Fallujah fight stirs optimism

By Seattle Times news services

PATRICK BAZ / AFP / GETTY IMAGES A U.S. Marine surveys a street yesterday in an embattled area of Fallujah. After a week of fierce fighting, U.S.-led forces probably will need up to five more days to finish clearing city of insurgents, Marine officers estimated.

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In an unusually high-profile midbattle gathering, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived from Washington, and Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid flew in from his regional headquarters in Qatar. They met with the top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, his Iraqi counterparts and the American generals in charge of Iraq's various regions.

The American commanders expect to use information found on the dead and from interrogations of an estimated 1,000 captured rebels to find insurgent leaders — possibly including the best-known guerrilla, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — believed to have left Fallujah before the past week's fighting.

"I think Fallujah will show us where the leadership is," Abizaid said. "I think there are quite a few people that are in our hands right now that will tell us an awful lot about their organization."

Insurgent attacks in the past week in Mosul and elsewhere — 130 were reported outside Fallujah on Friday — suggested many insurgents might have fled to fight elsewhere. "The insurgency is like water, and when you squeeze it, it kind of goes like water," Abizaid said.

The military gathering was marked by a renewed optimism among Pentagon strategists that they were making progress.

"You never know how close you are to a tipping point," said a senior Defense Department official involved in the talks, who requested anonymity.

U.S. and Iraqi military commanders are setting their sights on a smaller hotbed of insurgency, Ramadi, as the next likely focus of a major anti-insurgent onslaught. The deployment used to seize control there is expected to be smaller than the 10,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi troops used in nearby Fallujah.

Iraqi and U.S. officials continued to express optimism over the prospect of nationwide elections for a new Iraqi government in January, but said that depended on driving insurgents from Fallujah and Ramadi.

The cities and surrounding areas are considered particularly crucial because they are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Authorities hope Sunnis, who were loyal to ousted President Saddam Hussein, a fellow Sunni, and have since supported and fought in the insurgency, could be placated by participating in a new government.

Sunnis also offer a counterbalance to Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims, who Bush administration officials fear could use their power at the ballot box to steer the historically secular nation toward an Iranian-style Islamic theocracy.
 
But while generals and politicians have declared victory, the mood among soldiers and Marines in Fallujah who'd seen friends killed and wounded was somber.

The men, who had moved from one bombed-out building to the next, getting a few hours of sleep a night, said yesterday they were grateful for the rest. But they remained wary of insurgents.

"If they've [the insurgents] got the will and the manpower to keep doing it, they could keep it going forever," said Marine Sgt. Isaac Ward, 23, of Eagle River, Alaska. "It's the same basic concept as Vietnam."

Near Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, the Marine general who designed the ground attack, said the city fell more quickly than expected, especially considering that insurgents held a smaller Marine force at bay last April before the United States called off the attack. "We had the green light this time and we went all the way," Natonski said.

This time the military used swarms of aircraft — more than 20 types — that pounded the city before and during the assault. Troops also faked attacks before the assault to confuse enemy fighters.

"Maybe we learned from April," Natonski said. "We learned we can't do it piecemeal. When we go in, we go all the way through."

For the latest assault, commanders had time to plan. Also, the Iraqi and U.S. governments were determined to wipe out the insurgent nest. And the Iraqi troops, who melted away in April, for the most part stood their ground.

Natonski described the first six days of ground war as a "flawless execution of the plan we drew up. We are actually ahead of schedule."

As quick as the assault was, perhaps thousands were killed and maimed, most of them insurgents. Natonski put the toll of guerrillas killed at more than 1,200. A military statement yesterday said that 38 U.S. troops had been killed and 275 were wounded so far in the operation.

There was no estimate of civilians killed or wounded.

Yesterday, Marines and Army troops battled scattered pockets of hard-core defenders. Behind U.S. forces, Iraqi troops were engaged in the painstaking task of clearing weapons and fighters from every room of each of Fallujah's 50,000 buildings.

Bands of rebels were still roving neighborhoods crushed by tons of U.S. bombs and shells. The holdouts are harried by U.S. forces who occupy — but have yet to subdue — the entire city.

"There are groups numbering from five to 30," Natonski said. "They're trying to get behind us."

Military officials said it would take days to finish the fight.

Indeed, fresh fighting erupted today after U.S. forces attacked suspected rebel targets with airstrikes, artillery and mortar rounds. U.S. forces said they had targeted a fortified underground bunker with reinforced tunnels leading to stores of weapons.

As fighting continued, U.S. commanders were preparing for the next phase of the operation: the complete reconstruction of the devastated city. "It's a monumental task," conceded Marine Maj. Timothy Hanson, one of the first civil-affairs officers on the scene to assess the scope of destruction.

Contractors are supposed to swarm into Fallujah in coming weeks to cart away rubble, repair buildings and fix the city's water, sewer and electricity systems.

The Iraqi government has picked leaders for Fallujah, and thousands of Iraqi police and paramilitary forces have been recruited to try to impose order.

To prevent the insurgents' return, Iraqi forces will halt all traffic flowing in and out of the city — once roads reopen — checking IDs and looking for suspects, Natonski said.

Compiled from the Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Reuters and Knight Ridder Newspapers.