U.S.
Losing Control Fast
By Dahr Jamail &
Ali Al-Fadhily
06 September, 2006
Inter Press
Service
RAMADI, Sep 5 (IPS)
- The U.S. military has lost control over the volatile al-Anbar province,
Iraqi police and residents say.
The area to the west of Baghdad
includes Fallujah, Ramadi and other towns that have seen the worst of
military occupation, and the strongest resistance.
Despite massive military
operations which destroyed most of Fallujah and much of cities like
Haditha and al-Qa'im in Ramadi, real control of the city now seems to
be in the hands of local resistance.
In losing control of this
province, the U.S. would have lost control over much of Iraq.
"We are talking about
nearly a third of the area of Iraq," Ahmed Salman, a historian
from Fallujah told IPS. "Al-Anbar borders Jordan, Syria and Saudi
Arabia, and the resistance there will never stop as long as there are
American soldiers on the ground."
Salman said the U.S. military
is working against itself. "Their actions ruin their goal because
they use these huge, violent military operations which kill so many
civilians, and make it impossible to calm down the people of al-Anbar."
The resistance seems in control
of the province now. "No government official can do anything without
contacting the resistance first," government official in Ramadi
Abu Ghalib told IPS.
"Even the governor used
to take their approval for everything. When he stopped doing so, they
issued a death sentence against him, and now he cannot move without
American protection."
Recent weeks have brought
countless attacks on U.S. troops in Haditha, Ramadi, Fallujah and on
the Baghdad-Amman highway. Several armoured vehicles have been destroyed,
and dozens of U.S. soldiers killed in the al-Anbar province, according
to both Iraqi witnesses and the U.S. Department of Defence.
Long stretches of the 550km
Baghdad-Amman highway which crosses al-Anbar are now controlled by resistance
groups. Other parts are targeted by highway looters.
"If we import any supplies
for the U.S. Army or Iraqi government, the fighters will take it from
us and sell it in the local market," trader Hayder al-Mussawi said.
"And if we import for the local market, the robbers will take it."
Eyewitnesses in Ramadi say
many of the attacks are taking place within their city. They say that
the U.S. military recently asked citizens in al-Anbar to stop targeting
them, and promised to withdraw to their bases in Haditha and Habaniyah
(near Fallujah) soon, leaving the cities for Iraqi security forces to
patrol.
"I do not think that
is possible," retired Iraqi police Brigadier-General Kahtan al-Dulaimi
from Ramadi told IPS. "I believe no local unit could stand the
severe resistance of al-Anbar, and it will be the last province to be
handed over to Iraqi security forces."
According to the group Iraq
Coalition Casualty Count, 964 coalition soldiers have been killed in
al-Anbar, more than in any other Iraqi province.. Baghdad is second,
with 665 coalition deaths.
Residents of Ramadi told
IPS that the U.S. military has knocked down several buildings near the
government centre in the city, the capital of the province.
In an apparent move to secure
their offices, U.S. Army and Marine engineers have started to level
a half-kilometre stretch of low-rise buildings opposite the centre.
Abandoned buildings in this area have been used repeatedly to launch
attacks on the government complex.
"They are trying to
create a separation area between the offices of the puppet government
and the buildings the resistance are using to attack them," a Ramadi
resident said. "But now the Americans are making us all angry because
they are destroying our city."
U.S. troops have acknowledged
their own difficulties in doing this. "We're used to taking down
walls, doors and windows, but eight city blocks is something new to
us," Marine 1st Lt. Ben Klay, 24, said in the U.S. Department of
Defence newspaper Stars and Stripes.
In nearby Fallujah, residents
are reporting daily clashes between Iraqi-U.S. security forces and the
resistance.
"The local police force
which used to be out of the conflict are now being attacked," said
a resident who gave his name as Abu Mohammed. "Hundreds of local
policemen have quit the force after seeing that they are considered
a legitimate target by fighters.."
The U.S. forces seem to have
no clear policy in the face of the sustained resistance.
"The U.S. Army seems
so confused in handling the security situation in Anbar," said
historian Salman. "Attacks are conducted from al-Qa'im on the Syrian
border to Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad, all the way through Haditha, Hit,
Ramadi and Fallujah on a daily basis."
He added: "A contributing
factor to the instability of the province is the endless misery of the
civilians who live with no services, no infrastructure, random shootings
and so many wrongful detentions."
According to the new Pentagon
quarterly report on Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq, Iraqi
casualties rose 51 percent in recent months. The report says Sunni-based
insurgency is "potent and viable."
The report says that in a
period since the establishment of the new Iraqi government, between
May 20 and Aug. 11 this year, the average number of weekly attacks rose
to nearly 800, almost double the number of the attacks in early 2004.
Casualties among Iraqi civilians
and security forces averaged nearly 120 a day during the period, up
from 80 a day reported in the previous quarterly report. Two years ago
they were averaging roughly 30 a day.
On Aug. 31 the Pentagon announced
that it is increasing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 140,000,
which is 13,000 more than the number five weeks ago.
At least 65 U.S. soldiers
were killed in August, with 36 of the deaths reported in al-Anbar. That
brought the total number killed to at least 2,642
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Press Service. All rights reserved.