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Insider's perspective on the battle for Falluja

post #1 of 11
11/25/04 at 7:30am
Thread Starter 
For anyone who might be interested in an "inside" perspective on the battle for Falluja, you might try the following diary links from the BBC/Retuers correspondent Fadhil Badrani. I've posted them in chronological order (earliest to latest). They're not very long, but they do offer some insight into the havoc that has being going on in what was once a prosperous and vibrant city.

1. Inside besieged Falluja
2. Prayers and tears in Falluja
3. Taking cover in Falluja
4. Watching tragedy engulf my city
5. Defiance amid carnage
6. Smoke and corpses
7. Ghost city calls for help
8. Fear remains after assault
9. Farewell to Falluja
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post #2 of 11
11/25/04 at 9:14am
Thanks for the links AO. It was a very interesting and enlightening read to say the least.
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post #3 of 11
11/25/04 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
Listening to Allied reports one could be forgiven for thinking that, prior to the US assault, Falluja was nothing less than the ultimate manifestation of violent anarchy. A “Den of Snake-Thieves”, with gangrel, ravenous creatures stalking the twilight in search of unborn babies to feast upon.

It now turns out that if anything Falluja was more like a modern-day Dodge City. A sizable civilian population going about its daily business, whilst in the background a small group of bandits and cutthroats rustle up their own brand of havoc. Even more curiously it seems that there were very few, if any, “foreign insurgents” scuttling around the city as has been so vehemently claimed by the Allies.

Could it be these “insurgents” were not much more than angry Iraqis venting displeasure at foreign occupiers?
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post #4 of 11
11/25/04 at 12:59pm
Your dodge city analogy is actually quite apt. However I imagine there were foreign insurgents but not nearly as many as the allies proclaimed.
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post #5 of 11
11/25/04 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
It looks like they've found some guns and a "WMD" facility.
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post #6 of 11
11/25/04 at 2:01pm
But here's the thing, Iraq is in such chaos now, we've got no way of knowing whose arms these are. Al Qaeda? Saddam loyalists? Foreign troublemakers? Local insurgents? And where are they now? On the way to Baghdad? Mosul? Dead?

You bomb a city and march in with guns blazing, of course people will fire back with whatever they can get. The trouble is...who? And why?
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post #7 of 11
11/25/04 at 3:45pm
Well i'd guess its pointing that this was some of the stuff Saddam was hiding. Next to look for is if the intel suggests the rest was moved across to Syria.
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post #8 of 11
11/25/04 at 5:06pm
Thread Starter 
Since Falluja was once the capital of Iraq's Chemical Weapons Program (part funded and built by British money and expertise), one shouldn't be too surprised when one finds chemical weapons facilites there.

Although whether this "find" qualifies as such is anyone's guess.
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post #9 of 11
11/25/04 at 5:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Daywalker
Well i'd guess its pointing that this was some of the stuff Saddam was hiding. Next to look for is if the intel suggests the rest was moved across to Syria.
Not really. The arms found are conventional - rockets, guns etc. That Saddam had WMD facilities means nothing. We knew he had them because, as AgentOrange points out, we helped him build the damn things.
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post #10 of 11
11/25/04 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 
Attempting to find any online figures relating to the number of weapons "at large" in Iraq is a tough task. FOX estimates that there are approximately 2 million AK-47s* in circulation accompanied by over 36 million rounds of ammunition. The number of RPG-7s and 8s are estimated to be somewhere in the region of 1 million. Other sources offer figures that are similar-ish but never in agreement.

Suffice to say that there are a lot of guns, rockets, bombs and other high explosive devices in Iraq that have yet to be accounted for, and major hauls in reasonably large cities such as Falluja should be expected, rather than looked upon with stunned amazement.

* There have been several reports of US Marines choosing to throw away their Army-issued semi-automatics (I don’t know the names, perhaps Cosmoline’s latest nom de guerre can enlighten us?) and switching to the AK-47 because of its superior performance in dusty environments which can cause weapons to jam.
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post #11 of 11
11/26/04 at 9:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Whitehead
Not really. The arms found are conventional - rockets, guns etc. That Saddam had WMD facilities means nothing. We knew he had them because, as AgentOrange points out, we helped him build the damn things.
Well Dan as always you're logical and sound. However this administration isn't really.
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