Large portions of Iraq are totally controlled by the insurgents.
Key Sunni cities elude Iraqi government control
By The Associated Press
ABDUL KHADER SADI / AP
An insurgent patrols yesterday in Fallujah, Iraq, where the "Mujahedeen Shura Council," led by a militant Sunni cleric, has been the city's undisputed ruler since May. The mujahedeen run the courts and reportedly have executed suspected spies.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq — The interim Iraqi government has not gained control over key Sunni Muslim cities such as Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra, U.S. officials say, despite hopes that the formal end of the U.S. occupation June 28 would help stabilize the country.
The acknowledgement came as U.S. jets pounded insurgent positions in Fallujah yesterday for a second straight day, raising plumes of smoke but leaving no extensive damage or signs of weakening the Sunni militants who have expanded their control of the city about 30 miles west of Baghdad.
Warplanes continued the assault today, firing missiles on a building used by an al-Qaida-linked militant group, the U.S. military said. At least eight people, four of them children, were killed and 16 wounded, doctors and residents said.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002030886_iraq09.htmlMilitants firmly in control of Fallujah
AP 2004-09-09 02:19:16
FALLUJAH, IRAQ -- U.S. jets pounded insurgent positions in Fallujah for a second straight day yesterday but left no signs of weakening Sunni militants. After the attacks, bands of fighters, many wearing loose black pyjama-like pants and T-shirts, lounged outside abandoned buildings facing the American lines.
Elsewhere in this city of 300,000, fighters patrolled the streets in new American pickups. One resident, 33-year-old Abu Rihab, said they were part of a 16-vehicle fleet commandeered between Jordan and Baghdad.
The Fallujah Brigade, which the Americans organized in May to maintain security after the marines lifted a three-week siege, has disappeared, along with virtually all signs of Iraqi state authority.
Members of the Iraqi National Guard, which was supposed to back up the Fallujah Brigade, fled the city after one of their commanders was executed by insurgents for allegedly spying for the Americans. Local police operate under the tacit control of the militants.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/09/09/620996.htmlSamara and Ramadi are also still controlled by Sunni insurgents, though today U.S> trooops entered Samara and reinstated its own mayor in control of the city, but every time they take back one city, another falls, and then when they leave a city they have gotten under control again, the insurgents come back nad take it over again.
This week the Pentagon admitted that the insurgents are in control of large portions of Iraq:
Kerry position in sharper focus
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Editorial
Sen. John Kerry, speaking Wednesday in Cincinnati, aimed his strongest slams yet at President Bush's "wrong choices" on Iraq. At Union Terminal, where Bush in October 2002 asked for Congress' OK to strike Saddam Hussein if necessary, Kerry said he would have done almost everything differently than the president. The senator's speech sharpens the differences between the candidates on foreign policy and domestic programs.
It was a relief to move past mudslinging over Vietnam-era military service and hear some substantive argument.
ELECTION 2004
• Photo gallery
• Speech transcript
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• Iraq war costs us at home, Kerry says in new tactic
• Protester headlocked, ousted after outburst during speech
• Cheney's 'un-American' 9/11 rhetoric divides us, Edwards charges
• Ex-Bengal to be Bush chairman
• Ohio polls show Bush bounce
• EDITORIAL: Kerry position in sharper focus
Kerry faulted the president for a "go-it-alone" policy in Iraq that has cost U.S. taxpayers $200 billion. Secretary of State Colin Powell, meeting last month with the Enquirer editorial board, denied the go-it-alone charge, downplaying the refusal of France, Germany and Russia to join a U.S.-led coalition. Kerry said nothing about Britain, Australia and other allies who are in Iraq with us, but he repeatedly hit on the $200 billion cost, as if to imply a major test of any coalition lies in cost-sharing.
Bush has admitted he "miscalculated" in Iraq. "His miscalculation," says Kerry, "was going to war without planning carefully and without the allies we should have had. As a result, America has paid nearly 90 percent of the bill in Iraq. Contrast that with the Gulf War, where our allies paid 95 percent of the costs."
Kerry claims he could rebuild America's frayed international alliances even now. He says he would have allowed more time for inspectors, secured better equipment for troops, listened to senior military advisers and leaders in Congress, and never would have gone to war without a plan to win the peace. That peace clearly has not yet been won. The Pentagon acknowledged this week that insurgents still control large regions of Iraq.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/09/editorial_ed1a.htmlIt would be funny to think of the Republican statements about Kerry not having a stance on Iraq, but everything Kerry said would occur in Iraq has occured. He firmly stated we could win the military war, but during the aftermath, we would be dealing with any number of insurgent groups who would keep us from gaining any control in the country and this would keep us bogged down in Iraq for years unless we could get international support in the form of REAL international support: That is to say sountreis that would take on a larger share of the military actions and bear a large share of the financial burdent for the war.
In fact, Kerry has been spt on about everything that would occur as a result of the Bush Administrations policies, bothe domestically and internationally.
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