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thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:57 AM
Marines Kill 10 Militants in Fallujah

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomber rammed a U.S. convoy Wednesday north of Baghdad during clashes with militants that killed 10 people, witnesses said. U.S. aircraft launched strikes against insurgents holding out in the southern parts of Fallujah.


Violence continued to erupt across Iraq (news - web sites)'s Sunni-dominated heartland — part of a spike in clashes which have made November one of the bloodiest months of the Iraqi insurgency.


The car bomb and clashes in Beiji, a city 155 miles north of the capital, also left 20 others wounded, witnesses said. It was unclear whether there were any American casualties or how many of the 10 deaths were a result of the car bomb or fighting.


Beiji is the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery and a major power station.


In Fallujah, heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River.


Bullets snapped overhead as Iraqi body-collection workers supervised by the Marines sought cover behind walls and in buildings. After 15 minutes of fighting, three rebels were dead and one Marine lightly injured in the hand, officers said.


The rush of warplanes streaking through the low-lying clouds shook the city and blasts sent smoke into the sky. The U.S. military said that airstrikes Wednesday were concentrated in the southwestern part of Fallujah, destroying enemy positions.


On Saturday, the U.S. military had declared the one-time rebel stronghold completely occupied but not subdued after a nearly weeklong battle. But pockets of insurgents remain, and U.S. and Iraqi forces are still fighting.


"Even as we start Fallujah's reconstruction, the fighting is continuing, as you can hear," Capt. Alex Henegar, a civil affairs officer attached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, told reporters Wednesday as heavy gunfire and grenade explosions sounded in the distance.


Four trucks of humanitarian aid for Fallujah people crossed the borders from Kuwait into Iraq on Wednesday, said Dr. Haithan Issa, chairman of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society in Basra. The assistance, a gift from the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society, included food, medicine and bedcovers.


Fallujah residents who fled into neighboring Ramadi reported that local insurgent leaders Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar Hadid remained fighting inside the city.


In the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, masked men clutching rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles took up positions on several streets and alleys in eastern and southeastern Ramadi, residents said.


South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated Wednesday near an Iraqi National Guard convoy in the insurgent hotspot of Iskandariyah, killing two guardsmen and wounding three others, police and hospital officials said.


In the central city of Baqouba, insurgents attacked police headquarters with gunfire late Tuesday, then with a mortar attack Wednesday, though no casualties were reported, police said.


On Monday, U.S. troops and Iraqi forces fought insurgents in pitched battles that left at least 20 enemy fighters dead in Baqouba. One Iraqi policeman and seven civilians were also killed. The Monday clashes left 15 others wounded, including four American 1st Infantry Division soldiers, the military said.


Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. Marines, freed a captive Iraqi truck driver during a raid south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The rescued hostage, who was not identified, was taken to a nearby U.S. base, where he received medical treatment before being released.


Polish troops in the central holy city of Karbala handed over their base Wednesday to Iraqi police authorities as scheduled and returned to Diwaniya, police said.





In Baghdad, some 3,000 protesters peacefully demanded the release of seven followers of Shiite Ayatollah Mahmoud al-Hassani, who had been detained by U.S. forces in the past week.

On Wednesday, the U.S. military said Wednesday that the strife-hit city of Mosul appeared calmer after operations to restore control in the western part of the city, with only a handful of isolated attacks with small arms fire.

"It's been quiet overnight. We'll continue with operations to clear out the last remaining pockets of the insurgency," said Capt. Angela Bowman, with Task Force Olympia.

The U.S.-led offensive is aimed at seizing control of the city 225 miles north of Baghdad, where gunmen stormed police stations, bridges and political offices last week.

The U.S. military said it was investigating the fatal shooting of a wounded "enemy combatant" by a Marine in a Fallujah mosque over the weekend. The inquiry was begun after videotaped pool pictures taken Saturday by the U.S. network NBC showed the incident during an operation of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

The Marine was removed from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation, the military said.

Elsewhere, hope faded for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan after Al-Jazeera television announced it had obtained a video showing a masked man shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. Hassan's family in London said they believed the longtime director of CARE's operations in Iraq was the victim.

The 59-year-old Hassan, abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19 by armed gunmen, was the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year. Her captors issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:58 AM
Seabees To Help Rebuild Fallujah
Biloxi Sun Herald
November 16, 2004

Seabees from Gulfport likely will play a role in restoring electric power and drinking water in Fallujah when the fighting against insurgents ends.

Most of the rebuilding, however, will be done by Iraqi contractors.

"The goal is to engage the Iraq people and the Iraqi contractors in rebuilding the infrastructure and supporting the economy," said Capt. Mark Handley, commander of the 22nd Naval Construction Regiment, which provides command and control for Seabee battalions at Gulfport.

Finishing an assignment as commander of all Seabees in Iraq, Handley returned three weeks ago from a camp outside Fallujah, where several hundred Seabees, some from Gulfport, have supported the Marines now fighting in Fallujah.

Seabees are prepared to make some critical repairs, assess damage and begin the long-term strategy for rebuilding.

Even before the recent battle, Fallujah was a primitive town with limited electric power, an undependable drinking water supply, no citywide garbage collection and no sewage treatment.





The insurgent uprising in April blocked plans to modernize the Sunni city. The recent battle against insurgents has destroyed many homes.

Few Iraqi contractors could work within Fallujah since April. However, Seabee engineers have continued to hire Iraqi contractors to rebuild villages in the region outside.

"We still have active contractors within Iraq that we're working with," Handley said.

Funds from Iraqi oil revenue were used for rebuilding before June 30. Funds for a sewage collection and treatment system for Fallujah will come from an $18 billion reconstruction fund, provided by U.S. taxpayers.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:58 AM
Marines pound Falluja with mortars
Wed 17 November, 2004 04:23

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines are pounding the restive town of Falluja with mortars in a bid to remove remaining pockets of guerrillas, a Reuters witness says.

Marines began firing mortars late at night and intensified the attacks on Wednesday to facilitate what they called clean up operations to clear the city of weapons and insurgents who survived a weeklong offensive.

U.S. forces which launched the offensive on the rebel bastion say they have taken control of the town but scattered resistance remains.

U.S. officials say more than 1,000 insurgents have been killed and more than 1,000 arrested in the battle to take the mainly Sunni Muslim city.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:59 AM
November 16, 2004

Marines detain 50 Iraqi men seeking food in Fallujah

By Gordon Trowbridge
Times staff writer


FALLUJAH, Iraq — More than 50 military-age men were detained by Marines here on Tuesday after trying to obtain food at a U.S.-established refugee center in the city.
Officials with 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, one of the Marine units operating in the city, said the men were detained after gunpowder residue was detected on their bodies.

Military officials have begun humanitarian operations, to include setting up food distribution points for the few civilians left in the city. The move is a concern to some Marines in the city, who said further steps, such as allowing civilians to re-enter Fallujah, would vastly complicate the task of clearing remaining pockets of insurgents.

Reports before U.S. troops entered the city last week indicated that as many as half the city’s residents had remained in Fallujah, but families have remained almost unseen.

Troops with Alpha Company of the 1/3 Marines said they have yet to see a single Iraqi who was clearly civilian, and have seen no women or children. Other companies in the battalion have reported a handful of families in their sectors.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 07:00 AM
Ignoring the Iraq-Al Qaeda War

November 17, 2004


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by Chris Davis

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Let’s dispel two myths: The War in Iraq is the War on Terror, and there are no insurgents in Iraq. Insurgency, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, is to rebel against an established government. Since there is no established government in Iraq, there are no insurgents, only terrorists. There is no difference, no distinction, and no reason to label this war differently. Nevertheless, the biased, left wing media and the Democratic Party keep them separate in their warped agenda. They choose to ignore the connection and the facts.

“There were no links between Iraq and al Qaeda!” We heard the chants of the partisan media after the 9/11 Commissioners reported they were unable to make a specific connection to the 9/11 attacks. The liberal media went crazy with orgasmic glee. Suddenly, they had proven the War in Iraq wasn’t justified. That toppling Saddam’s regime was a mistake for President George W. Bush, and removing a dictator that murdered thousands of people an unjust act. There were gleams in the eyes of leftist anchors everywhere.

Liberals rushed to their computers--in sheer joy--at the thought of a blow to President Bush. Happily they typed their stories, echoing the sentiments of their erudite peers across the globe. It was over for Bush. The 9/11 Commission had nailed him to the wall; ended his Presidency. In their haste, they created a blight of contradiction for themselves. They were ignoring the ugly facts that their current and past colleagues reported. They are ignoring Colin Powell of the U.S. State Department, and George Tenet of the Central Intelligence Agency-a person they thought to be an incompetent boob. In their expeditiousness, they blatantly ignored the truth of the Iraq-Al Qaeda connection.

There has been a continuing effort, by the Democratic Party, to separate the War on Terror and the terrorists from the conflict in Iraq. In their efforts-along with their “willing accomplices”-they has ignored the facts as well. There is one undeniable truth: The War on Terror is the War in Iraq. To separate them is a gross misunderstanding of the threat we face today, and the continuing threat around the world. In his State of the Union address, on January 29, 2002, President Bush stated, “Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.” Iraq, Iran, and North Korea were all named as state sponsors of terror, and would be addressed in the War on Terror. There was no distinction between those that support terror and the terrorist themselves. That is the belief of President George W. Bush and the White House.

It was also the story of reporters across the globe as they reported just that. “Saddam Hussein’s regime has opened talks with Osama bin Laden, bringing closer the threat of terrorist attack using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, according to U.S. intelligence sources and Iraqi opposition officials. The key meeting took place in the Afghan mountains near Kandahar in late December 1998…News of the negotiations emerged (as) the U.S. attorney general, Janet Reno, warned the Senate that a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction was a growing concern. ‘There’s a threat, and it’s real,’ Ms. Reno said…” appearing in The Guardian, February 6, 1999.

There would be even more evidence to ignore: “Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The London Telegraph…found (4/26/03) in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraqi’s intelligent service, reveal that an al Qaeda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998. The documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al Qaeda based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad.” There were dozens of stories like these reported by journalists all over the world, relating the real threat of al Qaeda and the Iraq alliance as co-sponsors of terror. Reporters wouldn’t be the only people to make the connection between al Qaeda and Iraq. Colin Powell of the U.S. State Department had been making the same case, but the liberal American journalists would continue in their benightedness.

In a speech to the United Nations, Colin Powell would argue that very point: “Iraq today, harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Masab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden…” – Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State, Speech to the United Nations Security Council, February 6, 2003.

“Zarqawi….traveled to Baghdad in May 2002 for medical treatment, staying in the capital of Iraq for two months…During this stay, nearly two dozen extremists converged on Baghdad and established a base of operations there. These al Qaeda affiliates…coordinate the movement of people, money, and supplies into and throughout Iraq for his network…(In 2002) an al Qaeda associate bragged that the situation in Iraq was, quote, ‘good.’” – Colin Powell, at the United Nations.

Colin Powell would continue to give the United Nations more information: “In 1996, a foreign security service tells us…bin Laden met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Khartoum, and later met the director of the Iraqi intelligence service.” The evidence is irrefutable. Iraq and al Qaeda had been cooperating since the 1990’s, and as late as 2003, before the U.S. led coalition to liberate Iraq. This cooperation led to attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The harboring and passing of information between Iraq and al Qaeda made Saddam Hussein a target in the War on Terror.

George Tenet and the Central Intelligence Agency agreed with Colin Powell and the U.S. State Department: “Iraq has in the past provided training in document forgery and bomb making to al Qaeda. It also provided training in poisons and gases to two al Qaeda associates; one of these associates characterized the relationship as successful. Mr. Chairman, this information is based on solid foundation of intelligence. It comes to us from credible and reliable sources. Much of it is corroborated by multiple sources.”--- George Tenant, Senate Arms Services Committee Testimony, February 12, 2003.

After the 9/11 Commission Report was published, liberal journalists continued their empty-headedness in their blatant bias to remove President Bush from office. No journalist had been more partisan than Dan Rather of CBS when he broke the erroneous story of the National Guard memos. Had it not been for Free Republic and the new media, he might have been able to get away with slander and libel. Yet, he continues to ignore his fellow reporters and current reporting of the War on Terror. “The Iraqi document itself states that ‘cooperation between two organizations (al Qaeda and Iraqi intelligence) should be allowed to develop freely through discussion and agreement.”—The New York Times, June 25, 2004. “The New York Times reported yesterday that when foreign fighters and the network of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were counted with home-grown insurgents, the hard-core resistance numbered between 8000 and 12,000 people. That tally swelled to more than 20,000 when active sympathizers or covert accomplices were included”—The Australian, October 23, 2004.

The War on Terror has become the center of controversy for the Democratic Party. How can the Democratic Party understand the Iraq war when they can’t even understand the insurgents are actually terrorists? Every insurgent described in the media is a terrorist. It is best said by Oliver North: “How can there be insurgents? There is no insurgency. They’re terrorists.” I’ve got news for the Democratic Party: There is no distinction between those that cooperate with terrorist and the terrorist themselves, and there is no distinction between the War in Iraq and the War on Terror.

Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were both terrorists in their own right. They were both responsible--directly or indirectly through cooperative means--for the deaths of nearly 3,000 men and women on September 11, 2001. They both murdered fellow Muslims to advance their ideology of hate, and they both had a score to settle with the United States of America. In seeking their vengeance, they awoke a mighty giant. They aroused the people of this great country, uniting them in one common goal: The defeat and destruction of terrorism throughout the world. Afghanistan and Iraq resemble shades of World War II—where we fought two full theater wars—there was no distinction made between the war with Germany and the war with Japan. It was simply World War II that the people of America stood up to and defeated two evil regimes to spread liberty throughout the globe. And those two countries are forever better because of it. It allowed for a peace and prosperity in America unknown at the time.

The people of America, channeling their might through President George W. Bush, will overcome and defeat the despots of terror. They will make no distinction between terrorists and those that harbor them. They will ensure, through their diligence, that we eradicate these ideologues of hate. It is a united America and it’s new media that will point out the lies and slander of the War on Terror. Since John Kerry and the incestuous journalists want to ignore the Iraq-Al Qaeda War, then American conservatives and their new media won’t allow it. We’ll stay in the hunt between now, Election Day and beyond. We’ll keep the faith in President George W. Bush and his plan for the War on Terror in both theaters: Afghanistan and Iraq.

Chris Davis


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Chris Davis is the author of Elective Decisions and has written for Enter Stage Right and Free Republic.

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/c-e/chris-davis/04/davis111704.htm

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 07:01 AM
U.N. 'deeply concerned' about Falluja
Tuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted: 1539 GMT (2339 HKT)


CNN) -- The U.N. office for human rights has issued a tough statement about the fighting in Falluja, saying it is "deeply concerned" about civilians caught in the crossfire.

The statement Tuesday from the office of Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, called on all parties to take "every possible precaution" to protect the residents of the Iraqi city.

U.S. and Iraqi forces said they have secured the city following a weeklong campaign to quell insurgents and were continuing to move on insurgent remnants.

"There have been a number of reports during the current confrontation alleging violations of the rules of war designed to protect civilians and combatants," the statement said.

Arbour is "particularly worried" over the "poor access" for humanitarian aid delivery and the lack of information about casualties, the statement said.

"The high commissioner considers that all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law must be investigated and those responsible for breaches -- including deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, the killing of injured persons and the use of human shields -- must be brought to justice, be they members of the multinational force or insurgents."

Meanwhile, the U.S. military is investigating the shooting of an unarmed, wounded insurgent by a U.S. Marine during the battle for Falluja. The incident was captured on videotape by a pool reporter.

The man was shot in the head at close range Saturday by a Marine who found him among a group of wounded men in a mosque that Marines said had been the source of small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire the previous day.

The Navy's Criminal Investigative Service said it plans to question one of the other wounded Iraqis as part of the probe, according to the pool reporter embedded with the unit.

The Marine has been removed from his unit and taken back to the headquarters of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 07:02 AM
Marines: Kidnapped Iraqi rescued



Washington, DC, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- An Iraqi SWAT team backed by U.S. Marines rescued a kidnapped Iraqi truck driver Monday in a raid south of Baghdad, according to the U.S. military.

The man was being held by insurgents in northern Babil province, about 25 miles south of Baghdad.

The team found the Iraqi hostage during a raid on several buildings believed to be occupied by insurgent forces. He received medical treatment at a U.S. base and was released, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said.

Four Iraqis wanted for their involvement in insurgent activities were detained in the operation, according to the MEF.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 08:25 AM
Army Starts Punishing Reservists <br />
Charlotte Observer <br />
November 17, 2004 <br />
<br />
The Army has begun disciplining some of the 18 soldiers from a Rock Hill-based Reserve unit who refused orders last month...

thedrifter
11-17-04, 08:45 AM
"Sarin"

By Neal Boortz
Nov. 17, 2004

If you use this link [ http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/phantom_fury/flash.htm ] to visit the USA Today website you will be treated to a flash presentation of several pictures taken during the siege of Fallujah. Picture number two in this presentation shows 40 vials in boxes labeled "Sarin." That's sarin gas, my friends. One drop of this stuff on your skin can kill you. The boxes have Cyrillic and German characters on them, indicating they may have come from our good friends the Russians or the Germans. The caption under the photo reads "Marines discovered 40 vials of suspected Sarin gas while searching a house in Fallujah, Iraq. It was secreted in a briefcase hidden in a truck in the courtyard of the house."

So ... there you go. Weapons of mass destruction. Chemical weapons. This Sarin gas could, with an effective application, kill thousands. And where do they find it? In a briefcase! A briefcase in a car trunk. And you wonder why our troops have had some difficulty finding Saddam's weapons? You still think inspections could have worked? Yeah, sure they would. The inspectors were going to look in every car trunk and every briefcase in Iraq.

What you see in that picture is proof that the only way to even come close to neutralizing the threat that Saddam posed was to remove him from power. Nothing else was going to work.

Meanwhile ... just watch the critics whistle past this one. If you don't mention the vials of Sarin gas, they just don't exist ... do they?

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 08:46 AM
Car Bomber Rams U.S. Convoy Near Baghdad

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomber rammed a U.S. convoy Wednesday north of Baghdad during clashes with militants that killed 10 people, witnesses said. U.S. aircraft launched strikes against insurgents holding out in the southern parts of Fallujah.


Violence continued to erupt across Iraq (news - web sites)'s Sunni-dominated heartland — part of a spike in clashes which have made November one of the bloodiest months of the Iraqi insurgency.


The car bomb and clashes in Beiji, a city 155 miles north of the capital, also left 20 others wounded, witnesses said. It was unclear whether there were any American casualties or how many of the 10 deaths were a result of the car bomb or fighting.


Beiji is the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery and a major power station.


In Fallujah, heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River.


Bullets snapped overhead as Iraqi body-collection workers supervised by the Marines sought cover behind walls and in buildings. After 15 minutes of fighting, three rebels were dead and one Marine lightly injured in the hand, officers said.


The rush of warplanes streaking through the low-lying clouds shook the city and blasts sent smoke into the sky. The U.S. military said that airstrikes Wednesday were concentrated in the southwestern part of Fallujah, destroying enemy positions.


On Saturday, the U.S. military had declared the one-time rebel stronghold completely occupied but not subdued after a nearly weeklong battle. But pockets of insurgents remain, and U.S. and Iraqi forces are still fighting.


"Even as we start Fallujah's reconstruction, the fighting is continuing, as you can hear," Capt. Alex Henegar, a civil affairs officer attached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, told reporters Wednesday as heavy gunfire and grenade explosions sounded in the distance.


Four trucks of humanitarian aid for Fallujah people crossed the borders from Kuwait into Iraq on Wednesday, said Dr. Haithan Issa, chairman of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society in Basra. The assistance, a gift from the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society, included food, medicine and bedcovers.


Fallujah residents who fled into neighboring Ramadi reported that local insurgent leaders Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar Hadid remained fighting inside the city.


In the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, masked men clutching rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles took up positions on several streets and alleys in eastern and southeastern Ramadi, residents said.


South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated Wednesday near an Iraqi National Guard convoy in the insurgent hotspot of Iskandariyah, killing two guardsmen and wounding three others, police and hospital officials said.


In the central city of Baqouba, insurgents attacked police headquarters with gunfire late Tuesday, then with a mortar attack Wednesday, though no casualties were reported, police said.


On Monday, U.S. troops and Iraqi forces fought insurgents in pitched battles that left at least 20 enemy fighters dead in Baqouba. One Iraqi policeman and seven civilians were also killed. The Monday clashes left 15 others wounded, including four American 1st Infantry Division soldiers, the military said.


Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. Marines, freed a captive Iraqi truck driver during a raid south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The rescued hostage, who was not identified, was taken to a nearby U.S. base, where he received medical treatment before being released.


Polish troops in the central holy city of Karbala handed over their base Wednesday to Iraqi police authorities as scheduled and returned to Diwaniya, police said.





In Baghdad, some 3,000 protesters peacefully demanded the release of seven followers of Shiite Ayatollah Mahmoud al-Hassani, who had been detained by U.S. forces in the past week.

On Wednesday, the U.S. military said Wednesday that the strife-hit city of Mosul appeared calmer after operations to restore control in the western part of the city, with only a handful of isolated attacks with small arms fire.

"It's been quiet overnight. We'll continue with operations to clear out the last remaining pockets of the insurgency," said Capt. Angela Bowman, with Task Force Olympia.

The U.S.-led offensive is aimed at seizing control of the city 225 miles north of Baghdad, where gunmen stormed police stations, bridges and political offices last week.

The U.S. military said it was investigating the fatal shooting of a wounded "enemy combatant" by a Marine in a Fallujah mosque over the weekend. The inquiry was begun after videotaped pool pictures taken Saturday by the U.S. network NBC showed the incident during an operation of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

The Marine was removed from the battlefield pending the results of the investigation, the military said.

Elsewhere, hope faded for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan after Al-Jazeera television announced it had obtained a video showing a masked man shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. Hassan's family in London said they believed the longtime director of CARE's operations in Iraq was the victim.

The 59-year-old Hassan, abducted in Baghdad on Oct. 19 by armed gunmen, was the most prominent of more than 170 foreigners kidnapped in Iraq this year. Her captors issued videos showing her pleading for Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and calling for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 10:28 AM
U.S. Seek People's Allegiance
Associated Press
November 17, 2004

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - As fighting winds down, U.S. troops face an even more difficult mission in Fallujah - winning the people's allegiance. Planners want to make sure the Fallujah battle doesn't mimic the U.S.-led invasion: a well-executed military assault followed by a flawed occupation.

As soon as the city settles down, U.S. leaders and their Iraqi government partners plan to bring in a new city government - including a new mayor and police chief - as well as thousands of Iraqi police and paramilitary forces whose job it will be to keep order.

Shortly afterward, contractors are supposed to begin $178 million in repairs to the battered city.

"We knew the combat phase was something we could easily dominate," said Lt. Col. Dan Wilson, a planner with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "Now is when the real work begins."

No one expects the capture of the former Sunni Muslim stronghold to halt the insurgency - even within the city itself. One military official said Fallujah would probably wind up like Baghdad, a city under ineffective government control where insurgents have little problem mounting attacks.

By any account, the United States and Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, will have a tough time making friends among Fallujah's surviving residents.

The brutal assault has crushed homes and mosques and ground much of the southern neighborhoods into rubble. Survivors are hungry and aid convoys have been unable to reach them.




Reports of civilian suffering, expected to spread after the Americans loosens its grip on the city, could transform Fallujah into a shrine to Muslim warriors killed in the fighting.

Already the fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a Marine has incensed Sunni Muslims, complicating efforts by Iraqi authorities seeking to contain a Sunni backlash to the invasion. Many Sunnis saw the Fallujah assault as a plot by the Americans and the Shiites against religious Sunnis and Saturday's shooting strengthened that view, intensifying the hostility there, as elsewhere, to U.S. troops.

As factual events morph into legend, the battle could become a key tool for guerrilla recruiters, already adept at running information campaigns, who want to replace the 1,600 or so fighters killed.

Fallujah remains home to many in the insurgent recruiting pool, including unemployed soldiers from of Iraq's disbanded military. And the city is a key stopping point on the guerrillas' route into Baghdad.

Outside Fallujah, the vast and tough Anbar province, which lacks any credible Iraqi security force or government control, seethes with Sunni discontent and growing poverty.

Thousands of insurgents in the province have been able to intimidate residents into halting cooperation with American and Iraqi governments, even as they step up attacks on the roads and in towns that stretch west along the Euphrates River.

U.S. planners and their Iraqi government partners want to fight back by capitalizing on the momentum from their quick ground battle.

Together, the Iraqi government and U.S. military have set aside $178 million for immediate repairs. Further out, there is $1.2 billion in long-stalled funds earmarked for Anbar province, part of the $18.4 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds that Congress approved for rebuilding Iraq.

In coming days, thousands of Iraqi troops and special police will be sent to keep order in Fallujah, with some manning roadblocks on routes into the city, said Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division and the architect of the ground assault.

"Hopefully we'll be able to control access to the city, Natonski said. "Iraqi security forces are very good at spotting foreign fighters. They can detect the accents."

But another U.S. military officer said little can be done to prevent insurgents from returning to the city. And thus far, the military has shown little evidence to back up previous claims by U.S. and Iraqi leaders that large numbers of foreigners were behind the rebellion. Most of the city's defenders appear to have come either from Fallujah or from elsewhere in Iraq.

Military officials say privately that the United States lacks the forces to take on the guerrillas as effectively as it should. Currently, the Americans have about 142,000 troops in Iraq, though some units will be rotating out next year.

U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine calls for simultaneous attacks on rebel strongholds. But current troop levels make it difficult to pursue that strategy, giving the insurgents the chance to flee and regroup.

Some U.S. officers compare the fight to the old carnival game Whack-a-Mole. As soon as one animal's head is bashed, another pops up somewhere else.

But in Anbar province, the military hopes to make good on its counterinsurgency doctrine, keeping troops in the region long enough to press the fight.

Eventually, U.S. planners say, Iraqi forces must take over. Wilson said it was critical to show Fallujah's returning residents that Iraq's interim government is serious about reviving the city.

"We don't consider this thing over. We have no plans to pack up and go home," he said. "We are going to make sure Fallujah is done right."

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 11:05 AM
Armed Group Kidnaps 31 Iraqi Policemen

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An armed group kidnapped 31 Iraqi policemen who were returning training in Jordan, authorities said Wednesday, and a suicide car bomber rammed a U.S. convoy north of Baghdad, killing 10 people, hospital officials said.


The attacks were part of a wave of violence that has swept across Iraq (news - web sites)'s Sunni Arab heartland during the U.S. offensive to retake the insurgent bastion of Fallujah. The violence has made November one of the bloodiest months of the Iraqi insurgency.


The American death toll in the war in Iraq surpassed 1,200 with new Defense Department identifications Tuesday night and Wednesday. The total of 1,206 deaths included 1,202 identified members of the U.S. military, three military civilians and one unidentified soldier reported to have died Tuesday in Balad.


The police officers were abducted Sunday, when gunmen stormed the hotel the officers were staying at in the town of Rutba, near the Jordanian border, said a police spokesman in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad.


A Karbala policeman returning from Rutba said around 20 armed men attacked the hotel, covering the captives' heads with black bags and tying their hands before dragging them away, the spokesman said.


The gunmen took the mobile phones, cameras and documents from the unarmed policemen, the officer recounted to the spokesman. The officer himself said he was beaten but not kidnapped by the gunmen.


Most of the policemen were from Diyala province, which lies north and east of Baghdad, the spokesman said.


Insurgents have repeatedly targeted new members of the Iraqi security forces that the U.S. military has been training. On Oct. 23, gunmen ambushed a group of Iraqi soldiers returning home from a training course on a road east of Baghdad. Around 50 of the soldiers — who were unarmed — were killed execution-style with gunshots to the back of the head.


On Oct. 16, nine Iraqi policemen returning from a training course in Jordan were ambushed and killed on their way home to Karbala.


The car bomb came during clashes in Beiji, a city 155 miles north of the capital, witnesses said. The vehicle hit a convoy and exploded, then U.S. soldiers opened fire.


Ten people were killed in the blast and nine others wounded, hospital officials said. The 1st Infantry Division said three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the suicide attack. Beiji is the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery and a major power station.


In Fallujah, heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River.


Bullets snapped overhead as Iraqi body-collection workers supervised by the Marines sought cover behind walls and in buildings. After 15 minutes of fighting, three insurgents were dead and one Marine was slightly injured in the hand, officers said.


The rush of warplanes streaking through the low-lying clouds shook the city and blasts sent smoke into the sky. The U.S. military said that airstrikes Wednesday were concentrated in southwestern Fallujah, destroying enemy positions.


On Saturday, the U.S. military had declared the one-time rebel stronghold completely occupied but not subdued after a nearly weeklong battle. But pockets of insurgents remain, and U.S. and Iraqi forces are still fighting.


"Even as we start Fallujah's reconstruction, the fighting is continuing, as you can hear," Capt. Alex Henegar, a civil affairs officer attached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, said as heavy gunfire and grenade explosions sounded in the distance.


Four trucks of humanitarian aid for Fallujah crossed the borders from Kuwait into Iraq on Wednesday, said Dr. Haitham Issa, chairman of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society in Basra. The assistance included food, medicine and bedcovers.





Fallujah residents who fled to neighboring Ramadi reported that local insurgent leaders Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar Hadid remained fighting inside the city.

Fihgting continued elsewhere in the Sunni Triangle, where insurgents have been most active. In Ramadi, masked men clutching rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles took up positions on several streets and alleys in eastern and southeastern Ramadi, residents said.

South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb detonated Wednesday near an Iraqi National Guard convoy in the insurgent hotspot of Iskandariyah, killing two guardsmen and wounding three, police and hospital officials said.

Insurgents attacked police headquarters late Tuesday in Baqouba, north of Baghdad, then hit it again Wednesday with a mortar, although no casualties were reported, police said. Fighting in the city a day earlier killed at least insurgents, the military said. One Iraqi policeman and seven civilians were also killed.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. Marines, freed a captive Iraqi truck driver during a raid south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The rescued hostage, who was not identified, was taken to a nearby U.S. base, where he was treated and released.

In Baghdad, some 3,000 protesters peacefully demanded the release of seven followers of Shiite Ayatollah Mahmoud al-Hassani, who had been detained by U.S. forces in the past week.

The northern city of Mosul, where insurgents launched an uprising last week, appeared calmer, the military said Wednesday, after a U.S. assault to restore control. On a handful of small arms attacks continued, the military said.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it was expanding its investigation into the fatal shooting of a wounded man by a Marine in a Fallujah mosque over the weekend. The investigation will also look into whether other wounded men in the mosque were also shot and killed, a spokesman said.

The probe was prompted by videotaped pool pictures by NBC that showed the shooting during an operation of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in the mosque on Saturday.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi is "very concerned" about the shooting, his office said. American and Iraqi authorities have been trying to stem outrage over the shootings among Iraqis, particularly the Sunni Arab minority, and Arabs across the region. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte expressed regret over the shooting but said it should not undermine U.S. efforts to remove guerrillas from the city.


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 01:18 PM
US marines struggle to care for civilians stranded in Fallujah

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Trained for combat, US marines are finding themselves struggling to fill a different role as caregivers to Iraqi families caught between US-led forces and fugitive insurgents in the ruins of Fallujah.


A week after the launch of a ferocious assault on the city, men and women are still hiding out there, in building whose facades have been shredded by air strikes and artillery or gutted by fire.


Marine civil affairs teams have yet to get out to the residents stranded in the heart of Fallujah, where scattered corpses and scorched buildings have cast an apocalyptic pall over the city.


"If they stopped shooting, we could get in there," said Captain PJ Batty.


Instead, the job has has fallen to infantry marines, geared for fighting, not relief work.


The frontline troops have had to improvise to tend to the civilians, putting them either in mosques or abandoned homes, to which they bring water and rationed meals when they can.


Captain Drew McNulty, commander of Kilo infantry company, said his men had been surprised as they advanced into Fallujah and bumped into clusters of civilians.


"We didn't expect to encounter many civilians. We had procedures in place. (But) it was a matter of putting all the pieces together because we didnt encounter civilians for three days," McNulty said.


The first large group of families Kilo company stumbled onto in the northwestern Jolan district were huddled in a palace-like villa the marines had seized on Friday.


A sergeant told tired men, women and children they could stay in the home for a night and would then have to leave. But the marines changed their minds and said people could stay there as long as they wanted.


"We don't have the assets to get them out of the city," said Staff Sergeant Jamal Bowers.


Around 50 people gathered at the villa, where they cooked beans and rice in giant metal pots. The marines brought them water when they could.


In the south-central district of Hiyal-Rasalam eight men found in a house with a giant hole blown out of the front of it and led outside for interrogation by a squad of marines.


Mohammed Waladi Rawad sobbed for his 23-year-old son Haitham, killed when the US shell struck the house.


He said the men had stayed in their neighborhood because he was responsible for distributing government food rations in the area and wanted to protect the food stocks from looters.


"I'm not a political guy," he said, tears running down his cheeks.


His surviving son, Rawad, said the three of them had all fled to their friend's house after insurgents, with either Syrian or Yemeni accents, broke into their home.





"I told them to go out because I have a family with me. They drew their pistols. There were four of them. I shouted 'you destroyed the city'. They threw us out of the house."

Next, Mohammed and his two sons fled to a nearby house where Haitham was killed.

After listening to the story, the interrogators decided the men were telling the truth. Staff Sergeant Bowers, told them: "We are sorry for your loss."

The men were told to leave the city on foot with a white flag, but as they gathered their belongings, Captain McNulty came over and squashed the idea.

"They'll be killed," the captain said, as he tried to figure out what to do with them.

Finally, he told his troops to take them to a local mosque.

But the Iraqis insisted first on burying Haitham, and they dug his grave.

Mohammed wept and smoked a cigarette before they left his son, under marine escort. Stepping over broken glass and spent ammunition casings, they headed for a mosque whose bullet-riddled wooden minaret looked like it had been devastated by termites.

The group was ordered inside the battered sanctuary and told it was safer for them to stay there. They headed inside, nervous about what would happen to them next.

"War isn't pretty and it isn't fair. But we try our best to take care of people," said Captain Batty, describing the difficulties in tending the population uprooted by the assault on Fallujah.

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:19 PM
Why I Serve: Preparing Marines for Deployment
Pfc. Lucian Friel
Special to American Forces Press Service

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Nov. 17, 2004 – "I knew I would be good at what I do, and I love helping people. I'm glad I joined because it gave me the opportunity to work with Marines and teach them what they need to know to get ready for deployment," explained Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Shandon E. Torres.

The Roosevelt, Utah, native instructs the Marines of 2nd Marine Division as they participate in the Combat Lifesavers Course, which teaches the basics of treating wounds in combat.

The elements of this division are now serving in Iraq.

Torres begins with the heartsaver portion of the class, which is comprised of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. During the class he also teaches the symptoms of heart attack, cardiac arrest, stroke, and choking; instructing the Marines on the chain of survival, the steps taken to treat victims of various heart and respiratory problems.

"The beginning of the class is important, because it's the foundations of learning how to treat a wounded Marine in a real world scenario," explained the senior corpsman of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

The Union High School graduate teaches the mechanisms of an injury to help Marines better understand what causes them such as blast related traumas, stab and gun-shot wounds. To assess the casualty with minimal mistakes, the Marines learn different ways to determine a life-threatening hazard or if a combat wound was severe enough for a medical evacuation, which Torres recalled was something a Marine in Haiti had to do.

While Torres was deployed to Haiti from March to July, a young corporal, whom he instructed, came across a civilian stabbed in the back during a riot. Because of the knowledge he learned in the course, he was able to treat her until Torres reached the scene.

"It's that type of situation that makes this course worth teaching for me," he explained. "When a Marine is able to treat someone who is seriously injured and save their life, it's an unbelievable feeling."

Knife, gun-shot wounds and illnesses were the most common injuries the 22-year- old was faced with in Haiti, but being a former emergency medical team specialist he had dealt with those types of injuries long before he joined the Navy.

Being an EMT in Roosevelt sparked Torres' interest in becoming a Navy corpsman because he knew the medical field was something he could excel in and enjoy doing.

Torres is assisted in the course by fellow corpsmen who have served in Iraq. They instruct Marines on burns as well as heat and cold injuries, which is the last indoor instruction period during the course.

"The most relevant information in the class, is the section dealing with heat injuries, because that's what Marines will most likely face in Iraq," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeremy M. Shelton, a corpsman with Headquarters Battalion. "Marines need this class so it's not a shock when they are faced with the injury."

"The end of the course is the best time for the instructors to see how well everyone learned the material. If someone makes a mistake, we correct it so they don't do the same thing in a combat zone," Torres said.

He and the other corpsmen are continuing to teach Marines how to save lives in combat to prepare them for deploying to Iraq.

"I love Marines' mentality to excel at everything they do," explained Torres. "It's the same mentality I have, and it makes it easier to teach them."

(Pfc. Lucian Friel is a combat correspondent with 2nd Marine Division.)

Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 06:22 PM
NFL Continues Strong Support of U.S. Military
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2004 -- The National Football League's support of America's armed forces during the war against global terrorism continues a tradition that's been maintained since World War II, the organization's chief executive noted Nov. 12.

America's military members "are doing incredibly important things" during the fight against terrorism, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue pointed out, citing servicemembers' demonstrated "courage, commitment and sacrifice."

And it's important that the country -- to include the NFL -- back servicemembers' efforts, Tagliabue said.

"We need to support them," the commissioner said, adding, "We need to have the mindset that we have the responsibility to carry some of the burdens as well."

The NFL's support of the U.S. military "goes really back to World War II," Tagliabue observed, when many NFL players and coaches served in the military. That service continued, he said, during the Korean War.

In the 1960s the NFL began to work with the United Service Organizations, he noted, and cosponsored player visits to servicemembers serving in Vietnam and other locales. Today, he said, more than 200 NFL players have taken USO/NFL- sponsored tours to visit with deployed and wounded servicemembers.

NFL players, organizational staff and other representatives continue to visit deployed U.S. troops in places like Kuwait and Iraq, including making visits to wounded servicemembers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Tagliabue pointed out.

In May, the commissioner visited servicemembers in Germany. During that trip, Tagliabue said he and the players also "spent quite a bit of time" with the families of servicemembers, who "are sacrificing too."

Tagliabue said the NFL will provide $250,000 to the USO in memory of former Arizona Cardinals football player and Army Ranger Cpl. Pat Tillman, who was killed April 22, 2004, during combat operations in Afghanistan. The donation, the commissioner said, will be used to establish "The Pat Tillman USO Center" in Afghanistan.

Tillman had passed up a $3.6 million contract with the Cardinals to enlist in the Army in 2002. His enlistment, Tagliague recalled, "had a profound impact on everybody. It was the ultimate commitment; it was the ultimate sacrifice; and it showed tremendous courage."

Tagliabue said Tillman's death "absolutely stunned" the NFL community.

The former NFL player was posthumously promoted to corporal and awarded the Silver Star for gallantry, valor and heroism. Tillman's selfless service "sets an example that people should aspire to, … especially young people," Tagliabue said.

Tillman, who'd also served a tour in Iraq, was the first NFL player to die in combat since the Vietnam War and the first NFL veteran since World War II to receive the Silver Star. People can help keep Tillman's memory alive, the commissioner said, by supporting The Pat Tillman Foundation.

The NFL also supports America's military through public-service tributes during NFL game commercial breaks, Tagliabue noted. A new spot, he observed, salutes the important roles played by the Guard and Reserve forces and their families. More military support, he said, is slated for the post-season NFL playoffs and during the Super Bowl.

A basketball star at Georgetown University in the early 1960s, Tagliabue later worked at the Defense Department as a policy analyst. During the 1970s and '80s he was an attorney for the NFL. Tagliabue assumed the NFL commissionership from Pete Rozelle in 1989.

Tagliabue, who celebrates his 64th birthday Nov. 24, noted that his two older brothers served in the military during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Today, he has two nephews in the Marine Corps, one serving in Afghanistan and the other headed for duty in Iraq.

His nephews' military service illustrate "two great examples of the kind of commitment that our young people are making," Tagliabue said.

"This is part of our family history because two young men really stand out in their generation," the commissioner observed. "And I think everyone in their generation and in the older generations, like me, really understands what that means –- for the family and for the nation."

America's servicemembers should realize that "people are paying attention to what they're doing," Tagliabue said. "And we understand how much we're all benefiting from what


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 07:26 PM
Six Receive 'Grateful Nation Award' for Heroism in War on Terror
By Terri Lukach
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2004 -- Six servicemembers were honored for heroism in the global war on terror at an award dinner Nov. 15 in Arlington, Va.

Introduced last year by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the "Grateful Nation Award" was created to recognize the courage and dedication of those most often in the line of fire: the enlisted, noncommissioned and junior officers fighting on the front lines of freedom. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Norman Hascoe, JINSA president, presented the awards at the organization's annual Henry M. Jackson award dinner.

"Many times it is the generals and higher-ranking officers who get the plaudits for successful operations – and understandably so," said Tom Neuman, JINSA's executive director, in announcing the program last year. "But it is the lower ranks who are most often in the line of fire. Their tremendous courage and devotion to duty deserves frequent public recognition."

Pace agreed, saying America's military men and women "tear your heart out with their love and their incredible devotion to this nation and to each other."

"You can bank on the fact that you're hearing about one-tenth of 1 percent of what that individual did to be nominated," he added.

Pace also praised the families of those on the front lines, saying those "who serve at home show a strength and courage far beyond the courage of the moment in battle." To hold families together during deployments, Pace said, "takes tremendous energy, love and strength of character."

The award recipients, all veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, were selected by their respective services.

They are:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Frank Lieske, 1st Cavalry Division;
Navy Seaman Luis E. Fonseca Jr., 1st Marine Expeditionary Force;
Marine Corps Cpl. Gary A. Spangler, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit;
Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Heidi Eystad, U.S. Coast Guard Activities, New York Detachment, Sandy Hook;
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Robert F. Jeeves, a tactical air coordinator attached to U.S. Army Special Forces; and
Army Master Sgt. Roger A. Thompson, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne).
All six had performed acts of heroism, putting the mission and the lives of others before themselves, officials said. Though clearly feeling honored, they all credited their fellow servicemembers rather than themselves. "It was the other guys who got it for me," Jeeves said, a sentiment echoed by all of his fellow award recipients.

JINSA is an independent, nonpartisan organization established in 1976 to educate the public on national and international security issues, including the importance of an effective U.S. defense capability and the key role of strategic allies in promoting democratic values in the Middle East.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2004/2004111706a_72.jpg

Six servicemembers received the "Grateful Nation Award" from the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs at a Nov. 15 dinner in Washington, D. C. They are (left to right) Air Force Tech. Sgt. Robert F. Jeeves, a tactical air coordinator attached to U.S. Army Special Forces; Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Frank Lieske, 1st Cavalry Division; Navy Seaman Luis E. Fonseca Jr., 1st Marine Expeditionary Force; Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Heidi Eystad, U.S. Coast Guard Activities, New York Detachment, Sandy Hook; Marine Corps Cpl. Gary A. Spangler, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit; and Army Master Sgt. Roger A. Thompson, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). Photo courtesy of JINSA


Ellie

thedrifter
11-17-04, 09:38 PM
Suicide Bomber, Clashes in Iraq Kill 27

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber blasted an American convoy north of Baghdad and U.S. troops battled insurgents west of the capital Wednesday as a wave of violence across Iraq (news - web sites)'s Sunni Muslim heartland killed at least 27 people.


American forces pursued their search-and-destroy mission against the remaining holdouts in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, and to the north, American forces pressed an offensive to reclaim part of the city of Mosul from militants.


November became one of Iraq's bloodiest months as the U.S. death toll in the war in Iraq reached 1,214, according to figures released by the Defense Department.


On Wednesday, a suicide attacker drove his bomb-laden car into a U.S. convoy during fierce fighting in the town of Beiji, 155 miles north of the Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 12, including three American soldiers. Another attack on a convoy of civilian contractors in Beiji caused no casualties.


Elsewhere, a three-hour gunbattle between militants and U.S. forces after nightfall left seven people dead and 13 hurt in Ramadi, a city west of Fallujah.


Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortar and Kalashnikov rifles at American forces in the city center, Zayout district and along the main highway in town, said Abdel Karim al-Hiti of Ramadi General Hospital.


Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, falls within the restive Sunni Triangle area north and west of the capital where the bulk of insurgent attacks have erupted.


Although fighting has ebbed in Fallujah, it has not ceased. The U.S. military said pockets of insurgents remain even though the city is fully occupied by American troops.


On Wednesday, heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of the city as U.S. Marines hunted remaining fighters. In the northern Jolan neighborhood, Marines killed seven insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming the Euphrates River.


Bullets snapped overhead, and Iraqis collecting bodies of the dead ran for cover behind walls and in buildings as Marines returned fire. After 15 minutes of fighting, three insurgents were dead and one Marine was slightly injured in the hand, officers said.


The rush of warplanes streaking through the low-lying clouds shook the city and blasts sent smoke into the sky. The U.S. military said airstrikes Wednesday were concentrated in southwestern Fallujah, destroying enemy positions.


Iraqi officials have acknowledged that insurgent leaders Omar Hadid and Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi, along with Jordanian terror boss Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have not been captured and may have slipped away.


A man identified as Hadid appeared Wednesday with three other hooded gunmen on LBCI Lebanese television and dismissed claims that the Americans control the Fallujah.


"They did not know that they fell in the trap of death," he said. He insisted insurgents were advancing inside Fallujah toward Jolan and the downtown market, adding "I challenge any force which claims to control Fallujah."


Reports surfaced that 31 policemen had been kidnapped in the town of Rutba near the Jordanian border by armed men who stormed a hotel where the officers were staying.


The Karbala police officer who made the report said he escaped a raid Sunday by armed men in the hotel, according to a police spokesman.


The officer said about 20 men attacked the hotel, covering the captives' heads with black bags and tying their hands before dragging them away, the spokesman said. The officer said he was beaten but was not abducted.





Adnan Asadi, deputy interior minister for administrative affairs, said the abduction reports were "not true." He said the police sent for training in Jordan had not returned to Iraq.

In Mosul, where insurgents launched an uprising last week, the situation appeared calmer, with U.S. and Iraqi troops encountering isolated small-arms attacks, the military said.

A U.S.-led operation that began Tuesday was aimed at regaining full control of the city, where gunmen stormed police stations, bridges and political offices last week. The city's police force had been overwhelmed and in many places failed to put up a fight. Some officers allegedly cooperated with insurgents.

Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, the U.S. commander in Mosul, told CNN the offensive, which involved up to 2,500 U.S. and Iraqi forces, was aiming to "disrupt (insurgents), keep them from getting organized wherever they may be, try to keep them from accomplishing their goal."

The operation swept through the western part of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, and secured about a dozen police stations.

"The Iraqi government maintained control throughout the city. There were certainly pockets where we had to re-establish that control, but there was never any police stations or other government facilities that were controlled for long periods of time," he said.

Spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings said the biggest challenge remaining for the U.S. military was to shore up the police force of the city, 220 miles north of Baghdad.

"The police did not perform as we hoped they would," he said.


Ellie