Combined American and Iraqi forces have penetrated the outer defenses and reached the center of the terrorist-dominated Fallujah, and the Islamists are scattering like roaches in the light.
U.S. troops powered their way into the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Tuesday, overwhelming small bands of guerrillas with massive force, searching homes along the city’s deserted, narrow passageways and using loudspeakers to try to goad militants onto the streets.
As of Tuesday night, the fighting had killed 10 U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi security force, the U.S. military announced. The toll already equaled the 10 American military deaths when Marines besieged the city for three weeks in April.
U.S. officials issued no estimate of insurgent casualties, but one American commander said his battalion alone had killed or wounded up to 90 guerrillas.
As the offensive moved into a second full day, up to eight attack aircraft — including jets and helicopter gunships — blasted guerrilla strongholds and raked the streets with rocket, cannon and machine-gun fire ahead of U.S. and Iraqi infantry who were advancing only one or two blocks behind the curtain of fire.
Small groups of guerrillas, armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns, engaged U.S. troops, then fell back. U.S. troops inspected houses along Fallujah’s streets and ran across adjoining alleyways, mindful of snipers.
As I said recently, this would be no Stalingrad. In this case, one side obviously holds all the cards.
A psychological operations unit broadcast announcements in Arabic meant to draw out gunmen. An Iraqi translator from the group said through a loudspeaker: “Brave terrorists, I am waiting here for the brave terrorists. Come and kill us. Plant small bombs on roadsides. Attention, attention, terrorists of Fallujah.”
Faced with overwhelming force, resistance in Fallujah did not appear as fierce as expected, though the top U.S. commander in Iraq said he still expected “several more days of tough urban fighting” as insurgents fell back toward the southern end of the city, perhaps for a last stand.
Some U.S. military officers estimated they controlled about a third of the city. Commanders said they had not fully secured the northern half of Fallujah but were well on their way as American and Iraqi troops searched for insurgents.
U.S. and Iraqi troops captured two key landmarks Tuesday — a mosque and neighboring convention center that insurgents used for launching attacks, according to a Los Angeles Times reporter embedded with U.S. forces.
“I’m surprised how quickly (resistance) broke and how quickly they ran away, a force of foreign fighters who were supposed to fight to the death,” Lt. Col. Pete Newell, a battalion commander in the 1st Infantry Division, told CNN.
Newell was quoted on CNN’s Web site as saying his battalion had killed or wounded 85 to 90 insurgents.
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“The enemy is fighting hard but not to the death,” Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the multinational ground force commander in Iraq, told a Pentagon news conference relayed by video from Iraq. “There is not a sense that he is staying in particular places. He is continuing to fall back or he dies in those positions.”
Metz said Iraqi soldiers searched several mosques Tuesday and found “lots of munitions and weapons.”
Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the lethal but long-delayed onslaught will take care of all the roaches in the infestation.
Although capturing or killing the senior insurgent leadership is a goal of the operation, Metz said he believed the most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had escaped Fallujah.
It was unclear how many insurgents stayed in the city for the fight, given months of warnings by U.S. officials and Iraqis that a confrontation was in the offing.
Metz said troops have captured a very small number of insurgent fighters and “imposed significant casualties against the enemy.”
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U.S. commanders said the operation was running on or ahead of schedule, and Iraqi officials designated an Iraqi general to run the city once resistance is broken.
However, the American command said the insurgents were massing in the southern half of the city, from which U.S. troops were receiving mortar fire. Some U.S. units were reported advancing south of the main highway but not in strength.
Formica said the security cordon around the city will be tightened to ensure insurgents don’t slip out.
“My concern now is only one — not to allow any enemy to escape. As we tighten the noose around him, he will move to escape to fight another day. I do not want these guys to get out of here. I want them killed or captured as they flee,” Formica said.
For more thorough look at today’s Fallujah action, check out Belmont Club.