Fallujah fighters try to escape U.S. cordon; insurgents strike police stat

Fallujah fighters try to escape U.S. cordon; insurgents strike police stations in Mosul
By Edward Harris, Associated Press, 11/12/2004 02:31


FALLUJAH, Iraq U.S. troops pounded insurgents in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, after guerrillas attacked police stations and bridges in an apparent attempt to relieve pressure on Fallujah, where American forces continued their assault on the rebel stronghold.

Insurgents Thursday tried to break through the U.S. cordon surrounding Fallujah, where an estimated 600 insurgents, 18 U.S. troops and five Iraqi soldiers have been killed in the four-day assault, the U.S. military said. At least 178 Americans and 34 Iraqi soldiers have been wounded.

Smoke rose over Mosul on Thursday as U.S. warplanes streaked overhead. City officials warned residents to stay away from the five major bridges. Militants brandishing rocket-propelled grenades stood in front of a hospital.

Saadi Ahmed, a senior member of the pro-American Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, said nine police stations were attacked and that ''Iraqi police turned some stations over to the terrorists.''
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/317/world/Fallujah_fighters_try_to_escap:.shtml

Correct nomenclature is so important.

It seems so strange to see these terms being used by what used to be reputable sources. You'd think they'd be ashamed of themselves.

On edit:

Adding Steve Bell cartoon.

that most had left.
What is the story?

"The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, said that "hundreds and hundreds of insurgents" have been killed and captured. >

20,000 American ground forces. That's what guerilla war is all about. The hundreds of millions of dollars required to keep those forces supported, equipped, maintained, and medically serviced every day from thousands of miles away means it is we that are getting judo flipped to the mat every day by a technically and numerically inferior opponent. Why does our leadership subject our troops and the nation to this? Why do we subject the Iraqi people to this? For a private corporate energy plan that the government wants to remain a secret.

Because we killed hundreds of Iraqis primarily by air attacks we're supposed to feel good about the more than 200 casualties we've sustained as a result of the Fallujah distraction from a rigged election here at home.

in the Daily Mail today by a journalist, William Lowther - strange to relate in such hellish circumstances, totally, surreally farcical, unless you were close to dead or injured civilians, soldiers, rebels -recounts how a lone rebel sniper on a bicycle held off a large marine contingent for most of a day. They couldn't see the muzzle flashes so were shooting in the dark really.

William Lowther wrote, "Determined to take him out, US commanders launched two air strikes, dropping four 500lb bombs on him, 35 artillery shells and ten huge deliveries from Abrams tanks, plus 30,000 rounds from automatic rifles" (at a cost estimated by experts, and cited further down in the piece at £50,000).

The two three-storey buildings the sniper was using for cover were blown to smithereens. But, as the smoke cleared, he was seen pedalling away, apparently unharmed. One officer said during the incident: 'The idea is, he sits up there and eats a sandwich and we go crazy trying to find him'.

By noon, the Marines had worked their way down to a national guard building, still taking fire from the sniper.

But for the next five hours the barrage continued, as they tried and failed to kill the man dashing from window to window of two ruined buildings".

(snip)

anyone ever see the movie red dawn ... make a long story short high school kids become terrorists to fight russian and cuban forces in ww3 good 80's flick but it puts into perspective whats happening in iraq... its not terrorists its everyday people ... i dont know been drinkin..

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1349505,00.html

"New insurgency confronts US forces
Kurds come under attack as rebels rampage in city

Rory McCarthy in Baghdad and Michael Howard in Sulaymaniyah
Friday November 12, 2004

The Guardian

US troops were drawn into a new offensive in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday to tackle a tide of insurgency unchecked by the military assault on Falluja.
In Baghdad at least 17 Iraqis were killed in a suicide car bombing as gunmen set up checkpoints on roads in the west of the capital and fought battles with US troops.

Rebels also took to the streets of the northern town of Baiji, home to Iraq's main refinery, clashing with security forces.

The violence suggests the four-day operation in Falluja may have cleared out the most important insurgent stronghold in Iraq, but has done little to curb the burgeoning militant movement."

<An Iraqi journalist in the city reported seeing burned U.S. vehicles and bodies in the street, with more buried under the wreckage. He said two men trying to move a corpse were shot down by a sniper.>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1349818,00.html

>>The Iraqi Red Crescent Society urged US forces and the Iraqi government to let it deliver food, medicine and water to Falluja, describing conditions there as a "disaster". "We call on the Iraqi government and US forces to allow us to do our humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said a spokeswoman. The Americans said the Red Crescent had permission to help the many civilians who have fled Falluja, but could not say if it had been granted access to the city itself.

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three who managed to flee Falluja with his family yesterday, described conditions in the city. "There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he said.

The city, home to between 200,000 and 300,000 people before the assault, has been without electricity since Monday. The nearby town of Habbaniya has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.<<


A US army tank rolls down the main street in Falluja. Photograph: Scott Nelson/Getty Images