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Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 10

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 10

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Guardian
-
Rory McCarthy
-
'WE HAVE TO FIGHT TO A SAFE HAVEN - BUT THEY ARE ALL UNDER ATTACK'
Specific incidents / deaths

Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Yesterday hospital officials said the death toll in the city had risen to 450 Iraqis, with more than 1,000 wounded in the fighting.

Date range? 5th-9th�
Total 450
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

US/military viewpoint

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
CLASHES ERUPT IN BAGHDAD, U.S. OFFERS FALLUJA TRUCE
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

The director of Falluja's main hospital said on Friday about 450 people had been killed and 1,000 wounded since the Marines launched "Operation Vigilant Resolve" five days earlier.

Date range? 5th-9th
Total 450 (approx.)
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

As violence struck the capital, the U.S. military offered a new cease-fire deal in the battered Sunni town of Falluja where a week of fighting has killed hundreds of people.

...

The U.S. truce offer came after Iraqi politicians, decrying "collective punishment" meted out to people in Falluja, demanded a halt to the worst fighting since Saddam Hussein fell.

The aim was to allow peace talks between Iraqi officials and insurgents, with no U.S. participation, Kimmitt said.

U.S. forces said on Friday they were suspending offensive operations in Falluja, west of Baghdad, but the unilateral move failed to halt fighting and new clashes broke out on Saturday.

Four Americans were killed and their bodies publicly mutilated in Falluja 10 days ago, prompting U.S. retaliation.

US/military viewpoint

"Coalition forces are prepared to implement a cease-fire with enemy elements in Falluja commencing at noon (0400 EDT) today," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference.

"At this point it's an aspiration. We are hoping to use this press conference... to get this message to the enemy."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
1956 hrs�Time is GMT + 8 hours
-
US SOLDIERS MAINTAIN SECURITY POSITIONS IN SOUTHEASTERN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

US officials tried Friday to impose a 24-hour suspension in hostilities in Fallujah, where 400 Iraqis have been killed and 1,000 wounded, but the effort was shortlived. They came back Saturday with a formal ceasefire offer.

Date range? 5th-9th
Total 400
[1000 injured]
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

The US-led coalition, facing mounting criticism of its bloody offensive against insurgents in the town of Fallujah, offered a ceasefire and the prospect of unprecedented mediation talks.

The move came after new cracks appeared Saturday in the occupation of Iraq with the American-installed Governing Council denouncing the six-day-old drive against Sunni Muslim militants and demanding an immediate halt.

...

Soon afterward, a 35-member Iraqi delegation, including members of the Governing Council, entered Fallujah to hold talks on ending the fighting, a US officer said, adding they had no guarantees of their reception.

But on the ground, confrontations raged through the morning as battalion commander US Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne said: "I've got no direction of any kind on a ceasefire so I'll continue to fight until I'm instructed to do different.

US/military viewpoint

"Coalition forces are prepared to implement a ceasefire with enemy elements in Fallujah commencing at noon today," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of operations, told a Baghdad news conference.

"If the ceasefire holds, talks regarding the establishment of legitimate Iraqi authority will begin," he said. "These steps were taken with the expectation that enemy elements will also honor the ceasefire."

The US army retains the "right of self-defence," but was "seeking a bilateral ceasefire across the battlefield" to allow mediation efforts to resolve the crisis, Kimmitt said.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Washington Post
-
Pamela Constable
-
FALLUJAH FIGHTING HALTS BRIEFLY FOR EVACUATION, AID CONVOY
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Reports of food and medical shortages and civilian casualties in Fallujah have sparked widening criticism of the Marine offensive. Hospital officials reported that 450 civilians had been killed in the Marine operation, according to news services, and U.S. officials in Baghdad said the cease-fire was declared in part so residents could tend to the dead and wounded. But Marine officials here insist they have caused no civilian casualties.

Date range? 5th-9th
Total 450
Civilian / Fighter 450/0?
Selected info, comment, analysis Marine guns fell briefly silent Friday as U.S. forces stopped offensive operations to allow women and children to leave this embattled city and relief supplies to enter. But fighting resumed two hours after the U.S. unilateral cease-fire began, when Marine officials said insurgents continued their attacks.

...

Marine officials reported that as the relief convoy was approaching the city, insurgents fired mortar rounds at it. They did not report any injuries or any vehicles being damaged.

There was initial confusion about U.S. terms for a cease-fire and the civilian evacuation. Marine officials here said at noon that they were only suspending aggressive military actions for humanitarian reasons and would continue to return fire if attacked.

...

Moderate fighting resumed by midafternoon, punctuated by the sporadic crackle of rifle fire and the whoosh of mortars. After dark, AC-130 gunships circled the city, firing rapid bursts from machine guns and cannons with the distinctive sound of a huge pneumatic drill.

US/military viewpoint

"We have said that women, children and elderly men can leave the city," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, who commands the 5th Marine Battalion here. "People here have large extended families, and I expect they will all go stay with their relatives."

He said no men of military age would be allowed to leave and that the operation was undertaken "so people will not have to suffer from combat."

...

There was widespread anticipation among Marine forces, overstretched and exhausted after five days of 24-hour street patrols, that the civilian evacuation had been called to clear the city for an aggressive new military push against the rebels over the next several days.

...

Although Marines described the civilian exodus as generally peaceful and orderly, there was widespread confusion about who would be included. Some U.S. military officials said all residents except men of fighting age could depart, but others said only women and children would be permitted to leave the sealed city.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
17:31 (UK)
-
IRAQI CHILDREN LIE WOUNDED IN FALLUJA CLINIC
Specific incidents / deaths

There were too many dead and wounded for hospital workers in the besieged town to deal with. Outside a hastily erected field hospital, Reuters television footage shows corpses lying in the street, wrapped in bloodstained white sheets.

The dead include small children, women and old men, a new born baby. Beside the corpses, there is a pile of body parts which no one has had time to deal with.

...

Residents say the Marines shoot without concern for their targets. One doctor pointed to an ambulance outside the clinic whose windscreen and side was riddled with bullet holes.

"We went close to Abdulaziz mosque and evacuated some wounded, when a sniper fired at us," he said. "Our driver was killed and some of the wounded died."

Date killed? 5th-9th, ambulance driver possibly 7th (day of attack on Abdulaziz mosque)
Total 1 (new born baby) + 1 (ambulance driver) =2
[others not numbered - plural of women, children, old men]
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

An assessment by five international non-governmental organisations on Friday said 470 people had been killed in Falluja. Of 1,200 injured, it said 243 were women and 200 children. The groups said their estimate may be conservative.

Date range? 5th-9th
Total 470
[1200 injured]
Civilian / Fighter [37% of injured were women and children]
Selected info, comment, analysis Wounded children lie in a makeshift hospital in Falluja, bandaged and bloodied from fighting between U.S. forces and Sunni guerrillas that has raged through the town's alleyways for days.

...

On Saturday, the U.S. offered a bilateral ceasefire, but again the fighting continued. Marines say they are only firing back when under attack and do not target women and children, but wounded civilians still fill the limited hospital beds.

It is difficult for journalists to access Falluja, surrounded by U.S. troops who launched a crackdown on insurgents in the town early this week. There are few independent assessments of damage.

...

In lulls between fighting, children play in Falluja's near-empty streets, jumping over puddles and rubbish.

"We were driving in the car and we got wounded, me in the shoulder, her in the head, her in the hand," said one small girl, pointing to other wounded children sitting around her in the clinic.

"Why are they doing this to us? We are a family, they shouldn't treat us like this."

US/military viewpoint

The U.S. military says its operations are precise and it does not target civilians or women and children.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Knight-Ridder
-
David Swanson
-
KNIGHT RIDDER PHOTOGRAPHER RECOUNTS HARROWING DAY IN RAMADI
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]
Date range?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis - The Marines of Second Battalion had been barging into houses for two hours Saturday, looking for an insurgent on their most-wanted list. I was with them, taking photographs.

...

Finally, two American helicopters - a Huey and a Cobra gunship - came in. They flew over a grove of palm trees and raked it with fire. That quieted things down. For an hour.

Then began the wailing. Women had begun to cry at the discovery of their dead.

Who knows how many Iraqis died? The captain said it was about 40. But sometimes, the Iraqis remove the bodies of their people after a fight before a full count can be made.

US/military viewpoint
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Iraq Solidarity Project
-
Andrea Schmidt
-
WAR WITHOUT END
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] By evening, medical aid workers were giving the cautious estimate that the death-toll of this week's massacre in Falluja had reached 427 Iraqis; 1200 people were said to be injured.
Date range? 5th-10th?
Total 427
[1200 injured]
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis An acquaintance arrived with video footage of families fleeing the city in an attempt to reach Baghdad. They formed a caravan that stretched over 10 kilometers long and were being prevented from advancing by US troops.
US/military viewpoint
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Knight-Ridder
-
Matthew Schofield
-
IMAGES OF CIVILIAN DEAD, WOUNDED IN FALLUJAH BECOME ANTI-AMERICAN RALLYING POINT
Specific incidents / deaths

Saturday, as residents started escaping the city, they told tales that are sure to inflame. The residents refused to give their names, saying that even talking to an American right now could endanger their lives.

But one, a doctor, said: "I was in my home for days, unable to leave, even to treat the sick, for fear of being shot. One morning, I decided I had to make it to the hospital, but just before I left, I saw my neighbor walk from his house. An American sniper shot him, once in the head. I was afraid to go out to him, to treat him. I watched him die."

Date killed? 7th-8th?
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

There is no official toll of dead and wounded Iraqis in Fallujah since the U.S. Marines began trying to take control of the town four days ago. Estimates range as high as 450 deaths and more than 1,000 wounded.

Date range? 5th-9th?
Total 'estimates as high as' 450
[1000+ wounded]
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

On television, the children are unmoving, dead in the streets, blood pooling and spreading underneath them.

On radio, announcers accuse Americans of attacking helpless civilians, not even allowing them to move for treatment of their bullet wounds.

In newspapers, the stories ask if the deaths of perhaps hundreds of innocent civilians is not a greater crime than the horrific deaths and mutilations of four Americans.

For the past week, those have been the images, sounds and words that Iraqis have been taking in as everything here has focused on Fallujah.

In this one week, Fallujah has come to symbolize for Iraqis everything that is wrong with the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

"When the four Americans were murdered, almost all Iraqis were horrified, and understood that the reaction must be strong," said Iraqi journalist Dhrgam Mohammed Ali, referring to the killing March 31 of four private security guards whose bodies were then mutilated, dragged through Fallujah and hung from a bridge.

"But now, we see women and children dying, trying to escape and not being allowed to, and many stop remembering the dead Americans. Instead, they wonder why four dead Americans are worth so much, while hundreds of dead Iraqis are worth so little."

...

But U.S. officials acknowledge that many of the dead were innocent civilians, and Fallujah, a town of 300,000 according to residents, but only 110,000 according to a year-old medical census, by Wednesday was a cause across much of Iraq.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt on Saturday again defended American tactics, saying that Marines had been fired upon from mosques and from crowds containing women and children. He said Marines had tried to avoid civilian casualties, firing back in dangerous situations only in self-defense.

...

Another, a young woman, asked why the Americans had to take out their anger on a whole city.

"They are angry, yes, but we were not all guilty, and yet we were all punished. Every time they shot another man, his brother, his father, picked up a weapon and swore to kill Americans."

US/military viewpoint
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Washington Post
-
Pamela Constable
-
'EXPECT SNIPERS ON ALL MINARETS'
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]
Date range?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

It is high noon, and a handful of U.S. Marines are setting out on a foot patrol as the call to prayer begins emanating from mosques across the city. Some of the Marines on this particular patrol are from a civil affairs unit. They have read books about Iraq and taken courses on Islamic culture. Under normal circumstances, they would be chatting with residents through an interpreter, asking about their problems, trying to make friends.

Instead, today they are stalking enemy territory with M-16s at the ready, thrusting their rifles into windows and doors, crouching behind sand piles and rusted factory equipment, communicating with hand signals, turning sharply at an unseen dog's bark.

And every time they spot another human being, they must instantly decide whether to treat the person as a potential threat or an innocent bystander. That means judging whether a glance is hostile or merely frightened, whether a bundle is more likely to contain food or ammunition.

...

But the troops are also under strict orders not to shoot unless shot at first and unless they can take precise aim at their targets. The tension between these imperatives -- to hunt down and attack anti-American insurgents without hurting or alienating the civilian populace -- is palpable in every encounter.

US/military viewpoint

Until last week, they were instructed to avoid attacking sensitive Muslim sites. Now, after several days of fierce firefights with insurgents hiding in mosques, they are under orders to treat each one as a possible guerrilla redoubt.

"Expect snipers on all minarets. They will do it to draw fire and cause collateral damage in the hour of prayer," instructs Maj. Lawrence Kaifesh, a civil affairs officer who spent his first few months in Iraq sipping tea with Muslim clerics and tribal sheiks.

...

"The situation out there is totally different than anything we prepared for," says Kaifesh, with grim understatement. One of his men guffaws. "We call this aggressive civil affairs," he jokes.

...

"God, I hope I'm reading people right," says Chief Warrant Officer David Bednarcik. "You look at faces, see how people react when you ask to search them. Even without words you can walk into a room and sense if people like you or not."

Before heading out on the patrol, Bednarcik instructed his men to watch out for people carrying large white bags, because several civilians had been caught this week lugging sacks full of weapons and ammunition. But he also cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

"They might be bad guys, or they might just be going to work. We don't want some trigger-happy Joe Marine to shoot an innocent person and turn another Iraqi family against us," he says.

...

Around a corner, two male figures suddenly come into view, bent over something by a wall. The patrol has covered several square blocks in just over an hour, and the Marines are almost back at their base, but they cannot drop their guard yet.

"I think these guys may just be laying bricks," Kaifesh says into his radio, squinting at the busy pair of men.

"Remember, they shoot RPGs at us," comes the sotto voce retort from Bednarcik, referring to rocket-propelled grenades, "and they know the terrain better than we do."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
21:59 Makka Time, 18:59 GMT
-
CRISIS MEETING TO END BLOODSHED IN FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths

US snipers are also deployed in the industrial area of the town and on the outskirts. At least one Iraqi, a 75-year old man is reported to have been killed by sniper fire, the correspondent said.

Date killed? 10th
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Falluja clashes have left more than 450, including children, dead

Date range? 5th-10th
Total 450+
Civilian / Fighter including children
Selected info, comment, analysis

Angry members of the interim council on Friday threatened to resign if American forces did not halt their bloody offensive in Falluja.

Even Adnan Pachachi, widely seen as the most pro-American member of the 25-member council, was incensed by the violence in Falluja.

"We consider the action carried out by US forces as illegal and totally unacceptable," he said.

Speaking to Aljazeera, IGC member and spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic party Hakim al-Hasni also called on fighters in Falluja to halt "military actions".

"US forces in Falluja claim their attacks come in retaliation for the resistance they meet," al-Hasni said. "Therefore, I call upon you (fighters in Falluja), on behalf of the Islamic party, to stop military action in order to prevent bloodshed and give us an opportunity to transfer the injured, bury the killed people and send humanitarian aid to the city," he added.

...

Up to the ceasefire and the meeting Falluja remained under siege as US warplanes struck the town twice on Saturday.

In Falluja, the correspondent said US warplanes struck the town at 12:50am (20:50 GMT) and 03:30am (23:30 GMT), injuring at least two people. Several bombs were dropped on different parts of the town. He also said the Golan area came under fierce bombardment hours after US forces had offered a ceasefire.

Witnesses told Aljazeera four houses were targeted in the Golan area.

US/military viewpoint

Earlier on Saturday, US forces offered the resistance in Falluja a ceasefire to allow for peace talks.

"Coalition forces are prepared to implement a ceasefire with enemy elements in Falluja commencing at noon today (08:00 GMT)," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, a US military spokesman, told a news conference in Baghdad.

"At this point it's an aspiration. We are hoping to use this press conference ... to get this message to the enemy."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
18:44 Makka Time, 15:44 GMT
-
ALJAZEERA UNDER FIRE IN FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Public appeals were being made from the local mosques for shrouds to wrap the many dead.� A local doctor put the Iraqi toll in the town at 450.

Date range? 5th-10th?
Total 450
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

The only television crew reporting from inside the besieged town, Aljazeera crew members on Friday complained they had been fired at twice during the day.

...

Aljazeera correspondent in Falluja, Ahmad Mansur said US F16 planes also bombed places disconcertingly close to the news channel's office.

...

Reporting from Falluja, Mansur said the situation inside the besieged town was grim.

Surrounded on all sides by the US occupation soldiers, residents inside have run out of supplies.

...

Ambulances arriving from Baghdad to evacuate the seriously injured had difficulty in gaining access to the town.

US soldiers opened fire, forcing six of the ambulances to retreat as they attempted to reach the Talib al-Janabi clinic.

US/military viewpoint
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Los Angeles Times
-
Alissa J. Rubin
-
U.S. LOSING SUPPORT OF KEY IRAQIS
Specific incidents / deaths
Date killed?
Total
Civilian / Fighter
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Governing Council members say that the Fallouja operation was begun to root out those responsible for the deaths of the four Americans, but that so far hundreds of Iraqis have died.

There was no way to immediately verify that number.

"This type of punishment is completely unacceptable," Hassani said.

Date range? 5th-9th?
Total 200+?
Civilian / Fighter
Selected info, comment, analysis

Tough U.S. tactics in Fallouja and Shiite Muslim cities of southern Iraq are driving a wedge between the Americans and their key supporter - the 25-member Governing Council that puts an Iraqi face on the occupation and is expected to serve as the basis of a new government.

One council member, angered by this week's heavy fighting in Fallouja and the prospect of a U.S. move against the militia of an anti-American Shiite cleric, suspended his membership Friday. Four others say they are ready to follow suit.

...

The council members threatening to suspend their membership are Ghazi Ajil Yawer, a Sunni tribal leader whose base is in Mosul; Salama Khafaji, a Shiite woman from Baghdad; and Hassani, who is acting on behalf of the Iraqi Islamic Party's council member. According to news reports, Abdul Karim Mohammedawi, a Shiite, announced the suspension of his council membership Friday. Fellow council members said Turkmen member Singul Chapuk was considering suspending her membership. Her aide would not confirm that.

Khafaji is among those trying to facilitate negotiations to end the fighting around Fallouja. One of her aides said that Khafaji would work to make negotiations possible even if occupation authorities failed to do so.

...

Hassani's aide Saif Rahman said that his political party has an office in the city, and that the council member was aware of the deteriorating conditions there.

He said people were unable to bring injured to the hospital because they would have to cross the Euphrates River to do so, and troops had blocked access. The party turned its headquarters into a makeshift field hospital. As of late Friday, the field hospital had treated 367 injured people.

Most galling to the Sunni council members, who met Friday night in Pachachi's office, is that they were not allowed to enter Fallouja to negotiate. They said the Americans backtracked on a promise to let Yawer and Hassani into the city because the U.S. military could not guarantee their safety.

The coalition authority "kept saying we were partners�. If given the chance, we could have solved these problems manageably. But using these military tactics, F-16 bombers and helicopters to bomb shops and homes, how can we explain that to the people?" Hassani said.

US/military viewpoint

U.S. officials dismissed the criticism.

"Nothing can be further from the truth," military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said. "We run extremely precise operations focused on people we have intelligence on for crimes of violence against the coalition and against the Iraqi people."

Marine commanders vowed to pacify Fallouja last week after a horrific attack on four American security contractors who were ambushed and killed there.

...

Officials said that when coalition forces were fired on from civilian locations, they had no choice but to respond.

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