Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumFalluja standoff between Iraqi army and insurgents poses dilemma for Obama
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/07/falluja-standoff-between-iraqi-army-and-insurgents-poses-dilemma-for-obama/Falluja standoff between Iraqi army and insurgents poses dilemma for Obama
By Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian
Tuesday, January 7, 2014 15:42 EST
Fierce fighting between Iraqi forces and rebel groups including al-Qaida was reported near Falluja on Tuesday, 24 hours after the US agreed to speed up arms sales to the government in Baghdad.
The standoff between the Iraqi army and the insurgents poses a dilemma for the Obama administration, torn between distaste for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Malikis sectarian approach to politics and a resurgence of al-Qaida in the country.
The Associated Press news agency quoted Dhari al-Rishawi, the governor of Anbar province, which includes Falluja and Ramadi, as saying clashes on Tuesday took place 12 miles west of Falluja. The ministry of defence claimed to have killed 25 al-Qaida militants in an air strike in the province.
The Iraqi government urged tribal leaders to turn on the insurgents and drive them out of the city. The insurgents vowed to stay and fight. Theyll only enter Falluja over our dead bodies, one of them, Khamis al-Issawi, said in a phone interview with Reuters.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Typical link to subject :
Earlier, defence ministry spokesman Staff Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Askari said soldiers deployed near Fallujah would hold off on assaulting the city for now.
"It is not possible to assault (Fallujah) now" over concerns about civilian casualties, Askari told AFP.
Attacking the Sunni-majority city would also be extremely politically sensitive, as it would inflame already high tensions between the Sunni Arab minority and the government.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8_cyFIMkATrzbqPCPoC9Xhdvo8A?docId=0862c2f4-da73-4240-9848-595491caa2bc
The US of course had no such concerns some years ago :
Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah 'worse than Hiroshima'
Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.
Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents.
Their claims have been supported by a survey showing a four-fold increase in all cancers and a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. Infant mortality in the city is more than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times higher than in Kuwait.
Dr Chris Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster and one of the authors of the survey of 4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said it is difficult to pin down the exact cause of the cancers and birth defects. He added that "to produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened".
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/toxic-legacy-of-us-assault-on-fallujah-worse-than-hiroshima-2034065.html