- Marines near Falluja call last year's invasion of Iraq
'the first war'. This, then, is the second. They plan to retake the rebel-held
city of Falluja and from there crush the insurgency throughout the Sunni
Triangle, west of Baghdad.
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- Last week thousands more combat troops, joined by Iraqi
security forces, arrived to back the marines who will lead the assault
- expected to begin as early as tomorrow.
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- 'This is an overwhelming force focused on one thing -
to rid Falluja of the terrorists,' said Colonel Mike Shupp, commander of
Regimental Combat Team 1, a lead element of the First Marine Expeditionary
Force, which is expected to be in the front line.
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- Scores of tanks and amphibious assault vehicles have
been prepared and equipped ready for the attack. Each vehicle requires
seven hours of servicing for one hour on the road and many are showing
signs of wear after nearly two years in Kuwait and Iraq. So many different
units are expected to be involved in Falluja that some fear the Americans
may end up shooting each other.
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- The campaign has been well signposted, with daily bombing
raids and publicity through the media in the hope that insurgents will
be intimidated into surrender and civilians will leave. In April the marines
curtailed a similar attack after three days, in part because the Iraqi
governing council protested about the number of civilians killed. The website
Iraq Body Count, which tallies media reports of casualties, said that in
April up to 600 civilians were killed, 300 of them women and children.
US forces say they do not keep count of civilian or enemy casualties.
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- 'Although it is inevitable that there are some casualties
in a city like this, we have done everything we can to let people know
coalition forces are here,' said Shupp. 'That's one of the reasons why
we have such a large show of force, so people realise they should really
evacuate.' More than half the townspeople are believed to have left. Anyone
still in the city will be regarded as a potential insurgent and all cars
treated as possible suicide bombs.
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- Estimates for the number of fighters left in Falluja
vary from 600 to 6,000. The Americans define them as 'former Baath party,
former army, foreign fighters and other largely criminal elements - a Sopranos
gang type that feeds off coercion'. Sketchy information suggests that,
although different groups occasionally fight each other, they will unite
to resist a common enemy.
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- The rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian whose
group is linked to al-Qaeda and is responsible for the beheading of several
foreigners including Ken Bigley, is believed to have left Falluja. But
others may still be there, including Omar Hadid, an Iraqi who leads a group
called the Black Banners Brigades of the Islamic Army, and Abdullah al-Janabi
who calls himself the Emir of the 'Islamic Republic of Falluja'. US intelligence
sources say that both men have tried to introduce Islamic law in Falluja,
including amputations and public executions.
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- The marines take confidence from their training, weaponry
and armour. 'Those guys just come out shooting at tanks with AKs,' said
a lieutenant. 'They're suicidal fanatics. It's sad, really.'
-
- But even if the Americans take Falluja reasonably quickly,
they face the same problems as all conventional armies fighting guerrilla
wars. Superior firepower can destroy a city, but snipers can pick off soldiers
when they leave their armoured vehicles. They may also melt away to spring
up elsewhere.
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- Some commanders have been studying a book entitled Russia's
Chechnya Wars 1994-2000: Lessons from Urban Combat. In 1995 the Russians
pounded Grozny until the neighbourhoods harbouring Chechen fighters were
reduced to rubble but, nine years on, rebels are still blowing up Russian
soldiers with booby-trap bombs.
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- The Americans say their actions are directed by the interim
Iraqi government, but last week splits emerged as Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
indicated he wanted a rapid US-led assault, while President Ghazi al-Yawar
told a Kuwaiti newspaper that he favoured 'continued dialogue' with tribal
leaders inside the city. The Americans have already planned the attack
in detail with Allawi's consent and intend to make use of newly trained
Iraqi forces.
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- 'The Iraqis will play a very important role. Iraqi police
and military are going to establish a sense of security inside the city,'
said Shupp. But the reality is that US soldiers and marines regard the
Iraqi forces as a mixed blessing at best.
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- 'There's not a marine here who trusts a single one of
them,' said a marine lieutenant. Some are regarded as incompetent, others
as spies. The two battalion-strong Specialised Special Forces, known colloquially
as the Shahwanis after their commander, General Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani,
a former head of intelligence in Saddam's era, is co-located with the First
Marine Expeditionary Force. The elite of the Iraqi forces, their officers
- all from the army of Saddam Hussein - are paid up to $3,000 a month,
a huge salary here. But they, too, have been infiltrated. After a nearby
mosque started broadcasting anti-American propaganda on its loudspeaker,
the marines led a raid on the village, accompanied by Shahwanis. By the
time they arrived, the sheikh and others believed to be connected to the
rebels had disappeared.
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- 'One of the Shahwanis had made a call on his mobile phone,'
said a junior marine officer.
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- The marines know they cannot repeat the mistakes of the
invasion, when US troops had a relatively easy military victory only to
be overwhelmed by looting and lawlessness.
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- 'The day after in Falluja is being prepared in just as
much detail as the day before offensive operations,' said Shupp. 'There
are extensive plans by the Iraqi government to put in an interim authority
to get basic services running. We have to make the people of Iraq think
there is law and order, and the legitimate government will not tolerate
terrorism or criminal activity. That's what this whole operation is about.'
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- - Lindsey Hilsum is International Editor for Channel
4 News. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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