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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 15

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 15

News Source
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Author
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Title

Associated Press
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LOURDES NAVARRO
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MARINES IN FALLUJAH TRADE 'CULTURALLY SENSITIVE' TRAINING FOR BULLETS

Specific incidents / deaths

In the street below, the corpse of an insurgent suspect lies baking in the sun.

Date killed? prior to 15th
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter

0/1

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

In the fight for Fallujah - which has killed more than 600 Iraqis, according to city doctors, and about a dozen U.S. soldiers - the marines say it's easier to cope with the daily work of killing a seemingly unending supply of rebels if they don't think about the suspected Iraqi rebels as people.

Date range? 5th-15th?
Total    600+
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

 

US/military viewpoint

Browne, from Boston, says he has killed several rebels so far, probably Iraqis. "I don't even think about those people as people," he says.

...

The band of U.S. marines in this insurgent stronghold received two big orders this year. They were told to return to Iraq to stabilize the Sunni areas west of Baghdad, Iraq's toughest patch of territory. The normally clean-shaven marines were also told to grow moustaches in an attempt to win over Iraqis who see facial hair as a sign of maturity.

"We did it basically to show the Iraqi people that we respect their culture," said Lance Cpl. Cristopher Boulwave, 22, from Desoto Texas.

But after the killing of four American contractors in Fallujah on March 31, they tossed aside such pretences. First to go were the moustaches.

"When you go to fight, it's time to shoot - not to make friends with people," said Sgt. Cameron Lefter, 34, from Seattle.

In the fight for Fallujah - which has killed more than 600 Iraqis, according to city doctors, and about a dozen U.S. soldiers - the marines say it's easier to cope with the daily work of killing a seemingly unending supply of rebels if they don't think about the suspected Iraqi rebels as people. Under different circumstances, they might have been trying to help them.

"If someone came and did this to our neighbourhood I'd be pissed too," said Capt. Don Maraska of Moscow, Idaho, a 37-year-old who guides air strikes on enemy targets in the town. "I've never had people look at me the way these people look at me. I don't know what came before, but at this point, what else can we possibly do but fight?"

...

These days, the marines are speaking a more familiar language.

"We didn't initiate this," said 1st Marine Regiment Commander Col. John Toolen. "I came in here with more money than bullets. Now I'm running out of bullets but the money is still in my pocket."

The marines are frustrated with the negotiations to halt the firing in Fallujah. Many say they want to finish the battle, take control of the rebel city by brute force - whatever it takes - rather than wait for Iraqi negotiators to thrash out a deal to stop the fighting.

"We're the guys that go in and put our foot in the door," said Maraska, a veteran of the first Gulf War and Somalia. "We'll do any mission. But we're better at pushing and fighting."

Behind the front line, marines are trying to supply the holed-up locals that they encounter with food and water, one of the few areas their cultural training is put to use.

But Cpl. David Silvers, based in a front-line building nicknamed "the tower," says his experience with Iraqis has been limited to dodging bullets from a persistent and shadowy gunman he dubbed "Bob the sniper."

"He's the guy who wakes us up every morning and fires at us all day. He hasn't got anyone yet but he's come close a few times," Silvers said.

Even though the marines have given Bob his name, they say they still want to kill him.

"This is the closest relationship I have with an Iraqi right now," Silvers said.

News Source
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Author
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Title
Asia Times
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Pepe Escobar
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WANTED: A NEW SADDAM
Specific incidents / deaths

One was only eight months old.

Date killed? 5th-11th?
Total 1 (8-mnth-old baby)
Civilian / Fighter 1/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] Osama Saleh al-Tikrit, a dentist at Baghdad Hospital, said that at least 600 civilians were killed in Fallujah, and up to 1,500 injured. Dr Abed al-Illah, also a representative of the Iraqi Islamic Party - which is part of the IGC - and a sworn enemy of Saddam, said that "about 350 out of the 600 dead were women and children.
Date range? 5th-11th? ('last week')
Total 'at least' 600
Civilian / Fighter 'about 350 out of the 600'
Selected info, comment, analysis

Many died from simple wounds and could have been saved if they had medical attention." Illah adds that "the Americans claim that all the wounded are fighters and will not let us take them away. Families cannot escape because of their snipers.".

...

Of the 300,000 people who live in Fallujah, up to 60,000 may have become refugees.

US/military viewpoint

"Of course they don't like being occupied. I wouldn't like being occupied either." - President George W Bush, April 13 White House press conference

News Source
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Author
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Title
Jakarta Post
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FOUR KILLED AS RI'S MER-C AMBULANCE HIT BY U.S. MISSILE
Specific incidents / deaths

An ambulance of the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (Mer-C) donated by Indonesia was shot by a missile launched from a U.S. jet fighter in Fallujah, Iraq, killing four people, news reports said on Wednesday.

"The ambulance's driver and three patients who had been evacuated were killed as a missile launched from the U.S. jet fighter hit them. The ambulance was blasted to pieces," Joserizal Jurnalis, the chairman of the Mer-C, told Republika on Tuesday.

Joserizal said the incident occurred last Friday at noon after Abu Ibrahim, the driver who was a Jordanian volunteer for Merc-C, had just evacuated the three victims.

He said that the organization would lodge a strong protest against the U.S. government via the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia.

Date killed? 9th, noon
Total 4 (three patients and driver of ambulance)
Civilian / Fighter 4/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
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Author
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Title
Agence France-Presse
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Salah Jali
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A CITY WITH MORE FIGHTERS THAN WEAPONS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

The 10-day offensive by the marines has met fierce resistance by fighters using light weapons, leaving more than 600 Iraqis dead and over 1250 wounded. Iraqi sources have said over half the dead are women and children.

Date range? 5th-15th?
Total 600+
[1250 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter 'over half the dead are women and children'
Selected info, comment, analysis

"Some people stayed behind to help the fight in different ways, including people who are volunteering at hospitals to tend to the wounded and others who are offering their pickups to be used as ambulances," said Yassin.

"This is also a form of resistance," he added.


...

Abu Bakr, 39, was a grocer and a peaceful father of four just 10 days ago. Today he sits in his hospital bed, wounded by shrapnel in the chest as he joined the ranks of the fighters facing the marines.

"They asked to transfer me to a hospital in Baghdad, but I refused categorically. I want to stay here in order to keep protecting my city from the American invaders," he said.

"I am getting treatment for my injury, and I cannot wait for my wound to heal in order to get back to the resistance." Next to him was Samer Husseini, a 48-year-old employee of the public electricity company who also took up arms but was injured by shrapnel in his left hand four days ago.

"Our city does not accept oppression. Despite the fact that we risked torture and execution, we used to combat Saddam Hussein before the Americans" ousted the former president in a military campaign last spring.

"Now we are fighting for our freedom, our religion and our country. The real fight has just begun," said the resident of the "city of mosques." Husseini said the detention of Saddam in December had encouraged many to join the fight against the US-led occupation forces in Iraq.

"We had feared being associated with Saddam Hussein, but now that he has been caught and is out of the picture, we can join the resistance without fearing anything," he said. Despite the military superiority of the coalition, Husseini said "they will be defeated because they fight for material gains, whereas we fight for ideologies. We are fighting against occupation."

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
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Author
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Title
Middle East Online
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Ned Parker
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BOMBS ARE RESPONSIBLE MORE THAN ANY OTHER WEAPON FOR DEATHS OF US SOLDIERS
Specific incidents / deaths

And the body of a policeman from Fallujah, west of Baghdad, who disappeared two days ago, was discovered riddled with bullet holes, a police officer said.

Date killed? 13th-15th
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint  
News Source
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Author
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Title
Middle East Online
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Salah Jali
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FALLUJAH'S WOMEN; SPINE OF STEADFASTNESS
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Hospital sources said half of the 600 people killed in Fallujah since the marines launched the offensive 10 days ago were women and children. Over 1,250 residents have also been injured.

Date range? 5th-15th?
Total 600
[1250 wounded]
Civilian / Fighter 'half were women and children'
Selected info, comment, analysis

The plump woman sweeps off the sweat on her forehead as she pours the soup in small bowls to the men sitting around her kitchen table.

"If I leave this city, who would feed them? They need me and I will never leave this city. They need to fight against the occupation, but they cannot do it without me," she said.

...

Umm Thaer claims she lost her right eye, her husband and her only two daughters during the missile strike. Her eldest son, Thaer, lost his legs.

"I can never forgive them. They took away my sight, the love of my life and my only two daughters," she said.

"And now they have the nerve to come to my city and invade it? I cannot let this happen."

Like many women who decided to remain in the Sunni Muslim stronghold west of Baghdad, she said she feels like the rock on which male members of the family rely to wage battle.

"I give them food, I give them water, I give them hope. They need my moral support to continue," said the woman, clad in a black veil.

"The women have a vital role in this resistance. They are the spine of the steadfastness of this city, even if many women and children are being killed," she said.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
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Author
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Title
Agence France-Presse
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US TROOPS IN IRAQ TO STAY ON, FALLUJAH TRUCE COMES UNGLUED, HOSTAGE-TAKING CONTINUES
Specific incidents / deaths

Hospital sources said five Iraqis had been killed and three others wounded in clashes between US troops and insurgents in Fallujah despite the truce.

Date killed? 14th or 15th
Total 5
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

...a shaky truce appeared to be unraveling in the restive Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah west of Baghdad, with US helicopter gunships firing on rebel positions there.

An Iraqi mediator earlier said both sides had agreed to a 48-hour truce extension from 9:00 am (0500 GMT) Wednesday to allow for two hospitals to reopen.

US/military viewpoint  

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