Taking Fallujah
U.S. forces strike Iraq's hard-core insurgents
FALLUJAH, IRAQ--The sky lit up in orange flames, twinkling with ribbons of red tracer fire last week as the U.S. military, trailed by a modest contingent of Iraqi forces, pushed to reclaim this insurgent stronghold. Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles ground into the pavement shattered by artillery fire, leaving behind them clouds of translucent orange dust. Across the city, the thump and thud of artillery and tank fire reverberated in an eerie soundtrack that played throughout the week. "That will be the last sound they ever hear," Lt. Col. Peter Newell told the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2, as it swept into Fallujah.
The mission: to rout a stubborn insurgency from a city that had become the symbol of Islamic fundamentalist resistance to the U.S.-backed government in Iraq. Fallujah had stood as an important symbol for Sunni extremists--evidence that the Americans could be defeated. And control of Fallujah by insurgents allowed them to present themselves to Iraqi Sunnis as an alternative to the interim government.
American military leaders believe their best chance at restoring stability and security to Iraq lies in winning over a majority of the Sunni minority and enticing them to join the political process. By taking Fallujah, the interim Iraqi government and the American-dominated coalition forces want to show that the insurgency faces inevitable defeat--and that supporting the resistance to the Iraqi interim government is a loser's bet. "I think because Fallujah has been the cancer, that when the cancer is removed it will impact other places," said Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, who oversees the day-to-day operations in Iraq.
But the healing was not to begin immediately. As the assault got underway, uprisings and terrorist strikes broke out elsewhere. In Baghdad, a car bomb killed 17 people in a commercial district, and kidnappers seized Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's cousin and two other relatives--vowing to behead them if the Fallujah assault was not called off. Insurgents fired mortars and staged attacks in a number of Sunni-dominated cities. The most dramatic and sustained assault was in Mosul: Opponents of the interim Iraqi government seized six police stations, looting them of weapons and ammunition after many policemen fled. The fighting was so fierce it forced an Army battalion of Stryker light armored vehicles, which had been helping to prevent insurgents from escaping Fallujah, to break off from that fight and return to Mosul.
While significant, those attacks didn't appear to be synchronized. "This is not a coordinated national uprising," said Mike Vickers of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. "This is more local insurgents who read the news like everyone else and think this is a good time to do something."
Death toll. In Fallujah, the resistance initially was less than expected. Some of the insurgents refused to fight; many seemed to have fled before the assault began. Military officials estimated that during the first four days of fighting they killed 600 insurgents, while only 22 Americans and five Iraqi troops were killed. An additional 24 Iraqis and 178 Americans were wounded--though at least 40 of the injured Americans were patched up and sent back into battle. As the American forces pushed into the southern part of the city, where the insurgents had been cornered, the fighting grew fiercer.
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