Iraq says Fallujah offensive over, but Rumsfeld disagrees

[maddezmom]

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites) says the battle to retake the rebel bastion of Fallujah was over, with more than 1,000 insurgents killed, but US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the reports are premature, and US commanders say the six-day assault operation was still going on.


"Operation Fajr (Dawn) has been achieved and only the malignant pockets remain that we are dealing with through a clean-up operation," Qassem Daoud, secretary of state for national security, told a Baghdad press conference.

~snip~

Rumsfeld, on a visit to Panama, told reporters the attackers had wrested most of Fallujah from insurgent control, although the battle was not over.


The Iraqi and US troops were "operating in one way or another in much if not all of the city at the present time," he said.

"Needless to say there still will be pockets of resistance and areas that will be difficult, so I don't mean to suggest that it is concluded. It's not, to be sure.


more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1515&ncid=1515&e=1&u=/afp/20041114/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_041114023650

[d_b]

1. "send in the mustard bombs and the napalm death! roar!!!!

[Webster Green]

2. Clueless as usual....

And this Iraqi fellow Daoud is issuing joint statements with the "coalition". He won't be around too long.

[bvar22]

3. Rummy says: War Not Over...

until EVERY LAST IRAQI is DEAD.DEAD.DEAD!!!

[NNN0LHI]

5. Or, they run out of oil. Which ever comes first n/t

[maddezmom]

4. betcha rummy was told about the old "mission accomplished"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=987014&mesg_id=987014

[VegasWolf]

6. Odd, the puppets disagreeing with their masters. n/t

[babylonsister]

7. WHAT THE HELL is Rummy doin' in Panama? nt

[jmcgowanjm]

8. supporting what's left of the contras.

Everything south of Panama has moved to the left
or is not moving w/ the US.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and his
Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, will discuss a plan
to connect Maracaibo in Venezuela to the province of
Choco, about 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) to the west
on Colombia's Pacific coast, said Julio Cesar Vera, a
Colombian Mines Ministry official.

The proposal would make it possible for Venezuela to
shift exports away from the U.S., the buyer of more than
60 percent of the nation's crude, by offering a route other than
the Panama Canal, which can't accommodate the
biggest tankers, said Vera, who is in charge of oil policy at
the ministry in Bogota. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest
oil exporter.

``This would allow Venezuela to connect with Asia without
using the Panama Canal,'' Vera said. ``Asian investors,
mainly China, have expressed interest in it.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aZO9IYm4zDeA&refer=latin_america

[jmcgowanjm]

11. Sandinista victory claimed for mayor of Managua

The Sandinista’s candidate for Managua’s mayor,
Dionisio Marenco, 58, who was favored in pre-election
polls, claimed victory late Sunday before official results
were released. It was unclear when results would be
available.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6436094/

Nicaragua Promises Rumsfeld to Destroy Missiles  

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Nicaragua assured
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday it would
destroy more than 1,300 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles
that Washington fears could fall into the hands of
terrorists.

http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=40804

[jmcgowanjm]

9. American requests cease fire in Fallujah.

American occupiers employed loud speakers to request a
cease fire in the city to begin negotiations. According to
Islam Memo's correspondent, heavy US losses are the
main reason behind the American request. In the mean time,
the puppet Allawi government, in an effort to save
face, announced that they want to save innocent lives.

Observers in Fallujah believe that the large
American contingency currently surrounded and under siege
by Mujahideen in the city also factors in to the request to
halt military confrontations. Friday was a big turning point
in Mujahideen favor. In Al-Jumjuria street alone, there are
more than 40 destroyed and burnt tanks.
-JUS

[jmcgowanjm]

13. Per that cease fire request?-never mind according to IRR

UPDATE ON FALLUJAH: Mujahideen Reject Ceasefire, Wipe
Out US Column
Nov 14, 2004
By Omar al-Faris, JUS

In a report in early this morning, Fallujah Mujahideen
have rejected the US request for cease fire and have wiped
the besieged American column on Al-Hadhrah street. After
the American occupation forces made several military
attempts to break the siege around their battalion that had
been encircled by Mujahideen on Al-Hadhrah street for
several days, they were unable to dislodge it. When
those military attempts failed, they resorted to peaceful
solution by requesting cease fire- using loud speakers to
make sure that their plea is heard. Mujahideen
subsequently rejected the American request and proceeded
to wipe out the entire American column on Hadhrah
street. Details of American casualties are currently
being evaluated, verified, and will be forth
coming;

(You know we're going to find out soon, one way
or another.

Cause either the Mujahideen or Marines are dead
wrong.)

[jmcgowanjm]

10. US forces that remain inside Fallujah are now surrounded.

Nov 13, 2004

The American were forced to move troops out of the city as
the conflict widened and is now raging throughout the
Sunni triangle and in the capital
city.

As to claims by some Arab media that US forces are
now stationed inside the city, the correspondent noted that
the only American contingent is located inside the city has
been encircled by Mujahideen forces since before yesterday. It
is able to remain there without being destroyed by virtue of
the covering fire provided by American snipers posted
on buildings in the area. The American unit has until the time
of writing been unable to extract itself from its besieged
position.

US forces are trying to break the encirclement of an
American column on al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah street in
the neighborhoods of ash-Shurtah and ad-Dubbat. But
the American column is well encircled on all sides. On
Thursday, the Mujahideen encircled and destroyed a
whole American column in the al-Jaghifi
neighborhood.

Fighting in Fallujah at the time of this filing is going on in
two places: al-Hadrah al-Muhammadiyah and the north of
the al-Jawlan neighborhood on as-Sirdar Street. Ten US
troops were killed at 6pm Friday when Iraqi resistance
forces attacked and destroyed two US Humvees in the
area between Fallujah and al-‘Amiriyah

http://uruknet.info/.?p=m7161

[wishlist]

12. Richard Engel ( NBC news) says U.S. does not control Falluja

I am just watching him live on MSNBC. He says that mission is currently very dangerous and time consuming as they go door- to- door. He specifically said Americans do not have control of Falluja yet. He says 31 Americans killed in Falluja so far.

[tblue37]

14. If we really had control of Falluja,

we could let the relief agencies get food, water, and medical aid to the civilians trapped there. The agencies have been told they can't come in yet, which means that we don't hold the city. (It could also mean that there are a lot of civilian bodies that need to be cleaned up before outsiders can be allowed in to see what we have wrought.)