I've really been out of it this week while trying to get caught up on work.
From the news snippets I've caught, I get the impression the coalition assault is moving ahead of schedule. But it seems many of the evildoers escaped ahead of the attack.
Is that about right?
Is there a good place to read up on where they went and where we'll be attacking next?
Well I just have been googleing news for each individual city, such as Mosul, Ramadi, Baquba, Beiji, and yes I have found some terrorists actions going on in each.
Now mind you these could be other terrorists, not the Falluja terrorist. But one never knows.
for a quickie update Centcom puts out releases,
http://www.centcom.mil
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
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.