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...The first of the troublesome cities to return to Iraqi government control was Samarra.... Most important, allied forces seem poised finally to take control of Fallujah, which has been a no-go zone since the end-of-April deal that turned the town over to ex-Baathists called the Fallujah Brigade. That decision was easily the biggest mistake of the war, since it caused both friend and foe to question American resolve and gave the thugs a safe haven from which to stage car bombings and other attacks. ...[T]he Marines have established a cordon around the city and the Iraqi government is negotiating with...

Four people were killed in shelling at a checkpoint of the Fallujah Brigade, which had been patrolling the city since April, security and hospital officials said. Captain Majid Ahmad Salim, the Fallujah Brigade’s commander in the southern part of the city, said the fire came from U.S. tanks outside the city. The U.S. military said they had no immediate information on the attack. Salim and other Iraqi officers said it was the first such incident between U.S. troops and members of the Fallujah Brigade, made up in part of loyalists to former president Saddam Hussein and insurgents who fought U.S....

The mujahedeen, who led that fight, now wield vast influence in the city, aided by the perception that they gave Islam a rare victory over a superpower. From an American perspective, the "Fallujah Brigade" experiment -- billed at the time as "an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem" -- has been a disaster. The U.S. military now says Fallujah is a den of terrorists and a refuge for foreign Muslim fighters waging global jihad against America

<p>Fallujah, Iraq, Jun. 25 (UPI) -- Iraqis who live in Fallujah say foreign Muslim fighters have instituted a Taliban-like regime in the city, the Washington Times reported Friday.</p> <p>Among the steps taken by the non-Iraqi mujahedin are bans on drinking and music, establishment of Islamic courts to enforce moral codes and the execution of more than a dozen people suspected of helping U.S. forces.</p>

BAGHDAD — A mortar attack Wednesday shattered several weeks of relative calm in Fallouja, wounding 12 members of a special Iraqi brigade created last month to end the bloody standoff between U.S. forces and insurgents in the restive city.The violence underscored security concerns as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to return sovereignty to Iraqis in three weeks.In Fallouja, attackers firing mortars and small arms struck a brigade led by former Iraqi army officers that had been brought in specifically to appease the local population. It was the first attack against the unit, which comprises many of the same residents...

In Iraq, apparently no news is good news. Two months ago everyone was talking about Fallujah. Four American citizens had been brutally murdered, and then a raging mob dragged their bodies through the streets and strung them up from a bridge. Every mosque in the city was calling for jihad, while the local police and fire departments ceased to exist. Then two days into offensive operations, the Marines suddenly seemed to halt their advance. Fallujah quickly became a metaphor for everything that was going wrong in Iraq. Today, however, the city of 200,000 is relatively quiet, and there's little reporting...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 May 11, 2004Release Number: 04-05-20 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FALLUJAH BRIGADE PROVIDES ROUTE SECURITY FOR MARINES CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- With the 1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade providing security all along their route, Marines from the I Marine Expeditionary Force traveled into downtown Fallujah May 10 to meet with city officials. The commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, met with Mahmood Ibraheem Al Jurasi, Fallujah's mayor, and a group of tribal sheiks to discuss...

FALLUJAH, Iraq, May 6 - The crackle of gunfire, omnipresent here just a week ago, has been replaced with the din of car horns. Shops that had been shuttered during a month-long siege by U.S. Marines, giving this city on the Euphrates River the feel of a ghost town, have begun to reopen. Attacks on the few remaining American troops in the surrounding desert have nearly ceased. But the seeming normalcy has come with a cost. Fallujah is now caught in a time warp. Iraqi soldiers wearing their crisp, olive-green army uniforms -- a sight unseen since former president Saddam...

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,...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - Somewhere on this base packed with enough firepower to flatten nearby Fallujah, the Marines have stashed thousands of Frisbees and soccer balls. They might seem frivolous, after weeks of the worst bloodshed since U.S. forces entered Iraq. Yet these nearly forgotten gifts for the people of Fallujah symbolize the failure of the Marines so far to achieve their mission of rebuilding the country and helping to pave the way for democracy after arriving in this area in mid-March. And the prospects for success are as uncertain as ever. In their bid to win over the Sunni...

Freepers have been hotly debating whether politicians or military commanders made the decision to cancel the Fallujahn offensive. Today Fox News Live’s Jon Scott (I believe) interviewed Jim Michaels (USA Today Reporter) just back from Fallujah. I transcribed the relevant portion of the interview. In summary he said that the Marines were told to stop the attack by Administrator Bremer under pressure from the Iraqi Governing Council. MICHAELS – “No one [in the Marines] was happy with the cease fire. The American contractors were killed. “They got the order to go in, as we know, on a big offensive. They...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The new Iraqi military formed to end weeks of violence in the flashpoint Sunni city of Fallujah faces being broken up once the US siege is over, a senior military officer said. AFP Photo   "It's a temporary force brought in to deal with the Fallujah situation," the officer said on condition of anonymity, referring to the so-called "Fallujah Brigade". "I think it will be dissolved" when the mission is accomplished of stabilising the city and ridding it of lawlessness, he said. "I suppose upon dissolution, if these people wanted ... to join the Iraqi security...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 May 3, 2004Release Number: 04-05-03 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARINES DELIVER SUPPLIES, BEGIN WORK PROJECTS AR RAMADI, Iraq - Marines delivered supplies to the 1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade Saturday, which is currently being integrated into the mission of providing security and stability in Fallujah. These supplies will enhance the service's ability to function and identify them more readily as a respected and lawful authority. Marines also negotiated a contract for workers to begin assembling equipment to clean up Fallujah....

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) May 02, 2004 Artillery fire shook this dusty military base outside Fallujah Sunday as US marines realigned their big guns after leaving some of their positions in the flashpoint city. A dozen explosions echoed across the marine base as artillery gunners fired 155 mm Howitzers cannons to ensure the accuracy of their targeting, said Major T.V. Johnson. "They are realigning the guns as the troops shift positions," said Johnson, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit. He said the exercise would ensure the troops on the ground can rapidly call for back-up fire if they...

Former Iraqi Soldiers Will Not Restore Order in Fallujah The U.S. Marine plan to have former Iraqi soldiers restore order in Fallujah ran into trouble Sunday as the former Iraqi general heading the new force denied there were any foreign fighters in the city, calling into question his commitment to American military objectives. A few hours later, the top U.S. military commander said the general would not be allowed to lead the scores of armed men he already has mustered in the city.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former general from Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard has not been given command of an Iraqi force that entered Fallujah after Marines ended a three-week siege, the U.S. military chief said Sunday. Gen. Richard Myers said news media were "very, very inaccurate" in their reporting about Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, who was said to have had a major role in organizing the "Fallujah Brigade" and the lifting of the siege. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said officials in Baghdad were checking into Saleh's background. "There are people that know his record, know what...

HEADLINE: 1st FSSG puts equipment on fast track to Fallujah Brigade 1st FSSG Public Affairs Public Affairs Office, 1st Force Service Support Group Released: May 2, 2004 CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq - Supporting efforts to quickly employ Iraqis in helping coalition forces stabilize Fallujah, Marines of the 1st Force Service Support Group sped weapons and gear to the city to outfit a newly created Iraqi army battalion May 1, 2004. The1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade is being established in hopes that it will be a concrete step toward a peaceful resolution in the volatile city. When it has been fully...

HEADLINE: 1st FSSG puts equipment on fast track to Fallujah Brigade 1st FSSG Public Affairs Public Affairs Office, 1st Force Service Support Group Released: May 2, 2004 CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq - Supporting efforts to quickly employ Iraqis in helping coalition forces stabilize Fallujah, Marines of the 1st Force Service Support Group sped weapons and gear to the city to outfit a newly created Iraqi army battalion May 1, 2004. The1st Battalion of the Fallujah Brigade is being established in hopes that it will be a concrete step toward a peaceful resolution in the volatile city. When it has been fully...

Most of today's accounts of events in Fallujah have given the impression of a beaten Marine Corps in retreat, barely pausing to hand over power to a Saddam-era general as it scuttles to safety. This report by the Boston Globe is more subdued than most: Covering their faces with checkered headscarves, militiamen loyal to a former Iraqi Army general jubilantly took to the streets of this battle-scarred city yesterday to celebrate what they called a triumph over withdrawing US Marines. ... "We won," said one of the militiamen, a former soldier who gave his name only as Abu Abdullah. "We...

A new force from the former Iraqi army will provide security for the first US convoy to pass through the flashpoint Sunni city of Fallujah in the coming days, a US commander said Saturday. "In a few days we will have our first convoy go through the centre of Fallujah," said General James Conway, the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He said he expected the man leading the new Fallujah Brigade, Major General Jassem Mohammed Salah, to provide security for the convoy. Conway said it was the "hope not the directive" for the convoy to pass through the...