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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 12

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 12

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Independent
-
Patrick Cockburn
-
GUERRILLAS GUN DOWN US HELICOPTER BUT CEASEFIRE TAKES HOLD IN BESIEGED FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths

   The US Marines, which have four battalions around Fallujah, a city of 300,000, said the ceasefire was largely holding although two of their men were wounded, one in the head and the other in the leg, by an Iraqi sniper who they claim to have killed. Casualties have ceased to pour into the over-crowded local hospitals.

Date killed? 11th
Total 1 (Iraqi sniper)
Civilian / Fighter

0/1

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

But a truce in Fallujah enabled talks to start on ending the siege in which an estimated 1,800 Iraqis have been killed or wounded.

...

   The US continues to pay a heavy political price in Iraq for its week-long attack on Fallujah which Iraqis generally see as an assault on the civilian population. International relief groups say 470 Iraqis have been killed and 1,200 wounded, including 243 women and 200 children.

Date range? 5th-9th 
Total 470
Civilian / Fighter

(37% of wounded women and children)

Selected info, comment, analysis

   "I have ordered my fighters to adhere to the ceasefire," a guerrilla commander in al-Jolan district of Fallujah told Al-Jazeera television.

   "We will stop operations as long as the other side does as well. But I warn everybody: If the enemy breaks the ceasefire we will respond. "

...

   No Iraqi Arab politician, even those wholly dependent on the US, dare stand up in public and support the actions of the US marines in Fallujah.

   Dr Pachachi, a softly spoken 80-year-old former Iraqi foreign minister underlined the degree to which moderate Iraqis have been alienated, saying: "The whole thing smacks of an act of vengeance. It is collective punishment. Too much force was used."

   The United States is demanding that those responsible for killing four American civilians whose death and mutilation precipitated the siege be brought to justice. Dr Pachachi said: "I don't believe the people responsible for the murders are still there." He said the ceasefire envisaged a phased withdrawal by the United States marines from the centre of Fallujah.

...

   The Governing Council is trying to restore its battered credibility in the eyes of Iraqis, many of whom see it as an American puppet, by negotiating a solution to the crisis over Fallujah. But the long term damage to the American position in Iraq will be impossible to repair. It is difficult to meet an Iraqi who approves of US tactics. A battalion of the newly raised US-trained Iraqi army reportedly refused to go to Fallujah last week saying it would not fight fellow Iraqis.

   Anger over Fallujah has reignited a sense of outraged Iraqi patriotism among Shia as well as Sunni Arabs. Among the first trucks carrying food to Fallujah yesterday were 15 people from the vast but impoverished Shia district of Sadr city. Anti-American slogans have been inscribed on walls in Baghdad.

   The US army's trigger-happy use of its massive fire power, regardless of how many civilians are killed, infuriates Iraqis. For instance last Friday night an official of the Iraqi National Congress, which is part of the Governing Council, had just cleared an American checkpoint in the district of Adhamiyah in Baghdad when a sniper opened up on the US troops. They fired back in all directions killing his driver, wounding his bodyguard and hitting him with four bullets. He says seven other civilians were killed in the incident. The US army does not give figures for Iraqi civilian casualties and does not appear to collect them.

US/military viewpoint

   Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, who acts as a United States military spokesman, said that the fighters in Fallujah must "lay down their arms" and renounce membership of extremist groups, a highly unlikely outcome.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
5:16 PM (UK)
-
ABDUL-QADER SAADI and LOURDES NAVARRO
-
IRAQI GUNMEN BATTER U.S. SUPPLY LINES
Specific incidents / deaths

Despite the truce, guerrillas overnight made sporadic attacks, said Byrne. Marines killed two insurgents setting up a machine gun near a patrol and others were fired on by gunmen hiding in a school, he said.

The bodies of 11 Iraqis were seen brought to a makeshift clinic in a city mosque Sunday.

Date killed? 11th (incl. overnight)
Total 2 'insurgents setting up a machine gun' +11 'Iraqis seen brought to makeshift clinic at mosque'
Civilian / Fighter 11?/2
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Kimmitt on Monday released the first full casualty statistics since widespread fighting erupted on April 4.

"The coalition casualties since April 1 run about 70 personnel. ... The casualty figures we have received from the enemy are somewhere about 10 times that amount, what we've inflicted on the enemy," he told a Baghdad press conference.

About 600 Iraqi dead, mostly civilians, were recorded by the main hospital and four clinics in Fallujah, hospital director Rafie al-Issawi told The Associated Press.

In all, about 880 Iraqis have been killed, according to an AP count, based on statements by Iraqi hospital officials, U.S. military statements and Iraqi police.

...

Most of the Iraqis killed in Fallujah in fighting that started last Monday were women, children and elderly, said al-Issawi, the Fallujah hospital director.

...

Fallujah residents took advantage of the lull in fighting to bury their dead in two soccer fields. One of the fields, seen by an AP reporter had rows of freshly dug graves, some marked on headstones as children or with the names of women. A gravedigger at the site said more than 300 people were buried there.

Date range? 5th-11th?
Total approx 600 (300 buried in one of two soccer fields)
Civilian / Fighter 'mostly civilians' -hospital director
/
'confident' troops in his regiment 'had not killed any civilans' -US commander
Selected info, comment, analysis

Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, acknowledged that a battalion of the Iraqi army refused to fight in Fallujah - a sign of Iraqi discontent with the siege.

Asked about the battalion's refusal on NBC's "Meet The Press," Sanchez said, "This one specific instance did in fact uncover some significant challenges in some of the Iraqi security force structures ... We know that it's going to take us a while to stand up reliable forces that can accept responsibility."

...

The goal of the separate talks in Fallujah and the south - all conducted by Iraqis, with no Americans participating - was unclear. U.S. commanders demand that control of Iraqi police and U.S.-led coalition forces in the cities be restored and that insurgents in Fallujah lay down their arms and hand over Iraqis who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31.

Iraqi Governing Council members, who have harshly criticized the U.S. offensive, are seeking a way to extend the truce and resolve the violence.

...

In Fallujah, hardly a shot was heard Monday morning, more than 36 hours after insurgents in the city said they were calling a cease-fire. The Marines have halted offensive operations since Friday.

US/military viewpoint

"The mission of U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr. That is our mission," Sanchez said.

A tenuous cease-fire was holding in Fallujah, but more U.S. forces maneuvered into place around the city, and commanders said they were not yet ready to negotiate with the insurgents.

Fallujah, and the military has warned it will launch an all-out assault on the besieged city if talks there between pro-U.S. Iraqi politicians and city officials fall through.

...

Byrne said U.S. Marines would not withdraw from their positions in Fallujah. "Diplomacy is just talk unless you have a credible force to back it up," he said. "People will bend to our will if they are afraid of us."

...

Byrne cast doubt on the numbers and said he was confident troops in his 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment had not killed any civilians.

"Just because (the Iraqis) say it's so, doesn't meant it's so," he said.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title

Reuters
-
09:21 AM ET
-
Michael Georgy
-
FALLUJA FIGHTING HAUNTS IRAQIS WHO FLED

Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

"I could see many bodies in the streets. Hundreds were lying in the street. Relatives were too scared to get them," said Samir Rabee, who escaped Falluja with relatives and eight other families in the back of a refrigeration truck.

...

Over 600 Iraqis were reported killed in a week of battles between U.S. Marines and Sunni rebels.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The group described U.S. warplanes screaming overhead and helicopters firing at targets in the city, and long nights of hiding under staircases, holding their children.

"Many of the bodies were buried in the sports stadium and others were buried in the gardens of homes. There is nothing else people could do. It was too dangerous for people to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones," said Rabee.

Talks resumed in Falluja Monday despite overnight clashes that broke an informal truce in the town.

...

"When the Americans arrived, there were only about 50 guerrillas. By the end of the week there were a few thousand. They are just making the situation worse," said Nada Rabee.

...

Rabee and three others in the group said they had seen U.S. snipers in mosque minarets. The U.S. military says it respects the sanctity of mosques and accuses guerrillas of using them and other civilian areas to fire on American troops.

US/military viewpoint A shaky truce is under way in Falluja but the U.S. military has said it is prepared to "resume offensive operations" unless there is progress in peace talks, in which it is taking no direct part. It says it tries to minimize civilian casualties.
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
10:46 PM (UK)
-
LEE KEATH
-
SHIITE CLERIC PULLS BACK IRAQI MILITIAS
Specific incidents / deaths

Marine commanders said insurgents were trying to smuggle weapons into the city in aid convoys and move them around in ambulances. Marines shot and killed two gunmen setting up a machine gun near their position, then saw an ambulance pull up and try to take the gun, said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne. Marines shot an insurgent in the ambulance.

...

Iraqis in Fallujah complained that civilians were coming under fire by U.S. snipers. Sheik Dhafir al-Obaidi told Al-Arabiya television that dozens of people had been killed "because they thought it was a cease-fire and left their homes for supplies, and they were surprised by snipers."

Date killed? 11th?
Total 2 'gunmen setting up a machine gun' + 1 'insurgent in the ambulance' + 24 ('dozens'... who left their homes for supplies')
Civilian / Fighter 24 ('dozens')
/3
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

With quiet on both fronts, the scale of Iraq's worst fighting since the fall of Saddam Hussein became clearer: The military reported about 70 coalition troops and 700 Iraqi insurgents killed so far this month. It was the biggest loss of life on both sides since the end of major combat a year ago.

A hospital official said over 600 Iraqis were killed in Fallujah alone - mostly women, children and the elderly.

...

More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in the city since the siege began, said the head of Fallujah's hospital, Rafie al-Issawi. Most of the dead registered at hospitals and clinics were women, children and elderly, he said. He refused to give figures, saying that doing so would suggest the remaining dead - young, military-aged men - were all insurgents, which he said was not the case.

Date range? 5th-11th?
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter 'mostly women, children and the elderly'
Selected info, comment, analysis

In Fallujah, Sunni insurgents and Marines largely held to a truce for a second day while Iraqi Governing Council members negotiated with city officials to find a way to halt the violence.

...

Aysar al-Baghdadi, an assistant to Governing Council member Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said that in the Fallujah talks, the United States demands the surrender of the killers of four American contractors on March 31, the handover of foreign militants and an end to attacks on U.S. troops in and around the city.

Al-Rubaie on Monday called on "Fallujah's good people ... to hand over these criminals and finish the bloodshed."

US/military viewpoint

"We have to be careful because ambulances are being used for legitimate purposes, but we are also treating them with suspicion," Byrne said.

...

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt on Monday released the military's first full casualty estimates since widespread fighting erupted on April 4, saying around 70 coalition personnel have been killed and "about 10 times that amount" of Iraqi insurgents.

He said there was no "authoritative number" of civilians killed and said figures seen so far came through the "filter of propaganda."

Abizaid also complained of propaganda, accusing two Arab television stations - Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya - of broadcasting false reports that American troops were targeting civilians in Fallujah.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
HAMZA HENDAWI
-
MANY KILLED ON BOTH SIDES SO FAR IN APRIL
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

About 70 U.S.-led coalition troops and 700 Iraqi insurgents have been killed in fighting across Iraq since April 1, but there is no authoritative figure on Iraqi civilian deaths, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Monday.

The head of Fallujah's hospital said a day earlier that 600 Iraqis - mostly civilians - were killed in the siege of that city alone.

By an Associated Press count, at least 62 U.S. troops, two non-U.S. coalition soldiers and around 882 Iraqis have been killed across the country since April 4, including in Fallujah.

Hospital director Rafie al-Issawi said most of the 600 dead in Fallujah were women, children and elderly. But he refused to give their exact numbers, saying that doing so would suggest that the remaining dead - young, military-aged men - were all insurgents, which he said was not the case.

Al-Issawi told AP that the number was compiled from registries of bodies received by the Fallujah General Hospital and four main clinics. The registries had names or - in unidentified cases - the gender and description of the bodies, he said.

...

"The coalition casualties since April 1 run about 70 personnel. ... The casualty figures we have received from the enemy are somewhere about 10 times that amount, what we've inflicted on the enemy," Kimmitt told a news conference.

"In terms of civilian casualties, there is no reliable, authoritative figure out there. We would ask the Ministry of Health, once Iraqi control ... is allowed back in Fallujah, they can get a fair, honest and credible figure and not one that is somehow filtered through some of the local propaganda machines," he said.

Iraqi national security adviser Mouwakaq al-Rubaie said the Health Ministry has no firm numbers of Iraqi dead from Fallujah.

...

Bodies were being buried in two soccer fields in Fallujah. At one of the fields, visited by an AP reporter, freshly dug graves covered a large area, some with headstones indicating they were children or bearing women's names. A gravedigger at the city said more than 300 bodies had been buried there. The number at the second field was unknown.

AP correspondent Abdul-Qader Saadi contributed to this report from Fallujah.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter 'mostly civilians'
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
The Nation
-
Dahr Jamail
-
SARAJEVO ON THE EUPHRATES
Specific incidents / deaths

One of the bodies they brought to the clinic was that of a 55-year-old man shot in the back by a sniper outside his home, while his wife and children huddled wailing inside.

The family could not retrieve his body, for fear of being shot themselves. His stiff corpse was carried into the clinic, flies swarming above it. One of his arms was half-raised by rigor mortis.

Date killed? 11th?
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

I was there on Saturday and Sunday during what was supposed to be a cease-fire. Instead of calm, I found a city under siege from American artillery and snipers.

At one of the city's clinics I saw dozens of freshly wounded women and children, victims of US Marine Corps munitions. Hospital officials report that more than 600 Iraqis have now been killed, most of them civilians. Two soccer fields in Falluja have been converted to graveyards.

Date range? 5th-12th?
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter 'most of them civlians'
Selected info, comment, analysis

As we approached Falluja we started running into mujahedeen checkpoints. Seeing our supplies and hearing that we were headed for Falluja, the guerrillas let us pass.

Entering the city we saw a huge cloud from a US bomb. To our horror we realized there was no cease-fire. Falluja itself was virtually empty, aside from groups of mujahedeen fighters positioned on every other street corner, their faces covered by kaffiyehs. Many were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles; some had rocket propelled grenade launchers. In all, I saw hundreds of Iraqi fighters.

...

The streets were empty except for a rare ambulance racing to pick up wounded, or the odd family car, usually laden with wounded. We rolled toward one small clinic behind mujahedeen lines, where we delivered our medical supplies from INTERSOS, an Italian NGO.

The clinic building was small, dirty and packed with wounded Iraqis. The Americans have bombed one hospital, and, numerous sources told us, were sniping at people who attempted to enter and exit the other major medical facility. So there were effectively only two small clinics that were safe to care for the hundreds of wounded. (Along with the one we visited, there is one set up in a mechanic's garage.)

As we unloaded our supplies, in came a stream of wounded women and children. Civilian cars sped up to the clinic and over the curb out front, their drivers desperate to unload their wailing family members.

One woman, shot in the gut, was making rasping, gurgling noises as the doctors worked frantically to extract a bullet and patch the wound. All around were the sounds of muffled moaning. The clinic was running low on crucial supplies. The woman's small son had a bullet wound in the neck; his eyes glazed, he vomited continually as other doctors raced to save his life. The desperate work in the clinic continued, off and on, into the night as more victims arrived. From outside came the sound of occasional mortar explosions and sporadic bursts of gunfire.

...

As it grew dark, we made our way to the home of a local man who offered us shelter. Above us we heard the buzzing sound of slow-moving unmanned aerial surveillance drones circling the sky. Then a plane above us began dropping flares. We ran for the cover of a nearby wall, afraid the plane was dropping cluster bombs. There had been reports of this, and two of the most recent victims who arrived at the clinic were said to have been hit by cluster bombs, which badly burned them.

...

One of my friends who'd done another ambulance run to collect two bodies said that a Marine she encountered had told them to leave, because the military was about to use air support to begin "clearing the city."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Pacifica
-
Aaron Glantz
-
MORE THAN 600 KILLED IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths

The story of Yusuf Fakri Amash is the story of Fallujah. The 11 year old boy just escaped from Fallujah with his family. But not before the US military killed his best friend.

"Ahmed was in my class," he says. "He was younger than me. He was standing next to the wall of the secondary school. He was trying to cross the street and he was hit by a bullet. The American troops fired the bullet."

..

Ibrahim Hassen is 40 years old. He fled the city with his wife and three children on Friday. An American bomb had destroyed his neighbors house and killed three people inside, but the final straw was when he was shot by snipers during the cease fire as he went to get food aid from a neighborhood mosque.

Date killed? (3 in house) before 9th
Total 1 (Ahmed, 11 or under) + 3 = 4
Civilian / Fighter 4/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Over the weekend -- with more than 600 of Fallujah's residents dead and thousands injured -- US Administrator Paul Bremer declared a unilateral cease fire in Fallujah and said the Americans wanted to give the women and children of Fallujah a chance to flee the city, but US military snipers remained on roof-tops and the Marines theater commander declared his troops retained their right to defend themselves.

Date range? 5th-12th?
Total 600+
['thousands' injured]
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

But in Fallujah's clinics there's little evidence of a cease fire: "They said there was a cease-fire," screams clinic director Mekki al-Azar. "They said 12 o'clock so people went out, Everyone who went out was shot and this place was full. Half of them were dead."

...

Every day more Iraqi's take up arms against the occupation disgusted at mounting civilian casualties in Fallujah and the South of Iraq where the US military is fighting the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr.

...

Now, for the first time, Ibrahim Hassen says he's going to pick up a gun and fight the Americans.

"When I see my neighbors, the house collapsed on his head. In all the streets where I live all the houses were destroyed."

"I will take revenge on the United States," he promises. "Until the last breath that I have."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
ElectronicIraq
-
Dahr Jamail
-
AMERICANS SLAUGHTERING CIVILIANS IN FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths

As I was there, an endless stream of women and children who'd been sniped by the Americans were being raced into the dirty clinic, the cars speeding over the curb out front as their wailing family members carried them in.

One woman and small child had been shot through the neck -- the woman was making breathy gurgling noises as the doctors frantically worked on her amongst her muffled moaning.

The small child, his eyes glazed and staring into space, continually vomited as the doctors raced to save his life.

After 30 minutes, it appeared as though neither of them would survive.

One victim of American aggression after another was brought into the clinic, nearly all of them women and children.

...

It grew dark, so we ended up spending the night with one of the local men who had filmed the atrocities. He showed us footage of a dead baby who he claimed was torn from his mother's chest by Marines. Other horrendous footage of slain Iraqis was shown to us as well.

...

One of the bodies they brought to the clinic was that of an old man who was shot by a sniper outside of his home, while his wife and children sat wailing inside.

The family couldn't reach his body, for fear of being sniped by the Americans themselves. His stiff body was carried into the clinic with flies swarming above it.

Date killed? before 12th
Total 1 (baby) + 1 (old man)=2
Civilian / Fighter 2/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Over 600 Iraqis have now been killed by American aggression, and the residents have turned two football fields into graveyards.
Date range? 5th-12th?
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

As we neared Falluja, there were groups of children on the sides of the road handing out water and bread to people coming into Falluja. They began literally throwing stacks of flat bread into the bus. The fellowship and community spirit was unbelievable. Everyone was yelling for us, cheering us on, groups speckled along the road.

As we neared Falluja a huge mushroom caused by a large U.S. bomb rose from the city. So much for the cease-fire.

...

Ambulances are being shot by the Americans. And now they are preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of the city
.

All of which is occurring under the guise of catching the people who killed the four Blackwater Security personnel and hung two of their bodies from a bridge.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
08:24AM (SA)
-
Fadel Badran
-
VIOLENCE RAGES ON IN FALLUJAH DESPITE TRUCE
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Many Iraqis, including some members of the US-appointed Governing Council, have been shocked at the ferocity of the past week's violence in Fallujah, 50km west of Baghdad.

Rafa Hayad al-Issawi, director of Fallujah's main hospital, said he believed more than 600 Iraqis had been killed in the town. "The number may not be absolutely accurate because many families have already buried their dead in their gardens."

Date range? 5th-12th?
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Fighting erupted in Fallujah overnight in the first major breach of an informal truce in the town where more than 600 Iraqis were reported killed in a week of battles between United States Marines and Sunni Muslim rebels.

Residents heard blasts and gunfire from one area of Fallujah for three hours before dawn as US helicopters flew overhead. Iraqi fighters blamed the Americans for breaking the ceasefire.

They said they remained ready to meet Iraqi mediators on Monday morning to try to shore up the truce, which gave the battered town some respite during the weekend.

US/military viewpoint

The US military has said it is prepared to "resume offensive operations" unless the talks make progress.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Daily Telegraph
-
Jack Fairweather talks to families who fled the fighting in Fallujah
-
'THERE WERE BODIES BY THE ROAD BUT NO ONE STOPPED. WE JUST WANTED TO GET OUT OF THAT HELLISH PLACE'
Specific incidents / deaths

"On Friday I watched nine people on a nearby rooftop gunned down by an Apache attack helicopter," said Mr Abid, a 35-year-old taxi driver. "There have been so many injured I didn't know who to help first."

...

Mohammed Hadi, 30, said US marine snipers had taken up position in the minarets of a local mosque and shot dead his neighbour. "He was just on his way to buy tomatoes."

...

Hassan Monem, 17, claimed the home burials followed an Apache helicopter opening fire on mourners at the city's cemetery, killing 25 people.

"When two of my friends were shot as they stood in my yard, we had to bury them there and then in the garden," he said. One of the city's playgrounds had now become a cemetery, he added.

Turka Hasim, 31, sat in the bomb shelter with a three-month-old baby in her arms. "I haven't seen my husband since Friday," she said. "I'm afraid he's dead."

She claimed she saw the wreckage of three houses in her neighbourhood. "I know there were 30 people living in those houses. I have not seen them since. I did not dare go over and look to see what had happened to them."

Date killed? 9th; pre-10th
Total 9 (on rooftop, shot by Apache) + 1 (neighbour of Mohammed Hadi) +25 (mourners at cemetery) +2 (friends of Hassan Monem, 17)
=37
(+ others unconfirmed dead, eg. husband of Turka Hasim, 30 of her neighbours)
Civilian / Fighter 28 (min) 37 (max) civilian (9 on rooftop undefined)
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Earlier, mosques in the city had broadcast the command: "Leave now or prepare to be shot." Tens of thousands responded.

In the relative safety of Baghdad yesterday, they described how their city had become a hell on earth and accused the US military of indiscriminate killing.

...

The Fallujah they left behind was deserted and without clean water or electricity, they said. The injured had no access to hospitals and the dead were often summarily buried in back yards.

...

Sarmad Kamil, a medical student who had volunteered to treat the injured in Fallujah, said: "While the Americans keep provoking us, we will keep fighting."

A cleric at the mosque said: "We know who the people were who killed the American contractors. But instead of negotiating with us, [US administrator Paul] Bremer has decided to have his revenge."

...

Dr Najeeb al-Ani, a member of the Iraqi Islamic party, spent several hours in Fallujah on Saturday as part of a peace delegation and corroborated many of the details given by the families.

He described how six houses had been turned into makeshift hospitals after US marines seized the city's main medical facility, used as a rebel base, on the first day of fighting.

Few Iraqis have been treated there since, according to Dr al-Ani, and a small civilian hospital near the town centre can only be used after 2pm.

The doctor said there were not enough rooms to treat the injured. During a one-hour visit to one house hospital, he watched an Iraqi surgeon perform three operations.

"Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw in Fallujah yesterday," he said. "There is no law on earth that can justify what the Americans have done to innocent people."

...

[Mr. Adnan's] wife Hakima said: "There was little resistance in Fallujah before this week. People no longer believed in fighting the Americans. Now everyone belongs to the resistance."

US/military viewpoint

Yesterday they denied using indiscriminate force. "We are aware that some civilians have been caught up in the fighting. Operations are focused on taking out rebel insurgents in the city," a US military spokesman said.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
15:13 Makka Time, 12:13 GMT
-
HIGHWAY TO HELL: THE ROAD TO FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths

I call an Aljazeera cameraman in Falluja to check on his safety.

Falluja's hospitals are overflowing with dead and wounded

My colleague's voice is panic-stricken as he describes the scene, echoing the pictures that have shocked Ahmad.

"There are images we can't show because it's just too gruesome. I have never seen anything like this before," he says.

"There are bodies everywhere, and people can't go out to retrieve them because they're too afraid of being blown away themselves.

"I can't believe the number of children here, we were at the hospital and it's full of dead and wounded kids.

"The ones that aren't dead have lost limbs and are wailing in pain, begging for their parents. What parents?" he screams. "I don't have the heart to tell them that their parents are in pieces.

Date killed? before 12th
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Half way between Baghdad and Falluja, Garma is well placed to witness the US bombardment of the latter, where the steadily rising toll of dead Iraqis from the past week's fighting has passed 600. At least 1000 have been reported wounded.

Date range? 5th-12th
Total 600+
['at least' 1000 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

As we drive through the back roads on the way to Falluja, US jets are pounding the area around the tiny village of Garma.

...

Stopping to rest at a tea shop before entering the besieged town, Ahmad, a 25-year-old with the worn face of a battle-hardened warrior, tells me of his intentions.

"We're going to assist our brothers in Falluja and try to prevent the massacre of Iraqis."

...

"Back at our office the Americans are shooting at us. I walk out of the bathroom and a laser is pointed at my chest," he says, referring to US sharpshooters in the area.

"We'd just bought cigarettes from a store across the street; no more than ten minutes later it was bombed."

...

"The US will never leave Iraq," he says more soberly. "You know what I want to see happen in Iraq? I want to see a federal Iraq where everyone from north to south, and east to west is fairly represented. We Arabs, Sunni, Shia, and Christian; the Kurds, the Turkmen � we are all Iraqis."

But his hopes and desires seem far away as the sound of bombs and mortar shells reverberate through our caf�. A few minutes later the driver of his lorry sounds the horn. Ahmad takes a final sip of his tea and says goodbye.

If the mounting toll is any indication, Ahmad will probably not make it out of Falluja alive.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
United Press International
-
P. Mitchell Prothero
-
FALLUJAH RESISTANCE VOWS TO CONTINUE FIGHT
Specific incidents / deaths

Ahmed hushes his mother and tells the story of the last week. After Sunday when U.S. forces cut Fallujah off from the rest of the world, the fighting came quickly and seemed to be everywhere.

"There is no place in Fallujah without a fight," he says. "The Americans have snuck snipers all over Fallujah and everyone can be hit anytime. We only can work at night, but during the day, they kill the civilians. I saw them shoot a family just for trying to run to a car to leave part of the fighting."

...

While the coalition military statements deny any targeting of noncombatants, this family and virtually every person that has come out of the city during the siege says that the Americans were treating every resident as an insurgent out of revenge for the killings of the contractors.

"I have seen their snipers kill women and children," Ahmed says.

"The hospital is full of their bodies, all shot in the heart or the head," the mother adds. "The hospital isn't even a hospital, it is mosque where we treat the hurt and tend the dead," the mother adds.

...

"As we ran out of the house, someone said they saw a tank," he says. "I heard a tank and a boom and was injured. Two others I was with got wounded; two were dead."

Date killed?  
Total 3 (IBC def. of 'family', shot by snipers as they attempted to escape fighting) +2 (companions of fighter 'Abu Freedom')
=5
Civilian / Fighter 3/2
('Army of Mohammed' members)
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Ahmed is only 21, his identically dressed younger brother looks five years younger, but both have been fighting the Americans since shortly after the war ended. Their eyes have a tired look more suited to old men, not near adolescents.

Before her son -- appointed as the spokesman for the family -- can even speak, his mother begins wailing. She has been watching her children and husband fight for months and the last week has been even more than she can bear. In the family's perception, the unconfirmed reports of hundreds of dead civilians are more than just reports. They represent neighbors, friends and family.

"Shit on Bush," she screams bordering on hysterical, the emotional release of having escaped the brutal urban fighting -- the worst since Iraq was invaded over a year ago. She and her children are safe now -- at least the four youngest that can bee seen. Her husband is still fighting and both her older sons will return later today to join him.

"Shit on Bush because he made this crisis," she continues. "What does he want? Why have these people come all the way from America to do this to us? Why is he doing it?"

"Did we knock on his door," she asks. "Bush comes and barges in to our house and we're not to fight?"

...

Surrounded by 15 of his brothers in a house used as a safe house by the resistance, Abu Freedom is wounded in his torso and legs.

"We were sitting in a house waiting to be given an operation," he explains. "Then orders from our chief came that we had two Syrian Fedayeen fighters in a house, one wounded and one dead. We were sent to rescue them."

"Nearby the house, an American sniper was using (a) minaret of a mosque to shoot people," he says. "When the commanders issued the code word, someone killed the sniper, then it was my job to hit the minaret with my (rocket propelled grenade) so the Americans couldn't use it again."

"Nearby we found the Syrians," he continues. "The dead one, the Americans had desecrated his body. They cut off his hands, head and took his eyes out and left him in a bag. So we helped the wounded guy and took the bag with us to bury him."

...

When asked why he fought, Abu Freedom is clear.

"Because I hate the Americans and hate the invaders," he says. "I don't want to see Americans in charge of my country."

In the other house on Monday, Ahmed is more eloquent on how the fighting can end and peace can come to Iraq.

"God willing Bush will fall down by the hands of Fallujah," he says, combining military and political rhetoric. "If John Kerry wins the election and withdraws the Americans troops from Iraq, and maybe just leaves a few in bases, then we will not fight. But Bush we will always fight."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Guardian
-
Jonathan Steele
-
'SHELLS AND ROCKETS WERE FALLING LIKE RAIN'
Specific incidents / deaths

Ali, 28, the psychologist, explains how part of the family escaped Falluja, crammed into two cars with his parents, his two sisters-in-law, their young children, and a niece.

They planned to join a convoy crossing a bridge on a back road controlled by the US marines on Friday.

Neither Ali nor his married brothers came because the troops were not allowing men of military age to leave.

"There was a terrible incident. One man in an Opel drove his wife and children to the bridge so they could walk over. As he drove back to town, an American sniper killed him," he said.

Date killed? 9th
Total 1 (man forced to return to Falluja)
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Hundreds of families have driven out of Falluja over the last two days, taking advantage of the ceasefire the Americans offered. Families in Baghdad have provided food and money at mosques to help them, and many have taken refugees in.

The stories they tell have a common theme: how the Americans used to be good when they first arrived in Falluja, how arrogance and in sensitivity gradually alienated people, and how now under the pressure of so many deaths almost everyone supports the resistance, the mojahedin.

...

"The mojahedin are our sons. I would become a mojahed myself. I can't bear to see Falluja being bombed and do nothing about it. Even my older sister wants to join them," said Umm Samir, who is 62.

...

He remembered the days of the monarchy when his uncle was a police sergeant and lived near the RAF base at Habbaniya.

"There were protest marches, and people threw stones, and burnt cars. But the British didn't shoot back.

"But now Britain joins America. Please write this. Is this the freedom and democracy they promised?" he said.

US/military viewpoint

Brigadier general Mark Kimmitt, the US army spokesman, talked yesterday about getting Falluja "back under Iraqi control", as though it was in foreign hands.

He accused the insurgents of using the population as "human shields". But, as the refugees tell it, the resistance is home-grown and mushrooming all the time.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
-
Dubai: Al-Arabiyah Television in Arabic 0600 GMT
-
AL-ARABIYAH REPORTS ON CURRENT SITUATION IN AL-FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths Al-Arabiyah correspondent in Al-Fallujah reports that before calm was restored in the area, US positions around the city were attacked with "intensive" mortar shelling, while US aircrafts were flying over the city. He says that the earlier resumption of fighting, despite the announcement of the truce, resulted in the death of 12 Iraqis.

...

The station's anchorwoman Suhayr Murtada then holds a live telephone interview with Abd-al-Qadir Sa'd, an eyewitness in Al-Fallujah, asking him to narrate what he had seen. In answer, he says that "despite the announced truce, the US snipers were firing at neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, where the head of an Iraqi family tried to get out of his home to get his family the food and fuel they lacked and was shot and killed by a US sniper." The eyewitness says that since last night, 11 persons were killed by snipers.
Date killed? 11th-12th
Total 12 (incl. man who was shot by snipers while obtaining provisions for his family)
Civilian / Fighter 1 (min) 12 (max) civiians
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] The correspondent quotes the director of one of Al-Fallujah hospitals as saying that since the beginning of the US attack on the city a week ago, 600 Iraqis were killed.
Date range? 5th-12th
Total 600
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The video shows scenes from the streets of Al-Fallujah street, people trying to get drinking water, and convoys of medical and humanitarian aid.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
-
Karim Saheb
-
IRAQI FAMILIES LIVE ROUGH AROUND BESIEGED CITY OF FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

But the displaced people here said they were in no hurry to go home after a week-long offensive, which saw some of the bloodiest violence since last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, left around 600 Iraqis dead.


...

An Iraqi negotiator in Fallujah, citing hospital sources, said 600 Iraqis had been killed and 1,250 wounded alone in the city.

But a US marine officer said he was certain those killed in the US attacks were insurgents fighting the US-led coalition.

Date range? 5th-12th
Total 600
[1250 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Wheelchair-bound Khaled Huseein looked lost and in pain as his family, one of hundreds which have been displaced, prepared to spend the night among the date palms near this village some seven kilometres (four miles) south of Fallujah.

...

Thanks to the help of a local farmer, the family of six was able to shelter in the palm grove where some 40 displaced Fallujah residents were relying on aid from the Iraqi Red Crescent and locals.

The Red Crescent estimates some 5,000 families have been displaced by the fighting.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title

Gulf News
-
FALLUJAH: A 'GRAVEYARD OF THE MARTYRS'

Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Fallujah: More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Fallujah since Marines began a siege against Sunni insurgents in the city a week ago, the head of the city's hospital said yesterday.

Statistics of bodies were gathered from four main clinics around the city taking in casualties and from Fallujah General Hospital, said the hospital's director Rafie Al Issawi.

...

They totalled more than 600 dead since the siege of Fallujah began early Monday, he said. "We have reports of an unknown number of dead being buried in people's homes without coming to the clinics," Al Issawi said.

Bodies were being buried at two soccer fields in Fallujah.

At one of the fields, now called "Graveyard of the Martyrs," seen by an AP reporter and filmed by Associated Press Television News, there was row after row of freshly dug graves, with wooden planks for headstones with names on them.

Khalaf Al Jumaili, a volunteer helping bury bodies at "Graveyard of the Martyrs," said more than 300 people have been buried at the site.

It was not known how many were buried at the other football field.

Date range? 5th-12th
Total 600+
(300 buried in one football field, unknown number in another)
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint

Asked yesterday about the number of Iraqi casualties in Fallujah, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt referred reporters to Marine spokesmen.

But he insisted that Marines are "tremendously precise" in their operations and suggested insurgents were hiding among civilians, causing any civilian deaths. Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, said Marines from his battalion - one of three in or around Fallujah - had confirmed 40 Iraqi insurgents were killed and 19 others were likely dead throughout the entire campaign.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
BBC
-
16:02:03 GMT
-
SCALE OF FALLUJA VIOLENCE EMERGES
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

A group of five international charities estimated that about 470 people had been killed, while hospital officials put the death toll at about 600.

Date range? 5th-9th (11th)
Total 470 - 600
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Reuters television footage from Falluja showed corpses of children, women and old men lying in the street beside body parts no one has had time to collect.

...

American behaviour had helped provoke ordinary people to join the resistance, she said, adding that even she and her older sister wanted to join the fighters.

"When the Americans arrived there were only about 50 guerrillas," another Falluja resident, Nada Rabee, told Reuters.

"By the end of the week there were a few thousand. They are just making the situation worse."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
IslamOnline
-
Ahmad Maher
-
MOST OF FALLUJAH VICTIMS WOMEN, CHILDREN: REPORT
Specific incidents / deaths

"Buses laden with families were hit by U.S. troops as they tried to force their way out of the town before the truce," Tikriti said.

Date killed? before 9th?
Total ? (buses hit)
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Most of the Iraqis killed in the week-long U.S. occupation offensive into the restive town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, are children and women, an Iraqi dentist in the besieged town revealed Monday, April12.

...

He said at least 600 people were killed and up to 1500 others wounded in the U.S. sweep, citing a tally released by the town's hospital, which was struck last week.

U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne claimed Sunday, April11 , that most the dead �- 95 percent -- were "insurgents" picked off with precision by U.S. marines.

"The dead, mostly children and women, are not militiamen or resistance fighters but rather ordinary people, who stood up to the U.S. occupation troops to defend their homeland," Tikriti retorted.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

He noted that the U.S. troops were also targeting ambulances and civilians walking on the street before the lull in fighting.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Guardian
-
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad and Julian Borger in Washington
-
DEFIANT US SAYS FALLUJA DEAD WERE REBELS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

600 dead in besieged Iraqi city - but marine commander claims victims mostly insurgents

...

The United States last night robustly defended its controversial siege of Falluja which has cost the lives of more than 600 people over the past week, by claiming most of those who died were militants picked off with precision by US marines.

As a tense ceasefire held in the turbulent city west of Baghdad and an international hostage crisis persisted across Iraq, the US marine commander in charge of the siege of Falluja claimed 95% of those killed were legitimate targets.

...

Yesterday, the director of the town's general hospital, Rafie al-Issawi, said the vast majority of the dead were women, children and the elderly
.

...

The figure of 600 was gathered from four clinics around the city and from Falluja general hospital, which have all been taking in bodies, said al-Issawi. Bodies were also being buried in two football fields. "We have reports of an unknown number of dead being buried in people's homes without coming to the clinics," Mr Issawi said.

Date range? 5th-11th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter

'vast majority of the dead were women, children and the elderly' -hospital director
/
'I think you will find is 95% of those were military age males' -US commander

Selected info, comment, analysis

The death toll in Falluja has sparked widespread international concern and has led to condemnation by the US-appointed Iraqi governing council.

...

Mr Bremer confirmed that the 620-strong battalion of newly trained Iraqi soldiers had refused to fight after members of the unit were attacked while passing through a Shia district of Baghdad.

According to Major General Paul Eaton, who is overseeing their training, the Iraqi soldiers had told him: "We did not sign up to fight Iraqis."

The report quoted an unnamed senior US officer as saying as many as a quarter of the new Iraqi security forces had "quit, changed sides, or otherwise failed to perform their duties".

US/military viewpoint

But when asked about the victims numbers, US marine Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne said: "What I think you will find is 95% of those were military age males that were killed in the fighting. The marines are trained to be precise in their firepower ... The fact that there are 600 goes back to the fact that the marines are very good at what they do," he said.

...

"Obviously I pray every day there's less casualty. But I know what we're doing in Iraq is right," the president said, after spending Easter Day with troops in Texas. Tony Blair made a similar pledge of resolve yesterday.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Empire Notes
-
Rahul Mahajan
-
REPORT FROM FALLUJAH -- DESTROYING A TOWN IN ORDER TO "SAVE" IT
Specific incidents / deaths

Al-Nazzal told us about ambulances being hit by snipers, women and children being shot. Describing the horror that the siege of Fallujah had become, he said, "I have been a fool for 47 years. I used to believe in European and American civilization."

...

During the course of the roughly four hours we were at that small clinic, we saw perhaps a dozen wounded brought in. Among them was a young woman, 18 years old, shot in the head. She was seizing and foaming at the mouth when they brought her in; doctors did not expect her to survive the night. Another likely terminal case was a young boy with massive internal bleeding. I also saw a man with extensive burns on his upper body and shredded thighs, with wounds that could have been from a cluster bomb; there was no way to verify in the madhouse scene of wailing relatives, shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great), and anger at the Americans.

Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] To Americans, "Fallujah" may still mean four mercenaries killed, with their corpses then mutilated and abused; to Iraqis, "Fallujah" means the savage collective punishment for that attack, in which over 600 Iraqis have been killed, with an estimated 200 women and over 100 children (women do not fight among the muj, so all of these are noncombatants, as are many of the men killed).
Date range? 5th-12th
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter with an estimated 200 women and over 100 children'
Selected info, comment, analysis When the assault on Fallujah started, the power plant was bombed. Electricity is provided by generators and usually reserved for places with important functions. There are four hospitals currently running in Fallujah. This includes the one where we were, which was actually just a minor emergency clinic; another one of them is a car repair garage.

...

We depended for much of our information on Makki al-Nazzal, a lifelong Fallujah resident who works for the humanitarian NGO Intersos, and had been pressed into service as the manager of the clinic, since all doctors were busy, working around the clock with minimal sleep.

...

I had heard these claims at third-hand before coming into Fallujah, but was skeptical. It's very difficult to find the real story here. But this I saw for myself. An ambulance with two neat, precise bullet-holes in the windshield on the driver's side, pointing down at an angle that indicated they would have hit the driver's chest (the snipers were on rooftops, and are trained to aim for the chest). Another ambulance again with a single, neat bullet-hole in the windshield. There's no way this was due to panicked spraying of fire. These were deliberate shots designed to kill the drivers.

...

Among the more laughable assertions of the Bush administration is that the mujaheddin are a small group of isolated "extremists" repudiated by the majority of Fallujah's population. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, the mujaheddin don't include women or very young children (we saw an 11-year-old boy with a Kalashnikov), old men, and are not necessarily even a majority of fighting-age men. But they are of the community and fully supported by it. Many of the wounded were brought in by the muj and they stood around openly conversing with doctors and others. They conferred together about logistical questions; not once did I see the muj threatening people with the ubiquitous Kalashnikovs.


...

A Special Forces colonel in the Vietnam War said of the town, Ben Tre, "We had to destroy the town in order to save it." That statement encapsulated the Vietnam War. The same is true in Iraq today -- Fallujah cannot be "saved" from its mujaheddin unless it is destroyed.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Los Angeles Times
-
3:37 PM PDT
-
Nicholas Riccardi and Tony Perry
-
CEASE-FIRE NOT 100% BUT HOLDING, U.S. SAYS
Specific incidents / deaths At least two Marines were injured by sniper fire Sunday, and four Iraqis were reported killed, but the city was much quieter than it had been in days.
Date killed? 11th
Total 4
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Hospital officials in Fallouja have reported more than 600 deaths since Marines surrounded the city late April 4.
Date range? (late) 4th-11th?
Total 600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

A patchy cease-fire remained in effect in this battle-torn city today as U.S. officials said they were seeking "political" solutions to pacify the area and, elsewhere in the country, disband a militia loyal to a virulently anti-American cleric.

The move to stress negotiations over military action marked a significant tactical shift for American officials here, who until the weekend had been vowing to crush the two insurgencies threatening Iraq's stability.

...

In Fallouja, a week of intense fighting tapered off Sunday morning as the cease-fire, brokered overnight by two members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and local sheiks and clerics, took hold. The lead negotiator, acting council member Hachim Hassani, said late Sunday that the discussions were going well, and the cease-fire was extending into today.

For the moment, the focus was almost entirely on stopping the fighting; there was no talk of what the next steps might be, and it was unclear what terms would be acceptable to both sides. Forces hostile to the U.S. occupation have controlled the city for most of the last year, and a variety of U.S. approaches have failed to co-opt or uproot them.

...

Kimmitt and Dan Senor, the top spokesman for the U.S. civilian authority that runs Iraq, said they halted their fighting because of complaints from Governing Council members about innocent people getting caught in the cross-fire.

...

But many people who have fled Fallouja in recent days have told U.S. news outlets, including The Times, that many noncombatants have been killed in the fighting.

US/military viewpoint

The difficulty of resolving the Fallouja standoff was evident in the comments of Kimmitt, who said the U.S. was now hoping for "a political track to reestablish legitimate Iraqi control over that city" but added that U.S. troops there would stick to their positions and be ready to resume their offensive if talks failed.

"These are positions the Marines fought for and died for," Kimmitt said. "Those would be very good positions from which the Marines could finish the attack on Fallouja."

Kimmitt declined to say what the U.S. terms were in the negotiations, saying he didn't want to comment while discussions were ongoing.

U.S. officials have in recent days reiterated their demands that they be given custody of those behind the killing and mutilation of four contractors slain in the city 12 days ago, as well as any non-Iraqi fighters who might be attacking U.S. forces. City leaders have asked U.S. troops to withdraw from Fallouja.

Kimmitt said that not all the insurgents had honored the cease-fire, probably because they did not have a centralized organization that could order a halt to attacks.

...

In a testy news conference Sunday, Kimmitt said that the widespread Iraqi perception that civilians were being killed indiscriminately in Fallouja by U.S. forces was based on irresponsible and inaccurate reporting by the two most popular Arab-language television channels, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya.

To Iraqis who were angered by the American actions, he said: "Change the channel The stations that are showing Americans killing women and children are not legitimate news sources."

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Los Angeles Times
-
Nicholas Riccardi and Tony Perry
-
U.S. LOOKS FOR NEW SOLUTION IN CEASE-FIRE
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The lead negotiator, acting council member Hachim Hassani, said late Sunday that the discussions were going well and the cease-fire was extending into today. "This could work to the benefit of the coalition and Iraqis," he said.

US/military viewpoint

Marines in Fallouja were frustrated that their advance into the city center was halted, and they feared the implications. "If we don't go downtown," said one Marine who did not want his name used, the insurgents "will say, 'We've won.'"

Some analysts agreed, even while cautioning that more carnage was no solution, either.

"This kind of battle is not going to be won by killing all the insurgents. It can't be done," said Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA and National Security Council staffer. But, he added, "there are going to be people who see it as weakness. The insurgents themselves are probably going to count this as a victory."

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Amnesty International
-
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - IRAQ: ALL PARTIES SHOULD PROTECT CIVILIANS -- impartial, independent investigations needed
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Amnesty International today called on Coalition forces and armed insurgents in Iraq to do everything possible to protect civilians caught up in escalating fighting in cities across the country.

"The loss of life in Iraq in recent days is tragic and unacceptable. The parties to the conflict must immediately take all necessary measures to protect civilians in Iraq as required by international humanitarian law," said Amnesty International.

"There must be independent and impartial investigations into serious violations, including any unlawful killing of civilians, and those responsible should be brought to justice in line with international law."

As the Occupying Powers, Coalition forces have primary responsibility for ensuring the safety and welfare of the Iraqi population. Armed groups must also respect fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

US/military viewpoint  

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