The two sides of Fallujah: One returns to normal life, the other fights on

[thedrifter]

The two sides of Fallujah: One returns to normal life, the other fights on

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- On Friday, the unofficial end of a loosely enforced cease-fire, Fallujah seemed to be turning two faces toward the U.S. forces amassed along its borders.

Reports from the south indicate that life on that side of the embattled city is returning to its normal rhythms. Shops were reopening and newly trained Iraqi forces ---- all but a few of whom deserted their posts during the worst of the fighting three weeks ago ---- were returning to work and patrolling the streets.

But in the north, where some of the most intense battles have been fought and where fighters described as insurgents remain entrenched and intransigent, Fallujah is a war zone.


Marines were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and fired on with small arms as humvees ferried supplies and troops from position to position. Mortar rounds, apparently fired by rebels, crashed into neighborhoods inside and outside the massive cordon around the town.

Marine snipers again picked out targets at will and mortarmen fired rounds into neighborhoods where the troops had received fire.

Military officials say that few, if any, in this section of the city are considered "friendly."

"The indications and the warnings are that this northwest corner is different than the rest of the city," Maj. Joseph "JR" Clearfield, the plans and operations officer for Camp Pendleton's 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Friday. "There is definitely something going on there that does not seem to be happening anywhere else."

Near the northwest corner ---- south of Marine positions in the neighborhoods inside Fallujah's rail line and east of Marine positions along a huge 's' turn in the Euphrates River ---- lies the Jolan: the old heart of Fallujah where officials say they believe the most die-hard insurgents are entrenched.

Some say it could be a nightmare to rout them.

The streets are cramped and irregular, cluttered with a confusing maze of brick and concrete buildings.

While military officials estimate that 200,000 of the city's 280,000 residents remain in Fallujah, the Jolan is still thought to be the most densely populated section of the city, said Col. John Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine Regiment.

Depending on whom one speaks to, and when, there are thought to be anywhere between 100 and 1,000 fighters of varying degrees of commitment to their cause moving freely and preparing elaborate defenses to stall and snare the advancing Marines.

So far in the conflict, they've used effective urban ambushes and have lured troops into traps with small groups of hit-and-run fighters. Generally described as "rebels," they have also planted bombs in buildings, alleyways and streets, some employing drums of petrol and other fuel to extend the damage.

Privately, some officials guess that most of the fighters are just locals defending their city against the attacking Americans. Most of those are expected to give up and run in the face of overwhelming American firepower, if they haven't already.

But higher up on the Marines' target list is the small core of foreign fighters and dedicated jihadists whom military sources say they would probably have to fight another day if they were allowed to escape the Americans' noose in Fallujah.

"We don't really know what's left there," Clearfield said. "We could be looking at (lots) of casualties, or we could walk right in. We just don't know, so we've got to be ready for anything."

Although the last few days have been relatively quiet for feisty Fallujah, Marines earlier in the week got a taste of what could be in store for them in Jolan.

Probing the houses and buildings just a block or two ahead (south) of their lines just before dawn Wednesday, a Marine patrol stumbled into what it estimated was a force of 30 rebels who fought with ferocity and coordination, calling in mortars and rockets from other quarters of the city.

The Marines battled for almost six hours, finally quieting the force with 500-pound bombs dropped from jet fighter-bombers.

Field commanders say insurgents can expect more of the same devastating firepower if the Marines move in for the kill. Toolan said that there is no way the rebels can prevail.

"They just want to create as much chaos as they can so the coalition forces have too many frying pans in the fire," Toolan said Friday after two Iraqi boys were wounded, apparently by shrapnel from mortar rounds fired by insurgents. "But we're not going to fall for that here."

After weeks of fighting, military officials recently gave regional and local leaders until Friday to force insurgents to turn over their heavy weapons and turn in the killers of four American security contractors whose bodies were mutilated and dragged through the streets.

But after only receiving limited cooperation and collecting mostly old and worthless weapons by Thursday, American generals from Washington to Baghdad to Fallujah worded their final warnings in the same stern words: The city had "days, not weeks" to cooperate.

U.S. military leaders in the field Friday held out little hope that a political solution could be reached to avert more bloodshed.

"It's getting extremely frustrating," said Toolan, who controls a task force of three of the five infantry battalions that now surround Fallujah.

He said the Iraqi leaders who are trying to foster cooperation in the city were "sort of in a state of despair" Friday.

"They can't seem to convince those people that it's in their best interest" to give the insurgents up, he said, adding that the insurgents are doomed if they don't surrender.

"They're not going to succeed," Toolan said. "It's only going to lead to more conflict, and I don't think anyone really wants to see that."

While the infantry officers say they have not yet received orders to attack, many spent Friday gathered around maps filling in the final details of their offensive plans.

"Nothing yet," Clearfield said Friday of his battalion's orders. "But I'm definitely still going ahead planning the offensive while we have the time. We'll have something ready."

Staff writer Darrin Mortenson and staff photographer Hayne Palmour are reporting from Iraq, where they are with Camp Pendleton Marines. Their coverage is collected at www.nctimes.com/military/iraq.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/24/military/iraq/14_21_144_23_04.txt

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Once hostile Iraqis turn hospitable
By Ron Harris
Of the Post-Dispatch
04/22/2004

HUSAYBAH, Iraq - As Marines commemorated the lives of five of their fallen comrades Thursday, some say that they may have turned a corner in their relationship with residents of the troublesome city of Husaybah.

Marines say formerly truculent residents have begun waving and greeting them cordially, just days after some of the fiercest fighting and after Marines conducted harsh door-to-door searches of homes.

Meanwhile, Marines say that Iraqi police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps are showing new signs of cooperation after being less than fully willing to help Marines bring order and stability to the region.

"It's a significant change in the right direction," said Capt. Dominique Neal, the new Lima Company commander. "I was surprised. I thought they'd be more fearful than anything. I think the amount of force that we displayed over the past few days definitely has changed their outlook."

Neal was recently promoted to replace Capt. Richard Gannon, the company commander who was slain along with four other Marines on Saturday during a daylong battle. Also killed were Cpl. Christopher Gibson, Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez, Lance Cpl. Michael Smith and Lance Cpl. Gary F. VanLeuven.

Unlike Fallujah, where Marines have been locked in a standoff with Iraqi insurgents over the past few days, Marines in Husaybah have never lost control of the western city of 100,000, just 300 yards from the Syrian border.

After Saturday's fighting, in which 12 Marines were injured and scores of Iraqis were slain, Marines began a fierce, two-day search of homes in the area, usually kicking in the same doors upon which they previously would have knocked.

"One thing that I do know is that the Iraqi people respond to who they think is the strongest," said Neal, 29, of San Francisco. "They saw the velvet glove when we first came in, and then we took off the glove and showed them the iron fist."

Lima Company 1st Sgt. Daniel Calderon said that during his patrols, he noticed a different attitude from the populace.

"You could tell people were friendlier," said Calderon, of Jacksonville, Fla.

And Sgt. Wilson E. Champion, who had just come back from the most recent patrol, said he saw a similar shift in attitudes.

"The first few days, I think everybody was scared," said Champion, 23, of Jupiter, Fla. "But a lot of patrols are coming back and saying people are starting to be friendly again. Maybe it's because they know that we're not kidding."

Iraqi police were reportedly patrolling in areas in which they normally were not seen. Lima Company Staff Sgt. Matthew St. Pierre was so surprised that he stopped one police officer and asked to see his credentials.

"I couldn't believe it," said St. Pierre, of Vallejo, Calif. "Usually these guys are nowhere to be found. This guy had just graduated from our police academy. He was so proud that he ran home and got his diploma to show me."

When Marines found an unexploded roadside bomb during a patrol earlier this week, they set up a perimeter around the device, and to their surprise, members of the police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps set up an outer perimeter to help safely guide cars and pedestrians around the site.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police continued to pick up bodies of dead Iraqi insurgents who had been killed in fighting Saturday and Sunday. Many of them had come to the area from Fallujah and Ramadi. The police chief for the region of Al Qaim, an area about the size of Bermuda, said the bodies of a large number of the Iraqis killed in the fighting were still unclaimed Thursday. Apparently, they were not from the region and did not have relatives or friends in the area, he said.

Many residents, particularly women, children and families, have been fleeing the area recently, concerned about renewed fighting.

Marines, however, said they believe they had struck a blow to the heart of the local insurgency. They said they found dozens of weapons caches and even an Iraqi woman who was hiding Iraqi fighters in her home and providing a safe house for them to store weapons.

"We found at least one terrorist there, and we found AK-47s, and Russian machine guns," Neal said. "Two houses from a mosque, we found another cache, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers and multiple rocket-propelled grenade rounds."

While Marines are pleased with the new reception, they remain wary, Calderon said.

"Every time it calms down, the Marines get a little nervous," he said, "because things have a tendency to brew up again."

Reporter Ron Harris
E-mail: ronharris6852@hotmail.com
Phone: 314-340-8214

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/World/E5DFE8C76F49D52D86256E7F0017CDA3?OpenDocument&Headline=Once+hostile+Iraqis+turn+hospitable+


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines Warn of Battle in Fallouja
U.S. officials say time is running out on the tenuous cease-fire. Few Iraqis have complied with the requirement to turn in their weapons.

By Tony Perry and Patrick J. McDonnell, Times Staff Writers


FALLOUJA, Iraq — U.S. Marines encircling this volatile city west of Baghdad plan to storm into town within days if insurgents do not comply with a cease-fire agreement and relinquish their heavy arms, the top Marine general in Iraq warned Thursday.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said that only a paltry amount of outdated, mostly useless weaponry had been turned in since the accord was reached Monday between U.S. officials and a group of Iraqi intermediaries.

It was junk," Conway said of the pile of mostly inoperative weapons turned over to Marines at two checkpoints. "Things I wouldn't ask my Marines to begin to fire."

Military officials now question whether the Iraqi negotiators hold sufficient clout with the insurgents. Meanwhile, the Marines are growing impatient as the fighters continue to engage them in skirmishes at the edge of the city.

U.S. officials in Baghdad stressed that further delays could result in a new battle, likely to cost the lives of many insurgents, Marines and civilians. At a news briefing, authorities showed photographs of the rusted and broken grenades, dud rockets, useless guns and other weapons that had been turned in.

"We are in a mode now of days, not weeks," cautioned Dan Senor, chief spokesman for L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq.

Fallouja has taken on symbolic importance here, a fact that has contributed to the lack of an easy solution. From the U.S. perspective, cracking down on insurgents and gaining control of the city is a key step toward pacifying the mostly Sunni Muslim region of central and western Iraq — the so-called Sunni Triangle, where resistance to U.S. occupation has been the fiercest.

After a bloody month during which casualties in Iraq soared — about 100 U.S. troops have died since March 31 — the Bush administration is eager for a victory in Fallouja, and to ease fears about the impending hand-over of power to an interim Iraqi government.

"If Fallouja can become safe, all of Iraq can become safe," said Sheik Takee Khayre Alrane, a member of the U.S.-backed Fallouja Town Council. "If not, people will say we surrendered Fallouja to the terrorists."

For the insurgents who want to drive the U.S. out of Iraq, Fallouja has become the embodiment of their fight, a rallying cry that has drawn unknown numbers of new recruits into the guerrilla war against the U.S.-led occupation and Washington's blueprint for a Western-style democratic government in the country.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 Iraqi and foreign fighters are believed to be gathered in the city, though officials stress that the numbers are rough estimates.

As for the Iraqi public, the level of civilian casualties in the last three weeks — and the prospect of more deaths — has eroded support, even among moderates, for the U.S.-led effort.

The Marine offensive in Fallouja began April 5 after four U.S. civilian security contractors were slain there in March and their bodies mutilated — an act that U.S. officials believed called for a swift and decisive response.

The negotiations aimed at breaking the deadlock do not involve the insurgents directly. U.S. authorities are talking with a group of national officials from Baghdad, Fallouja town leaders and Sunni Muslim clerics who are thought to have influence with the fighters — an assumption questioned Thursday by Conway.

"When we entered negotiations with prominent people around the city, we had every hope that they could argue reasonably for a peaceful solution," the general told reporters. "That said, we are somewhat questioning if they represent the people of Fallouja, because it is our estimate that the people of Fallouja have not responded well to the agreement."

Iraqis on the negotiating team have countered that proof of their influence is the fact that attacks on U.S. forces fell after Sunni clerics and others became involved in the discussions.

But the cease-fire has been tenuous from the start. Much of the Marines' impatience stems from the fact that the fighters have mounted numerous rocket and mortar attacks on U.S. encampments in recent days.

On Wednesday, Marines fought a five-hour battle in the northwestern part of the city after a patrol was attacked. Three troops were wounded in the fight; at least 36 insurgents were killed and dozens more are thought to have been wounded, Marine officials said.

After encircling the city nearly three weeks ago, Marines engaged in heavy fighting with the insurgents. The U.S. established footholds in four sections of the city, but insurgents still hold sway in much of its core, a densely populated warren of streets and alleys where house-to-house fighting would be likely during a renewed battle.

Many Iraqis, including moderates, have expressed outrage at what they call the excessive number of civilian casualties in Fallouja. During the early battles, Arab-language television showed graphic images of the casualties. U.S. officials say an estimate of 600 civilian deaths is highly exaggerated.

Many Falloujans blame the Marines, not the insurgents, for the deaths of civilians, said Saadalah Mahdi, president of the Fallouja Town Council.

"The outsiders [insurgents] are a small group, but when the coalition forces fight them, innocent people — women, children, the elderly — are dying," said Mahdi, a lawyer and head of a human rights organization. "When families see members die, that turns them to help the terrorists."

On Thursday, the Iraqi Health Ministry said at least 219 Iraqis had died in fighting in the area of Fallouja and nearby Ramadi between April 5 and April 22. The dead included 24 women and 28 children, it said. Nearly 700 people were injured, it said.

Throughout the battle zones of western, central and south-central Iraq, the ministry said, at least 502 Iraqis died in fighting during that period, including 179 in Baghdad. Almost 2,000 were injured. The ministry figures do not differentiate between insurgents and civilians.

U.S. officials said they were unfamiliar with the methodology of the report and declined to comment further.

The Marines acknowledge that they face an uphill battle in winning over the residents of Fallouja.

"We lose the IO [information operations] battle in this city," said Col. John Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine Regiment. "We can't get our word out. They don't believe what we say."

Marine brass wanted a solution that included insurgents voluntarily relinquishing their weapons and Iraqi police and the Civil Defense Corps returning to provide security. Many of those security officers fled the city when the fighting began, and the defection was a major disappointment to U.S. officials, who see police, Defense Corps members and the new Iraqi army as the successors to U.S. troops.

"We know that the sooner we can put an Iraqi face on security, the sooner people [will] gain self-respect and put their own situation back to normal [and] the sooner we can recede off the horizon," Conway said.

In recent days, Marines have been scrambling to reassemble the police force and Civil Defense Corps in Fallouja.

About 350 officers and corps members returned to duty Tuesday and Wednesday, and several hundred waited in a lengthy line Thursday to re-register for duty and thus be restored to the payroll.

Each man was asked whether he would be willing to patrol alongside U.S. troops — a key goal of the Marines in a city where security forces have for months resisted working in proximity to Americans, fearing retribution from opponents of the occupation. Police and corps members who said they were unwilling to work with U.S. troops were not taken back.

"That's critically important because it's going to require a level of presence of U.S. forces that they're not familiar with," Toolan said. "It's not going to be a return to the status quo."

Law enforcement authorities waiting to be interviewed by the Marines said they were eager to get back to work and arrest the thieves who were stealing from homes and businesses.

But when asked to place the blame for the fighting, they were equivocal.

"The Americans came and the planes killed people," said Nori Hamad, an Iraqi police officer in Fallouja. "We want to protect our town, but too many people are dying."

Added another police officer, Ayad Naji: "Since the Americans came, there is no water, nothing to eat, no electricity. Many children have died because of the airplanes."

Civil corpsman Adil Firah said the Marines were keeping people from fulfilling their religious obligations.

"The Americans shoot at people and we cannot attend mosque," he said. "The thieves come from outside of Fallouja. We can take care of them, without the Americans."

As part of the deal reached Monday, up to 50 families a day were to be allowed to return to the city. More than 60,000 people are believed to have fled during the initial fighting.

After the battle Wednesday, Marines suspended the returns. However, the influx is expected to resume, even though the military is concerned that fighters could sneak into the city posing as relatives of townspeople.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perry reported from Fallouja and McDonnell from Baghdad.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja23apr23,1,4755697.story?coll=la-headlines-world


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Inmates killed by fellow insurgents in mortar attack
Submitted by: I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story Identification Number: 200442313542
Story by Lance Cpl. J.C. Guibord



ABU GHURAYB, Iraq(April 20, 2004) -- Insurgents fired 18 mortar rounds into the Abu Ghurayb prison April 20, killing 14 detainees and wounding nearly 100.

While counter battery was being fired at the attacking enemy, coalition forces treated prisoners in a triage facility at the prison.

"I was inside my room when the explosion blew out the wall of my cell," said Anmar, a wounded prisoner who wouldn't give his last name because of concerns for his safety.

The rounds hit the holding areas for the Iraqi prisoners. The attack did not injure any coalition forces.

Insurgents have targeted the prison before, which houses approximately 5,000 detainees, killing and wounding several inmates on more than one occasion.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Combined Joint Task Force 7 deputy commander of operations, explained the attackers might have been gunning for their countrymen to start a revolt, or to prevent them from speaking to interrogators.

"Our guys scratch their heads and say, why would they be shelling their own people, killing their own people?" Kimmitt said hours after the attack.

The Iraqi prisoners didn't know whether to feel happy their brethren were aiming at coalition forces, tired of being included in the attacks.

"I have no problem with the people who did this, they were aiming at the Americans," said Anmar, a prisoner who said he was earning his teaching degree prior to being detained. "It's fine that it happened this once, but I don't want it anymore. I would ask them to stop because they are hitting us."

One wounded prisoner, who was tied down and gagged for attempting to bite the doctors and nurses that were helping him, felt differently about the attacks.

"I don't want anymore violence," said Hameed, a 30 year-old prisoner. "I want peace. I've always wanted peace."

Hameed, a former insurgent who says he used to be a mechanic, thinks violence will swallow the streets of Iraq if coalition forces leave.

"I do not feel safe inside or outside these walls," said Anmar.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/D7872691FD73442285256E7F005DE7DE?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Tips Lead to Capture of High-value Target, Munitions and IED Components <br />
<br />
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- After getting a tip from a local Iraqi near Karmah early Friday morning, Marines captured an...

[thedrifter]

Missing mom or dad: With parents at war, Pendleton kids try to cope

By: ANNE RILEY-KATZ - staff writer

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Nine-year-old Zachary Pavlicek has lost count of the days since he last saw his mother.

Melissa Pavlicek, a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, was activated and deployed to Iraq earlier this year, shortly after her husband Jerry retired from active duty.

"I haven't been counting the days, but I think it's been two months," Zachary said Thursday. "My little brother misses her the most, but we don't really talk about it. We just try to do what we would normally do."


Zachary's situation is common at Mary Fay Pendleton School on Camp Pendleton, where about two-thirds of the school's 759 students have had at least one parent deployed overseas, most of them to Iraq.

Zachary and his brother and sister know that their mother will be coming back this weekend, but other students and their families are still waiting.

"My mom's a little lonely because my dad is gone," said Jonathan Espinosa, a quiet second-grader whose father is stationed in Baghdad, while Jonathan, his mother and 4-year-old brother remain at Camp Pendleton. "I'm 8 and my brother is almost 5. She's got us, so we're taking care of her."

As some Marines return from Iraq, the mood at the Fallbrook Union Elementary District school has lifted at times, administrators said.

"It's been more optimistic than I thought," said Principal Lynne Gilstrap. "But sometimes, there's a lot more going on than we realize."

But Gilstrap and school staff members said that anxiety is still a reality for many of the students.

"There's still some fear," said second-grade teacher Evelyn Seeger, who has been at Mary Fay Pendleton for 17 years. "I still see kids crying out of nowhere or over something they usually wouldn't cry about."

About 14,000 Marines from Pendleton have been deployed to Iraq. More than 100 have been killed since April 1, more than any other month since the war began.

Seeger said that because so many students have parents in the military, students often turn to each other for support.

"They show so much compassion, they just crowd around and hug the kid and say, 'That's OK, my dad's gone, too,' " Seeger said.

Older students in particular are more affected by recent events, Gilstrap said. "The little kids miss mommy or daddy, but the older ones have an understanding of the seriousness of being in harm's way and the possibility of injury or death," she said.

"I've had a lot more behavioral problems this year, with students more antsy and aggressive," said fourth-grade teacher Catherine Shabestari. "A lot of the kids thought the war was over and resolved last year, but they see all the violence in the press and think, here we go again."

To curb student stress, staff members and administrators at Mary Fay discourage parents from letting their children watch TV coverage of the war.

"Spring vacation was harder on the kids than I thought it would be," Gilstrap said. "The kids were exposed to more than they are at school because moms and dads were caught up in the news. It's everywhere."

"We try to keep it lighthearted by doing fun things," Gilstrap said. "The students are making banners and signs to cheer up injured Marines who are coming back this weekend."

The banners will decorate 50 rooms at a base hospital where the injured Marines will recover. The effort is one of the school's many projects to support local troops overseas, including sending boxes of supplies such as deodorant, lotion, candy and baby wipes to troops.

"I've never seen such support, and you don't even have to ask," said Tanya Washington, the Parent-Teacher Association treasurer and campus volunteer who was preparing banner-making supplies Thursday. "It's just what we do."

Students regularly write letters to and draw pictures for Marines stationed in Iraq, and even post responses on a hallway bulletin board.

"Thank you again for the letters and the hard work you put into drawing the pictures," one letter read. "We will see you soon. Your friends, Landing Support Company, 3rd platoon. P.S. ---- the pictures were cool."

Washington said that students are always enthusiastic to reach out to troops.

"It's very important for the kids to have a part in this, and their little hearts are so big," Washington said. "You may never know (the troops) or never see them, but it helps and it feels good."

Contact staff writer Anne Riley-Katz at (760) 731-5799 or ariley-katz@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/24/military/20_25_434_23_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Troops Wait to See if Fallujah War Resumes

By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - A young Marine leaned against his sandbagged machine gun nest, staring into a killing zone of scorched houses and deserted alleys — a bleak landscape so familiar from days of watch duty that it no longer blunts his thoughts of home, barbecues, parties and college.

Most of the time we forget about this place and think of home. Occasionally we get interrupted by a few gunshots," Lance Cpl. Ignacio Villarreal said Saturday.


A two-week freeze on a Marine offensive in Fallujah has given troops heaps of time to ponder as they fill sandbags, trade jokes and wait to see if the battle resumes. The routine is interrupted only by sporadic pot shots from black-suited gunmen.


U.S. commanders warn that the Marines could go back on the attack within days, resuming an assault that has killed hundreds of Iraqi insurgents and at least seven Marines this month.


Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt suggested Saturday that Marines could soon storm the city because guerrillas have not abided by a demand to hand over their heavy weapons.


"Our patience is not eternal," Kimmitt said at a news conference in Baghdad. He said he was speaking of only a matter of "days."


L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq (news - web sites), went to Fallujah on Saturday to hold talks on the next steps.


On the ground, Marines are running out of patience, too, frustrated with sitting in defensive positions and abiding by regulations that allow them to shoot only when fired at first or if a weapon is pointed at them.


"It messes with your head. I can't stand this," Villarreal, 20, from Los Angeles, said while gazing out at a trash-strewn street lined with barbed wire.


Guarding a front line known to battle planners as "phase line violet," his post sits amid a clutter of greasy auto parts and broken-down cars next to a cheese factory where the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment has positioned one of its companies.


The battalion controls a large industrial sector on the city's outskirts. Marines barrel along rutted streets in Humvees, cruising through an apocalyptic scene of derelict factories, garages, rusted car hulks and piles of scrap metal.


The tedium is broken only by only amid the occasional chatter with comrades or the growls of dogs scrapping in the streets, Villarreal said. "You got the dog wars. That's fun to watch."


Most of the time, he's thinking of home, of drinking a few beers and going to his first college party. He and his buddies joke they are spending spring break 2004 in Fallujah — "having a blast, literally."


Then a boy on a bicycle cruised across a muddy street crisscrossed with sagging power lines, a reminder that there is life out there.


Marines worry about how they can take the city with so many civilians still inside. Only about a third of Fallujah's 200,000 residents have fled, many of them to refugee camps in Baghdad.


"Something's going to happen one way or another," said Gunnery Sgt. Sean Cox, 31, from Hoffman Estates, Ill. "It's been quiet. But we'll see what happens in a few days."


Then he adds, "But we say that every few days."





Some of the Marines think the demand for insurgents to hand in weapons is unrealistic.

"These aren't regular people who live in Fallujah and are just mad that we're here," said Lance Cpl. Abraham McCarver, 21, from Memphis, Tenn. "They're terrorist jihad (holy war) fighters; not the type you'd think would surrender."

Some officers handed out photos of al-Qaida-linked militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. U.S. officials have said he may be among the numerous foreign fighters they think are holed up in Fallujah.

These Marines got a taste of their foe's tenacity on April 13 when insurgents swarmed two armored vehicles, firing assault rifles and barrages of rocket-propelled grenades. The rockets ripped through one of the vehicles, killing a turret gunner and wounding another Marine, tearing a chunk from his right leg.

Pfc. Aldo Hernandez, 19, of San Fernando, Calif., remembers running from one of the burning vehicles with fellow Marines and taking cover in a house. He said hundreds more insurgents joined the fight, some pouring out of hiding inside ambulances.

"I was stunned. They swarmed on us like a bunch of ants," he said. A quick reaction force came to their aid and extracted the Marines after an hours-long battle.

Asked what he thinks about crossing the front line to confront those fighters again, Hernandez said simply he does what he's told and will be fine.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=8&u=/ap/20040424/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_waiting_for_war_1


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Suicide boat bombers attack Iraqi oil facilities in Persian Gulf, killing two sailors

By Bassem Mroue
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:57 p.m. April 24, 2004


BAGHDAD, Iraq – Suicide attackers detonated explosive-laden boats near oil facilities in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, killing two U.S. Navy sailors in a new tactic against Iraq's vital oil industry. Elsewhere, violence across Iraq killed at least 33 Iraqis and four American soldiers.

It was the first such maritime attack against oil facilities since U.S. troops invaded Iraqi more than a year ago. The blasts resembled attacks in 2000 and 2002 – blamed on al-Qaeda – against the USS Cole and a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen that killed 17 American sailors and a tanker crewman.

In the attack, three dhows, or small boats, drew close to two major oil terminals in Gulf waters about 100 miles from Iraq's main port, Umm Qasr, and exploded when coalition craft tried to intercept them. A U.S. Navy craft was flipped by the blast, killing the American sailors and injuring five others, the U.S. military said.

Initial reports said there was no damage to the terminals, the military said, and Iraq's main southern oil outlet, Umm Qasr, remained open, a British spokesman said.

The Gulf bombings came on a day of multiple attacks in Iraq: The deadliest was a roadside bomb that hit a bus south of Baghdad, killing at least 13 Iraqis. A mortar barrage struck a crowded market in the capital's biggest Shiite neighborhood, Sadr City, killing at least seven.

The U.S. soldiers were killed around dawn, when two rockets were fired from a truck and slammed into the base in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. U.S. helicopter gunships then destroyed the truck. Seven soldiers were wounded, three of them critically, the military said.

The latest deaths, along with the combat death of a Marine announced Saturday, brought to 108 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the beginning of April. The military announced the death of a soldier in a non-combat incident, bringing to 717 the number servicemembers who have died in the country.

Anywhere from 900 to 1,200 Iraqis have been killed in April – depending on various reports of the death toll from Fallujah.

British military spokesman Hisham H. Halawi said the port at Umm Qasr, the chief southern outlet for Iraqi oil, remained open after the boat attacks.

The first blast came when a dhow was sighted near the Khawr al-Amaya oil terminal, the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet said. When an interception team tried to board, the dhow exploded, flipping the U.S. Navy craft.

About 20 minutes later, two more dhows were spotted near the al-Basra oil terminal. They, too, exploded when security teams approached, but there were no casualties among the security teams, the 5th Fleet said.

Halawi said the second dhows were trying to pull close to two tankers at the al-Basra terminal, also known as ABOT.

Insurgents in Iraq have frequently attacked oil pipelines, repeatedly shutting down exports from northern oil fields through Turkey. Southern pipelines, running through relatively more peaceable Shiite regions, have seen fewer attacks.

Iraq is currently producing about 2 million barrels of oil a day, according to the Middle East Economic Survey.

The oil attacks came three days after near simultaneous suicide car bombings in the southern Iraqi city of Basra – 30 miles north of Umm Qasr – that killed 74 people.

The violence came as U.S. commanders repeated warnings that they may soon launch a new assault on the besieged city of Fallujah, saying guerrillas had not abided by a call to surrender heavy weapons.

L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, traveled to the Marine base outside Fallujah for consultations Saturday, while Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters: "Should there not be a good faith effort demonstrated by the belligerents inside Fallujah, the coalition is prepared to act."

In Saturday's bloodiest incident, a bomb exploded on a main road as a bus passed near Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad. The back of the bus was shredded and seats crumpled. At least 13 people – including a four-year-old boy – were killed and 17 wounded, said Wasan Nasser, a doctor at Iskan Hospital in neighboring Iskandariyah.

In Sadr City, the capital's sprawling Shiite slum, angry residents vented anger at Iraq's U.S. occupiers after the mortar attacks, which followed an early morning clash in the neighborhood between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

Some of the mortar shells in Saturday's barrage against Sadr City, which killed at least seven people, hit two miles from any U.S. position – suggesting they may have deliberately targeted civilians in the Shiite neighborhood.

Three shells pounded into the neighborhood's main souk, known as the Chicken Market, just as morning crowds were gathering to shop. Human flesh could be seen among scattered market stalls and burned-out cars. Craters were blasted out of the asphalt.

At least six Iraqis were killed and 38 wounded, said Yassin Abdel-Qader, a doctor in the area's Health Directorate. The Baghdad slum is home to more than 1 million people.

Hours later, a projectile struck a two-story house, smashing through its roof and down into the ground floor, tearing a woman to pieces as she took an afternoon nap and wounding her daughter. At least two more landed later in the afternoon, hitting a main street on the edge of Sadr City, breaking windows but causing no casualties.

Before the mortar fire, U.S. troops launched a pre-dawn raid into Sadr City, pursuing al-Sadr militiamen. They caught in a gunbattle in which two Iraqis were killed, according to U.S. Maj. Phil Smith.

During the fighting, a shell pierced the wall of a house, exploding in a bedroom and severely burning a 9-year-old girl and two teenage girls as they slept.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt suggested former members of Saddam Hussein's security services were to blame.

"It was clearly an attack on civilians. There was no U.S. military at that spot," said Lt. Col. James Hutton of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, which responded to the attack and helped treat the wounded.

Still, angry Shiites blamed the Americans for the assault. After one of the afternoon strikes, residents chanted, "Long live al-Sadr. America and the Governing Council are infidels."

In other violence Saturday:

–An Iraqi woman working as a U.S. military translator was shot and killed with her husband as they drove to a U.S. base, a hospital official said.

–A roadside bomb destroyed a car carrying Iraqis near a U.S. base in the northern city of Tikrit, hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and a center for anti-U.S. resistance. Four Iraqis – two police and two civilians – were killed and 16 wounded, the U.S. military said.

–Polish troops clashed overnight with Shiite militiamen in the city of Karbala, killing five, a spokesman for the multinational peacekeeping force in south-central Iraq said Saturday.



AP correspondent Adnan Malik in Riyadh contributed to this report.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040424-1457-iraq.html


Ellie