This morning in Iraq

"As we come down to the final fight, the last vestiges of enemy resistance that are continuing to fight have better equipment and tactics and they are prepared to fight to the death," Sattler was cited as saying. "The perception and reality of Fallujah as a safe haven for terrorists will be gone by the time this operation is completed."

[...]

The Iraqi government and coalition forces are taking "all necessary steps'' to meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in Fallujah, the Pentagon said on its Web site.

Fallujah General Hospital is fully staffed and has medical supplies, water and food, the military said.

Of course it stands across the river and has been roadblocked from the city and used as a U.S. military base for a week, and the Iraqi Red Crescent (parallel to Red Cross) was (apparently) only allowed into the city with food, water and medicine yesterday. (Although the quoted Bloomberg report is still claiming they have no access. And this article as well says they were refused admittance and turned back Monday - which is today, so perhaps the city's inhabitants never did get any aid.)

On Monday, U.S. forces resumed heavy airstrikes and artillery fire, with warplanes making between 20-30 bombing sorties in Fallujah and surrounding areas. U.S. ground forces were trying to corner the remaining resistance in the city.

Star Tribune article

"The final fight." And I suppose the Iraqi police, who have been deserting in droves and/or turning to fight with the resistance, are going to set up shop in Falluja after this final fight and maintain order? Or maybe it's going to be a unit from the Iraqi National Guard, which purportedly is mostly Kurds, who take up the job of keeping the peace there?

Well, whatever, once we leave off the daily airstrikes.....oh wait. Never mind.

Meanwhile....

Iraq's interim government and its U.S. backers said Phallus was the epicenter of the insurgency in Iraq, from where most of the bombings, killings and kidnappings that have swept the country were masterminded.

MSNBC article

Now there's an appropriate translation in names for an epicenter of war. However, I thought the masterminding was supposed to be coming from Falluja, which was supposedly why we have to flatten it. WTF?

In Baqubah, north of Baghdad, U.S. warplanes today carried out two strikes on insurgents who have clashed with Iraqi security forces in the city, Agence France-Presse reported. About 20 insurgents were killed, AFP said, citing an unidentified U.S. military official. In southern Baghdad, a mortar attack killed seven Iraqis and wounded seven others, the Associated Press reported, citing residents and hospital officials.

Bloomberg article

Alternatively...

Fierce battles between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces killed at least nine people Monday in Baqouba - the latest in a wave of clashes that has swept Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland even as American forces move against the last remaining pockets of resistance in Fallujah.

The fighting took place in Baqouba and neighboring town of Buhriz, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. American aircraft dropped two 500 pound bombs on an insurgent position.

Star Tribune article

Gunmen carried out near-simultaneous attacks on a police station and an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, police said. Two policemen and five National Guardsmen were killed.

[...]

In the insurgent-heavy city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, heavy fighting erupted on Monday between militants and U.S. forces, residents said.

Sunni clerics at several mosques called on residents to kick out bands of armed men who have come from outside the city, claiming that the clashes inside Ramada are having a negative impact on the economic situation of citizens.

North of Ramadi, a U.S. convoy came under attack near the town of Baghdadi, with one Humvee destroyed, according to a Baghdadi police Lt. Mohammed Abdel Karim.

[...]

A gunbattle erupted Sunday between militants and U.S. troops in the main market in the northern town of Beiji [a northern city that houses Iraq's biggest oil refinery source], killing at least six people and wounding 20 others, according to witnesses.

Star Tribune article

On to Mosul...

AS Iraqi leaders trumpeted a swift victory in Fallujah, insurgents pressed claims on the northern city of Mosul, which is fast becoming Iraq's latest front.

An outbreak of rebel attacks on police stations and government buildings has paralysed parts of the city.

Corpses have been splayed on city streets. Police have said they fear going back to their jobs.

Families are fleeing en masse, but insurgents have assured city bureaucrats that it is safe to return to work, that rebels will secure city streets.

Herald Sun - Australia - article

U.S. troops fought insurgents on the streets of Iraq's third-largest city on Monday, where violence has surged during a week-long offensive to capture the city of Fallujah from rebels.

Isolated pockets of fighting occurred mainly in the west and southwest of Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

[...]

"I expect the next few days will bring some hard fighting," U.S. northern commander Brigadier General Carter Ham said in a statement. "The situation in Mosul is tense, but certainly not desperate."

MSNBC article

Well, it's early yet.

All Falluja posts

US doctors treat a blindfolded Iraqi prisoner's broken leg.
Picture: AP