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FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi general leading a force that controls Falluja said he had no plans to disarm insurgents, defying demands by U.S. commanders who appointed him and raising tension with Marines encircling the restive city.Mohammed Latif, a former intelligence officer who now heads the Falluja Brigade, also told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday that U.S. forces should go home if they wanted peace. "Weapons are not the problem. They are easy to collect," he said. "What we need to do is rebuild our country. There is no need for American soldiers. I am sure the...

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi general leading a force that controls Falluja said he had no plans to disarm insurgents, defying demands by U.S. commanders who appointed him and raising tension with Marines encircling the restive city. Mohammed Latif, a former intelligence officer who now heads the Falluja Brigade, also told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday that U.S. forces should go home if they wanted peace. "Weapons are not the problem. They are easy to collect," he said. "What we need to do is rebuild our country. There is no need for American soldiers. I am sure...

U.S. Troops to Lift Cordon Around Northwest Falluja Wed May 5,12:47 AM ET FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines said they planned to lift a security cordon around the volatile northwest of the city of Falluja on Wednesday and allow traffic in for the first time in a month. The cordon had previously been tightly enforced in the hope of trapping guerrillas inside the Golan district, a hotbed of resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq (news - web sites). "We expect to open the roads at checkpoints jointly manned by marines and Iraqi forces on Wednesday," Lieutenant-Colonel Gregg Olsen,...

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The U.S. Marines besieging Falluja brought in a former Iraqi general with a history of standing up to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) on Monday to lead a force they have charged with putting down an insurgency in the city. After outrage among victims of the Baathist regime at their appointment of a former general in his feared Republican Guard, U.S. commanders have now brought in another ex-general, Mohammed Latif, to take overall command of the Falluja Brigade. As U.S. commanders struggle to stamp out open rebellion in two cities and bombings that kill...

FALLUJA, Iraq, May 2 — A little over a week ago, 7,000 marines backed by artillery, tanks and deadly AC-130 gunships were poised for an all-out attack to rid this city of a stubborn insurgency, including an estimated force of several hundred foreign fighters. Instead, apparently at the behest of political leaders and top commanders concerned about the consequences of such an assault on a town of 300,000 people, the marines entered an odd alliance with a former commander of the feared Republican Guard and his somewhat amorphous army. The marines' hope is to put an Iraqi face on control...

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Soldiers of the old Iraqi army led by one of Saddam Hussein's generals patrolled the city of Falluja on Saturday, a year after George W. Bush declared the U.S. "mission accomplished" in ousting the Iraqi regime. Cries of "victory over the Americans" echoed from minarets and guerrilla gunmen celebrated in the streets under the green banner of Islam and Saddam-era Iraqi flags. Thousands who had fled a month of heavy fighting streamed back to their homes after U.S. Marines pulled back from their siege positions. Mired in a confrontation that spilled blood on both sides and...