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Reference

Falluja Archive Oct 2004

Falluja Table - June 03

Tables with IBC-extracted news, by date:

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IBC Extracted Falluja News - June 03

News Source
-
Author
-
Title
Daily Telegraph
-
Colin Freeman
-
'WE'RE PAYING THE MUJAHIDEEN NOT TO SHOOT AT US'
Specific incidents / deaths

 

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

Seventy marines and an estimated 800 Iraqis were killed in six weeks of clashes.

Date range? April- May?
(or typo? - clashes began approx. 'six weeks' ago - also see SFC 04 May by same author)
Total

800+

Civilian / Fighter  
Selected info, comment, analysis

US marines pulled out last month and an Iraqi security force hastily formed from Saddam Hussein's old army moved in. The fighting was over as abruptly as it had begun, with US commanders lauding the peace deal.

"It's an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem," said a marine general optimistically. Fallujah has since become a model for dealing with the Shia uprising in the south.

...

The town is currently a no-go area for US troops, and by extension, any westerner. Despite lucrative rebuilding contracts, none has entered the city since four contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated in March, prompting the American incursion.

...

Many American military officials now privately accept that going into Fallujah was a mistake.

...

The fighting inspired the Shia uprising in the south.

But officials also say that leaving the insurgents unbeaten may prove a greater problem.

"It's difficult to understand what's been achieved in Fallujah. We've got to start from scratch all over again," said a member of the civil and military affairs team outside the city.

If the resistance has won a victory in Fallujah, it is one which few of its citizens rejoice in. Shops may be open and markets stuffed with fresh vegetables, but everywhere bears the scars of war.

Demolished houses pockmark the streets, and the minaret of the main mosque, where snipers once hid, is riddled with bullets. Iraqi officials estimate that more than 2,000 homes were damaged in the fighting.

Abdul Razzak is a civil engineer who has spent the past month assessing the war damage for compensation claims.

So far he has a bill running into the multi-millions with thousands of claimants. The US military has agreed to hand out �650 million.

US/military viewpoint

But few on the ground share such optimism. There may be peace, but officers say Fallujah has simply been handed over to the insurgents.

A US officer said: "All we've succeeded in doing is paying off the mujahideen to stop shooting at us. There's a cauldron of hate out there and its going to boil over."

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