Americans Prepare For The
'Final Assault' On Fallujah
By Kim Sengupta
28 October 2004
The Independent
For
the American military, Fallujah is "the last battle", an overwhelming
assault that will destroy the epicentre of the rebellion sweeping through
the country, the beginning of the end of major American military action
in Iraq.
For the insurgents,
Fallujah is a rallying cry. An American attack will, they declare, lead
to retribution throughout Iraq, re-invigorating the resistance, just
as an attack on the city did six months earlier.
Talks are still
taking place between Iyad Allawi's interim government and a delegation
from Fallujah. But no one seriously believes they will lead to anything.
The government's main condition is that the militant leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi be handed over. People in Fallujah say the demand is deliberately
impossible to meet. The Americans, they say, with all their might and
the offer of a $25m reward, have failed to capture or kill the man.
The question now
is not if but when there will be an attack on Fallujah. The US military
maintains that the date has not been influenced by the American elections
on 2 November, and, even leaving political considerations aside, it
is unclear if enough troops will be available for an offensive before
then.
The Americans have
about 2,500 troops around Fallujah at present. In the battle to take
another rebel stronghold, Samarra - seen as a dress rehearsal for Fallujah
- 3,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi government forces were needed to fight
500 insurgents. Fallujah is estimated to contain between 2,000 and 2,500
militants, including al-Zarqawi's fighters and another group led by
Omar Hadid. US military commanders are said to believe that a force
of about 10,000 is necessary to take and hold the city.
Military activity
by the US and its allies is increasing every day. Yesterday, 850 British
troops with Warrior armoured cars and Scimitar light tanks moved from
Basra into an area near Iskandariyah, 20 miles south-west of Baghdad.
They will free up 1,000 US marines for the Fallujah encirclement.
Also being assembled
is the enormous firepower of heavy artillery and Abrams battle tanks,
A-10 "Warthog" helicopter gunships, and FA-18, F-16 and F-15E
warplanes armed with laser and satellite-guided 500lb bombs, favoured
over the larger bombs to minimise "collateral damage".
Lieutenant General
John F Sattler, commander of US forces in western and south-central
Iraq, said: "If we are told to go, it'll be decisive. The goal
will be to limit damage, limit the casualties and do it as rapidly as
possible."
As in Samarra, the
Americans will use Iraqi troops and publicise their involvement to show
that this is not simply a US attack on Iraqis. But the morale of Iraqi
government forces - who lost49 army recruits in an attack by insurgents
at the weekend - is low, and it is uncertain how many can be trained
and equipped in time. US military sources indicate that intense air
attacks will be followed by artillery and tank bombardment, with armour
moving in and "sectioning" the city before ground troops pursue
enemy fighters house by house. The fighting, they say, is likely to
be fierce but short, lasting days rather than weeks.
Military engineers
are lined up to go in behind combat units to restore water, sanitation
and electricity, after which aid will be taken in. "We're not here
to destroy the town. We are here to give it back," said Lt Gen
Sattler.
Americans are keen
to avoid a repeat of earlier experiences in Fallujah. In April, after
the lynching of four American security guards, the White House and the
US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, insisted on a punitive attack
on the city against the wishes the US Marine commander Lieutenant General
James T Conway. After days of bitter fighting, and the deaths of 600
Iraqis, the marines were ordered to withdraw, handing over power and
arms to a hastily formed "Fallujah Brigade" which, in turn,
handed it to the resistance.
Making their base
there, the insurgents fanned out to Ramadi, al-Qa'im and Mosul. Most
importantly, they seized the Iskandariyah triangle - where the British
troops of the Black Watch will be based - to bring the war to the capital,
Baghdad, in waves of car bombings and mortar and rocket attacks.
The US response
was to pound Fallujah nightly with warplanes and helicopter gunships,
after which the American authorities would announce they had killed
associates of al-Zarqawi in a "precision strike". But they
also killed women, children and elderly civilians.
The raids and the
prospect of an assault have led to an exodus from Fallujah. More than
70 per cent of the population of 300,000 have left, the Americans opening
their cordon for departing families and arresting those seen as enemy
fighters.
They are leaving
behind a city in the grip of the most extreme militant groups. The Mujaheddin
shura (council) has declared it an Islamic "emirate". Women
and girls have been told to cover their heads.
The air attacks
have prompted many resistance fighters to try to leave the city, with
some captured at US roadblocks. Nearly 100 have been arrested. But many
have also slipped out and are said to be reinforcing the insurgents
in Ramadi, the Iskandariyah triangle, and Baghdad. Fallujah may not,
after all, be "the last battle".