US military says that Falluja is "
100 percent secure." In fact, we are letting the Iraqis
clean up their corpses:
"Murmuring "God is great," two dozen Iraqi men collected corpses Tuesday in a U.S. Marine-directed effort to rid Fallujah of festering bodies in keeping with Muslim burial principles. ... Bodies are scattered across Fallujah after fighting that began Nov. 8. The U.S. military declared the Sunni Muslim stronghold captured within a week, with 38 Americans, six Iraqi soldiers and an estimated 1,200 insurgents dead. ... "This exemplifies the horrors of war," said Marine Capt. P.J. Batty, from Park City, Utah, of the body pickup. "We don't wish this upon anyone, but everyone needs to understand there are consequences for not following the Iraqi government.""
Indeed. I think they understand:
""That's how they move from place to place and survive," Sergeant Sarino said, as flames began licking up the food cache. "They go from house to house, and stockpile food and water wherever they can. You have to [burn it], because that's the only way to defeat them: Deny them food and water, and force them to come out."" (link)
The process of liberation for the Iraqi people. Yes, the Iraqi people, as
Judging from fighters captured in Fallouja, all but about 5% are Iraqi, U.S. officials say:
"Of the more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who were captured in intense fighting in the center of the insurgency over the last week, just 15 are confirmed foreign fighters, Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, said Monday. "
Despite being "100% secure",
reports seem to
suggest that fighting in Falluja continues:
""Fierce resistance is still raging with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns against the US forces stationed on the outskirts of Falluja," according to Fadil al-Badrani, an Iraqi journalist in the city. Badrani said American war planes and tanks had resorted to bombing the holdout sectors of the city and some areas were still not under their control."(link)
"Heavy machine gunfire and explosions rang out in south-central parts of Fallujah as U.S. Marines hunted fighters still in the turbulent city. In its northern Jolan neighborhood, U.S. Marines fought insurgents who officers said had sneaked back into the city by swimming across the Euphrates River. " (link)
The battle for Mosul is heating up, fueled by
members of the Ba`ath party."''The Ba'ath Party is working to create an ethnic civil war," Pire said, as mortar rounds thudded next to his office and his bodyguards rushed to the front gate to return machine gunfire. ''Their plan was first to eliminate police stations, then the Kurdish forces, then finally the Kurdish community.""
Also notable, in Rutba near the Jordanian border,
31 Iraqi police officers were ambushed in their hotel and kidnapped.
Ramdi is hot:
" 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."
I never know what to make of
the Iraqi Resistance Report.
What are the odds of this?
Omaha Marine Killed Same Day Wife Gives Birth
Video: Unarmed And Wounded POW Shot In The Head By U.S. MarineWARNING: This video contains course language, disturbing images of dead bodies in the aftermath of combat and graphic images of a man being shot dead.
Update:
Reuters unedited Video
A
turkish press report:
Saad Hamza Al-Mohammadi, an Iraqi civilian from Fallujah, alleged that US troops used chemical substances to kill civilians. "US troops carried away all the victims when they died from chemical substances. This operation, which has been launched by those who detest religion, is an out-and-out massacre," he told reporters. "Let them explain what they have seized there. Where are these terrorists whom they are supposed to have captured? These people have carried out a massacre. They have only killed civilians," he shouted.
"America has used chemical weapons to suppress insurgents when they have faced significant resistance in any area of Fallujah," Al-Mohammadi said."In the industrial area of the city, I came across 19 dead, whose bodies have no bullet marks. Their eye balls were carved out and bodies blackened. What happened to these people was caused by chemical substances. Later, US soldiers have taken these bodies to another location. They have left people on the streets if they were killed by bullet fire," he said.
There is video.
I wonder who that one will be voting for in the January elections?
Forty-Seven Bodies Boycott Iraq Elections"In what could cost the new Iraqi government its necessary legitimacy to win the hearts and minds of the people, forty-seven Sunni, Shiite, Turkoman and Christian bodies have so far declared their boycott for the general election slated for early next year, due to the grisly US attacks in Fallujah."
The
fighting we are now seeing across Iraq. Ramadi, Bagdhad, Hit, Mosul, Kirkuk, Hawija, Tikrit, Samarra, Balad, etc etc. The pipelines that are hit. Isn't this the inception of a civil war? If so, is the U.S. occupation providing a cloak, a sword, or a shield?
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