
Greg Palcott (FoxNews embed) said last nite in Fallujah was 'shock and awe'.
While he was giving his live report about an hour ago, in the background were a few soldiers/Marines sleeping on the ground, getting some much needed rest.
Greg said they had operated on 2 hours sleep previously.
It is just after 6 PM in Bagdad now. Palcott on now reporting an 'eerie calm.' Night just falling. No pedestrians or vehicles on the streets.
Palcott called it 'hell and fury' last night during the 'shock and awe'.
"I got myself a real juicy target," shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of Phantom's Humvees. "Prepare to copy that 89089226. Direction 202 degrees. Range 950 metres. I got five motherf****** in a building with weapons." A dozen loud booms rattle the sky and smoke rose as mortars rained down on the co-ordinates the sergeant had given. "Yeah," he yelled. "Battle Damage Assessment - nothing. Building's gone. I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job."
ALL THE WAY
/clintEastwood(CE1B2).jpg)
" HELL IS COMING TO BREAKFAST "Battle for Fallujah continues
From correspondents in near Fallujah, Iraq
November 10, 2004
US and Iraqi troops today seized control of the northern third of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, a high-ranking marine officer said.
The reported success came less than 24 hours after the launch of an all-out assault on the rebel Iraqi city.
The US military said three troops had been killed and another 14 wounded in and around Fallujah in the past 12 hours. A total of five US troops have died since the offensive began.
The military reported lighter-than-expected resistance in Jolan, a Sunni militant held warren of alleyways in northeastern Fallujah where the assault began.
However, residents said heavy street clashes were raging in other northern sectors amid fierce bursts of gunfire, with at least two American tanks in flames.
A Kiowa helicopter flying over southeast Fallujah took groundfire, injuring the pilot, but he returned to the US base.
By noon, US armoured units had reached the central highway in the heart of the city, crossing over into the southern part, despite a call by the militant Islamic Army in Iraq on its website for attacks on key targets.
"The once constant thunder of artillery barrages has been halted with so many troops moving inside the city's narrow alleys. The US and Iraqi forces have surrounded a mosque inside the city that was used as an arms depot and insurgent meeting point," the BBC reported.
Colonel Michael Formica, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade, said a security cordon around the city would be tightened to ensure insurgents dressed in civilian clothing didn't slip out.
"My concern now is only one - not to allow any enemy to escape. As we tighten the noose around him, he will move to escape to fight another day. I do not want these guys to get out of here. I want them killed or captured as they flee," he said.
Overnight the skies over Fallujah lit up with flashes of air and artillery barrages as American forces laid siege to the city that had become the major sanctuary for Islamic extremists who fought Marines to a standstill last April.
A US military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed in bombardment and skirmishes before the main assault began yesterday. Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates river near Fallujah.
The initial ground assault into Fallujah's Askari and Jolan neighbourhoods was by US Army tanks and Humvees. US Marines went up to the edge of the city, secured the area and then armoured vehicles crushed barriers and pushed into the city, with the Marines following.
The media reported orange explosions lighting up the district's palm trees, minarets and dusty roofs, and a fire burning on the city's edge.
"A US jet fired an air-to-ground missile at a building late yesterday from which US and Iraqi forces had taken fire," the US command said.
US troops cut off electricity to the city, and most private generators were not working - either because their owners wanted to conserve fuel or the wires had been damaged by explosions.
Residents said they were without running water and were worried about food shortages as most shops in the city had been closed for the past two days.
By nightfall, a civilian living in the centre of Fallujah said hundreds of houses had been destroyed.
The top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, told reporters in Washington that 10,000 to 15,000 US troops along with a smaller number of Iraqi forces were encircling the city. The offensive was considered the most important military effort to re-establish government control over Sunni strongholds west of Baghdad before elections in January.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said large numbers of civilians would not be killed.
Yesterday, a doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed.
US commanders estimated that 3000 insurgents were barricaded in Fallujah.
Gen. Casey said some insurgents slipped away but others "have moved in."
US military officials believe 20 per cent of Fallujah's fighters are foreigners, who are believed to be followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Gen. Casey said 50 to 70 per cent of the city's 200,000 residents had fled. The numbers were in dispute, however, with some putting the population at 300,000.
Yesterday, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who gave the green light for the offensive, also announced a round-the-clock curfew in Fallujah and the nearby insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
Mr Allawi has also imposed a night curfew on Baghdad for an indefinite period, from 10.30pm to 4am (6.30am to noon AEDT).
In Britain, Iraq's deputy prime minister defended the operation.
"The terrorists are mindless, they are killing our children and trying to destroy our lives and take us back to tyranny," Barham Saleh told the BBC.
The prominent Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, announced it was pulling out its single Cabinet member, Industry Minister Hajim Al-Hassani, from the Iraqi government.
"We are protesting the attack on Fallujah and the injustice that is inflicted on the innocent people of the city," said party chief Mohsen Abdel-Hamid.
US commanders have avoided any public estimate on how long it may take to capture Fallujah.
Today, more violence was reported across the country, with attacks on two police stations in the central town of Baqouba in which one attacker was killed, while two construction workers killed by a car bomb in the north.
The extremist Islamic Army in Iraq ordered its militants to attack key targets, including the US headquarters, the oil and finance ministries, military bases, embassies and major hotels.
The group is thought to be based mainly in Fallujah and follows the strict Wahabi school of Islam.
Another statement by the group denounced "the slaughter by the infidels in Iraq".
"Your enemy is arrogant. Strike him with all firmness. Make him taste humiliation and a bitter death," said the group.
The group has demanded Paris lift a controversial ban on headscarves in state schools to secure the release of French journalists, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, abducted in late August.
Since its first statements in March, the shadowy Sunni Muslim militant group has never failed to deliver on its ultimatums and has not hesitated to execute an Italian journalist and two Pakistanis it was holding.
- with Agence-France Presse
The Associated Press