Operation Phantom Fury---Day III---Live thread

CNNFOXMSNBC | Nov 11,2004 | All of us

[Dog]

Todays thread post all comments here...tunnels are being found in the southern part of Fallujah....per CNN's embedded reporter on the scene.

[TexKat]

Rebels use mobility to counter US attack

Ibrahim Mohamad | Fallujah, Iraq

09 November 2004 17:55

advertisementLurking in shabby houses, rebel fighters fire gunshots and rockets at invading United States soldiers before rushing to another building to escape a punishing barrage of American artillery and missiles, AFP correspondents in Fallujah said on Tuesday.

The militants, many with scarves covering their faces, have chosen mobility to counter the far-superior US firepower as thousands of US and Iraqi troops storm their enclave, which has been a no-go area for foreigners since April.

But the besieged city is feeling the strain of the onslaught, with medics appealing for international aid as they struggle to cope with scores of patients, caught in the torrent of air strikes and missile fire, using a make-shift operating theatre.

Unable forcefully to block the rumbling advance of US tanks and armoured vehicles through the network of winding streets that make up Fallujah, rebels lurk in the side allies, allowing convoys to pass and then attacking.

Ducking and diving for cover when the shells thunder down, the fighters regroup and fire back when there is a minute's calm.

They have also posted snipers on the top of high buildings to hamper the progress of US ground troops, while taking shots at low-flying combat helicopters, which drop bombs and flares on rebel positions.

None of the fighters could take a moment's rest due to the relentless hail of gunfire. For food, they grabbed snacks brought by other rebels holding up the rear.

Reports about the battle of Fallujah differ depending whose version is given, with US troops saying they control a third of the city and were approaching the centre, while the fighters insist that the military was still only at the outskirts.

Walking outside is deadly and only fighters dare to venture out, while everyone else still in the city is forced to stay at home without water or electricity.

US military officials estimate that just 10% or 20% of Fallujah's 300 000-strong population remain, while Iraqi officials put the number much higher at about 100 000.

Mosques, which still have generators, have called on the people to resist the invasion of the US-Iraqi troops, with declarations made through loudspeakers.

The Fallujah assault has been building up for weeks, with 20 000 US and Iraqi troops gathering outside the city since mid-October ahead of the full-scale invasion, launched after Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave his permission on Monday.

Water and electricity has been cut off since Sunday, and the sanitation situation is deteriorating. An old cinema has been transformed into a operating room for a public clinic after the general hospital was seized by Iraqi forces on Monday.

"We have more than 30 wounded and our ability to perform operations such as amputations of legs and hands is constrained, especially because this is not our specialty," said its director, Dr Hachem al-Issawi.

"We are five doctors specialising in bones and not surgery," he said. "We do not have enough medicine and the lack electricity, water and fuel. We call on international organisations to intervene in this catastrophe."

Hazra Mohammadiyah, another makeshift clinic set up inside a mosque in the centre of Fallujah, is slightly more fortunate as it still has one ambulance left to pick up the wounded.

Fallujah has two other medical centres.

Locals are unable to reach the first, Taleb al-Janabi hospital, because it is situated close to a US military base. The second, which was built from donations from Bahrain, has not yet been equipped.

The roads in the centre of the city were all but deserted on Monday, except for a few cars driving around to pick up any wounded caught in the shelling, witnesses said.

All exits from the city were totally blocked from the morning and an indefinite curfew was imposed from 6pm. -- Sapa-AFP

[Senator_Palpatine]

It is too late for them to stop us now....They will
be destroyed....They have paid the price for their lack of vision...."There are no virgins in hell"

[JasonC]

That is what the Marines did in the war against Japan, when they took to tunnels and caves.

[TexKat]

A video image shows U.S. Soldiers on the streets of Falluja in Iraq, during fighting as U.S. and Iraqi troops battled through much of Falluja, November 10, 2004. The U.S.-led forces captured almost three quarters of Falluja on Wednesday, but Islamist militants struck back, kidnapping three of the prime minister's relatives and killing two dozen people around Iraq. REUTERS/Via Reuters TV/Pool

A video image shows U.S. Soldiers on the streets of Falluja in Iraq, during fighting as U.S. and Iraqi troops battled through much of Falluja, November 10, 2004. The U.S.-led forces captured almost three quarters of Falluja on Wednesday, but Islamist militants struck back, kidnapping three of the prime minister's relatives and killing two dozen people around Iraq. REUTERS/Via Reuters TV/Pool

[nicollo]

I watched the evening news report, complete with embedded reporters from the MSM and all their "objective" displays. I got to wondering, what's really happening? Where's Delta, where's Spec Ops? I didn't hear the word "sniper" once.

I can only assume so much more than what we hear. God bless 'em!

[TexKat]

Fallujah 'not end of story': former head of Iraqi council

LONDON (AFP) - Iraqi politician Adnan Pachachi warned that Fallujah was "not the end of the story" and that the US-led offensive there could trigger even further violence.

"It seems probable that Fallujah is not the end of the story. They (insurgents) have already shown that they are able to perpetrate all kinds of discriminate violence all over the country," he told BBC television in an interview.

The Sunni Muslim elder statesman, one of the leaders of the post-war Iraqi Governing Council and a former Iraqi foreign minister from the pre-Saddam Hussein era, said the offensive to drive out and destroy rebels in Fallujah could backfire.

"I am afraid that if there's going to be an excessive use of force this will be counterproductive and will create a great deal of anger and resentment," he told the British broadcaster.

When pressed whether he thought the US soldiers used excessive violence, he said: "I hope there won't be (an excessive use of force), but of course, you know, the fight is... not balanced at all. On one side you have overwhelming force, on the other you have really, very, very little."

The greatest danger in the battle for Fallujah was that it appeared to target Sunni Muslims, since their participation was critical to any Iraqi political process, he said.

"Unfortunately some people are already feeling that the Sunni population are being singled out... which of course is not quite true....

"The worst thing that can happen is the feeling that somehow action is being taken against a particular section of the population. Because without Sunni full participation in the electoral process, I think the elections will fail," Pachachi said.

Sunni and Shiite figures have condemned the Fallujah assault, with Iraq's main Sunni party quitting the government and calling for a boycott of elections due to be held in January.

The US military said Wednesday they were in control of 70 percent of the city.

At this rate, it said it expected to achieve total control of the Sunni rebel enclave within 48 hours, even as insurgents regrouped in the south and fought from inside central mosques and other buildings.

Pachachi, an octogenarian, was originally named as Iraqi president on June 1 but turned down the post after being denounced as the candidate of the United States.

Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader, became president, a largely ceremonial role.

[Polybius]

Fallujah has more mosques per square mile than any other city in Iraq.

Fallujah has had more mosques per square mile than any other city in Iraq.

[TexKat]

Black Watch pilot shot by rebels

From Tom Newton Dunn of The Sun, at Camp Dogwood

AN ARMY pilot attached to The Black Watch battle group was critically injured last night after being shot while at the controls of his helicopter.

The Army Air Corps Lynx helicopter was raked with small arms fire as it flew on a routine patrol from the Black Watch base, Camp Dogwood, to Baghdad.

Insurgents hiding in palm groves ten miles north east of the base shot at the helicopter as it flew at high speed at a tactical altitude of less than 100ft with an RAF Puma helicopter.

The helicopter’s co-pilot managed to regain control of the stricken aircraft and land it back at the desert base, but the pilot suffered serious chest injuries.

The rebel attack was one of five on the 850-strong Black Watch battle group yesterday as insurgents stepped up their campaign to coincide with the US onslaught of Fallujah.

Another serviceman suffered shrapnel wounds during the unit’s most intense day of combat yet on the controversial 30-day mission.

Camp Dogwood was struck by four missile and mortar attacks yesterday.

The soldier was hit by shrapnel when the first barrage of four rockets exploded inside the camp. A second Lynx helicopter was badly damaged on the base’s main helicopter landing site.

The injured soldiers were taken to an American military hospital in Baghdad by US Black Hawk helicopters.

Doctors classified the wounded pilot as a “P1” casualty — the most serious category — but his condition had stabilised last night.

Five soldiers have died and 12 have been wounded, three seriously, in the 13 days since The Black Watch moved north from the southern British sector of Iraq. There was growing anger among the Scots troops last night as more comrades went down to rebel violence. Many of the soldiers spoke of their frustration at their hidden enemy.

B Company section commander Corporal John Rose, 34, from Glasgow, said: “It seems like wherever we go, they hit us.

“It’s really frustrating because we have to stand here and just take it at the moment. These scumbags are cowards because they won’t come out and fight us in the open.”

Officers believe that dozens of foreign fighters driven out of Fallujah have settled in a network of villages close to Camp Dogwood. The battle group has orders to bar any fighters fleeing the city and stop reinforcements or supplies getting through.

[TexKat]

[demlosers]

That is what the Marines did in the war against Japan, when they took to tunnels and caves.

[Gucho]

In one of the most dramatic clashes of the day, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of the Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, the military said. Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported. The troops called in four precision airstrikes that destroyed the minarets but left the mosque standing. Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs. ''We're taking fire from the mosque,'' one of the Americans said. Forces returned fire, blasting the mosque a large domed building flanked by two minarets and sending up clouds of debris. ''When they're using a mosque to do command and control for insurgents and kill my fellow Marines and soldiers and airmen that are out here no holds barred, the gloves are off,'' said Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer.

[WifeMotherDaughterSister]

Yes I always admire the manicurist who has a steady hand with incoming, don't you?
:D sarcasm on high
I can't image what definition of the 'high life' they are operating under.

[TexKat]

70 insurgents killed in mosque battle

By Toby Harnden in Fallujah

(Filed: 11/11/2004)

American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex.

Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a "high-value target" or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries.

US marines set up a firing position in a building in Fallujah

The strike took place on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the invasion of the rebel-held Sunni bastion began, after an Abrams tank commander from Phantom troop, part of the US Army's Task Force 2-2, observed large numbers of men converging on a building next to a mosque. "Guys with short brown hair, dark pants and carrying AK-47s were moving in groups of between two and five across the road to a yellow building," said Lt Neil Prakash, the tank commander.

"Then some started throwing Molotov cocktails and pouring gasoline on the road to create a smokescreen."

They apparently thought the smoke would obscure them from view.

US marines take a wounded comrade to a waiting helicopter Lt Prakash, whose call-sign is Red 6, observed the scene through the optical sight of his tank, 2,400 metres away in an "area of responsibility" or AOR covered by the 1st Company, 8th Marines, west of Task Force 2-2's AOR on the eastern edge of the city.

The constraints of firing into another AOR, where US marines might be operating, and the danger of damaging the mosque, which would have provoked outrage in the Arab world, meant attacking the building had to be authorised at a very senior level.

A Humvee from Phantom troop fitted with a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) was moved to within two kilometres of the mosque, well inside its maximum range of 15km, to get a second opinion on what was happening. "The strike was so sensitive that it took more than an hour to approve it," said Maj John Reynolds, operations officer for 2-2. "Normally it happens in minutes."

American tanks engage insurgents on the streets of Fallujah

Lt Prakash was asked to provide a grid co-ordinate, accurate to within a metre, to minimise the chance of hitting the mosque, about 50 metres from the building.

At about 3pm, the higher authorisation came through and Lt Col Pete Newell, commanding 2-2 and with the call-sign Ramrod 6, gave the order to fire a barrage of 20 155mm high-explosive shells from howitzers about three miles away from the mosque.

Specialist James Taylor, manning the LRAS, watched the burst of shells hit.

"They landed on the left side of the building and I saw three bodies fly into the air," he said. "It was awesome."

Lt Prakash radioed that the rounds were right on target and requested 10 more to ensure maximum killing effect.

"One of the men was in a sniper position on the building," said Lt Prakash. "I saw him fall off, hit the ground and bounce up. There were about five bodies that went three, four, five storeys up in the air. I'd already counted between 40 and 50 men going into that building. There were men running out, coughing and doubling over. The second lot of rounds took them out and all those who had been crossing the road.

It is believed that Task Force 2-2 hit fighters gathered to discuss how to retreat after US forces had pushed the insurgents down from the north and in from the east.

Mobile phone intercepts and reports from Iraqi informants suggested there were 70 gunmen in the building and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished. A final assessment on who died has yet to be made.

A tank pushes its way through the streets of Fallujah as the US-led forces intensify efforts to rout out rebel insurgents

A video grab shows blindfolded Iraqi men, detained during the assault

"We are hearing reports saying that the enemy is withdrawing to a central place for a final stand," said Maj Reynolds. "It's like a Gettysburg. We have surrounded the whole area."

[CDB]

Asia Times appears to be a front for the Peop;e's Republic of China's propaganda machine, and must be read with care

[TexKat]

In one of the most dramatic clashes of the day, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of the Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, the military said. Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported. The troops called in four precision airstrikes that destroyed the minarets but left the mosque standing. Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs. ''We're taking fire from the mosque,'' one of the Americans said. Forces returned fire, blasting the mosque a large domed building flanked by two minarets and sending up clouds of debris. ''When they're using a mosque to do command and control for insurgents and kill my fellow Marines and soldiers and airmen that are out here no holds barred, the gloves are off,'' said Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer.

U.S. and Iraqi forces exchange fire with pockets of resistance in Fallujah; hostage ''slaughterhouses'' found

[TexKat]

Asia Times appears to be a front for the Peop;e's Republic of China's propaganda machine, and must be read with care

I do, thanks.

[Gucho]

Missiles and ammunition left by insurgents in Fallujah are seen in this TV image on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004. Throughout the day, US soldiers, backed by Iraqi forces, hit the militants with artillery and mortars, and warplanes fired on the city's main street and market as well as the insurgent stronghold of Jolan, one of several neighborhoods where troops were skirmishing with militants.

[CDB]

Great! I read something a couple days ago on a completely different subject (Japanese kamikazes, IIRC) and couldn't believe it. Sent it to some pals in the Pacific for "evaluation," and sure enough they said it reaked of smelly fish.

[Smartass]

Great pic...

Thanks For The PING

[TexKat]

Eyewitness: Defiance amid carnage

As US forces battle insurgents in streets strewn with rubble and corpses, Iraqi sources question the claims that the US controls much of Falluja. The BBC News website spoke by phone to Fadhil Badrani, a journalist in the city who reports for the BBC World Service in Arabic.

The heaviest fighting has been in the north of Falluja

I went for a walk around the city last night after the Americans pulled back.

It was very quiet - often the only sounds coming from the movement of fighters along streets and rooftops.

In places, it was also very dark, with only the occasional rocket or flare lighting the way.

Wherever I went, I found broken buildings and bodies - local people and fighters killed on the streets.

Clutching weapons

I also saw four crippled US tanks and three abandoned Humvees.

In the Hasbiyyah area, I counted the bodies of at least six US soldiers lying on the ground.

Some of them were badly mangled with various bits blown off. Others were in better condition, as if they had taken small-arms fire.

I noticed two of the US soldiers were still clutching their guns tightly across their chests. But most of their weapons were missing.

Some of the dead are beginning to rot in the streets.

But the living do not exactly smell great either - I have not had a bath for a week. Nor have I shaved.

There is no real rest here, day or night.

Jolan flashpoint

The US brought in a very big force on Wednesday morning.

The mosques no longer broadcast the daily call to prayer but nor are they silent.

US soldiers evacuate a wounded colleague from Falluja

Every time a big bomb lands nearby, the cry rises from the minarets: "Allahu Akbar" [God is great].

The worst fighting is to the north of the city, in the Jolan district.

This is where a lot of the fighters have been based.

Incidentally, it is also where US security guards were ambushed in April, leading to the first siege of Falluja.

I think it is misleading to say the US controls 70% of the city because the fighters are constantly on the move.

They go from street to street, attacking the army in some places, letting them through elsewhere so that they can attack them later.

The fighters have told me they are prepared to resist the Americans until the death.

They say they are fighting not just for Falluja, but for all Iraq.

They express confidence that they will win in the end.

They say the idea is to inflict enough casualties on the American troops to force them to reconsider their mission.