Posted on 11/25/2004 6:14:24 PM PST by neverdem
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 24 - United States marines and Iraqi soldiers discovered the empty home of Abdullah Janabi, an insurgent leader in Falluja, and his bomb-laden mosque, packed with a supply of weapons that dwarfs any caches found so far, military officials said Wednesday.
American and Iraqi officials say they believe Mr. Janabi has not been in the city for some time, though he said in an interview last week with The Washington Post that he was still there.
As search teams continue combing through Falluja, they have discovered unexpectedly large stashes of weapons, so large, officials say, that the need to detonate them safely could slow reconstruction. Explosions are heard throughout the day as munitions teams destroy the weapons just outside the city, but some must be dismantled or blown up in place.
"We knew there would be ordnance," said Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, the Marine commander who planned the American strike here, "but what we found exceeded our wildest expectations."
American troops also continue to fight small groups of die-hard insurgents, even as they begin clearing rubble and assessing the damage. Residents who fled to surrounding villages have said that mujahedeen roam the streets at night, after the American and Iraqi forces withdraw to their checkpoints and bases.
The rebels elude American pursuit by scampering across the close-packed rooftops of houses that remain standing, the refugees say. American search teams still routinely smash in doors, blow up rooftop water tanks and destroy all the food they find on market shelves to make it more difficult for the mujahedeen.
Mr. Janabi, a 53-year-old cleric, cemented his position as leader of Falluja's resistance after last April's aborted Marine invasion, when the city solidified into a rebel bastion.
An adherent of the Salafiya sect of Sunni Islam, a fundamentalist branch followed by Osama bin Laden and the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Mr. Janabi set up a strict Taliban-like regime in Falluja. He named himself head of the mujahedeen council and provided safe haven for foreigners like Mr. Zarqawi and anyone willing to take up arms against the Americans or the interim Iraqi government. He worked closely with a Falluja native believed to be Mr. Zarqawi's second in command, Omar Hadid.
In the weeks before the offensive, Iraqi officials met with other leaders of Falluja to seek a peace agreement, but they said they did not expect Mr. Janabi or the foreign fighters would obey those leaders even if an agreement were reached.
General Natonski toured the Janabi home and mosque several hours after they were found Wednesday by troops from the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines.
The mosque complex, in a residential area just north of Highway 10, the east-west artery, encompassed a dozen brick buildings packed with bombs, guns, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition. In the street outside, a ship mine sat in a puddle.
Just inside the mosque compound was an aluminum shed full of mortars and TNT, the general said. Like many weapons depots in Falluja, it had been wired to explode, and had to be dismantled by an American explosives team. Inside was a document explaining how to destroy tanks using rocket-propelled grenades.
The general marveled at a white pilot's helmet among the mortars. "Did you find any Darth Vader helmets?" he asked a Marine captain.
In a caretaker's hut were boxes of mortars and bullets, General Natonski said. On the mosque's top floor were nine artillery shells. In the back of the compound was an ice cream truck, decorated with orange, red, and blue popsicles and packed with rocket propelled grenades and bomb-making materials.
"This was probably a traveling I.E.D. factory," General Natonski said, referring to "improvised explosive devices."
Mr. Janabi's house, a few blocks away, held no weapons. A metal gate gave way to a tiled courtyard. A marble hallway led to a living room with modest brown couches.
On a table were stacks of documents, including passports and other identification papers for Mr. Janabi and members of his family. (The only country Mr. Janabi had traveled to recently was Syria, a translator who read his passport said.)
There were letters; one dated Oct. 20 from Baghdad's clerical council asked him to negotiate the surrender of Falluja. Also found was Mr. Janabi's white head covering, signifying that he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Military officials said they also discovered files in the house showing the names of people who had been tortured and executed for cooperating with the Americans and their allies.
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 and Algeria, and of about 100 native Fallujans fighters.
Edward Wong contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article and an Iraqi employee ofThe New York Times contributed from Falluja.
Isn't "mosque" A-rab for "ammo dump"?
This another good news story. And it's funny to see the NYT desperately try to put a bad spin on it..."Insurgents still roam at night,jumping from roof to roof". I'm sure more and more of same are missing the roof all together.
Mosque = Terrorist Barracks
Red Crescent Ambulance = Munitions Supply Truck
Radical Muslim = REAL Muslim who follows the Koran
Moderate Muslim = A Trojan horse who quietly smiles and nods his head at the terrorists
Koran = a call to terror, murder, oppression, slavery, misogyny and backward culture
Infidel = all non Muslims and Muslims who are not on jihad (all doomed to die)
Holy Lands = all lands unfortunate enough to be or ever have been under the heavy yoke of Muslim terror, murder, oppression, slavery, misogyny
Islamic Pride = an insanely jealous hatred for every other culture that has left Islam groveling in its own seventh-century dust.
CAIR = Crying Arabic Islamic Retrogrades
Minaret = Satan's Jukebox - or - Howling Hell Tower
Burkha = Misogynistic Mobile Women's Prison
Muslim Chaplin (U.S. Armed Forces) = Turncoat Brigade Recruiter
Rape = something the guys get to do, especially to those hottie infidel chicks! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
Modern Technology = "Huh? Oh yes, that stuff the evil infidels make and maintain for us to use for to kill them."
Allah = the Moon God, whose most important representative here on earth is that meteorite worshiped in Mecca
Little Boys = a man's pleasure machines
Paradise = a giant rape orgy for you - if you die while ruthlessly murdering innocent unsuspecting infidel women and children
U.S. Armed Forces = things to run away from or kill with booby-traps, unless you can take a cheap shot at them and then hide behind women and children or hide in a Mosque.
Christian Church = firewood
Synagogue = firewood
Buddhist Temple = firewood
Hindu Temple = firewood
Confucian Church = firewood
Jewish Restaurant = Bomb Demolition Depot
Holy site = anything Muslim, unlike those giant Buddhist statues in Afghanistan that were precious to Buddhists. “We blew those up real good! Heh, heh!”
Truce = a chance to regroup and kill more infidels later
Liberalism = the societal AIDS virus that stops the infidels from fighting Islam off
The American Democratic Party = The Islamonazi’s best hope to destroy America, the great Satan!
Imam = Terrorist chief
I thought my throat clearing was a bit rusty.....thanks for the correction! Keep the (true) Faith!
Yeah, if they're having to get around by jumping from roof to roof, I'd say they weren't winning, wouldn't you?
Multi-culteralism and secular humanism - The wide paths in through the front door.
The earlier Marine invasion was called off mostly because of propaganda from the New York Times and other MSM outlets. How many thousands of innocent victims would have been spared if we had been able to clean up Fallujah back then?
ACLU - Muslim legal department
Deft Definitions BUMP
culteralism = culturalism
Imagine that.
I would have been surprised if any mosque that was searched WASN'T full of weapons and ammo.
Its only news if they find a Mosque that DOESN'T have weapons.
Speaking of which, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to shake down the mosques in this country too (just to be sure).
But it'll be in the rest of the MSM tomorrow!
Oh wait.....it'll be a lame duck Friday. Let's see.....two day weekend.....then Monday, NEW breaking news.
Spit.
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