The Massacre Has Begun...

[Nbadan]

~snip~
An American soldier wounded in Falluja said he had seen two of his colleagues killed.


"A buddy of mine and another soldier were killed and I have seen about 50 other wounded (U.S.) soldiers since the fighting began," he told Reuters while awaiting medical evacuation. He declined to give his name.


A Reuters reporter saw about five wounded soldiers being flown out by helicopter and a U.S. military ambulance driver also said he had witnessed many casualties.


Among the Iraqis killed was a nine-year-old boy, severely injured by shrapnel in the abdomen when his home was bombarded by U.S. jets overnight. His parents were unable to get him to hospital and he died hours later of blood loss, they said.

~snip~

Yahoo News

[1369]

Dan, do you have a link to your supposed statistics?

[Nbadan]

total of 14 Americans have been killed in the past two days across Iraq (news - web sites) — including three killed in Fallujah combat on Tuesday and 11 others who died Monday, most of them as guerrillas launched a wave of attacks in Baghdad and southwest of Fallujah, a senior Pentagon (news - web sites) official said.


The 11 deaths were the highest one-day U.S. toll in more than six months.


As fighting raged in Fallujah, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi declared a nighttime curfew in Baghdad and its surroundings — the first curfew in the capital for a year — a day after a string of insurgent attacks in the city killed nine Iraqis and wounded more than 80.

Yahoo News

[nadabN]

I will never gloat at the prospect of American war dead. I am not someone who is in need of immediate mental health assistance.

[1369]

Fighting is reported to have eased in Fallujah where US forces say they have reached the city centre and are in control of the northern third of the city.

There have been fierce street battles with militants loyal to Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

The rebels say they have hit back elsewhere with attacks in Baquba and Baghdad.

The US and Iraqi troops have set up bases on the northern and southeastern edges of the town.

They had previously seized the two main bridges across the Euphrates river, as well as the railway station and the main hospital.

According to reports, three US soldiers have been killed and 14 wounded in the latest phase of the operation.

At least two US tanks are said to have been destroyed - claims that a helicopter was shot down as it flew over the Jolan district have been denied.

Lieutenant-Colonel John Morris said US troops were acting as a "fist", while Iraqi forces seized weapons and fought the rebels along streets and alleyways.

He revealed buildings had been booby-trapped so they would fall on troops searching for gunmen.

"There was resistance at the beginning but there is almost no resistance now," another high-ranking officer announced.

More than 10,000 US and Iraqi troops stormed into several areas of the city as part of Operation Phantom Fury.

Sky's reporter at the scene David Chater said the Marines attacked across a wide front. He saw a huge number of mortar rounds being fired on insurgent positions.

The assault follows interim prime minister Iyad Allawi's declaration that military action was the only way to ensure January's elections go ahead.

The UN refugee agency and the international Red Cross have expressed grave concern about the plight of tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it wants to get relief supplies to the civilians as soon as possible.

Officials said they were alarmed by information that Fallujah's two water treatment plants have been shut down by frightened employees.

Link

[Nbadan]

To use the "Alamo" reference, but not with the comparision Dan used... This could be the "line in the sand"... Remember, this battle was directed BY the Iraqi government.

Allawi is a puppet for the U.S. government. You diluded if you think that the battle of Fallujah is gonna be the end of the resistance in Iraq. Me thinks, it's just the beginning. These guys don't think like we do, look at the death and mayhem they have unleashed in Palestine against the Israeli occupation, and that's been going on for years. Same here.

[nadabN]

I am not hoping for an unsuccessful outcome for the US and Iraqi forces today because of domestic US politics.

I am a decent American.

I support our troops.

[Nbadan]

<snip>KOCH: Now, Rumsfeld says that he does not know if militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in Falluja. Of course, Zarqawi a man with a $25 million price on his head, who has claimed responsibility for so much of the violence thus far in Iraq. Military leaders saying basically if they catch Zarqawi in Falluja, it will simply be a bonus, because the expectation is that he and his lieutenants have had ample time to slip quietly out of this city.

Now, speaking to the slipping quietly away, there are a number, perhaps hundreds, of Iraqi soldiers who did not turn up for this very decisive battle. The defense secretary yesterday saying basically that this is an isolated problem, though something that should be expected from time to time, considering the cir stances. But still this is not welcome news for the Pentagon, Carol, because this is the force that is supposed to take over security in Iraq so that U.S. troops can eventually come home -- back to you.

COSTELLO: When you say, Kathleen, that many Iraqi soldiers didn't show up, what are we talking about? Is there a specific number that we know of?

KOCH: Well, those numbers are very fuzzy. Apparently there are reports that perhaps as many as 500 didn't show up for the battle, but then there is some talk that there may have simply been some confusion behind-the-scenes, that they were on leave, didn't realize they needed to come back.

But again, these are the kinds of things that need to be worked out so that these troops can be reliably counted upon under any sort of cir stance, and especially for a critical battle like this.


more

CNN

[nadabN]

I am not all tingly with the prospect of reports of massive numbers of American servicemen killed today.

[nadabN]

The password for my username is not "benedictarnold."

[1369]

CNN Link

CNN Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf is embedded with the U.S. Army there; she spoke with "Anderson Cooper 360°" guest host Heidi Collins on Monday night by telephone.

ARRAF: At this point, the offensive has been going on for hours. And -- I'm not sure if you hear those thuds in the background -- the sky just lit up over the city of Falluja. There are continued airstrikes and ground strikes.

Quite a heavy bombardment as forces here ... try to soften up the insurgents to move further into the city. We started out on the northeast corner, where they found what they had expected and feared, which was a string of improvised explosive devices -- booby-trapped -- waiting for the troops to come in.

In that sector, [there were] very few civilians. And we had been told that they had not been allowed in that sector by the insurgents who have been rigging these homemade bombs around the city. The battle continues, and is expected to continue for some time. All the soldiers going into this -- and this is a massive effort -- have been told that this is a historic battle; this is their chance to rid the country of the insurgency.

COLLINS: You talk about the resistance, you talk about the foreign fighters. Any more you can tell us about that, as far as characterizing the size of it and how intense it is?

ARRAF: Military officials are putting varying figures on how many men they believe they're fighting ... and they vary from 1,200 to 3,000.

On the lowest tier -- although a lot of these probably would have fled the city by now -- it's people who are doing it just for the money. They are unemployed, perhaps angry, young men, and they get a few dollars for shooting a rocket-propelled grenade.

There are extreme religious fundamentalists, who are doing it because they believe that it is their religious duty. ...

There are former Baath Party elements, which are a large part of this -- this is a Sunni stronghold and a very conservative city. And there are the foreign fighters, probably fewer than had first been believed, but this city, over the past few months -- since the end of the war, in fact -- has become a magnet for insurgents of all sorts, a breeding ground for different cells. And many military officials believe that it has become a command-and-control center for the entire insurgency in Iraq.

COLLINS: We know that earlier in the day the troops were able to take over one hospital and two key bridges. Again, in talking about this resistance, are they able to take over more positions of importance, or would you say they are at a standby or a standstill as of late?

ARRAF: They're not at a standstill so much. They are certainly going forward. ... We're not entirely clear as to what targets they may have taken in other sectors of the city. Certainly, they had a lot of objectives. And the Iraqi security forces are playing a large part in that.

Those are the people -- we are with, for instance, Iraqi commandos -- and the Iraqi security forces, the intervention forces, are the ones who are going into places like mosques and schools, where U.S. forces say they've been targeted from.

As for the major targets that they have, most of those [involve] access to the city, and the city has, indeed, been breached.

[JoeChalupa]

The Marines...when you care enough to send the very best!!

Semper Fi!!

[DE FULL MANTE]

MANTE

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Allawi is a puppet for the U.S. government.

Yeah, all those Shi'ites, Sunnis, and Kurds who voted for him are all our puppets.

Whatever Chirac.

[whottt]

What's funny is that Dan doesn't seem to realize that Allawi was the choice of the UN.

[CrazyOne]

C'mon, Whott, you're not playing fair... shooting down all those conspiracy theories with cold, hard facts...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah, but Kerry didn't approve of Allawi, and therein lies the rub.

[SpursWoman]

There have been fierce street battles with militants loyal to Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

So, has Dan quit insisting that al Zaqawi is dead yet?