Black smoke billows from Fallujah after hospital, bridges seized

[maddezmom]

~snip~
A sizeable unit of US marines coupled with some specially-trained Iraqi troops were poised on the outskirts of the city, waiting to enter if given the go-ahead by the interim government, an AFP reporter embedded with the marines said Monday.


Keen to put an Iraqi face on the mission to reclaim the Sunni Muslim bastion from rebel hands, the US military says local troops are a vital asset as they know the terraiin and can identify the foreign fighters believed to have turned Fallujah into an operating base.


The special force, known as Shahwanis "can be helpful they can identify foreign accents, tell whether a person is Syrian or Jordanian," said Major Todd Desgrosseilliers, an executive officer with the marines.


"The Iraqis know what is going on there, they give us a flavour of what is unusual," he told AFP.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=11&u=/afp/20041108/ts_afp/iraq_us_fallujah_041108101816

Keen on showing an Iraqi face....this is the only unit directly paid by the US military. The same unit that everyone has video of in the hospital.... :eyes:

[maddezmom]

1. previous link: Iraqi troops coming on line for possible Fallujah offensive

~snip~
US military trainers have been running regular Iraqi troops and a specialised security force, called the Shahwanis, through crash courses in preparation for an offensive on the rebel enclave, west of Baghdad.


But a few Iraqi soldiers have left because they do not want to take part in such an offensive, said security trainer Sergeant Michael Applegate.


"They had some problems with people quitting because they didn't want to go ... to Fallujah," Applegate told AFP.

~snip~

Unlike other Iraqi security branches, they are paid directly by the US military, they added.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041106/lf_afp/iraq_us_fallujah_041106182613

[Sugarbleus]

2. What an evil, "Crusader" mess bush has created over there.

I know they tried to evacuate women and children first, but there are still many who couldn't get out. A brand new hospital bombed??? WTF.

I think DEMS of FAITH, SHOULD PRAY FOR THOSE IRAQI innocents...right now...at least pray for the souls who unleashed this mess!

[T Bone]

3. Offensive's first target is a HOSPITAL?

Sounds like a Bush operation.
I bet that hospital was SO heavily defended.

[maddezmom]

6. check out this thread....Hospitals ruined in pre-bombing

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=964082&mesg_id=964082

[Nihil]

7. This is just so sick-minded

A hospital ...

I wonder how many of the dead and injured were doctors, nurses, porters
or patients? Is it really conceivable that there would have been 38
combatant troops posted in a hospital?

Yet another WAR CRIME to add to the list.

Did they video this "brave assault" too?

[oblivious]

4. It's not clear how many people are left in the city.

1. AP
10,000 U.S. Marines, Army soldiers and Iraqi forces are lined up against 3,000 insurgents. Half the 300,000 civilian population has fled.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

2. AFP
"US commanders estimate there are 2,000 to 2,500 fighters in the city and its surrounding areas, along with another 10,000 men who could join the fight."

According to the US military, only 10 to 20 per cent of Fallujah's 300,000-strong population remain in the city after a mass exodus by residents fearing a military onslaught.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1236604.htm

3. Aljazeera
"Nearly 20,000 US and Iraqi soldiers and marines are camped around the city awaiting orders to launch an assault.

The US military says 1000 to 6000 fighters - Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign fighters led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - are holed up in Falluja's alleyways and on rooftops."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DA2FE7D7-FA3C-473B-B094-AC7AF29E392B.htm

4. NY Times
mentions just 10,000 US troops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/international/middleeast/07cnd-iraq.html

The US has not allowed males between 15 and 50 to enter or leave.

Allawi insists Falluja give up Zarqawi and his fighters, but Falluja leaders insist no such people are in the city.

No hope.

[bemildred]

5. They just make stuff up, you know.

And they lie deliberately too, it's war after all.