Doug Lorimer
Ironically, the 82nd Airborne Division's brutal suppression in April last year of peaceful Iraqi protests in Fallujah, a city of 250,000 residents 45 kilometres west of Baghdad, sparked the beginning of a mass-based Iraqi armed resistance that has dealt the biggest blow to the US occupation force.
By early February this year, the armed resistance in Fallujah had become so well-organised and intense that US paratroopers were forced to withdraw to fortified positions on the city's outskirts.
At the end of March, the paratroopers were replaced by US marines. On April 5, the US marines set siege to the city and attacked it with warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery. The resulting casualty toll — at least 600 residents, mostly unarmed women, children and old men, were killed within six days — led to a wave of angry protests in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.
On April 9, the marine commanders declared a unilateral cease-fire, while continuing to launch sporadic attacks on the city.
According to the May 6 Washington Post, on April 19, "after a week of talks, a group of local civic leaders and a few Sunni politicians from Baghdad made a deal with marine commanders. In exchange for relaxing a nighttime curfew and allowing families to return to their homes, the leaders promised to collect heavy weapons from the insurgents and hand them over to the marines.
"That never happened. All the marines got was a pile of rusty, antiquated arms. Most of them didn't work.
"The next day, an interlocutor approached [US Marine General Jim] Conway with an enticing offer: A group of former Iraqi army generals were willing to assemble a force that would restore order in Fallujah."
Iraqi army generals
On April 22, Conway met with former Iraqi army generals Mohammed Latif, a native of Baghdad, and Jassim Saleh, a native of Fallujah. According to the Post, Latif and Saleh asked "the marines to hand over security responsibilities [in Fallujah] to them, saying they did not want money or equipment...
"On April 23, marine units in the city were drawing up new battle plans. But by the following day, with the possibility of a deal with the generals and growing concern about the broader impact of an attack, senior officials at the White House and the Pentagon told marine commanders to exhaust all their options before mounting another offensive."
On April 29, Conway "decided that two of the four marine battalions in the city would withdraw. In their place, 300 former Iraqi soldiers [recruited and led by Saleh] would assume control of checkpoints and perimeter positions on the city's southern border."
The next day, Saleh drove into Fallujah wearing his old olive-green Iraqi army uniform and was greeted by cheering crowds waving the old Iraqi flag, abolished by the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
Saleh was followed by 300 former Iraqi army soldiers, described by US officials in Baghdad as constituting the "1st battalion of the Fallujah Brigade", but which Latif and Saleh have called the Fallujah Protective Army. Upon their arrival in the city's centre, the FPA troops were greeted by hundreds of armed residents.
Throughout the three-week seige of the city, US officials had claimed that the core of the resistance forces in Fallujah were some 200 foreign Arab fighters linked with Saudi Arabian millionaire Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.
However, Saleh immediately dismissed such claims, telling Reuters on May 1 that "there are no foreign fighters in Fallujah". His comments were backed up by Latif the following day. By the next day, US marine commanders outside the city were singing the same tune.
'Time warp'
The May 6 Washington Post reported that "Fallujah is now caught in a time warp. Iraqi soldiers wearing their crisp, olive-green army uniforms — a sight unseen since former president Saddam Hussein's government was toppled more than a year ago — now man checkpoints on roads leading into the city."
"Many of the guys who were shooting at the marines have simply put on their old army uniforms and joined the Fallujah Brigade", a US official told the Post. "As of Thursday, leaders of the brigade said they had assembled more than 1000 soldiers and would continue expanding the force."
The May 5 Los Angeles Times reported that none of the volunteers for the FPA "said they had any interest in joining the US-backed Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) and even the newly reconstituted Iraqi army received only a lukewarm endorsement. Both are thought of as US stooges."
While US officials have claimed the FPA will operate as a proxy force for the US marines, at a press conference in Fallujah on May 5, Latif refuted this. Referring to planned discussions between the FPA and US marine commanders, he said: "We are going to discuss the situation with the other side as if we are from Fallujah... If it fails, then we will die to protect Fallujah's children and elderly."
Asked what he wanted the US troops to do, Latif said: "I want the American soldier to return to his camp. What I want more is that he returns to the United States."
As a face-saving concession to US commanders, Latif allowed an ICDC-escorted convoy of 10 US military vehicles with 69 marines aboard to drive through Fallujah on May 10.
"Marine commanders fully expected to face ambushes during their swift, choreographed sprint to the mayor's office for a meeting with tribal and paramilitary leaders", the May 10 Chicago Tribune reported. "The tense round trip, which lasted just over an hour and extended only a few miles into Fallujah, studiously avoided the Jolan area and other insurgent strongholds."
Alla Hamdalide, a member of the ICDC, told Dahr Jamail, the Iraq correspondent for the US NewStandard website, that his unit was required to protect the marines. "We brought the Americans from the bridge into the city", Hamdalide said. "They couldn't even come in here alone. The victory for Fallujah remains."
Jamail reported that immediately following the marine convoy's departure, "spontaneous celebrations erupted as crowds of residents gathered in the street and began chanting and waving banners. Members of both the Iraqi Police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps joined in the celebration, waving their guns in the air and flashing the two-fingered 'Victory' sign...
"Resistance fighters, called mujahideen ('freedom fighters') by locals, mixed in with the crowd of unarmed civilians, police and Iraqi soldiers. Brandishing rocket propelled grenade launchers, Kalashnikov assault rifles and hand grenades, they paraded on trucks as thousands of residents began to move up and down the main street in an impromptu victory parade."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 19, 2004.
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