Free Republic

Monday's events brought that impact home starkly. On the one hand, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad came as the US wages a seemingly last-ditch attempt to defeat the insurgency in Iraq. On the other hand, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's performance at the Natanz nuclear installation where he said, "With great pride, I announce as of today our dear country is among the countries of the world that produces nuclear fuel on an industrial scale," indicated that he for one, does not believe he has anything to worry about from America.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - The U.S. military extended a cease-fire for Fallujah on Sunday for at least two more days, backing down from warnings of an all-out Marine assault and announcing that American and Iraqi forces would begin joint patrols in the city. The patrols are to begin as early as Tuesday, and Fallujah officials will announce in the city that anyone seen carrying a weapon will be considered hostile. Meanwhile, a U.S. general told The Associated Press that troops will move into a base on the edge of the holy city of Najaf to be abandoned by Spanish troops when...

BAGHDAD, Iraq  — Just one day after U.S. officials announced that a fragile cease-fire in the Fallujah was being extended, Marines were engaged Monday in an intense firefight with insurgents in a northern district of the besieged city. One soldier has been killed so far and eight more have been injured in the Fallujah fighting, officials from the U.S. coalition said Monday. Also, two Marines died and five more were injured injured Monday when a blast leveled part of a warehouse in northern Baghdad  as U.S. troops were raiding it, officials said. The military said the warehouse was holding chemical munitions.

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