U.S. begins Fallujah invasion

[thedrifter]

U.S. begins Fallujah invasion


BY RICHARD A. OPPEL JR. AND ROBERT F. WORTH
NEW YORK TIMES

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - Explosions and heavy gunfire thundered through the outskirts of Fallujah on Sunday night and early today as U.S. soldiers and Marines seized the main city hospital and secured two key bridges over the Euphrates River.

It appeared to be the first stage of a long-expected invasion of the city.

Hours earlier, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, faced with an outbreak of insurgent violence across the country, declared emergency law for 60 days across most of Iraq. The proclamation gave him broad powers that allow him to impose curfews, order house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and insurgents.

"We declared it today and we are going to implement it whenever and wherever it is necessary," Allawi told reporters inside the fortified compound that houses the headquarters of the interim Iraqi government. "This will send a very powerful message that we are serious."

Hazim Shalan, the interim Iraqi defense minister, called on his army Sunday to "liberate" Fallujah.

"This is the first time in the history of Iraq we have seen people being slaughtered like sheep under the umbrella of Islam," Shalan told Iraqi troops gathered at a base near Fallujah. "Your conscience and families call for you. They call for you to liberate this city."

Dancing, singing and thrusting their rifles into the air, the Iraqi soldiers seemed to know a rallying cry when they heard one.

"We are here to defend our country," said Ali, 28, a soldier from Nasiriyah who is in the Iraqi army's 1st Brigade. Like many of the Iraqi soldiers interviewed here, he gave only one name. "We have to get rid of terrorism. All the world looks down on Iraq now because of the terrorists who are not Iraqi. We will make them see Iraqi men ending the terrorism in Iraq."

Troops were on the move by 9 p.m. to the west and south of Fallujah, just across the Euphrates River, and after two hours of steady pounding by U.S. tanks, Bradley armored vehicles, artillery and AC-130 gunships, the hospital -- less than a mile from downtown Fallujah -- had been secured by U.S. forces and the Iraqi 36th commando battalion.

U.S. officials said the toughest fight was yet to come -- when American forces enter the main part of the city on the east bank of the river, including the Jolan neighborhood where insurgent defenses are believed to be the strongest.

Tracer fire lighted up the sky as the operation began, helicopters crisscrossed the battlefield, and at least one U.S. vehicle was fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade as U.S. and Iraqi forces converged on the hospital, called al-Fallujah. Shortly before midnight, U.S. forces were exchanging gunfire across a strategic bridge near the hospital with four to five insurgent positions on the other side.

"There has been extensive gunfire going across the river," said the U.S. commander of the Special Forces operation at the hospital. "Bradleys have been shooting over to the east of us, and there has been extensive machine-gun fire to the southwest of us."

Allawi said he would conduct a news conference today to provide more details about the state of emergency. Once it becomes clear what exactly Allawi wants to put into effect, U.S.-led forces will be deployed to help enforce the law, a senior U.S. military official said Sunday in an interview in Baghdad. That could include operating more checkpoints and increasing patrols.

Allawi said he had imposed the state of emergency only after getting the approval of his Cabinet and the office of the president, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer.

With only three months until the country's first democratic elections, U.S. and Iraqi officials are grasping for any tool at their command to bring the insurgency under control. Guerrillas staged brazen attacks on Sunday that left at least 37 people dead across the country, showing they could seize the initiative even as U.S.-led forces geared up for their major offensive in Fallujah and the neighboring city of Ramadi.

At dawn, insurgents armed with bombs and Kalashnikov rifles raided three police stations and killed at least 21 people in the far west of rebellious Anbar Province, which encompasses those two volatile cities, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, an Interior Ministry spokesman. In an attack south of Baghdad, he said, guerrillas gunned down three officials from Diyala Province as those officials were driving to the funeral of a colleague who had been assassinated.

Several powerful explosions shook Baghdad in the afternoon Sunday. One came from a car bomb that detonated near the downtown home of the finance minister, Adil Abdel-Mehdi, killing one of his guards and shattering storefronts along the street, said Haithem al-Hassani, an aide in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a *****e political party to which Abdel-Mehdi belongs. A suicide car bomb near a Catholic church killed an Iraqi bystander and wounded a second, while two others in the western Baghdad area aimed at separate military convoys killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded five others, the military said.

That brought to at least 1,125 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the war.

The wave of attacks came a day after insurgents launched coordinated bomb and mortar attacks in Samarra and the surrounding area, killing at least 30 people, many of them Iraqi police officers. Those strikes demonstrated that a major U.S.-led offensive last month in Samarra, a "no go" zone for the Americans during much of the summer, had failed to rid the city of insurgents or secure key parts of town. The senior U.S. military official said that a "resurgence" of the insurgency had taken place because there was "a lag in providing sufficient Iraqi police."

"The challenge with police has been an ongoing one," he said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines Storm Part Of Fallujah
Associated Press
November 8, 2004

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - With warplanes pounding the city, U.S. Marines fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah on Monday, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.

The U.S. military reported its first casualties of the offensive - two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates River. Ten Iraqis were killed and 11 others injured during the night of fighting in Fallujah, according to doctors.

An AC-130 gunship raked the city all night long with cannon fire as heavy explosions from U.S. artillery continued into Monday morning. Warplanes carried out some two dozen sorties against the city, and four 500-pound bombs were dropped over Fallujah before dawn. Orange fireballs from high explosive airbursts could be seen above the rooftops.

With U.S. forces moving in from the northwest and west sides of the city, commanders said the toughest fight was yet to come: when American forces cross to the east bank of the Euphrates and enter the main part of the city - including the Jolan neighborhood where insurgent defenses are believed the strongest.

U.S. and Iraqi commanders have vowed to stamp out Sunni Muslim guerrillas who control Fallujah, part of a campaign to put down insurgents ahead of vital January elections. Marine commanders have warned the assault could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war.

Two Marine brigades and an Army brigade are currently positioned north of the city, the military said Monday.

By noon, Marines fighting their way into the city secured an apartment building in the northwestern corner of the city, said Capt. Brian Heatherman, of the 3rd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment.


"The Marines have now gained a foothold in the city," said Heatherman, 32, from Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Several hundred Iraqi troops were sent into Fallujah's main hospital after U.S. forces sealed off the area. The troops detained about 50 men of military age inside the hospital, but about half were later released.

The invaders used special tools, powered by .22 caliber blanks, to break open door locks. A rifle-like crackle echoed through the facility. Many patients were herded into hallways and handcuffed until troops determined whether they were insurgents hiding in the hospital.

In an apparent reference to the Iraqi troops, Fallujah clerics issued a statement Monday calling them the "occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen."

"This statement is our last threat to you. We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep," the statement said.

The initial attacks on Fallujah began just hours after the Iraqi government declared 60 days of emergency rule throughout most of the country as militants dramatically escalated attacks, killing at least 30 people, including two Americans.

Government negotiators on Sunday reported the failure of last-minute talks for peace, though interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said dialogue with Fallujah leaders was still possible, even if a large-scale military action began.

Allawi, a secular-minded Shiite Muslim, has faced strong pressure from within Iraq's minority Sunni community to avoid an all-out assault.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others have warned that a military offensive could trigger a wave of violence that would sabotage the January elections by alienating Sunnis, who form the core of the insurgency. About 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people are Shiite.

On Monday, the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group, condemned the assault on Fallujah. The group has threatened to boycott elections.

"The attack on Fallujah is an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people. We denounce this operation which will have a grave consequences on the situation in Iraq," said spokesman Mohammed Bashar al-Faidhi.

After the seizure of Fallujah Hospital, its director Dr. Salih al-Issawi said he asked U.S. officers to allow doctors and ambulances go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded but they refused. There was no confirmation from the Americans.

"The American troops' attempt to take over the hospital was not right because they thought that they would halt medical assistance to the resistance," he said by telephone to a reporter inside the city. "But they did not realize that the hospital does not belong to anybody, especially the resistance."

During the siege of Fallujah last April, doctors at the hospital were a main source of reports about civilian casualties, which U.S. officials insisted were overblown. Those reports generated strong public outage in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world, prompting the Bush administration to call off the offensive.

The assault began after sundown on the outskirts of the city, which has been sealed off by U.S. and Iraqi forces, and the minaret-studded skyline was lit up with huge flashes of light.

As dawn broke Monday over Iraq, the roar of jet aircraft could be heard in Baghdad heading westward toward Fallujah.

"We want to secure the country so elections can be done in a peaceful way and the Iraqi people can participate in the elections freely, without the intimidation by terrorists and by forces who are trying to wreck the political process in Iraq," Allawi told reporters Sunday.

Over the weekend, insurgents launched a wave of attacks, car bombings and suicide blasts against Iraqi police and others in central Iraq - possibly an attempt to divert attention away from Fallujah. About 60 people were killed - including two Americans soldiers - and 75 injured in the attacks Saturday and Sunday.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Military Snipers Learn From Competition
Associated Press
November 6, 2004

FORT BENNING, Ga. - Corp. Eugenio Mendoza, a young veteran of the Iraq war, had to carry his buddy for 50 yards, scale an 8-foot wall and crawl through a water-logged tunnel at the 4th International Sniper Competition, where the challenges are designed to simulate combat scenarios in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"It's good stuff we never thought about," said Mendoza, 27, a sniper with the Army's 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. "We're definitely going back and use what we've learned in these events."

Military snipers are skilled marksmen who are trained to kill key enemy targets - usually with one shot over distances that would be considered impossible for regular soldiers armed with M-16 rifles.

Sponsored by the sniper school, the five-day competition that ended Friday is designed to test the marksmen's ability to fire at targets up to 800 meters away, to stalk and conceal themselves, to fire from a variety of positions after strenuous physical exertion and to quickly pick out a villain holding hostages and then deliver a lethal shot.

The competitors included 18 Army and Air Force teams from as far away as Alaska and two teams from the Canadian Army.

Staff Sgt. Larry Davis, sergeant in charge of the competition, said the military is putting more emphasis on snipers.

"The leaders realize that we're the eyes and ears for them. A sniper team is like the perfect smart bomb," Davis said. "We're out front and, based on a command decision, we can take out the threat. And we're not flying a $30 million airplane."

One of the new events added this year was firing from a helicopter. It proved to be a challenge for the shooters and the pilots, organizers said.


"All these are based on scenarios that are going on," said Sgt. 1st Class Frank Velez of the Army's Sniper School at Fort Benning. "This is not just about winning a trophy. It's sharing the knowledge. The end result is doing your job."

On Friday, the snipers had to carry a "wounded" buddy, clamber over the fence, roll a huge truck tire and then run to the range. There, they had to defend themselves by firing their pistols with both right and left hands at nearby targets. Then they fired at distant targets with their sniper rifles, squeezed through the tunnel and climbed a roof to continue shooting.

Snipers work in two-person teams consisting of the shooter, armed with a pistol and an M-24 sniper rifle, and a spotter, armed with a pistol and a M-14 or M-16 rifle. The M-24 sniper rifle with a telescopic sight is a military version of the 7.62 mm Remington 700 hunting rifle.

Mendoza's partner, Corp. Nicholas Romero, another Iraq war veteran from the 101st Airborne, said the competition was challenging.

"I learned a lot from the other teams," said Romero, a Cocoa Beach, Fla., native.

Master Sgt. Cecil Lay, an Air Force sniper training supervisor from Camp Robinson, Ark., said the Air Force has stepped up its sniper training and now has two female snipers, a job traditionally reserved for men.

"With all the stuff going on in the war, the Air Force saw the need for the same training as the Army," Lay said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Insurgents Use Media To Fight Americans
Associated Press
November 8, 2004

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. military planners and intelligence analysts believe Iraqi insurgent leaders holed up in Fallujah will defend the city by combining scrappy fighting with a media blitz designed to provoke a worldwide outcry.

The insurgents understand that they cannot beat the U.S. military, but will probably try to hold off the assaulting forces, killing as many U.S. troops as possible and provoking a backlash in the United States over American casualties, U.S. Army officials say.

"He wants to make it as painful and costly as he can," said Army Maj. Eric Larsen, of the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade. "He's testing us. How much are we willing to pay for that real estate?"

At the same time, the insurgents will seek to exploit public horror in the Muslim world as well as among U.S. allies over civilian deaths, with the goal of forcing the U.S. military and Iraqi governments to negotiate, Army officials said.

In April, the three-week U.S. siege of Fallujah was called off after mounting international pressure over high civilian casualties reported during the assault.

For the insurgents, victory means negotiating an end to the fighting and retaining some control over Fallujah, or at least keeping the Americans out of the city. If they can fight the Americans to a stalemate, it will be viewed as a victory in the Arab world.


"They believe they can achieve what they did in April," said Col. Michael Formica, who commands the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade.

"Their goal is to maximize casualties and drag it out. They want to break the will of the United States back home, and bring the Iraqi government to the bargaining table. They want to set conditions to maintain control," he said.

Beyond these broad goals, the aims of Iraqi and foreign fighters differ, American officials believe. U.S. planners have long seen signs of a rift between the two sides.

Iraqi fighters inside the city seek autonomy from the U.S.-allied Iraqi government. They don't want to pursue the battle if the cost means the destruction of their homes and city.

But Muslim mujahedeen, including foreign fighters who have flocked to Fallujah, are thought to be willing to fight and die for the ultimate goal of an Islamic state. For them, Fallujah's destruction is a worthy sacrifice, the officials say.

Formica described Fallujah as the "Super Bowl" for foreign jihadis willing to fight to the death against foreign occupation.

Insurgents have had months to prepare their defense. Planners expect the toughest fight in Fallujah's old city and spiritual hub, the northern Jolan district.

The densely populated warren of narrow alleys and attached houses provides the best possible fighting positions for the insurgents, who hope to lure U.S. troops into "killing zones" - choke points with clean fields of fire, or booby-trapped buildings or areas that have been mined with homemade bombs.

Explosives-rigged buildings are such a worry that the U.S. Navy Seabees have established a special team to extract people from collapsed buildings.

The Army says guerrilla leaders have been training insurgents inside Fallujah, with experienced fighters giving newcomers pointers in bomb-building and other tactics.

The difficult part for the U.S. military will be distinguishing guerrillas from innocent civilians hunkering in their homes over the next few days.

"We want to make sure we're not too hesitant against the bad guys, but at the same time we're taking care of the people we're here to help," said an Army officer on condition of anonymity.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Extremists Moving Across Iran-Iraq Border

By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press Writer

ANKARA, Turkey - Islamic extremists have been moving supplies and new recruits from Iran into Iraq (news - web sites), say Iraqi Kurdish and Western officials, though it's unclear whether Tehran is covertly backing them or whether militants are simply taking advantage of the porous border.


Iranian involvement with extremist groups in the Iraqi insurgency would be potentially explosive, especially given the history of U.S.-Iranian animosity. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said recently Iran was engaged in "a lot of meddling" in Iraq but gave no details.


Iran, which shares a mountainous 800-mile border with Iraq, has confirmed that loyalists of the al-Qaida-linked Ansar al-Islam group illegally entered Iran from Afghanistan (news - web sites) after the start of the U.S.-led 2001 war to oust the Taliban and destroy Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s terrorist training camps. But Iran's government has repeatedly denied it is backing the radicals.


A handful of senior al-Qaida operatives who were among those fleeing to Iran after the Afghanistan war may have developed a working relationship with the Revolutionary Guards, a special military unit in Iran linked to Tehran's hard-liners, U.S. counterterrorism officials have said.


The U.S. government report on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks also pointed to contacts between Iranian security officials and senior al-Qaida figures and found evidence that eight to 10 of the Sept. 11 hijackers passed through Iranian territory. There was, however, no evidence the Iranians knew that the hijackers were planning to attack the World Trade Center.


Iraqi officials have suggested privately that Iran, which is overwhelmingly Shiite Muslim, is backing its Shiite brethren, who form a slight majority in Iraq. One Iraqi official said more than 100 volunteer fighters have entered this year from Iran into southern Iraq, where Iran may be trying to use its influence within the dominant Shiite community there.


Iran might also support extremists from the rival Sunni branch of Islam — such as al-Qaida or the group loyal to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — to gain influence in the Sunni community, which is powerful in central Iraq, and to destabilize U.S. efforts to control the country, some analysts say.


Brig. Sarkout Hassan Jalal, director of security in Sulaimaniyah, the largest city in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq near the Iranian border, said that Islamic militants "are smuggling recruits to Iraq from Iran ... (and) then take them to Fallujah or other hot spots."


He gave no figures for the number of people who are crossing but said the number has fallen since Kurdish security forces boosted border security in the past few months.


Another Kurdish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that at the start of the year, dozens of militants were crossing the mountainous, poorly patrolled border each week, but that the number had fallen sharply in the past six months.


The official said that extremists who crossed the border often headed for Mosul, the largest Arab Sunni Muslim city in the north and an area where Islamic extremist groups are powerful. He said some of the militants have repeatedly crossed back and forth, returning to Iraq with better weapons, explosives and training.


The fall in the number of people crossing could be attributed to increased Iraqi patrols or to the fact that foreign militants have recently built up better infrastructure within Iraq and now find it easier to train fighters and arm people within the country, the official said.


"There seems to be logistical and practical support," the official said. "These people flee to Iran and come back days or weeks later with better equipment."


Kurds living in mountainous villages near the border who have traveled inside Iran to visit relatives said they have seen Arabs living in what appeared to be safe houses in the Iranian border town of Mariwan.


Former Ansar prisoners held by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan — one of two Kurdish militias that control the north — have backed up the claim as have PUK intelligence officials.


A U.S. official said Kurdish security forces found passports from Arab countries including Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia buried under the dirt floor in one safe house on the Iranian side of the border.


"We are not just talking about Iranians passively dealing with al-Qaida," one former U.S. official who worked in Iraq said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are talking about al-Qaida at Revolutionary Guard bases and safe houses. This is active assistance."





The Revolutionary Guards are the shock troops of Iran's Islamic revolution, a well-funded force of 200,000 that answers to the country's Islamic leaders and not the military.

Who could be assisting the militants is sharply contested, however.

The Iranian leadership is deeply divided between moderates and hard-liners.

Hard-liners and elements of the Revolutionary Guards could be backing the insurgents with the Iranian government turning a blind eye or unable to respond, experts say. Many hard-liners are extremely fearful that the United States, which now has some 140,000 troops in bordering Iraq, could try and destabilize Iran.

"There are forces in the Revolutionary Guards who are very, very hard-line and who generally have their own foreign policy and ... are almost never held accountable for their actions," said Gary Sick, professor of international affairs at Columbia University and a former adviser to the U.S. National Security Council. "There is very serious suspicion that members of the Revolutionary Guard felt that they had something to gain from these people who were seriously trying to stir up trouble in Iraq."

Sick called it "extremely unlikely" that the Iranian government itself would sponsor and actively promote Sunni terrorist activities, though officials might want to "keep an eye on the Sunnis." He also noted the matter could simply be a border control problem.

"They have been trying for years to stop the trafficking of drugs coming across the Afghan border with zero success," Sick said.

In the past, Iran has been accused of backing Ansar al-Islam, a militant fundamentalist Kurdish group that opposed ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), as a way of destabilizing and pressuring the secular Kurdish groups that controlled northern Iraq.

Tehran, while confirming that Ansar elements might have crossed its border illegally, has denied the charges.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of pro-Taliban fighters possibly linked to al-Qaida left Afghanistan and made their way to northern Iraq, where Ansar al-Islam controlled an enclave on the Iranian-Iraqi border, U.S. intelligence reports said. Al-Zarqawi, one of the most feared terror leaders in Iraq, is believed to have had a role in running Ansar al-Islam in 2002.

Al-Zarqawi, whose group has been responsible for car bombings and beheadings, recently proclaimed his loyalty to bin Laden in a statement released on the internet.

U.S. forces attacked the Ansar al-Islam enclave at the start of the war and many of the activists reportedly fled, either into Iran or Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq, where they eventually ended up in places like Fallujah, a hotbed of violence.

Some experts doubt the Iranian government would risk supporting an extremist anti-U.S. group in Iraq and thereby provoking a reaction from Washington and more instability on their border.

"By allowing al-Qaida to go about its business several Iranian interests are served but it is an incredibly risky card to play and Iran has at times been quite cautious in Iraq," said Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.

___

EDITORS: Associated Press writer Yahya Barazanji in northern Iraq contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...q_insurgency_1

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Poll: Voters Most Want Stable Iraq
Associated Press
November 8, 2004

WASHINGTON - As President Bush mulls what to do after winning re-election, voters say his first priority should be resolving the situation in Iraq, where the fighting is growing more intense.

They also want Bush to cut the deficit, which ballooned under his watch, rather than pushing for more tax cuts, according to an Associated Press poll taken right after the election.

The voters' concerns stood in contrast to the priorities Bush cited after he defeated Democrat John Kerry. Bush pledged to aggressively pursue major changes in Social Security, tax laws and medical malpractice awards. Terrorism was a chief concern both for Bush and many voters in the poll.

"I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush said a day after becoming the first president in 68 years to win re-election and gain seats in both the House and Senate.

Some 27 percent of respondents named Iraq as the top priority for the president's second term, ahead of issues such as terrorism, the economy and health care.

Only 2 percent named taxes as a priority. By more than a 2-1 margin, voters said they preferred that the president balance the budget rather than reduce taxes further.

After a campaign dominated by discussion of Iraq and terrorism, national security issues are at the top of voters' concerns along with the economy. Voters were asked to pick from a list of issues in the AP poll that included Iraq, terrorism, the economy, unemployment, health care, education and taxes.


Many voters on Election Day indicated they were also concerned about "moral values" - a broader concern than specific issues such as health care and education.

Republicans ranked terrorism first on the list, followed by Iraq and the economy as priorities for Bush. Democrats and independents were most likely to name Iraq, followed by the economy and health care, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

"He has to go 500 percent in Iraq," said Ruth Shoemaker, an independent and a retiree from Chula Vista, Calif. "That's why I voted for the president."

Seven in 10 voters, including a majority of Democrats, would prefer that U.S. troops to stay in Iraq until the country is stable, instead of having them leave immediately.

U.S. troops are preparing for assaults on insurgent strongholds used as havens for those mounting increased attacks against coalition forces.

"There has got to be some kind of resolution in Iraq," said Erwin Neighbors, a Republican and a community college teacher from Moberly, Mo. "We can't fold our tent without accomplishing our goals."

On the domestic front, Bush says his plans to overhaul the tax laws would be "revenue-neutral" and would not cut taxes. Throughout the past year, however, he has urged Congress to make earlier tax cuts permanent.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office now sees $2.3 trillion in accumulated deficits over the next 10 years. That does not include the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Given the choice between balancing the budget and cutting taxes, voters chose balancing the budget by 66 percent to 31 percent. Just over half of Republicans as well as most Democrats and independents felt that way.

When the choice is between balancing the budget and spending more on education, health care and economic development, voters were divided. Slightly more wanted the additional domestic spending, 55 percent, than chose balancing the budget, 44 percent.

During his second term, Bush is likely to have an opening on the Supreme Court; Chief Justice William Rehnquist is seriously ill with cancer.

Six in 10 voters say they are comfortable that the president will nominate the right kind of person to serve on the court. Bush has sidestepped questions about who he would name if there were an opening.

But three-fourths of Democrats are uncomfortable with a potential Bush nomination to the high court.

"I'm very worried," said Carla Matlin, a Democrat and a marketing manager from the San Francisco area. "I'm afraid that, rather than mainstream judges, Bush will appoint judges that are way over on the right."

Asked whether Bush should appoint a justice who will uphold or overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that protected a woman's right to abortions, six in 10 said they want a justice who will uphold the landmark ruling.

Voters seem generally accepting of the election.

A majority, 54 percent, said the election results improved their confidence in the electoral system. Six in 10, including one-third of Democrats, said they felt "hopeful" after the election.

But more than eight in 10 Democrats, 84 percent, acknowledged their disappointment about the election results.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 844 registered voters was taken Nov. 3-5 and has a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Guardsman Loses Deployment Challenge
Associated Press
November 8, 2004

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A National Guard soldier ordered to duty in Iraq is challenging the military's "stop-loss" program and asking a judge to block the military from involuntarily extending his enlistment.

The program has been criticized by some lawmakers, including Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, as a backdoor draft.

U.S. District Judge Frank Damrell Jr. refused to grant an injunction stopping the soldier's transfer to Iraq later this month because his California National Guard enlistment does not expire until May. However, if the soldier prevails in his challenge, he can be returned home by court order, the judge said Friday.

The "stop-loss" program extends enlistment during war or national emergencies. It could keep tens of thousands of personnel in the military beyond their expected time of service.

The Army National Guardsman, identified only as John Doe to prevent harassment or reprisal against him or his family, argues that the policy doesn't apply to the National Guard.


His lawyers said the provision can legally be used only when Congress declares war, and not in Iraq.

"He's being deprived of his liberty under an order he charged as unlawful," attorney Joshua Sondheimer said Saturday.

Justice Department attorney Matthew Lepore defended the policy, saying it was authorized by an emergency executive order signed by President Bush three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The Sacramento-based soldier is an eight-year veteran with combat experience who is married with two children. Court papers said the soldier's family faces financial hardship because of his extended absence from his civilian job.

He signed up under a National Guard program for veterans that offers military education and family medical benefits for a one-year trial. Before that term expired, he was called up for an 18-month tour that will extend his enlistment by nearly a year.

At least two other veterans have filed suit against the government for orders that would send them to Iraq.

This past week, the Army agreed to honorably discharge Capt. Jay Ferriola, who was told to go to Iraq even though he had notified the Army he was resigning. The Army also granted an administrative delay to David Miyasato, who filed a lawsuit challenging orders to report for duty eight years after he left the reserves.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Two Marines Killed in Fallujah Offensive

Mon Nov 8, 4:15 AM ET Middle East - AP



NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - Two Marines were killed early Monday in Fallujah, the U.S. military said, making them the first casualties in the American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held city.


The two Marines drowned when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates River, the military said.


Their bodies were discovered at 8 a.m. in the river, the U.S. military said.


Their names were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.


U.S. forces stormed into the western outskirts of Fallujah early Monday, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates river in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the insurgent stronghold, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Ellie


Rest In Peace


Sending My Prayers to Our Troops...........

[cjwright90]

All I have to say Miss Ellie, is Semper Fi to all our troops, Godspeed and God Be With Them.

[thedrifter]

Marines storm fortress Falluja


JIM KRANE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq—U.S. forces stormed into the western outskirts of Falluja early today, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates river in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the insurgent stronghold.

An AC-130 gunship raked the city with cannon fire as explosions from U.S. artillery lit up the night sky. Intermittent artillery fire blasted southern neighbourhoods, and orange fireballs from high explosive airbursts could be seen above rooftops.

The assault came just hours after Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, faced with dramatically escalated rebel attacks that killed at least 37 people, including two Americans, declared emergency law for 60 days across most of Iraq. The proclamation gave him the power to impose curfews, order house-to-house searches and detain suspected criminals and insurgents.

"This will send a very powerful message that we are serious," Allawi told reporters inside the fortified compound in Baghdad that houses the headquarters of the interim Iraqi government.

Troops were on the move just after sundown to the west and south of Falluja, where defenders fought back with machine gun fire. Several hundred Iraqi troops were sent into the main hospital after U.S. forces sealed off the area. About 50 men of military age were detained, but half were later released.

American officials said the toughest fight was yet to come, when U.S. forces enter the main part of the city on the east bank of the river, including the Jolan neighbourhood where insurgent defences are believed the strongest. Commanders warned troops to expect the most brutal urban fighting since the Vietnam War.

Underscoring the instability elsewhere in Iraq, several explosions thundered through Baghdad, even as government spokesman Thair Hassan al-Naqeeb was announcing the state of emergency, which applies everywhere except for Kurdish-ruled areas in the north.

With only three months until the country's first democratic elections, U.S. and Iraqi officials are grasping for any tool at their command to bring the insurgency under control.

"We want to secure the country so elections can be done in a peaceful way and the Iraqi people can participate in the elections freely, without the intimidation by terrorists and by forces who are trying to wreck the political process in Iraq," Allawi told reporters.

He said he'd provide more details today about the state of emergency. Once it becomes clear exactly what Allawi wants, U.S.-led forces will help enforce the law, a senior U.S. military official said. That could include operating more checkpoints and increasing patrols.

Insurgents waged a second day of multiple attacks across the restive Sunni Triangle north and west of Baghdad, storming police stations, assassinating government officials and setting off deadly car bombs. About 60 people have been killed and 75 injured in two days of attacks.

At dawn, rebels armed with bombs and Kalashnikov rifles raided three police stations in Haditha and Haqlaniyah, 225 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, killing 22 policemen. Some were lined up and shot execution-style, according to police and hospital officials.

In an attack south of Baghdad, guerrillas gunned down three officials from Diyala Province as they drove to the funeral of an assassinated colleague, said Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman.

Insurgents dressed as policemen also abducted a dozen Iraqi National Guardsmen on their way home to the southern holy city of Najaf and killed them all, according to an official in a prominent Shiite political party.

Several powerful explosions shook Baghdad yesterday afternoon. One came from a car bomb that detonated near the downtown home of the finance minister, Adil Abdel-Mehdi, a leading Shiite politician, killing one of his guards and shattering storefronts along the street, said Haithem al-Hassani, an aide.

A suicide car bomb near a Catholic church killed an Iraqi bystander and wounded a second, while two others in the western Baghdad area aimed at separate military convoys killed two U.S. soldiers and wounded five others, the military said.

That brought to at least 1,129 the number of U.S. troops who have died in the war.

In a Web posting, the Al Qaeda affiliate group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, believed headquartered in Falluja, claimed responsibility for the attacks on Haditha and Haqlaniyah.

"In the dawn of this blessed day, the lions of Al Qaeda in Iraq faced up to a group of apostates in the proud city of Haditha," said the statement, which could not be authenticated. "The lions stormed the city's police directorate and killed everyone there... the city has been completely liberated."

The wave of attacks came a day after insurgents launched coordinated bomb and mortar attacks in Samarra and the surrounding area, killing at least 30 people, many of them Iraqi police officers. Those strikes demonstrated that a major U.S.-led offensive last month in Samarra, a "no-go" zone for Americans during the summer, had failed to rid the city of insurgents or secure key areas.

Yesterday, U.S. troops began enforcing a round-the-clock curfew aimed at keeping all Iraqis off Samarra's streets.

The precarious situation there, coupled with the other weekend assaults, raised questions about the potential effectiveness of the attack on Falluja, where some 10,000 U.S. troops have amassed. Thousands of insurgents have dug in behind barricades and bomb-lined streets.

Doubts have been raised about whether Iraqi security forces and politicians can properly maintain order in Falluja should the offensive kill or drive out most of the guerrillas there. Some reports indicate many foreign fighters have already left, perhaps to stage attacks elsewhere or to strike back in Falluja once the Americans install Iraqi forces.

A weak Iraqi presence in the city after an offensive would simply mean another descent into chaos.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=970599119419


Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 08, 2004

New documents give more insight into Abu Ghraib
But more prison-scandal paperwork is being withheld, ACLU officials say

By Deborah Funk
Times staff writer


The prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, was a classic example of the legal formula that “predisposition plus opportunity equals criminal behavior,” according to a recently released psychological assessment.
The assessment also reported the rape of a male juvenile prisoner by an interpreter and racist remarks by a U.S. military dog handler.

The assessment, by an Air Force psychiatrist who was part of the investigation team, was among about 6,000 documents the government has turned over by court order to the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations that are probing allegations of prisoner abuse at U.S. detention facilities overseas.

But the ACLU, which announced the release of the documents in October, believes the government is withholding additional material that would more clearly explain where the ultimate blame lies for mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

“What does the government have to hide? We’re not seeing all the responses,” said Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney working on the case. “The documents we did get confirm the abuse was systemic and widespread. It was not confined to a few isolated incidents.”

The ACLU and other groups sued the government in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to obtain the documents. Officials with the Army, Defense Department and FBI say they have turned over all material that was legally required. Some material can be withheld to protect national security, confidential sources and investigations, for example.

The Army also has been “aggressively declassifying” information when possible, said Army Brig. Gen. John Adams, special assistant to the Army Provost Marshal General for Detainee Operations.

“We’re releasing every bit of information that we can legally,” Adams said.

Matthew Waxman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said defense officials are conducting “vigorous and transparent” investigations and holding individuals accountable for wrongdoing.

He said defense officials are taking lessons learned to improve detainee operations, detention facilities and training. For example, a $26 million hospital recently opened at Abu Ghraib, and cooperation has increased between Coalition and Iraqi government officials in reviews of whether to release or continue to detain individuals, he said.

The Army is rewriting its doctrine for military police and intelligence interrogators, and is clearly defining responsibilities and acceptable interrogation techniques, Adams said.

In a speech delivered in October in Warsaw, Poland, on humane treatment of detainees, Waxman said the United States has conducted eight major reviews and investigations and nearly 1,000 interviews into allegations of abuse. More than 40 people have been referred for court-martial and “dozens of others disciplined, removed from command or separated” from military service.

Meanwhile, four British men who were held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for almost three years are suing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. military officials alleging they were tortured and suffered other human-rights violations in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed, Jamal Al-Harith and Shafiq Rasul seek $10 million each.

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers said the four “were captured in Afghanistan fighting illegally for al-Qaida. They were properly classified as enemy combatants. Their detention was directly related to their combat activities as determined by an appropriate DoD official before they were transferred to Guantanamo.

“There is no basis in U.S. law to pay claims to those captured and detained as a result of combat activities,” he said. “A determination that a detainee should be transferred or released does not negate his status as an enemy combatant.”

Sparks that lit the fuse

Much of the government material to civil liberties groups was redacted, including pages of e-mails where messages were greatly or entirely deleted. Those include e-mails on legal issues at Guantanamo and legal analysis of interrogation techniques used there, according to the postings at www .aclu.org.

The psychological assessment report on Abu Ghraib said factors contributing to the abuse included throwing U.S. troops who already associated Muslims with terrorism into an unfamiliar Islamic culture, issues that “exaggerate differences and create misperceptions that can lead to fear or devaluation of a people.”

Poor living and working conditions for U.S. troops, a disparate detainee population whose future is uncertain and mortar attacks and riots also were factors. Friction between military police and intelligence personnel and a lack of training and supervision also contributed to the environment.


http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/stor...PER-478480.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S.: 42 Insurgents Killed in Fallujah

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - Backed by a barrage from warplanes and artillery, American troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah on Monday, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.


The U.S. military reported its first casualties of the offensive — two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates. A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in the opening round of attacks.


Four foreigners, including two Moroccans and two unidentified people, were captured when U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into the first objective: Fallujah's main hospital, which the military and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said was under insurgent control.


Iraqi soldiers stormed through the facility, blasting open doors and pulling handcuffed patients into the halls in search of gunmen.


Allawi said he had given the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, considered the strongest bastion of Iraq (news - web sites)'s Sunni insurgents. "We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists," he said.


Allawi initially said 38 people were killed in the hospital seizure, but the U.S. military said no one was killed in the hospital operation. A military spokesman later gave a figure of 42 dead across the city since the Fallujah assault began. The spokesman, 1st. Sgt. Steven Valley, said the situation was "fluid" and information on casualties was difficult to pin down.


Doctors in Fallujah reported 10 people killed and 11 wounded during the bombardment overnight.


Throughout the morning, artillery and mortars pounded targets in Fallujah and on its outskirts, and a U.S. jet swooped low to fire rockets at insurgent positions. An AC-130 gunship raked the city all night long with cannon fire, and and before dawn, four 500-pound bombs were dropped, raising orange fireballs over the city's rooftops.


Outside the city. U.S. troops set up mortar positions and filled sandbags in preparation for an anticipated assault. U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in several locations along the outskirts of the city, firing rifle shots as they took cover around corners and behind the doors of their Humvees.


Commanders said the toughest fight was yet to come: when American forces cross to the east bank of the Euphrates and enter the main part of Fallujah — including the Jolan neighborhood where insurgent defenses are believed the strongest.


U.S. commanders have avoided any public estimate on how long it may take to capture Fallujah, where insurgents fought the Marines to a standstill last April in a three-week siege.


Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war. Some 10,000 U.S. Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3,000 insurgents are dug in. More than half the civilian population of some 300,000 people is believed to have fled already.


Much depends on whether the bulk of the defenders, believed to be Iraqis from the Fallujah area, decide to risk the destruction of the city or try to slip away in the face of overwhelming force. Foreign jihadis may choose to fight to the end, but it's clear how many of them are still in the city.


Another issue is the role of Iraqi forces fighting alongside the Americans. A National Public Radio correspondent embedded with the Marines outside Fallujah reported desertions among the Iraqis. One Iraqi battalion shrunk from over 500 men down to 170 over the past two week — with 255 members quitting over the weekend, the correspondent said.


Clerics in Fallujah denounced Iraqi troops participating in the assault, calling them the "occupiers' lash on their fellow countrymen."


"We swear by God that we will stand against you in the streets, we will enter your houses and we will slaughter you just like sheep," the clerics said in a statement.


A senior aide to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces not to fight alongside U.S. troops.





"We appeal to the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police not to help the occupation troops as they want to target the Iraqi people in Fallujah," said Sheikh Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji. The Iraqi troops should not be a tool in the hands of the occupation troops."

In the first foray across the river into Fallujah proper, Marines on Monday morning secured an apartment building in the city's northwest corner, said Capt. Brian Heatherman, of the 3rd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment.

"The Marines have now gained a foothold in the city," said Heatherman, 32.

He said there were some Iraqi casualties as the troops seized the building, where Marines found an improvised bomb hanging above a doorway — one of the many variety of booby traps they expect to come across in the urban battle.

U.S. and Iraqi commanders have vowed to stamp out Sunni Muslim guerrillas controlling Fallujah and other cities north and west of Baghdad ahead of vital January elections.

Allawi said emergency measures would be imposed on Fallujah and Ramadi, another insurgent stronghold nearby, beginning at 6 p.m. Roads and government facilities in the two cities will be closed, all weapons will be banned, Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan will be closed and Baghdad's international airport will be shut down for 48 hours.

Allawi's government announced Sunday that it was imposing a 60-day state of emergency across Iraq — except for the Kurdish-run north.

One key reason to take Fallujah hospital early was likely to control information: The facility was the main source of Iraqi death tolls during the first U.S. siege of Fallujah in April, and U.S. commanders accused doctors there of exaggerating numbers.

The U.S military said Monday that insurgents had been in control of Fallujah General Hospital — located on the west bank of the Euphrates — and were "forcing the doctors there to release propaganda and false information."

The reports of hundreds of civilians killed in the April siege — and scenes of soccer fields turned into mass graves for the dead — generated strong public outrage in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world, prompting the Bush administration to call off the offensive. U.S. officials insisted the numbers were overblown.

The new offensive, launched after sundown Sunday, came after government negotiators reported the failure of last-minute peace talks. "We have no other option but to take the necessary measures to protect Iraqi people from these killers and liberate Fallujah," Allawi said.

The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has threatened to boycott elections, condemned the assault on Fallujah, calling it "an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people."

Over the weekend, insurgents launched a wave of attacks in central Iraq in an apparent attempt to divert attention away from Fallujah. About 60 people were killed — including two Americans soldiers — and 75 injured.

____

Associated Press correspondents Tini Tran, Mariam Fam, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad contributed to this report.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...q_041108142527


Ellie

[thedrifter]

November 08, 2004

Sailors will serve longer Japan tours with Marines

By Mark D. Faram
Times staff writer


For sailors, duty with the Marine Corps just got tougher.
Sailors taking orders to one of the 914 Navy billets on Okinawa or Iwakuni, Japan, will have the choice of either two-year tours by themselves or signing for an extra year and bringing along their families.

The Marine Corps already announced similar changes, citing commanders’ complaints that unit cohesion was suffering under shorter tours.

Previously, Marines served one-year unaccompanied or three-year accompanied tours.

“When you have a one-year tour, the first three months are spent getting used to the job,” said Lt. Cmdr. Denise Holdridge, assistant branch head for hospital corpsmen and dental technician assignments at Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn. “The last three months are spent checking out, so you really only have about six good months with those individuals in the command.”

More than 600 of the affected billets are for hospital corpsmen, dental technicians and religious programs specialists who serve in Marine units, Holdridge said.

“It’s only fair that sailors will now have the same tour lengths as the Marines they serve with,” she said.

The new policy does not affect those sailors currently serving in — or who have already transferred to — Japan, including those attending schools along the way. “We will honor those tour lengths,” Holdridge said.

For those who have agreed to take a one-year tour but haven’t yet transferred, the rules are different. “Those sailors will be receiving amended orders for a two-year unaccompanied tour,” she said.

The Navy won’t renegotiate orders for most sailors who have already accepted them, she said, unless there are exceptional family circumstances.

But there is some choice in the matter. Those stuck with a two-year unaccompanied tour can agree to a third year and bring their families, she said. They’ll still get sea duty credit for the tour.

As with the Corps, there is one exception to this new rule: Anyone under orders to the remote and austere Camp Fuji can still get a one-year unaccompanied tour.

Though no one in Japan will get an involuntary extension in their current job, those currently on a one-year unaccompanied tour can extend for an extra year and pick up benefits under the Overseas Tour Extension Incentive Program that could net them their choice of either $80 extra per month; 30 days nonchargeable leave; 15 days nonchargeable leave and round-trip transportation for themselves to the United States; or a $2,000 lump sum.

Holdridge also said sailors on their first enlistment can extend for two years and move their families over for the rest of their tour, but only if their command approves.

Mark D. Faram covers the Navy.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/stor...PER-472635.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. Troops Launch Fallujah Offensive

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - Thousands of U.S. troops, backed by armor and a stunning air barrage, attacked the toughest strongholds of Sunni insurgents in Fallujah on Monday, launching a long-awaited offensive to put an end to guerrilla control of the Sunni Muslim city.



After nightfall, U.S. troops advanced slowly on the northwestern Jolan neighborhood, a warren of alleyways where Sunni militant fighters have dug in. Artillery, tanks and warplanes pounded the district's northern edge, softening the defenses and attempting to set off any bombs and boobytraps before troops moved in.


At the same time, another force of 4,000 troops pushed into the northeastern Askari district, the first large-scale assault into the insurgent-held area of the city, the military said.


Iraqi troops were expected to be involved in the attack, but there was no immediate word on their actions.


Before the thrust into the heart of the city, the U.S. military reported its first casualties of the offensive — two Marines killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates. A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day.


AP reporter Edward Harris, embedded with Marines near the railroad station just outside the city's northern edge, said U.S. forces hammered the Jolan district with airstrikes and intense tank fire to soften up defenses. The Marines reported that at least initially they did not draw significant fire from insurgents, only a few rocker-propelled grenades that caused no casualties.


Earlier Monday, in preparation for the full assault, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah's western edge that they said was under insurgents' control.


Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he gave the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at breaking the backbone of the guerrillas before elections set for January.


"We are determined to clean Fallujah of terrorists," he told a press conference in Baghdad.


Marine commanders have warned the new offensive could bring the heaviest urban fighting since the Vietnam war. Some 10,000 U.S. Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are around Fallujah, where commanders estimate around 3,000 insurgents are dug in. More than half the civilian population of some 300,000 people is believed to have fled already.


Allawi also announced he was using emergency powers he was granted the day before to impose a round-the-clock curfew on Fallujah and the nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown Monday. All roads and government institutions in the two cities will be closed and no one will be allowed to carry weapons. Also, he announced the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International Airport was closed for 48 hours.


Before the main assault, Allawi visited the main U.S. base outside Fallujah to rally Iraqi troops.


"The people of Fallujah have been taken hostage ... and you need to free them from their grip," he told the soldiers at the camp, who swarmed around him when he arrived. "Your job is to arrest the killers but if you kill them, then so be it."


"May they go to hell!" the soldiers shouted, and Allawi replied: "To hell they will go."


The prelude to the assault was a crushing air and artillery bombardment of the city that built from the night before, though Monday morning and evening then rose to a crescendo by Monday night — with U.S. jets dropping bombs constantly and big guns pounding the city every few minutes with high-explosive shells.


As the main assault began in Fallujah, thunderous explosions could be heard across central Baghdad, some 40 miles to the east. Earlier, insurgents attacked a church in the capital, setting it ablaze and wounding 20 people, police said.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_mi_ea/iraq_8

Ellie


GodSpeed......

[thedrifter]

Iraqi, U.S. Troops Begin 'Phantom Fury' in Fallujah
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2004 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces began their long-awaited assault today against insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in an operation dubbed "Phantom Fury."

According to various news reports, thousands of soldiers and Marines have moved into Fallujah neighborhoods believed to be harboring the most insurgents. Earlier, Iraqi troops took two bridges and a hospital in northern Fallujah, Multinational Force Iraq officials said today. Officials described the situation around the insurgent stronghold as "fluid."

Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave the go-ahead for Iraqi and U.S. forces to rid the city of insurgents and foreign terrorists. In a news conference today in Baghdad, Allawi said his government is determined to drive the terrorists out of Fallujah. He said he makes this move after all peaceful means to solve the problem have not worked out.

"I have given my authority to the Iraqi forces to spearhead the attacks," Allawi said.

On Nov. 7, the prime minister declared a state of emergency in all of Iraq except for the Kurdish-controlled area in the north.

The Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion took the bridges and hospital today and detained 38 men.

Marine artillery and U.S. aircraft have hit terrorist hideouts in the city. Pentagon officials said Marines and soldiers in the area have observed secondary explosions after the strikes. This often signifies that ammunition or explosives were at the site that was struck, officials explained.

Coalition forces are hitting anti-Iraqi forces where they show themselves. News reports indicate U.S. Marines and soldiers are firing mortars and artillery at concentrations of insurgents and foreign terrorists.

The offensive in Fallujah is one of the most telegraphed military operations in history. That is by design, said Pentagon officials. The city normally has a population of about 300,000. With all the warnings, officials estimate that between 50,000 and 60,000 people are left in the city. Even so, Multinational Force Iraq officials report terrorists in the city are preventing families from leaving Fallujah. According to residents, terrorist plan to use citizens as human shields, then claim they were attacked by friendly forces.

News accounts said that officials estimate between 5,000 and 6,000 insurgents and foreign terrorists are in the city.

Multinational Force Iraq officials have received reports that terrorists in Fallujah are building a system of tunnels joining mosques and schools within the city. The tunnels reportedly would be used to transport weapons and ammunition throughout protected sites in the face of the Multinational Force assault.

Under international law, mosques are granted protected status because of their religious and cultural significance. However, such sites lose their protected status when insurgents use them for military purposes.

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is in command of coalition and Iraqi forces at the city. The 1st Marine Division and U.S. Army armored units from the 1st Infantry Division -- along with Iraqi allies -- stand ready on the northern part of the city, news accounts said.


Ellie


Prayers being sent..........