From Falluja to Mosul

And other stops along the way (Ramadi, Baghdad, Baiji, et al.)...

November 18: Marine intelligence officials have issued a report warning that any significant withdrawal of troops from the Iraqi city of Fallujah would strengthen the insurgency.

The assessment, distributed to senior Marine and Army officers in Iraq (news - web sites), also said that despite the heavy fighting with coalition forces, the insurgents would continue to increase in number, carrying out attacks and fomenting unrest in the area.

One officer said the seven-page classified report -- parts of which were provided to Thursday's edition of The New York Times -- was "brutally honest" and appears to contradict the US government's victorious account of the US-led fight against insurgents in Fallujah and other parts of northern Iraq.

Iraq Net article

The administration is lying to us. Well, what a frickin' surprise.

The pessimistic analysis was prepared by intelligence officers in the First Marine Expeditionary Force, or I MEF, last weekend as the offensive in Falluja was winding down.

Senior military officials in Iraq and Washington disputed the findings of the report, describing it as a subjective judgement of some Marines that did not reflect the views of all intelligence officials and commanders in Iraq.

Another surprise.

Rebels attacked the provincial governor's office in Iraq's third city of Mosul on Thursday, killing one of his bodyguards and wounding four more, the U.S. military said.

[...]

Insurgents fired 10 mortar rounds at the governor's office in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, setting ablaze a fuel tanker parked nearby, a U.S. military spokeswoman said.

[...]

Rebels also fired six mortar rounds at a U.S. military base in Mosul, but there were no injuries.

Iraq Net article