U.S. Air Strike Kills Four in Falluja -Witnesses

[hightime]

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Four people were killed on Wednesday when a house in the restive Iraqi city of Falluja was hit by a missile fired from a U.S. warplane, witnesses said.
They said four bodies had been pulled from the house in a southwest suburb of the city and that residents were going through the rubble to see if there were any survivors.

"The house was completely destroyed. It is basically rubble," said one resident in Falluja, where fierce fighting occurred between U.S. Marines and guerrillas in April.

"The strike left a huge hole where the building was," the resident said, declining to be named.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5558188

[Jack_Dawson]

1. More good P.R. for us

:eyes:

[hightime]

2. Is The US Military Preparing Another Massacre In Fallujah

I have been told that I shouldn't post from this source without a backup site...I hope the reuters article counts.

There are indications that the US military is preparing another massacre in Fallujah, where over 1,000 Iraqis were killed during the American siege of the city in April. The number of US troops in the surrounding province of al-Anbar is being increased and a campaign is underway in the US and international media to demonize Fallujah as the headquarters of Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi—the Jordanian Islamic extremist in whose name a series of provocative killings have been carried out in Iraq, including last week’s bombings across the country and the murders of Nick Berg and Korean national Kim Sun-il.

The US Marine Corp is bringing in new forces which could provide the vanguard for an assault within a matter of weeks. Some 2,200 fresh marines, including the Third Battalion of the First Marine Regiment, are currently being rushed from California to the Fallujah area to reinforce the units that were involved in the heavy fighting in April. In a departure from normal procedure, the newly-arriving troops are reportedly not going to be given any time to acclimatize in Kuwait to the burning heat of an Iraqi summer, but deployed immediately. A total of 5,000 extra marines are being brought by the beginning of August.

Since June 19, three US air strikes have been carried out on Fallujah homes, sending tensions in the city to a fever pitch. US spokesmen have claimed that the targeted buildings were “safe houses” for Tawhid wa al-Jihad—the organization allegedly headed by Zarqawi. Fallujah leaders and members of the US-armed and paid Fallujah Brigade militia have categorically rejected the US accusation that Zarqawi and his shadowy organization are in the city. Al Jazeerah has carried interviews with locals, testifying that those killed by the American air strikes were Iraqi civilians.

Last Thursday, American tanks and marines advanced to the fringes of the city’s eastern suburb of al-Askeri, provoking a battle with the resistance fighters who have defended Fallujah from the occupation forces. In an indication of the intensity of the combat, Air Force and Navy aircraft were called in 10 times by marine commanders to drop 500-pound laser-guided bombs on alleged insurgent positions.


http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=8409&list=/home.php&

[acmavm]

3. Fallujah will soon be a ghost town, literally.

.

[legin]

4. That's fine hightime thanks

It's been my hypothesis for a while that they were going to go back into Falluja. One of the dictums of military science is that you don't split your forces up if you can help it.

Al-Sadr was a bigger threat than Falluja at the time, so you maximise your forces to deal with him, Falluja wasn't going to go anywhere. Now that the Sadr threat seems to have been brought under control, they can get back to dealing with Falluja.

The number of troops mentioned in this article is a little more realistic in terms of a 'sucessful' outcome, unlike the 2,500 troops they tried with before. It will probably take 4,000 - 5,000 troops just to keep order after they retake the place using the troop to population ratio that applied for the british in Northern Ireland, 1:20.

[legin]

5. Big correction on that ratio

"In a peaceful country with a developed economy, two police officers per 1,000 people are enough to maintain calm, Clarke said. In Northern Ireland in the 1970s, the police needed 20 per 1,000."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=462556#462804

[legin]

6. That's 2,000 to keep order using the proper ratio

population of Falluja is about 100,000 I think

[hightime]

10. predominantly Sunni Muslim population of some 300,000

as per the JUS article.

[legin]

12. Thanks hightime

It is 4,000 - 5,000 to police the town, that's what I calculated last time.

Ignore me I'm getting a few wires crossed. ;-)

[hightime]

13. I haven't started "crossing wires" yet...

until the children are in bed. :beer: :smoke: :silly:

[legin]

14. LOL........ n/t

[Zynx]

8. Based on what happened last time...

And given the numbers of insurgents and the "Fallujah Brigade" which is effectively anti-US...

I say the Marines lose. Again.

[MetaTrope]

9. It's basically the equivalent of surrounding and bombing Milwaukee

because "extremists" are believed to be housed there.

[jmcgowanjm]

15. when the going gets wierd, the wierd turn pro

Ever wonder what Pravda 1988 was like?
How the Avg Soviet got any news?

Well. you're livin'it today.

History doesn't repeat , but it sure does rhyme-
Mark Twain

I'll match jihad unspun articles w/ the NYT/WSJ.

15000 soldiers Wounded,sent to Landstuhl.
20% serious brain injuries-
that's 3000 Troops who can't recognize
their parents.

We're taking out Fallujah the way Israel
takes out Gaza, push the world's patience,
back out until media relaxes, go back in-
repeat as necessary.

[mike1963]

7. But isn't Fallujah in the SOVEREIGN nation of Iraq???

So just who ordered this assault?

(Yes it's a rhetorical question.)

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. Although Bush lied (again) and claimed "total sovereignty"

he didn't mean it. He had his fingers crossed, behind his back!

This kind of news tidbit reminds us that the US military has very little control over large parts of the population in Iraq. Why, they can't even get within "striking distance" of their "targets" on foot/by armored vehicle anymore. Only air strikes will do. Sounds like "good progress" to me.

"let freeDom reign"

[hightime]

16. Cluster Bombs Dropped In Neighborhoods

US aggressor aircraft carried out violent attacks on a number of neighborhoods in the city of Fallujah on Wednesday night. The Industrial Zone in the south of the city and the al-‘Askari neighborhood in the north were both hit particularly hard.

Mafkarat al-Islam’s reporter on the ground in Fallujah said that US airplanes fired missiles and dropped cluster bombs and that the attacks were followed up by the strafing of helicopter gunships.

In the face of the ferocious US attack, many residents have been leaving their homes, as Iraqi Resistance fighters in the area dig in and muster their determination to confront a new wave of US aggression



---cut----

US aircraft on Wednesday night dropped eight murderous cluster bombs on several neighborhoods of al-Fallujah. American helicopters dropped two on the al-‘Askari neighborhood and six on the Industrial Zone and ash-Shuhada’ neighborhood, which are separated from each other by only one street.


http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=8593&list=/home.php&

Anyone else have a link for more info from al-Fallujah?

[yellowcanine]

17. I thought there was a ceasefire in Fallujah. Maybe it is a "limited"

ceasefire - kind of like the limited sovereignty the Eyerackies are "enjoying".