US marines seal off entrances to flashpoint Iraqi city: correspondent

[Spazito]

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - US Marines blocked off the eastern and southern entrances to the Iraqi Sunni Muslim rebel bastion of Fallujah, stringing barbwire and placing cement barriers, an AFP correspondent said.


But a marine spokesman denied the US forces were shutting off the city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad. "We are not conducting any offensive operations in Fallujah," insisted Major TV Johnson.


Inside the city, armed men gathered in the street, toting assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades bracing for an attack, the correspondent said. Earlier, marines gathered outside Fallujah.

Some 15 tanks were deployed on a road about one kilometre (less than a mile) east of a US checkpoint on the border of the city. They later pulled out.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=afp/iraq_us_fallujah_unrest

[Beetwasher]

1. Gee, And I Thought This City Was Supposed to be a Model

for the rest of Iraq after we turned it over to Saddam Hussein, err, I mean, his ex-general...Does this mean the resistance is actually running the city and NOT the guy we supposedly turned it over to?

[daleo]

2. According to the new U.N. resolution

After "sovereignty" goes into effect (July 1?), the U.S. forces would need the permission of the new government before an operation like this. At least that is how the media has portrayed the deal, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of other interpretations. So, are they getting a jump on the transition, putting this into effect before the Iraqis have any say-so, or is this with the connivance of the new government?

[Spazito]

3. The "new" Iraqi government has NO veto over military action...

Here is a snip from an article on the resolution:

"The measure stops short of giving Iraq a veto over military action that France had sought, with the backing of Germany and other council nations.


But under the compromise, the United States and Iraq pledged to forge a policy to cooperate on "sensitive military operations," a key phrase that helped secure the backing of Paris and Berlin."

Here is the link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040608/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_worldwrap_040608223752

[happyending]

4. "full sovereignty"?

So, the US can kill Iraqi citizens with impunity and yet we are supposed to believe that the new and improved, US appointed Iraqi government has, as President Bush has repeated said, "full sovereignty"?

[iconoclastic cat]

8. Actually, we can now call it, We're Full of It! Sovereignty

Count the contradictions!

[Tempest]

7. "Sensitive military operations"

This will be a flashpoint to more violence, mark my words.

[bemildred]

5. You want to know how bad it is?

Iraqis living in Fallujah said American troops
had asked the local authorities to provide
them with safe passage through the city, the
correspondent said.

I have some sympathy with the Marines here, if they stay out of the
city, people try to kill them. If they don't stay out of the city,
more people try to kill them. Bring them home now.

[VolcanoJen]

6. So much for truces, and so much for disbanding militias.

So, we're finally going into Fallujah, after all?

It's going to be a bloody night. :-(

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Wait...I can see the future...it's coming to me now...

...in the last line of that article:

Hardline Sunni clerics and gunmen have overwhelmed the Iraqi security forces inside the city and instituted their own harsh brand of Islamic law that includes public floggings for alcohol merchants.