Monday, April 19, 2004
Iraq insurgency: Fallujah and Najaf
Well, maybe. Fallujah the one hand:
Fallujah on the other hand:
Najaf on the one hand:
And Najaf on the other hand:
The fog of war ....
Dan Senor, chief spokesman of the [RNC/CPA], told a news conference that negotiators agreed after three days of talks to work towards a real and lasting ceasefire in Falluja.
(via Reuters)
Fallujah on the other hand:
However, it is not clear how much influence Falluja officials have on the estimated 1,000-2,000 fighters in the city who have battled on despite U.S. Marines being ordered to halt offensive operations 10 days ago.
U.S. officials and civic leaders of Falluja have agreed a plan to bring peace back to the bloodied Iraqi city after two weeks of heavy fighting in which hundreds of Iraqis have died.
Najaf on the one hand:
And, on a relatively peaceful day on Monday, the commander of 2,500 U.S. troops outside Najaf said he would allow time for talks before any attempt to enter the holy city to seize a rebel cleric -- which could spark a wider and bloodier uprising.
But, with the American military wary of enraging Iraqis by sending troops into one of the most sacred cities in Shi'ite Islam, the U.S. commander said no assault was imminent.
"Because of where negotiations are right now, we can wait," Colonel Dana Pittard said. "We still want Iraqis to solve the problem."
And Najaf on the other hand:
The U.S. army has said it wants to kill or capture Sadr, who is holed up in Najaf, and destroy his militia.
A senior coalition official said it was unclear how far negotiations by various Iraqi intermediaries had progressed.
"It's difficult to get a sense of what's real and what isn't," he said.
The Shi'ite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, called for a halt to attacks on Spain's 1,400 troops near Najaf after the new government in Madrid said it was pulling out of the U.S.-led occupying coalition.
The fog of war ....