Posted on 11/24/2004 3:16:34 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 24 - United States marines and Iraqi soldiers today discovered the empty home of Abdullah Janabi, the insurgent leader of this city's mujahedeen council, and his bomb-laden mosque, where they found a massive supply of weapons that dwarfed any of the hundreds of caches yet found, military officials said.American commanders say they do not believe Mr. Janabi has been in the city for some time, though The Washington Post published an interview with him last week in which he was quoted saying he was still in the city along with other insurgent fighters.
As they comb through the city's houses, search teams of American and Iraqi soldiers have discovered much larger supplies of weapons than they expected, and the need to detonate them safely could delay initial reconstruction efforts under way here, officials said. Explosions can be heard throughout the day as munitions teams detonate the weapons in a quarry north of the city, but some are too dangerous and must be blown up in place.
"We knew there would be ordnance," said Lt. General Richard Natonski, the Marine commander who planned the American strike here, "but what we found exceeded our wildest expectations."
General Natonski took a tour of the Janabi mosque several hours after it was discovered this morning by a company of marines from the Third Battalion, Fifth Regiment. The mosque, in a residential area just north of the main east-west artery known as Highway 10, included at least a dozen brick outbuildings packed with bombs, guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and ammunition. The diversity of the weapons surprised the officers here: in the street outside, a ship mine stood in a puddle.
Just inside the mosque compound was an aluminum shed full of mortars and TNT. Like many weapons depots in Falluja, it had been wired to explode, and had to be carefully dismantled by an American explosives team. Inside the compound was a document explaining how to destroy tanks using rocket-propelled grenades. General Natonski picked up a white pilot's helmet among the mortars and gazed wonderingly at it.
"Did you find any Darth Vader helmets?" he asked the marine captain next to him.
In the mosque caretaker's hut, there were boxes of mortars and bullets, and signs of a life hastily abandoned. A refrigerator stood in the corner, its door open, with eggs and bottles of water visible.
On the top floor of the mosque were nine artillery shells, mixed in with boxes of tile. In the back of the compound was an ice cream truck, its sides colorfully decorated with orange, red and blue popsicles. Inside it was packed with rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials.
"This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, using the military term for improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs.
Mr. Janabi's house, a few blocks away, contained no weapons and was oddly peaceful. Behind the metal gate was a tiled courtyard. Inside, a marble-floored hallway led to a living room with modest brown couches.
On a table were stacks of documents, including passports (the only country he had traveled to recently was Syria, a translator who read the document said) and other identification papers for Mr. Janabi and members of his family. There were letters, including one dated Oct. 20 from the clerical council of Baghdad asking him to negotiate the surrender of Falluja. In a box, there was a Bronze Star, an American military decoration awarded for valor - in all likelihood, the general said, stolen from a convoy.
There was also Mr. Janabi's personal name stamp, used for letters, and a white hat signifying that he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca that is expected of devout Muslims at least once in a lifetime, if they can afford it.
Also found in the house were files showing the names of people who had been tortured and executed for cooperating with the Americans and their allies, military officials said.
There were also more than 500 letters from the families of insurgents who had been killed or wounded, asking for compensation from Mr. Janabi, said a military translator on the scene. They included the families of fighters from Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Algeria, and about 100 native Fallujans.
Elsewhere, aside from the debris scattered by investigators sifting through Mr. Janabi's possessions, the house was relatively clean and orderly. Upstairs were two red-and-blue tricycles, and a children's primer for learning English. A fridge stood open in the kitchen, with a plate of rice visible inside, three yogurt containers, a half-rotten apricot.
After touring the house, the general sat down to chat briefly in the living room with a dozen officers and marines, including Capt. Drew McNulty, whose men had discovered the house that morning. A detonation shook the windows.
"If you were a glass merchant in this city - ," he said. The men laughed, and there was a pause. General Natonski looked up and smiled. "Who would have thought three or four weeks ago we'd be sitting in Janabi's living room?" he said.
The U.S. Military working hard at a thankless job while being attacked by terrorists and the Liberal news media.
They should bulldoze this terrorist leaders house like the Israelis do.
"This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, using the military term for improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs.
Why am I thinking it was no travelling IED factory but rather a truck bomb indended to lure a large crowd of children up to it before going off?
Remember the footage of those sailors standing at the bow with a M-14?
Thanks for the link to the pix.
Anyone notice how the number of daily car bombings have fallen off?
Continue the sweep, drive them into a new killing zone and let our boys go.
Trials. We don't need no trials. We don't need no stinkin' trials.
'used as a transitive verb: to cause to appear small by comparison.'
I'm going to the mattresses..dictionary. How about just using "'dwarfs'100s others". You may be right, that clause needs a verb, so they used a pluralnounverbform.
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"If you were a glass merchant in this city - ," he said. The men laughed, and there was a pause. General Natonski looked up and smiled. "Who would have thought three or four weeks ago we'd be sitting in Janabi's living room?" he said.
And even "Pop Goes The Weasel" gets tiresome after a couple of miles.
Those folks are kickin butt in a right proper manner and for that I am grateful and will set a place at my dinner table tomorrow for those in harms way who could'nt be home with their family and friends. We do that every year as my parents did it for me and my brother while we were active duty so we continue the tradition.
BTW........
In 90/91 during Desert Shiled & Desert Storm a Butcher Shop in Washington state had sent a bunch of care packages to the any Soldier , Sailor ,Airman ,Marine program. They continue to do so today. Some of the very best jerky one can get anywhere. I finally tracked down the guy and his wife today and would like all to at least call him and thank him as his family owned business is still doing it for GI's deployed today !
Owens Meats
502 E 1st Street, Cle Elum, WA 98922
(509) 674-2530
Ask for Don Owens ! Send some to your troops !!
Stay safe !!
How long before TROP sympathizers protest our soldiers being in this mosque with their boots on? I say any mosque found with weapons inside is a military site and should be leveled.
Huh? A mosque is not desecrated if weapons and ammo are stored in it. Where did you get that idea? In fact serving as an ammo dump is an essential function of a mosque.
Don't worry the MSM will say NOTHING of these "Holy Places" being used a arsenals.
I like your family's tradition.
I know I've already told you I
am also going to set a place at
my dinner table for those in harm's
way tomorrow too.
Haw haw haw.
Sweet
Kool ! If ya have a second and a spare dime try to send a little business to Mr Owens as he helped me and my guys in Desert Storm. We could just take so many MRE's and at the 6th month of em we got two big packages from the states. One was the beef jerky made by Mr Owens and the other was 2 dozen fruit cakes from Corsicana Texas !
Girl were we sick !..........:o)
We had real food to snack on and I thank these people for what they did for us.
If ya can ....:o)
Stay safe !
Interesting observation. I've always thought the MSM was as a collective organism, hopelessly bipolar.
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