What's happening in Fallujah? There are no updates anywhere...

[expatriot]

I heard this morning on the radio there was heavy fighting in the city center but nothing since. Even online, the only article I can find is one that says the Marines were going in... but nothing since.

I don't have cable... someone tell me the latest...

[nostamj]

1. complete media blackout

this morning, they said that al jazeera had contact with citizens inside the city, but that's all.

and yes, we know there were two US deaths and many more Iraqi casualties....

[IndianaGreen]

3. Looks like the US learned a few lessons from Israel in the siege of Jenin

that included media blackouts and shooting at the media if they got too close.

[kalian]

9. Who do you think is "advising" the US right now...?

I can guarantee that its not Santa Claus.... :eyes:

[kalian]

2. Simple, think Jenin occupied by the Israeli army....

and then some more....
We're slaughtering them and we're going to bury the bodies and then
everything will be hunky dorry....

[stopthegop]

4. you really belive that?

hell..it didn't happen in Jenin (per the UN)...why do you think American boys would do that...and I know it's happened before..

[kalian]

6. The UN reported that Israel committed...

several questionable acts. I did not say that they buried any bodies.
As for the US killing people and then burying them...think about all
the Iraqis that were killed and unaccounted for during the initial
invasion and which the US government doesn't want to talk about.

Let's also talk about the Panama invasion of Bush Sr. in 92... My
brother-in-law has first hand accounts of what happened there...

[stopthegop]

11. nice backpedaling...

from 'slaughtering them' to committed several questionable acts...
have a good evening

[kalian]

13. You too....

and notice that I didn't edit my initial post. ;)

[Djinn]

25. while a million people were being slaughtered

in Rwanda the UN said everything was hunky dory there too - why do I get the feelnig that when the UN DOES criticise Israel you don't cite them so readilly?

[Zhade]

40. My dad was in Panama. Special Ops.

I don't even want to know what he did.

Only thing keeping me sane on that is that he was a flight engineer on an AC-130, not a gunner.

[Malikshah]

41. Puhleeze..

The UN report...

All I remember from the developments then was wanting to be violently ill when Kofi et al caved.

This will happen here as well.

It will be for our children to discover (hopefully in a peaceful academic fashion and not at the end of a terrorist act) and ask the question-- what were you all doing at that time?

At least we can say we were spreading the word and talking to all who would hear!

[bloom]

5. the al jazeera server is TOO BUSY

Can't connect.

That sounds bad.

[kalian]

8. Or they're being blocked with a DoS attack....

was to be expected.
But yes, there is a serious news black out.

[Djinn]

24. I'm on Al Jazeera now

so it's service seems fine - their most recent Fallujah story talks of how the whole placed is sealed off "Operation Vigilant Resolve" ..sigh.

snip

"Falluja's main and minor entry points are totally closed," he said. (Al J journalist)"US forces are not allowing anyone in or out. We talked to US forces. They said they have orders to seal the city off for two or three days.

"We also visited the Golan district where clashes took place earlier today between fighters from Falluja and US forces," Ali said. "We saw signs of fierce confrontation. US forces have bombed the district. We saw several destroyed houses.

"Golan inhabitants say US forces used cluster bombs and missiles against them," he said. "Citizens of the city are completely enraged - but not afraid - waiting for the coming events," the correspondent said.

snip

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D43A5CDF-E1AF-4572-B027-B2AE9F4AC150.htm

[Jaybird]

36. "Operation Vigilant Resolve"

is that what they are calling it?

this administration has the gayest names for operations like this....

"resolve" has got to be their favorite word. it should be "oops"

[expatriot]

7. oh.... the fighting reported this morning was this...

"Explosions and gunfire were heard from the city — including a string of up to 30 blasts, apparently shelling, late Monday — as Marines met resistance while probing the outer neighborhoods of the city with reconnaissance missions."

The news reports were wrong... it was from the city center (which would mean the Marines airborne strike)

[kalian]

10. Hmm...center of the city, eh? Just like in Mogadishu...and Hue....

:eyes:
People will never learn.

[Old and In the Way]

17. Nothing to see.

Bremer will be announcing a massive new urban renewal project got underway today in Fallujah. Phase 1 is probably complete.

[tom_paine]

12. News Blackout

Don't be troubled. Your average Soviet Citizen probably couldn't find out much when their Army invaded Afghanistan.

You are just too acustomed to being a Free Citizen of a Free Nation.

Well, the Busheviks put a stop to THAT and now you just have to get used to being an Imperial Subject.

[Robbien]

14. This is an update on Baghdad from an Iraqi Blogger

Monday, April 05, 2004
A coup d'etat is taking place in Iraq a the moment. Al-Shu'la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and Kadhimiya (all Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from occupation. Looting has already started at some places downtown, a friend of mine just returned from Sadun street and he says Al-Mahdi militiamen are breaking stores and clinics open and also at Tahrir square just across the river from the Green Zone. News from other cities in the south indicate that Sadr followers (tens of thousands of them) have taken over IP stations and governorate buildings in Kufa, Nassiriya, Ammara, Kut, and Basrah. Al-Jazeera says that policemen in these cities have sided with the Shia insurgents, which doesn't come as a surprise to me since a large portion of the police forces in these areas were recruited from Shi'ite militias and we have talked about that ages ago. And it looks like this move has been planned a long time ago.

No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear helicopters, massive explosions, and continuous shooting nearby. The streets are empty, someone told us half an hour ago that Al-Mahdi are trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked, and AK-47's are being loaded and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing frantically. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.

Where is Shitstani? And why is he keeping silent about this?

I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I'm not so sure. If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs at bay then be it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple hundred more mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying again for liberation. What a laugh we will have then. Then they can shove their filthy Hawza and marji'iya up somewhere else. I am so dissapointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are not worth your trouble, take back your billions of dollars and give us Saddam again. We truly 'deserve' leaders like Saddam.

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/archives/2004_04_01_healingiraq_archive.html#108119342331870845

[aneerkoinos]

20. Wow, what a tolerant guy

Try this guy (yes, the Raed the Baghdad blogger keeps looking for):

http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/

"C) The southern area, the most homogeneous eight cities: Karbala, Hilla (the city that my mother is from), Najaf, Diwanyya, Simawa, Nasryya, Amara and Kut. I spent months going around these cities, and I doubt if anyone stop himself from falling in love in them. People there are very friendly, everything is cozy and warm, it always feels like home there. The international standards of space and time are different; you go through the market (Sooq) and find yourself in the middle of a human ocean! Everything is intense and pure. Socio-cultural laws rule here, life if full of small ornamental detailed rules for how to behave and act, it feels like someone wrote a manual for how to live, and everyone read it! This are is very interesting because of the extremely powerful socio-cultural leaders, the Shia leaders are local gods, they own the city, own the people, own everything! But in a friendly way. People obey their leaders without even thinking… “They know that’s the best for us” I was told. People have their own world of believes and superstitions that I used to enjoy in spite of my secular mentality."

snip

"Ok… here is the majority! AsSadr is the majority, he is THE leader of the majority…AsSadr is the symbol of millions in the south who were waiting for Americans come, where is the problem?
Why did Bremer decide to close AsSadr’s newspaper now? And arrest his assistant?
Because the newspaper said that Bremer is acting like a new Saddam?????????
I say that too :*) arrest me.
I think that Bremer acts like a small Saddam sometimes; today he decided to forbidden demonstrations! One year in jail is what you get if you demonstrate without having an approval, to have the approval u must submit a form at least 24 hours before the demonstration with information about why, when, who, how many, bla bla blah..
:*)

The clashes that didn’t happen last year between the CPA and the “majority” just started, in a bad timing too for Bush and his adminstration.

I think Bremer should write a book under the title “how to create lose/lose situations”, he closed the newspaper, arrested the assistant, shoot people in demonstrations, attacked Shia neighborhoods and cities, and now… the outlaw thing.

The picture of the day, is for some policemen joining a pro-Sadr demonstrations at Basra, where people occupied the governorate building, maybe that would be a message to the CPA that feelings of belonging to the social and cultural structure in the south are much stronger than the $60 salary."

[MikeG]

15. Right before the Tiannmen massacre they cut the cameras.

We're no different.

[Junkdrawer]

16. Here's the English.al Jazeera link

...

"We also visited the Golan district where clashes took place earlier today between fighters from Falluja and US forces," Ali said. "We saw signs of fierce confrontation. US forces have bombed the district. We saw several destroyed houses.

...

The leaflets outlaw demonstrations and the possession of firearms and impose a 7pm to 6am daily curfew. Residents are advised that in the event of a raid by US forces, all family members should gather in a single room in the house.

"This indicates that door-to-door operations will be launched by US forces," the correspondent said.

....


"Unconfirmed reports suggest that 20,000 US marines are besieging the town. They are trying to enter the city from different points," he said.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D43A5CDF-E1AF-4572-B027-B2AE9F4AC150.htm

[kalian]

18. And we are "better" than the Nazis....? In WHAT way?

:shrug:

[itaintmema]

37. And we are "better" than the Nazis....? In WHAT way?"

Think boxcars, gas chambers and genocide.

[Aidoneus]

29. that's from this morning, tho'..

a couple others, but also from earlier--
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-04/05/article01.shtml
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-04/05/article07.shtml

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. It'll start soon, it's 3am in Iraq

.
.
.

Check Iraq Time

[Junkdrawer]

21. Kick

:kick:

[leftchick]

22. Very Grim UPI Report From 3:26PM EST...

At the end of this Baghdad report, which is no less grim...

Baghdad's streets turn deadly
By P. Mitchell Prothero
Published 4/5/2004 3:26 PM
View printer-friendly version


BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 5 (UPI) -- Coalition troops clashed with insurgents across Iraq as armed militias took partial control of some cities and a confrontation with a young Shiite cleric threatens to cast the already unstable country into complete civil war.

As the one-year anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime approaches, the U.S.-led coalition -- which had previously only had to fight former regime fighters and outside terror groups -- finds itself in open warfare with the followers of Moqtada al-Sadr, a 30-year old junior cleric whose bombastic anti-occupation rhetoric had previously been considered an irritant.

Now his followers openly control small portions of Baghdad and stalk the streets carrying weapons, firing on coalition troops and drawing a military response that has killed at least a dozen civilians in the crossfire. Scores of Iraqis died in various clashes across the country, while at least 12 U.S. soldiers also died. But with the fluid nature of the fighting and inaccessibility of many of the conflict areas to reporters, exact figures are impossible to gauge.

At the same time that the coalition was engaged in its first sustained rebellion by portions of Iraq's Shiite population, it also was in the process of settling old scores in the western city of Fallujah, where the U.S. Marines had closed the city of 500,000 people while hunting for insurgents that have long irritated the occupation authority with sustained attacks on troops.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[bpilgrim]

30. now we know why we need the MOAB

we got plenty more where that came from...


peace

[legin]

23. The problem with this operation

is that the primary goals have not got much to do with Fallujah, it is more for bush*'s home audiance, so they can have their blood lust sated. I think you are going to get some filtered information about what is going there because that is sort of the point.

Like most people here I don't have a good feeling about this.

I suppose the question to ask would be what is the lowest figure of dead Iraqis that will allow the freepers to feel that 'honour is restored'.

Possibly 75+. Maybe.

[Skittles]

26. THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE THERE EXPATRIOT

NOW MOVE ALONG

[frankly_fedup2]

27. Kinda strange, I agree. It is like 9:18 here now so that

would make it around 5 a.m. in Iraq. All I have heard all day was the city was surrounding by our military and Iraqi Military. I have checked all the cable news channels and the regular news and nothing else has been said. I heard about the surrounding of the city at about 2 p.m. today which would be about 10 p.m. Iraqi time.

Isn't Falluja a city of about 300,000 people?

[bpilgrim]

31. ah, they haven't even got to the 'mopping up' operation yet

give'm some time...

remember, * has been showing great restraint, up till now... acording to FOXNEWS :puke:

[knight_of_the_star]

32. Just for a point of reference

750 Jews held off the Nazis for a month during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and there was about 60,000 Jews in the Ghetto when the uprising started. Fajullah has 5 times as many people and I would not care to know how many Iraqis in there have weapons that are useable in battle, not to mention ammunition. This WILL be ugly.

[Walt Starr]

34. The media blackout has lasted too long

I fear that there will be non-stop flights into Dover soon.

We could be totally fucked now.

[Aidoneus]

28. it's eerie

even al-Jazeera & IslamOnline say nothing since this morning (when the first reports of fighting came out, with US invaders bombing the neighborhood after facing losses). I usually know of a few to look to when the pro-crusade nets spin their wheels with bullshit, but even they are not without new details of what is going on there today. Plenty on Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, but no updates on al-Fallujah.

[maddezmom]

33. covering now on CNN

"Turmoil in Iraq"

[NashVegas]

35. wes Clark on now

I wonder if any of the Spanish language cable channels have footage?

[strategery blunder]

38. Try this

http://www.guerrillanews.com/human_rights/doc4234.html

[JohnOneillsMemory]

39. Just a little more firepower and they will WIN the hearts and minds...sob.