The Fallujah you won't see on Your TV

Given that Doctors without borders has left Iraq due to security concerns like the ones they had when they bailed from Afghanistan earlier this year. It is up to the Red Cross and the Red Cresent to give aid and confort to Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire. There are many suffering and in desparate need of medical attention in Fallujah. From Yahoo via Reuters. Tip from Americablog.

By Omar Anwar

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Aid agencies called on U.S. forces and the Iraqi government to allow them to deliver food, medicine and water to Falluja on Friday and said four days of intense fighting had turned the city into a "big disaster."

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which receives support from foreign agencies including the Red Cross and UNICEF (news - web sites), said it had asked U.S. forces and Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government to let them deliver relief goods to Falluja and establish medics there.

But it said it had received no reply.

"We call on the Iraqi government and U.S. forces to allow us to do our humanitarian duty to the innocent people," said Firdoos al-Ubadi, Red Crescent spokeswoman.

"This is their responsibility," she said, adding that judging by reports received from refugees and pictures broadcast on television, Falluja was a "big disaster."

A U.S. military spokesman said the Red Crescent had permission to help refugees in towns around Falluja, but could not say if it had been granted access to the city itself.

The Red Crescent has seven teams of doctors and relief workers, backed by trucks of food and other aid ready to go into each of Falluja's districts when the word is given.

Let's hope that the word comes quickly if for nothing else but the name of human decency.

"Anyone who gets injured is likely to die because there's no medicine and they can't get to doctors," said Abdul-Hameed Salim, a volunteer with the Iraqi Red Crescent. "There are snipers everywhere. Go outside and you're going to get shot."

Rasoul Ibrahim, a father of three, fled Falluja on Thursday morning and arrived with his wife and children in Habbaniya, about 12 miles to the west, on Thursday night.

He said families left in the city were in desperate need.

"There's no water. People are drinking dirty water. Children are dying. People are eating flour because there's no proper food," he told aid workers in Habbaniya, which has become a refugee camp, with around 2,000 families sheltering there.

Anyone who is paying attention should realize that what news gets throught the pentagon division of the Ministry of Truth, is sanitized so keep the true horrors on the ground from seeing the light of day, lest it dampen support for the war.

Meanwhile the Iraqi government has sent troops (our guys - sent by the Iraqi leadership - global test anyone) into Mosul chasing that mole of insurgency all over the place, while US/Iraqi (really Kurdish) Forces root out the remaining cells of insurgency in Fallujah. Again from Yahoo/Rueters.

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - American forces Friday pushed deeper into the last remaining insurgent stronghold in Fallujah, and the Iraqi government rushed massive reinforcements to Mosul, the country's third-largest city, where police lost control in the face of insurgent attacks.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said U.S. and Iraqi forces now occupy about 80 percent of Fallujah, and clearing operations are continuing to find caches of weapons and ammunition.

In Washington, President Bush met Friday with his top ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and warned that with upcoming Iraqi elections, "the desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate." But he said victory in Iraq would be a blow to terrorists everywhere.

Just keep repeating things untill they are true georgie boy. I bet you are happy to have your butbuddy and fellow sock puppet Blair at your side.

Army and Marine units moved to tighten their security cordon around the besieged city of Fallujah, backed by FA-18s and AC-130 gunships.



The largest pocket of remaining resistance fighters were cornered Friday in the city's southwest as airstrikes and strafing runs continued.

"The rout is on," said a 1st Cavalry Division officer. "It won't be long now."

Iraqi forces are charged with searching every building in Fallujah, working from north to south, the military said.

In the city's north, U.S. forces report roving squads of between three and five militants shooting small-arms fire and moving easily through narrow alleyways. Troops are finding numerous weapons caches, the military said.

Time magazine Baghdad bureau chief Michael Weir said in an interview that troops of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment who spearheaded the first push into the city early Monday found entire houses that were booby-trapped.

Fighting was so fierce that, on one occasion, U.S. troops fought insurgents room to room, just a few feet away from each other in the same house.

Troops have cut off all roads and bridges leading out of the city and have turned back hundreds of men trying to flee the city during the assault. Only women, children and the elderly can leave.

The military says keeping men aged 15 to 55 from leaving is key to the mission's success.

"If they're not carrying a weapon, you can't tell who's who," said an officer with the 1st Cavalry Division.

Where have I heard that before, ah yes Vietnam. I guess the plan now is to kill or detain every male of breeding age, and that will only serve to make us more friends in the long run. It's "Hearts and Minds™" people, get with the program.