*Only* 30 dead civilians in Falluja. "Our troops are taking care of business." sez Bush.


 Politics > Politics-USA > *Only* 30 dead civilians in Falluja. "Our troops are taking care of business." sez Bush.

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Topic: Politics > Politics-USA
User: "OutsourceBush2004"
Date: 11 Apr 2004 04:46:54 PM
Object: *Only* 30 dead civilians in Falluja. "Our troops are taking care of business." sez Bush.
From the article:
Asked about the report of 600 dead, Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said,
"What I think you will find is 95 percent of those were military age males
that were killed in the fighting." (You could easily double the percentage.
The reporting all week has been 280 killed and now that number jumps to
600.)
----
Marines say insurgents have used at least one mosque as a firebase to attack
American troops. Witnesses in the city have reported Marine snipers firing
from a separate mosque's minaret on insurgents below
-------------------------------------------------------
Hundreds Dead In Fallujah
April 11, 2004
"Our troops are taking care of business. Their job is to make Iraq more
secure so that a peaceful Iraq can emerge."
President Bush
(CBS/AP) More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Fallujah since
Marines began a siege against Sunni insurgents in the city a week ago, the
head of the city's main hospital said Sunday.
Asked about the report of 600 dead, Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said,
"What I think you will find is 95 percent of those were military age males
that were killed in the fighting."
A day earlier, Byrne, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment,
said his battalion - one of three in or around the city - had confirmed 40
Iraqi insurgents were killed and 19 others were likely dead throughout the
entire campaign.
Statistics and names of the dead were gathered from four main clinics around
the city and from Fallujah General Hospital, said the hospital's director,
Rafie al-Issawi.
The dead totaled more than 600, most of them women, children and elderly,
since the siege of Fallujah began early Monday, he said. Bodies were being
buried in two soccer fields, one of which was visited by an Associated Press
reporter. Row after row of graves filled the field.
The total number of dead in the city may be even higher than the hospital's
tally, al-Issawi said. "We have reports of an unknown number of dead being
buried in people's homes without coming to the clinics," the hospital
director said.
In other developments:
A battalion of the U.S.-created Iraqi army refused to go to Fallujah to
support U.S. troops earlier this week, senior U.S. Army officers told the
Washington Post. They said the incident marked the first time U.S.
commanders asked the postwar Iraqi army to take part in major combat
operations. Large numbers of Iraqi security forces have also stopped doing
their jobs, the Post reported.
A U.S. attack helicopter was shot down near Baghdad on Sunday, killing two
crewmembers. Gunmen ambushed Iraqi police before dawn Sunday in the northern
city of Kirkuk, sparking a battle joined by U.S. troops. Four attackers were
killed, said Iraqi Col. Sarhad Qadir.
President Bush, attending an Easter service at a chapel at Fort Hood, Texas,
braced the country for the possibility of more American casualties in Iraq
while saying the U.S.-led mission is just. "It was a tough week last week
and my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for
our security," the president said. "Our troops are taking care of business.
Their job is to make Iraq more secure so that a peaceful Iraq can emerge."
Kidnappings and battles to retake whole cities are signs that Sunnis and
Shiites - sworn enemies - are joining forces to fight the U.S. occupation,
reports CBS News Correspondent Martha Teichner.
This past week has brought a sea change in the armed opposition to the
United States, says Richard Betts, an expert in military strategy and
terrorism from Columbia University. "Whether this massive resistance and the
coordination between different Iraqi interest groups grows is the real
question now. If it does, we're in very deep trouble."
There is no word on the fate of American hostage Thomas Hamill, a
Mississippi native who works for a U.S. contractor in Iraq. Insurgents
threatened to kill and burn him unless U.S. troops end their assault on
Fallujah by Sunday morning. The deadline has passed. Insurgents who
kidnapped other foreigners this week began releasing some captives. A Briton
was freed, and other kidnappers said they were freeing eight captives of
various nationalities. Three Japanese hostages remained in captivity,
although their release has been promised.
Graphic video footage aired on Arabic television Sunday showed the bodies of
two dead Westerners - possibly a pair of Americans seen by APTN cameramen on
Friday being dragged out of a car on the Abu Ghraib highway.
In southern Iraq, some 1.5 million Shiite pilgrims marked one of their
holiest religious days, al-Arbaeen. In the city of Karbala, hundreds of
Shiite militiamen - but no police - patrolled the street preparing for a
possible U.S. assault against rebellious followers of al-Sadr.
Fallujah saw occasional sniper fire Sunday, but was the quietest it has been
all week. Sunni insurgents and Marines agreed to a cease-fire that started
early Sunday and will last until the evening amid talks between Iraqi
officials on how to end the violence. Members of the Iraqi Governing Council
were holding a second day of negotiations with city representatives Sunday
in an attempt to win the handover of Iraqis who killed and mutilated four
American civilians on March 31 and of other militants. Hundreds of U.S.
reinforcements moved in place on the city edge, joining 1,200 Marines and
nearly 900 Iraqi security forces already involved in the fighting.
Bodies were being buried in Fallujah's soccer fields as residents took
advantage of a pause in fighting since Friday to tend to casualties.
At one of the fields, dubbed the "Graveyard of the Martyrs" by residents, an
AP reporter saw rows of freshly dug graves with wooden planks for headstones
over an area about 30 yards wide by more than 100 yards.
Some of the headstones had names of women and other names were noted as
children. Khalaf al-Jumaili, a volunteer helping bury bodies at the field,
said more than 300 people had been interred there.
Volunteers were seen carrying bodies in blankets and lowering them into
graves while bystanders shouted, "Martyr, martyr!"
It was not known how many were buried at the other soccer field.
Asked Sunday about the number of Iraqi casualties in Fallujah, Brig. Gen.
Mark Kimmitt referred reporters to Marine spokesmen. But he insisted that
Marines are "tremendously precise" in their operations and suggested
insurgents were hiding among civilians, causing civilian deaths.
Nearly a third of Fallujah's 200,000 people fled the city during the lull in
fighting.
During the past week's fighting, Marines and insurgents have battled in
residential neighborhoods, sometimes around mosques, with the Marines
calling in tanks and helicopter gunships for support. AC-130 warplanes have
also been used, and Marine snipers have taken up positions on buildings.
Marines say insurgents have used at least one mosque as a firebase to attack
American troops. Witnesses in the city have reported Marine snipers firing
from a separate mosque's minaret on insurgents below.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml?cmp=EM8707
--
"That they deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true.
We were taken for a ride," Kwasniewski said Thursday (March 18, 2004).
Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland's President
.


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