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Iraqis sitting on a truck pass a burning US convoy attacked in Abu Gharib (AFP)
Negotiate with terrorists, and what do you get? More terrorism.
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US-led coalition and insurgents in the Sunni bastion of Fallujah agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire beginning Sunday at 0600 GMT after six days of fierce clashes which claimed the lives of hundreds of people, an Iraqi mediator said.However, the insurgents threatened to kill a presumed American citizen unless the siege of the Sunni Muslim town was lifted in the latest example of their new tactic of kidnapping foreigners to win concessions on the ground and put pressure on US allies in Iraq.
"The two sides have agreed to observe a 12-hour ceasefire tomorrow Sunday at 10:00 am," or 0600 GMT, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Hatem al-Husseini, told AFP.
"This will pave the way for the gradual pullout of US Marine troops from Fallujah," Husseini said after a meeting with coalition officials in Baghdad on his return from the mediation talks in the town west of the capital.
The apparent breakthrough came after the coalition suspended offensive operations in Fallujah and offered the talks.
A 35-member Iraqi delegation, led by members of the US-installed interim Governing Council, entered Fallujah and held meetings to mediate an end to the bloodshed.
However, a group calling itself "the mujahedeen of Iraq to US forces" still threatened to kill a presumed US national identified as Thomas Hamill if the siege was not lifted.
Hamill was apparently the same man shown in an Australian television report shortly after being captured after an attack on a convoy.
"If this is not heeded within 12 hours starting at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Saturday, April 10, 2004, he will be treated worse than those who were killed and burned in Fallujah," the group said in an audiotaped message read on Al-Jazeera satellite TV.
The group was referring to four US contractors were ambushed in Fallujah last week and the charred bodies of two of them were mutilated and strung from a bridge. The outrage provoked the US offensive in Fallujah.
In a related development, Al-Jazeera also reported the abductors of three Japanese nationals in Iraq had decided to free their hostages within 24 hours in response to an appeal from Muslim clerics.
The captors from the "Mujahedeen Brigades" had threatened to burn the three alive if Japanese troops were not pulled out of Iraq by 1200 GMT Sunday -- 72 hours after footage was broadcast showing the three in captivity.
The statement urged the Japanese to put pressure on their government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The coalition has taken a no-deal stand with the kidnappers.
The Fallujah breakthrough came as much of the country leaders denounced the Fallujah offensive and large parts of Baghdad closed down in a protest strike. Heavy exchanges of fire also broke out in the city's main Sunni neighborhood.
It also came as the coalition offered a draft ceasefire agreement to Moqtada Sadr, the outlawed radical Shiite cleric whose militia has battled occupation forces across central and southern Iraq, an intermediary said.
US officials earlier said they had suspended the Fallujah offensive as of noon (0800 GMT) to allow for talks on the delivery of relief supplies and the care of the dead and wounded.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy director of operations, said the coalition was looking for a full ceasefire in the town where more than 400 Iraqis have been killed and 1,000 wounded since fighting erupted Sunday.
"If the ceasefire holds, talks regarding the establishment of legitimate Iraqi authority will begin," he told a Baghdad news conference, adding that the US army retained the "right of self-defence."
But military ground commanders said they did not expect any truce to last.
Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne, the commander of the First Battalion- Fifth Marines in Fallujah, warned it was unrealistic to expect battle-hardened insurgents to surrender.
"The fact they've been wearing belt bombs, the virulent nature with which they've been fighting, the chances of the Iraqi Governing Council and city fathers getting Joe Jihadi to surrender are pretty slim," Byrne said.
He added that marines had detained 60 insurgents, including five foreigners from Sudan, Egypt and Syria, in the area.
Battles raged in Fallujah throughout the day despite the efforts to broker a peace and a marine was killed and another wounded, a marine statement said.
The marines also said they killed between 10 and 12 insurgents after a convoy of US light-armored vehicles was ambushed by up to 30 guerrillas further west near the Syrian border.
As late as Saturday night, insurgents were lobbing mortars rounds at US positions and large explosions rocked the city while warplanes flew overhead.
The marine forces were being bolstered by a third US marine battalion and a fourth consisting of members of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
The US offensive has also alarmed the coalition's Iraqi partners who fear it could push back the June 30 deadline for the restoration of self-rule.
The US-installed Governing Council issued a statement denouncing the onslaught as amounting to "collective punishment of innocent civilians" as well as insurgents.
Posted by Robert at April 10, 2004 8:50 PM
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Sadaam was/is a bad man. Yet the actions being taken by these militant elements are proof that the Iraqi people do not know how to deal with freedom and Sadaam was preventing a fundamentalist theocracy, even if for selfish reasons.
The United States should have had better intelligence before moving into Iraq so that they would be sure to capture the weapons that were used as a pretense for this war. Until weapons were developed, we should have left Iraq alone and let the Iraqi people deal with Sadaam if they ever could do so.
Now we are granting a cease fire to these people who hate us. We have already made the mistake of going into Iraq and we are in the thicket. Briars are cutting our arms and legs and we will not use our machete to cut free. We should not have gotten into the briar patch. However we are in and now must hack our way out.
A cease fire allows them to reorganize and become an even larger threat to our soldiers. I say eliminate the enemy and then have a cease fire when the people who are firing against you are dead.
If we ever do get Iraq to a state of order, we should get out and try to stay out of the entire Muslim world. We have already given citizenship to too many of the radical element and this cannot be helped. However elimination of visas to anyone who even might be an extremist, with exception of people seeking medical treatment with a huge bond to accompany their visit, will make help keep the malignancy from getting any larger.
I realize that there are Muslims who do not condone this activity and who would never betray this country. However these Muslims are going against the text of the Quran. They probably are not very well versed in their religion's teachings or they knowingly are in contradiction with their faith. These people remain Muslim for sociocultural reasons and are not our enemies. If they were the representation of Islam, then we could have genuine peace and get along very well.
End the cease fire, kill the militants, put in a government that can take control, get out and stay out unless the people are a direct threat to the USA and allies. Let them sit all day and stomp on our flag and burn it. If we are not there getting killed and they are not coming here killing us, they can stew for their whole lives.
These people will never be happy and they need someone to hate or they would not know what to do with themselves. If we get out, we will still be the focus of their hate. but it will wear them out as hatred without reaction cannot be maintained. Then maybe they will be forced to look in the mirror and examine themselves for the miserable people they are. Some may even decide that they want to change.
Saddam's previous actions and intent to have a weapons program was the WMD. Even if he destroyed his current weapons he would develop more. Leaving a disarmed Saddam in power would be the equivalent of taking the pistol away from a known murderer and turning him loose.
Clinton tried ignoring the threat and it only emboldened the barbarians. The Islamic Cult of Death has no value for laws, life or civil behavior. Indeed, they have no value for this life. Their only purpose in this life is to get to the next life and their 72 virgins.
Wouldn't it be lovely to return to a world where two oceans protected America from thugs in the world. Even the good old days of MAD with the Soviet Union would be preferable to the threat we face today. We cannot maintain a free society and defend the nation from every conceivable threat. The best defense is a good offense in football and in warfare.
We can't turn back the clock nor can we ignore the brave new world that we live in. America is the symbol of freedom and civilization in the world hence we are the number one target of those who hate freedom.
The barbarians are at the gate. We have no choice but to fight them. It will be a long battle with many lost warriors and much lost treasure. But it is preferable to tyranny and slavery.
I only wish that our military would respond immediately after one of these attacks with some big bombs.We could have blown the scumbags off the top of the tanker as well as the losers who were mutilating the dead the other day before they could run and hide.These demented bastards feel the need to jump around like mindless pigs celebrating how impotent they are.It's a lot easier to blow up scumbags while their jumping on top of a tanker or hanging dead people then it is while they are cowaring in a mosque.
Posted by: Rob at April 10, 2004 11:58 PMAny truce will be viewed as a hudna by the Islamists.
They will use the treatment of their wounded as a cover for rearmament.
Islam is a religion of peace.
Posted by: George at April 11, 2004 12:22 AMreligion of peace
peace of ear
peace or heart
peace of head
peace of ..........ect
Posted by: GOD at April 11, 2004 12:40 AMUncle John
I'm inclined to agree with what you have posted.
The middle east does'nt deserve democracy or freedom. They will not stand up for it themselves and allways blame someone else for thier own failures.
The media from the get go from all over the world allways had an anti American slant from the beginning. No matter what the truth. The world seems to want America to fail is the strong impression I read in most of the media in the worls.
Governments in Western Europe play the anti American card to appease thier Islamic Immagrants. Pull your armies out from over sea's bases and let Europe drown in thier corrupt bankrupt scocialist hell holes. EU is in decline and thier in denial of the dire situation they are in now. The greedy unions in Europe are sending Europe spiraling into the abys.
They have spent lavishly trying to create thier own lazy scocialist utopia. With out US surpporting the EU or the UN in trouble spots like the Balkins,the EU could not field an military anywhere as effective as the United States.
The Europeans have another big problem that they are now slowly relising but are too late to fix it. The population is getting older and they heavily relly on immagration to fill the void. And a great deal of those immagrants are muslim.
Europe has grown lazy in the past 60 years relying on US protection.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union western Europe felt they had little need for the US and layed the shoulder of blame alone on the US for all the dirty deeds the US had done for itself and Western Europe on thier behalf keeping the Russians at bay.
France had proven to be the altimate back staber to the US vetoing everything they could through the UN. The UN is no real friend of the US as well.
Perhaps the US should change its policy and stop trying to be the worlds police man and take care of its own and maintain a closer and friendly intrest in the North and south America's. Hispanics are good people and most have the same religous values as the US as opposed to the muslims who dwell south of Europe. Latin Americans will asimulate far better in the US far better than Arab muslims will in Europe.
With the large populations in central and south America,I see no reason why she should accomodate muslim immagration.
My wife is hispanic and they are great people.
We should have ran this Fallujah operations months ago. Not to mention take down Sadr's private army as well. These actions are long overdue. When you invade a country the object is to defeat the opposition , not watch grow and fester before your eyes. Then again maybe we need more troops to carry out a through opposition crushing.
For democracy to win at the end of the day, the jihadist must be put down at high noon. Our boys are doing a damned good job of that now. They just must not get side tracked by any of the Muslim politics and not let up on putting to em!
If there is to be peace, these battles must be fought and won.
Posted by: wesley at April 11, 2004 1:38 AMMuch of what you have said, Uncle John, I am now coming to think myself after watching how the Iraqi war has gone. Of course, there is a bit of a slant in all of the news publication coming out of that country. (We are hearing a lot of reports about the uprisings, but don't hear about those who are looking forward to creating a - more-or-less - democratic attempt in Iraq.) Many of the Iraqis were suffering horrendously under Saddam and really welcomed the change of regime; however, recently they "disaffected" elements are becoming more and more vocal.
After hearing that President Bush was planning to invade Iraq, I was sort of dubious about the whole thing, but still open to the possible good that might come out of the war. But, to my mind, the jury is still out about whether we should have wasted our time and resources going after that regime. The problem with it all is they don't know how to live under anything other than a dictatorship - and psychologically the Muslim peoples are not ready to accept anything else. We are trying to give them something good, yet they are unable to understand that. Instead, they are convinced we are "out to get them." That is pretty paranoid and deeply pathetic if you ask me. Truthfully, I wonder if anything good can come of it.
In the meantime, we may have to Dresden a few cities - because, sadly, people on the level of living in paranoid fear can understand very little about living with others who don't live under such paranoia. :-( If we don't win, they will take it as a victory that they managed to stand under the onslaught.
Posted by: paula at April 11, 2004 5:21 AMAgree with Uncle John, complete the job in Fallujah, then do it to the rest of the cowards who quit on Saddam but who still want to fight. The foreign fighters in particular must be exterminated. Force is the only thing these barbarins understand.
Briar patch bullshit. This is the war of civilization vs barbarians, chapter 4. Take it to them. We absolutely should be there. Think the Chinese would be there if they took down the SHangai towers? Iraq would be a fricking cinder if thy had don that along with Medina and Mecca. No, this is appropriate. We are being way too patient with these excuses for hunmans.
Posted by: CF at April 11, 2004 11:13 AMHood Jewhawdee, if they were thinking that about him, they aren't really his friends, are they? Besides, maybe he was thinking "stinking, hook nosed bunch of sand monkeys, smell like they just got through humping a camel. Making their mother wear a burka was a public service". Or something like that. Happy Passover Hood.
Posted by: Hal at April 11, 2004 2:14 PM
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