'Time running out' in Fallujah, coalition warns
Senor: Only days left to prevent new offensive
Friday, April 23, 2004 Posted: 4:48 AM EDT (0848 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fallujah held on to its uneasy calm Friday, a day after a coalition spokesman warned that "time is running out" for a peaceful solution in the flashpoint Sunni Triangle town.
Six rockets and five mortars fell 500 meters short of the Jordanian Field Hospital on the outskirts of Fallujah on Thursday, but there were no injuries or damage, officials said.
Near Fallujah on Thursday night, soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, killed an insurgent and captured 12 others during raids. Weapons and ammunition were seized.
U.S. officials are voicing frustration about efforts to broker peace during a tenuous Fallujah cease-fire that has been continuously interrupted by violence.
Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor warned Thursday that "time is running out" for a peaceful solution and "we are in a mode right now of days, not weeks."
Military officials also voiced displeasure with a weapons handover and residents' lackluster effort to carry it out. The coalition has said insurgents must turn in their heavy weaponry in order for peace to be accomplished.
Marine Lt. Gen. Jim Conway, in Fallujah, said only about "a pick-up full" of weapons have been turned in.
He agreed with a characterization that the weapons collected so far have been "junk," saying the weapons are "things I wouldn't ask my Marines to fire."
A Marine news release listed weaponry handed over so far: Six machine guns and two SA-7 missile launchers -- all broken beyond repair; one sniper rifle and a flamethrower -- neither in usable condition; seven rocket-propelled grenade launchers -- some inoperable; 21 RPG projectiles that were not explosive and 113 corroded and rusted mortar rounds.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, an Army spokesman, said the handover so far "is not a serious expression of intent" and said the minimum required is "a large field full of the heavy weapons that have been used against the people in Fallujah and been used against the coalition forces."
Senor said Fallujans must oust "foreign fighters, drug users, former Mukhabarat, Special Republican Guard, former Fedayeen Saddam, and other serious, dangerous, violent criminals operating out of Fallujah."
Asked by reporters about the drug remark, Senor said city leaders said "that many of the individuals involved with the violence are on various drugs. It is part of what they're using to keep them up to engage in this violence at all hours."
The fighters, Conway said, consist of a "hard core of a couple of hundred" foreign fighters and several hundred others "influenced by their imams and the idea of jihad." They have been using minarets as sniper nests, ambulances to ferry fighters and weapons, and mosques as command centers, he said.
Marines launched an offensive early in the month to root out insurgents and their supporters after four U.S. security contractors were killed, mutilated and dragged through the streets on March 31.
After days of pitched battles, a cease-fire was called and negotiations began.
The Iraqi Ministry of Health has told CNN that 271 people in Fallujah have been killed and 793 wounded since April 5.
Sa'ad Al-Amily from the executive office of the director-general for the ministry said 28 children and 24 women were among the dead. The ministry cannot determine how many of the deaths were combat-related.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said Thursday that he believes the United States needs about 10,000 more troops to provide security in Iraq amid an ongoing insurgency.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, McCain said the U.S. military presence in Iraq -- now totaling about 135,000 -- was "insufficient." He said American commanders needed at least one more division, about 10,000 troops, "and possibly more."
"We should increase the number of forces, including Marines and Special Forces, to conduct offensive operations," he said. "There's also a dire need for other types of forces, including linguists, intelligence officers and civil affairs personnel."
Hmmph. Praise the LORD and pass the ammunition, right?
I'm at a loss to come up with anything worthwhile to come out of this quagmire. In the desert.
