Cease-Fire in Falluja Is Extended for 2 Days

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 25 — American and Iraqi officials said today they were extending a shaky cease-fire in the volatile town of Falluja for at least two more days, while the occupation authority said Shiite rebels in the southern holy city of Najaf appeared to be stockpiling weapons in mosques, shrines and schools.

An occupation spokesman said American officials had learned from residents of Najaf that a "potentially explosive situation" was developing there because insurgents following Moktada al-Sadr, a radical young cleric, were gathering arms, apparently to defend themselves against 2,500 American soldiers who have encircled the city. The spokesman said the occupation authority was urging people in Najaf to retake control of the city from Mr. Sadr and his ragtag militia, the Mahdi Army.

The agreement to continue negotiations over the standoff in Falluja came as the American military appeared to be gearing up over the weekend for a full-on invasion of the town, where thousands of insurgents have been trading fire with marines during the truce period.

The twin sieges of Falluja and Najaf have presented the Bush administration with its worst crisis in Iraq since the toppling of Saddam Hussein last April. Many Iraqis now criticize the American military for what they say is an excessive use of force, especially in Falluja, where hundreds of families have been forced to flee during three weeks of fighting. People here and in Washington fear uprisings could explode across Iraq if the military were to invade either city.

~snip~
more:http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/25/international/middleeast/25CND-IRAQ.html

Why do they call it a truce, when the fighting continues? I think the US military is just buying time and getting geared up for the big fight. I pray I'm wrong. :(

[Jacobin]

1. Pause while Rove does a focus group to see how

people will react to the carnage which will erupt in all of EyeRack after the bloodletting in that city.

[NeoConsSuck]

4. Jacobin, you hit the nail on the head.. <nt>

[saigon68]

12. This Thug has his mind made up --err -- he's ordered to do it



SORRY SANCHEZ a/k/a Pistol Boy consiglieri to the Viceroy Pontius Bremer I

His quote “ We are going to Kill the Shia criminal Al Sadr !! ”

[freetobegay]

2. Their trying to bide their time

While they are pissing in their pants trying to figure out how to get out of that mess!

[riverwalker]

3. U.S. Civilians confront US Military in Najaf

http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0423-07.htm

U.S. Civilians Confront U.S. Military in Najaf, Iraq

<snip> The Najaf Emergency Peace Team, "Peace Between Peoples", a handful of determined volunteers from several well-established peace/global justice/human rights and religious organizations, has now arrived in the area, to place themselves "nonviolently, symbolically and physically" between the U.S. armed forces massed nearby and the civilian population of the ancient holy city - in the way of any American military assault. <snip>

[Joanne98]

5. Boy that takes guts. I wonder who they are?

n/t

[fairfaxvadem]

6. this whole situation in Falluja just blows my mind...

I can't even believe this crap. Going to war was a bad idea, fair enough, but the fact that it got THIS screwed up is unbelievable.

I mean, the newspapers are reporting that we may just go in and clear the place out and women and children are fleeing the city in advance.

I'm just sick about this.

And now Najaf is turning into a major fortress.

Nice going George, you dumb ass.

[markses]

7. If there is a comic element to this horror it is this

These 'civic leaders' with whom we are negotiating have absolutely no say with the entrenched "insurgents." they agree to this and agree to that, but they are completely disconnected from the "insurgents," and in no way represent them. In a way, the comedy recreates the comedy at home in the US, in which the President (a military authoritarian) negotiates various agreements with the Congress (an unrepresentative body), although the Congress in no way represents the interests of the people of the United States, and the military authority is merely trying to work its own gain and increase of power. In this case, however, the military authority has come up against the ultimate reality check: they can negotiate all they want with the unrepresentative body, but the people will still block their increase of power with weapons and bloodshed. Much different situation here, and thank goodness. We simply allow the military authority (the Administration) to walk all over us when it makes an agreement with a body that doesn't represent us (the Congress). The parallel would work as follows:

Bremer/USMC/CPA ----- Fallujah "Civic Leaders" ----- "Insurgents" (resistant)
Bush/ Admin. ----- Congress ----------- People of the US (pliant)

I think the surprise on the part of the CPA is that the negotiations with the non-representative civic leaders don't produce the same kind of complacency as the US negotiations with the non-representative Congress. they simply can't believe that the people of Fallujah don't roll over as easily as the people of the United States of America when faced with a false negotiation with false representatives!

[0007]

8. Damn if they do and damn is they don't

...mean while the freepers are getting pissed and their popcorn and beer is getting old and stale.

For the most part they just sit around with poop in their pants afraid to leave their FAUX news.

I don't see how junior can give it the green light.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. I guarantee you he already has

Whatever the current maneuvering is all about is up to conjecture, but I'd bet the house on Junior's already having given them the go-ahead. Little Georgie one-note has made his "decision".

Maybe we're working for a diplomatic solution, or maybe just building up supplies and positioning assets for the massacree, regardless, he's made his decision. This is macho chest-thumping here, and he has to show them who's boss. Sick.

Fallujah may be a rallying cry for the clash of civilizations soon.

[Buns_of_Fire]

15. Perhaps they're also waiting to see how much of a splash

Joe Wilson's book makes when it's released this Friday -- so they'll have an idea of how much hell they'll have to raise to try to divert attention from it...

[hippywife]

9. I'm praying you are wrong, too, but

I have this terrible feeling we are going to wake up in the morning to reports of the carnage. :(

[Raenelle]

10. And Chimpy pumping his fist and saying "Feel good"

[saigon68]

13. Guernica

Guernica: Testimony of War

http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/gmain.html

It is modern art's most powerful antiwar statement... created by the twentieth century's most well-known and least understood artist. But the mural called Guernica is not at all what Pablo Picasso has in mind when he agrees to paint the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the 1937 World's Fair.


For three months, Picasso has been searching for inspiration for the mural, but the artist is in a sullen mood, frustrated by a decade of turmoil in his personal life and dissatisfaction with his work. The politics of his native homeland are also troubling him, as a brutal civil war ravages Spain. Republican forces, loyal to the newly elected government, are under attack from a fascist coup led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Franco promises prosperity and stability to the people of Spain. Yet he delivers only death and destruction.

[TahitiNut]

14. Catch-22

The occupation "authority" is, in a de facto sense, recognizing the sovereignty of Falluja -- and denying them that right. It's really a bizarre exercise in double-think (or even triple-think) to claim that they're working towards self-governace and then when an indigenous 'authority' exists to the degree they'd even negotiate with them, they're repeating the invade/conquer/occupy scenario.

I guess they gotta stamp out them uppity self-governing Iraqis, huh?

[daleo]

16. There was talk of supply shortages - fuel, bullets, etc.

The resistance was having some success in cutting the highways and such. It could be that the marines are still re-supplying, and assuming that each day that they wait they exhaust the besieged city a little more. I also read about a major sandstorm there in the last couple of days, so that may have negated the advantage in helicopter gunships, etc.

So, this whole ceasefire thing is probably not a serious bid for peace, but just a bid for time. On the other hand, troops keenness for battle tends to diminish during static warfare, so I imagine the marine command wants to get something going soon.

What they may not be appreciating is that an attack on Fallujah may be the signal for a wider front in the resistance to open. Also, even with overwhelming advantages in firepower, the marines are bound to take lots of casualties in Fallujah, as well as creating a backlash of revulsion in the world community when the level of civilian casualties becomes obvious. This is a no-win situation.