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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - April 30

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - April 30

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
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DEAL OVER FALLUJAH REMAINS UNCERTAIN
Specific incidents / deaths

 

Date killed?  
Total

 

Civilian / Fighter

 

Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

Hospital officials said more than 600 Iraqis, many of them civilians, were killed in the fighting along with eight U.S. Marines. But the figures were disputed by Iraq's health ministry and an exact toll was not known.

Date range? 5th-29th?
Total 'more than' 600 - 'but figures disputed by IHM'
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

U.S. Marines negotiated a plan Thursday to pull back forces from Fallujah (search), a move that could lift a nearly monthlong siege and allow an Iraqi force led by a former Saddam Hussein-era general to handle security. Fresh clashes broke out despite news of the proposal, and U.S. warplanes dropped bombs on insurgent targets.

...

U.S.
military commanders met with former Iraqi generals Thursday to discuss details of the Fallujah proposal, Marine Capt. James Edge said.

However, U.S. officials in Washington and Iraq gave somewhat differing accounts on the status of any agreement.

A Marine commander in Iraq said a deal was reached but later said "fine points" needed to be fixed.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said there was no deal yet and officials were "still working on it."

Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said he could not rule out that an agreement was in (AP) - place, but he said the U.S. military command in Baghdad told him that they could not confirm it.

In an apparent gesture to help the Fallujah negotiations, U.S. authorities Thursday released the imam of the city's main mosque, Sheik Jamal Shaker Nazzal, an outspoken opponent of the U.S. occupation who was arrested in October.

One possible sticking point was a U.S. demand for insurgents to turn over those responsible for the March 31 killing and mutilation of four American contract workers, whose bodies were burned and dragged through the streets. Di Rita said winning assurances that the perpetrators would be turned over remains a U.S. goal of the Fallujah talks.

...

It could even include gunmen who fought with guerrillas against the Americans - particularly ex-soldiers disgruntled over losing their jobs when the United States disbanded the old Iraqi army, another Marine officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

...

As negotiations continued, so did the fighting that Fallujah has seen since the beginning of the week. Marines and guerrillas skirmished, with blasts and sporadic gunfire heard from the northern part of the city. Residents reported buildings on fire.

Three F/A-18 Hornets flying off the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the Persian Gulf dropped three 500-pound bombs Thursday on targets in the Fallujah area in support of Marines, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez said.

Witnesses reported rockets fired into the Golan neighborhood, a bastion of the insurgency, and two houses were on fire. Ambulances and fire engines had to turn back amid the gunfire. Marines and guerrillas have clashed repeatedly in the northern district since Monday.

Inside the city, some residents breathed a sigh of relief at news of a pending deal.

"I will be so happy today. I'm hoping for a quiet night without bombs or explosions," said Hassan al-Halbousi, who spent the entire siege alone in his house after sending his family to Baghdad.

"I can't believe what we have gone through," he said. "The bombing has terrified me. No one is in the streets."


US/military viewpoint

 

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
11:04 Makka Time, 8:04 GMT
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FLEEING CIVILIANS KILLED AS CRISIS DEEPENS
Specific incidents / deaths

US soldiers have fired on a minibus full of civilians near a checkpoint on the outskirts of the besieged Iraqi town of Falluja.

Witnesses said a hail of bullets from occupation forces on Thursday turned the vehicle into a ball of fire.

Iraqi policeman Fuad al-Hamdani said four civilians were killed in the unprovoked attack.

...

No one was able to explain why soldiers fired at the vehicle and the US military said it had yet to receive information on any incident in the area.

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

Hundreds of Iraqis have died in the ensuing attempt to wipe out resistance in the town, with some doctors putting the toll at around 600.

Date range? 5th-29th?
Total 600
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

None the less, US commanders around Falluja have been appealing for more firepower.

The Pentagon, in a reversal of policy favouring lighter units, said it was sending dozens of main battle tanks and other armoured vehicles.

About two dozen heavy M1A1 Abrams tanks will attempt to end the siege within days.

But UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to US President George Bush to show restraint in Falluja.

"The more the occupation is seen as taking steps that harm the civilians and the population, the greater the ranks of the resistance grows," Annan told a news conference in New York.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Agence France-Presse
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SOME MARINES ANGRY OVER DEAL TO PULL OUT OF FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The marines started a gradual withdrawal to a wider perimeter Friday as the first 200 members of the new Fallujah Brigade moved into parts of the city.

US commanders hope the Iraqi force, made up mainly of former members of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's disbanded army, will be able to restore some form of law and order to Fallujah, a city partly controlled by anti-coalition forces.

US/military viewpoint

A decision to let former members of Saddam's army handle security in Fallujah has infuriated some of the US Marines who pulled back from the powderkeg city after weeks of violent battles.

"Now it's going to get worse," said Lance Corporal Julius Wright, 20, one of the marines who withdrew from positions on the frontlines of the embattled Iraqi city that had been under a US siege since April 5.

...

Scores of Americans died in fighting in Fallujah, which also killed hundreds of Iraqis.

Now that the marines are pulling out without having defeated the insurgents, the deployment "was a waste of time, of resources and of lives," said Chavez.

"Everyone feels the same way, especially those who know someone who was killed," he said.

Wright agreed.

"We pulled out when we should of went in."

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Independent
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Baseem Mroue, Associated Press
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US MARINES BEING FALLUJAH PULLOUT
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US Marines withdrew today from positions in the southeast of Fallujah and civilians began returning to this embattled city as US commanders met with local representatives to work out details of a deal to lift the month-long siege.

If the deal is finalised, it would effectively turn over control of the city to a 1,100-member force under the command of an Iraqi general who was once part of Saddam Hussein's feared Republican Guard.

One possible sticking point could be a US demand for insurgents to turn over those responsible for the March 31 killing and mutilation of four American contract workers, whose bodies were burned and dragged through the streets. That triggered the siege of Fallujah.

However, the United States has been under intense pressure from the United Nations, its international partners and its Iraqi allies to end the bloodshed, in which hundreds of Iraqi civilians are believed to have died.

...

"Fallujah residents have chosen Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh to form and lead a unit that will be in charge of protecting the city," said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Shakir al-Janabi, who expects to be part of the new force. "Our force will handle the security issue today in cooperation with Iraqi police."

...

Despite the negotiations, skirmishes continued between Marines and guerrillas. Three F/A-18 Hornets flying off the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the Gulf dropped three 500-pound bombs yesterday on targets in the Fallujah area, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez said.

Witnesses reported rockets fired into the Golan neighbourhood, a bastion of the insurgency, and two houses were on fire. Marines and guerrillas have clashed repeatedly in the northern district since Monday.

US/military viewpoint

The Fallujah force is expected to include former Iraqi police and soldiers including gunmen who fought against the Americans, particularly ex-soldiers disgruntled over losing their jobs when the United States disbanded the old Iraqi army.

But the new force would not include "hardcore" insurgents or Islamic militants holed up in the city, a Marine officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many of the guerrillas in Fallujah are believed to be former members of Saddam's regime or military.

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Associated Press
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BASSEM MROUE
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U.S. HANDS OVER SOME POSITIONS IN IRAQ
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries] The chief of Fallujah's hospital, Rafie al-Issawi, said at least 731 Iraqis, many of them civilians, were killed since the siege began on April 5. Earlier figures were disputed by Iraq's health ministry and an exact toll was not known.
Date range? 5th-30th?
Total 731
Civilian / Fighter 'many of them civilians'
Selected info, comment, analysis

Led by one of Saddam Hussein's generals, Iraqi troo ps replaced U.S. Marines on Friday and raised the Iraqi flag at the entrance to Fallujah under a plan to end the monthlong siege of the city. A suicide car bomb on the outskirts that killed two Americans and wounded six failed to disrupt the pullout of Marines from bitterly contested parts of the city.

The two deaths on the final day of April raised the U.S. death toll to 136, making it the deadliest month for American forces - as well as for Iraqis - since President Bush launched the war in March 2003.

...

Convoys of U.S. troops and equipment could be seen heading out of parts of Fallujah, replaced by Iraqi troopers in red berets under the flag that flew over Saddam's Iraq.

Residents said that by Friday evening, U.S. troops had left several neighborhoods that had seen heavy fighting, including Nazzal, Shuhada, Nueimiyah and an industrial area. As U.S. Marines moved out, Iraqi police and civil defense units moved in.

US/military viewpoint

"Initially it appears that the transition to the Fallujah Protective Army is working," said Marine. Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne. "It's a delicate situation. The Fallujah Protective Army is the Iraqi solution we've all been looking for in this area."

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, insisted the Marines were not "withdrawing" from Fallujah, one of the most hostile cities in the tense Sunni Triangle, but were simply "repositioning."

Asked if the Marines were leaving, Kimmitt replied: "Nothing could be further from the truth." He said the Marines would maintain a strong presence "in and around Fallujah."

"The coalition objectives remain unchanged - to eliminate armed groups, collect and positively control all heavy weapons, and turn over foreign fighters and disarm anti-Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah," Kimmitt said.

...

Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said the United States was sticking by most of the objectives it outlined when the Marines stormed Fallujah on April 5 - mainly to seize men who killed and mutilated four American contractors.

However, Abizaid conceded the killers probably had fled the city. And he also seemed to considerably soften previous demands that the guerrillas hand over foreign fighters and heavy weapons to U.S. forces.

"Clearly, we will not tolerate the presence of foreign fighters," Abizaid said. "We will insist on the heavy weapons coming off the streets. We want the Marines to have freedom of maneuver along with the Iraqi security forces."

Foreign fighters, too, may have fled the city, a top U.S. military official in Baghdad said Thursday. Others question whether foreign fighters ever joined the battle in Fallujah, characterizing it instead as a homegrown uprising. And weapons coming "off the streets" appears to be a backing off previous demands to "turn over" arms to the Marines.

Abizaid said he does not need more American troops in Iraq, but he pointedly urged Muslim nations to send forces. He said about a dozen Iraqi security battalions that failed to perform in central and south-central Iraq are being retrained and thus unavailable for "any major challenges" until at least November.

News Source
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Author
-
Title

Associated Press
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KIMMITT: MARINES NOT LEAVING FALLUJAH

Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Witnesses saw Marines withdrawing from positions in the southeastern part of the city on Friday and handing them over to the Iraqis.

US/military viewpoint

However, Kimmitt told reporters that the new Iraqi force will be "completely integrated" with Marines, who will retain strong presence "in and around" the city.

He insisted that the Marines were not "withdrawing" but were "repositioning" their forces.

Kimmitt said he had no information on the background of the reported new commander of the Fallujah force, former Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh. But Kimmitt said the commander had been vetted by the Marines who had full confidence in him.

Saleh formerly served as a senior officer in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Aljazeera
-
14:14 Makka Time, 11:14 GMT
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US FORCES 'WITHDRAW' FROM EMBATTLED FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Hundreds of people in Falluja have taken to the streets to welcome a former officer of the Iraqi army who has taken control of the city, following a pullout by US occupation forces.

People waving Iraqi flags and Iraqi security forces cheered the former officer of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard Jasim Muhammad Salih, wearing his old army uniform, when he entered the town centre and gave a speech on Friday

The former officer said he was forming a military unit to restore calm to the bloodied Iraqi city of Falluja after an agreement with US occupation forces.

Salih, who a relative said had been chief of staff of a Republican Guard brigade, said the force would help Iraqi security forces bring order to the town, so US forces would not be needed.

He did not say who would make up the unit.

...

The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Regiment withdrew from frontline bases in the abandoned factories and garages of Falluja's southern industrial zone, witnesses said.

...

The withdrawal came after Lieutenant General James Conway, who commands the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, held closed-door talks with a group of Iraqis.

A much-abused ceasefire in Falluja was announced earlier this month, but occupation forces pounded parts of the city from the air on Thursday even as talks proceeded.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Associated Press
-
Lee Keath
-
AROUND 1,361 IRAQIS KILLED IN APRIL'S VIOLENCE, 10 TIMES THE U.S. DEATH TOLL
Specific incidents / deaths Volunteers hunting for bodies in Fallujah find a woman and her daughter in their home, killed in the siege but undiscovered for days.

...

On Friday, with the U.S. military trying to implement a tentative deal to lift the siege, volunteers drove around looking for the dead that never made it to hospitals or graveyards. At least eight highly decomposed bodies were loaded into station wagons, including those of a woman and her daughter found in a home in the Golan neighborhood, scene of heavy fighting this week.

...

"We buried two of my relatives at home," said Ahmed Ghanim al-Ali, a doctor at one of five local clinics in Fallujah that have been treating the wounded and counting the dead. "We cannot give the total number of martyrs."

Date killed? in week to 30th?
Total 2
(woman and daughter) + 6 (other bodies recovered) + 2 (relatives of Dr. Ahmed Ghanim al-Ali) = 10
Civilian / Fighter 2 (min) to 10 (max) civilian
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]

The majority of Iraqi deaths likely took place in the Marine siege of Fallujah, but the toll there has been a source of controversy. The head of Fallujah's hospital, Rafie al-Issawi, said Friday his records show 731 killed and around 2,800 wounded since the Marine siege began on April 1, though he could not immediately provide a breakdown on how many were women or children. His number is factored into the AP count.

The Iraqi health minister, Khudayer Abbas, gave a much lower number on April 22, saying 271 people were killed in the city. He also put the total number of Iraqi dead for the month so far, including Fallujah, at 576 � far lower than the AP count.

...


Two football fields were turned into cemeteries, with hundreds of freshly dug graves, marked with wooden planks scrawled with names � some with names of women, some marked specifically as children. At one of the fields, an AP reporter was told by volunteer gravediggers on April 11 that more than 300 people had been buried there.

...

During the height of the siege, residents were unable to get outside, so an unknown number of dead were buried in backyards.

Date range? 5th-30th;
5th-22nd;
5th-11th
Total

731
(30th April update from Dr Rafie al-Issawi)
[2800 wounded]
271
(IHM, to 22nd)
300
(at one of the football fields, by the 11th)

Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis  
US/military viewpoint U.S. officials have said they do not have a count of Iraqi civilians killed this month. On April 20, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said troops had killed 1,000 insurgents in April.
News Source
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Author
-
Title
New York Times
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ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER
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A FULL RANGE OF TECHNOLOGY IS APPLIED TO BOMB FALLUJA
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

The airstrikes in Falluja in the past three days by American warplanes and helicopter gunships have been the most intense aerial bombardment in Iraq since major combat ended nearly a year ago, military officials said Thursday.

In the past 48 hours, Air Force F-15E and F-16 warplanes, and carrier-based F-14 and F-18 fighter-bombers, have dropped about three dozen 500-pound laser-guided bombs in three different sections of Falluja, Air Force officials said, destroying more than 10 buildings and 2 sniper nests identified by troops as sources of attacking fire, and other targets.

By day, AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters have hovered over the city, launching Hellfire missiles at guerrillas who fire on the Marines. By night, lumbering AC-130 gunships have pounded trucks and cars ferrying fighters with the distinctive thump-thump of 105-millimeter howitzers. British Tornado ground-attack planes are also flying missions over Falluja, and remotely piloted Predator reconnaissance aircraft prowl the skies.

US/military viewpoint

Commanders say they go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, but they acknowledge they do not know how many civilians have died in recent attacks. Pilots concede that in at least one case, an American warplane mistakenly bombed the wrong building in Falluja.

"The big problem now is that friendlies, civilians and bad guys are all mixed together," Brig. Gen. Jack Egginton, commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, said in a telephone interview from his base in the Persian Gulf.

...

None of the gunships' Special Operations aviators would discuss the Falluja mission, but some spoke of the AC-130's precision by recalling a mission last year in support of American ground forces closing with the Iraqi Army: The AC-130's surveillance equipment, which includes live feeds from Predators, allowed the crew to identify individuals.

"The good guys were closing in one side, and suddenly we saw Iraqis shooting their own guys in the back, trying to push them forward," said one pilot. "So we left those soldiers in front alone and I said, 'Let's get the really bad guys.' We trained our firepower on them. We could see all that from above, and could separate the bad guys from the really bad guys."

News Source
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Author
-
Title
Associated Press
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DEB RIECHMANN
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U.S. OFFICIALS TRYING TO AVOID OFFENSIVE IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

That effort continued Friday as convoys of U.S. troops and equipment headed out of parts of Fallujah, replaced by Iraqi troops in red berets, serving under the flag that flew over Saddam's Iraq.

...

There are other efforts, as well, to try to resolve the situation in Fallujah. Members of the Iraqi Governing Council and city leaders, for instance, issued a statement in mid-April calling on the insurgents to turn in their heavy weapons. Few weapons have been surrendered.

US/military viewpoint

At the U.S. Central Command's headquarters in Qatar on Friday, Gen. John Abizaid made it clear that while the recent deal struck for an Iraqi force in Fallujah warrants optimism, U.S. officials could still decide to launch a military offensive there, depending on what the insurgents do.

"It may be necessary to have a strong fight in there" if the insurgents don't cooperate, said Abizaid, the top U.S. military commander in the Persian Gulf.

...

Sheiks and military officials in the region have also offered solutions to end the insurgency.

"The strategy is to reduce as much as possible the hard core of these insurgents, terrorists inside that city - to reduce as much as possible the military mission that might have to be undertaken," the senior administration official said.

"We're exploring every one of these (options) to see if the ideas that they advance, and the assistance that they seek to offer, can reduce the likelihood that we're going to have to solve this problem entirely by a military means," the official said.

So far, none have.

"They're still shooting at us all the time," he said. "They're still reinforcing their positions."

In upcoming days, military commanders, along with administration officials, including the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, will be assessing whether these efforts "still have some life in them," the official said.

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Reuters
-
Michael Georgy
-
CUNNING ENEMY HITS U.S. MORALE IN IRAQ
Specific incidents / deaths

The eagerness to kill guerrillas showed in a recent skirmish when Marines entering a village spotted three men running as they approached. They pursued and fired on the men, killing one, wounding and capturing another.

Marines said the men fired on them. A senior officer said they had no weapons, but that with shots coming in the men were legitimate targets because they ran.

Date killed? 'recent' pre-30th
Total 1
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

Under cover of darkness, U.S. Marine snipers hunting the insurgents of Falluja spent a long night on Iraq's desert sand, emerging with little but frustration.

"We were on some very exposed ground and we didn't get anyone," said an exhausted Lance Corporal Migel Nunez, 22, of Elgin, Texas.

It was their tenth ambush mission in Iraq, none of which killed or captured a guerrilla near the city, site of a weeks-long standoff with guerrillas who the U.S. military says include Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign Muslim militants.

...

Overnight Thursday, the sniper unit attached to Golf Company returned to a village they left just hours earlier, hoping to ambush guerrillas who might have returned.

As soon as their noisy armoured vehicle approached, every household in one hamlet turned off its lights and then switched them on again when they left, an apparent signal to guerrillas.

US/military viewpoint

Marines say the guerrillas have mastered the art of attacking them and then melting away in villages where it is impossible to distinguish between insurgents and civilians.

"They fire their AK-47s from their homes, walk out the back door and then actually walk up and shake hands with American soldiers when the fighting is over," said Lance Corporal Peter Johnson, 20, of Wheaton, Illinois.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They are getting better."

...

"The problem is they know everything about us. They hear us coming, they know what vehicles we ride in and calculate how many in each vehicle," said Private First Class Joseph France, 19, of Batesville, Indiana.

"We know nothing about them. We don't know who they are. They know how to surprise us and they are resourceful with their weapons and know how to escape."

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Guardian
-
Luke Harding
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'IT'S HELL...EVERYTHING WILL BE DESTROYED'
Specific incidents / deaths

Abu Mohammad, 30, who left the town yesterday morning, said: "There is no electricity. There is no water. There are no food supplies at all." He said the US warplanes and helicopters that have been pounding Falluja for the past three days had been targeting civilian areas.

"They are bombing civilians. When I was about to leave there were two ladies trying to get out. American snipers shot them dead. Their bodies are still lying out on the street in al-Jumhuriya.The roads are deserted. All the area is bombarded. We are hearing shelling, artillery, and always the sirens of ambulances."

...

"There is no mercy at all," said Sami Sabri, 65, who arrived at the camp a week ago said. Two of his cousins, Kalif Ali, 22, and Issam Shaker, 19, had been shot dead by US snipers.

"All they did was open the door of their house. They were trying to leave. The Americans killed them. We picked up Kalif's body and buried him in the football stadium. We did not have a proper ceremony. We just dropped him in the tomb and left for Baghdad."

Date killed? 28th and/or 29th
Total 2 (women shot by snipers in streets of Jumhuriya) + 2 (Kalif Ali, 22 and Issam Shaker, 19, shot while attempting to leave)
=4
Civilian / Fighter 4/0
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

"The Americans have violated the ceasefire. They are attacking us with jet fighters, tanks and artillery. The US snipers are on every roof and minaret. They don't care who they shoot. They are shooting old people, women and children.Where is the UN in all this?"

...

Abu Mohammad, 30, who left the town yesterday morning, said: "There is no electricity. There is no water. There are no food supplies at all." He said the US warplanes and helicopters that have been pounding Falluja for the past three days had been targeting civilian areas.

...

The Bush administration has tried to portray the insurgents inside the city as either foreign fighters or diehard supporters of Saddam Hussein. On Wednesday, Tony Blair described them as "former regime elements" and "outside terrorists".

Yesterday, however, those from Falluja could not understand Mr Blair's claim. The insurgents were not terrorists but Iraqis, they did not support the old regime and were merely fighting a patriotic war against American occupation. "The people doing the fighting are locals," Mr Mohammad, who fled with his wife and six children,said. "They are not people who support Saddam."

Others complained that the Americans had created the problem in the Sunni town west of Baghdad by using indiscriminate and excessive force which was more appropriate to a battlefield than a residential area.

...

Muthana Harith al-Dhari, spokesman for the Muslim clerics' association which has been attempting to mediate in the Falluja standoff, said the coalition's analysis of the situation in the town was fundamentally wrong.

Dr al-Dhari admitted some Saddam supporters could be inside the town but put their numbers at "no more than 100". Alone, they would not be able to defy the US military, he pointed out. "This is a widespread and popular revolt based on Islamic principles," he said, adding that a similar insurgency was going on in the southern city of Najaf - a Shia area with no Saddam supporters at all.

US/military viewpoint  
News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Washington Post
-
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
-
MARINES PLAN HANDOFF TO MILITIA IN FALLUJAH
Specific incidents / deaths  
Date killed?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Cumulative deaths [and injuries]  
Date range?  
Total  
Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

After word of the agreement made its way though Fallujah, insurgents resumed firing on Marines, some of whom were preparing to depart. The exchange of fire prompted commanders to summon airstrikes, and Navy fighter jets dropped at least three 500-pound bombs on the city.

...

Ahmed Hardan, a physician who led a group of Fallujah residents in earlier negotiations with U.S. forces, said on the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the latest deal calls for U.S. troops to move out of the city's southern neighborhoods by early Saturday and to leave the northern part of Fallujah beginning Sunday.

The Marines will be replaced by a new militia called the Fallujah Protection Army, which will consist of 900 to 1,100 Iraqis who served in the military or other security services under former president Saddam Hussein, Marine officers said. The militia will be commanded by a group of former Iraqi generals, the officers said.

...

"We have recently seen the occupation authority's policy going in curves, without purpose or direction," Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mudaressi, a scholar who has cast himself as an Islamic reformer, said at a news conference. "We must tell the coalition authority that force cannot fix things, that we need more wisdom, understanding and dialogue to avert escalating violence."

US/military viewpoint

The surprise agreement in Fallujah, which was authorized by Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, is intended to give more responsibility to Iraqis for subduing the city while attempting defuse tensions by pulling Marines back from front-line positions. But some U.S. military and civilian officials privately expressed concern that Conway's strategy involves too hasty a retreat and relies too heavily on Iraqis whose combat skills and allegiances have not been fully examined.

...

It is not clear whether Conway conveyed the terms of the deal to his superiors in Baghdad and at the Pentagon, or even to leaders of the U.S. occupation authority. One person familiar with the deal said it took senior U.S. military and civilian officials in Baghdad by surprise. Because of the apparent lack of consultation, some officials said elements of the agreement, particularly the speedy troop withdrawal, may be tempered by the Pentagon or by the U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of operations in Iraq.

"It's very confusing right now," a senior Pentagon official said. "There's a disconnect here and we can't figure it out."

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