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U.S. Forces Turn to Saddam General to End
Standoff
By Fadel Badran and Michael Georgy FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces turned to a former general in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Republican Guard to help end a standoff with guerrillas in Falluja on Friday, but there was no end to violence and another two Marines were killed.
Some of the U.S. troops battling guerrillas in the Sunni bastion pulled back
and, in a reversal of Washington's refusal to deal with members of Saddam's
regime, former general Jasim Mohamed Saleh said he would lead a force to restore
order.
"We have now begun forming a new emergency military force," Saleh told
Reuters, saying Falluja "rejected" the U.S. presence in the month-long standoff.
But U.S. commanders said they were still in charge in the city, some 50 km
(30 miles) west of Baghdad and in the heart of the so-called "Sunni Triangle"
that has been a hotbed of guerrilla attacks against the U.S.-led occupation of
Iraq (news
- web
sites).
"We are certainly not withdrawing from Falluja. Nothing could be further from
the truth," U.S. spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a Baghdad news
conference as Marines and their armored vehicles pulled back from siege
positions.
Saleh's force of 600-1,000 mostly former Iraqi soldiers would work
"alongside" the Marines, Kimmitt said. "This is just an Iraqi component of the
coalition forces surrounding Falluja."
SADDAM GENERAL CHEERED IN FALLUJA
But Saleh, cheered by crowds waving the Saddam-era Iraqi flag as he drove
through his home town in his old uniform, said local people wanted Falluja to be
run only by Iraqi forces.
It was a far cry from last May 1, when President Bush (news
- web
sites) declared "mission accomplished" from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
On Friday, he said the war was worth waging to get rid of Saddam but conceded
there was still "tough fighting."
Marine commanders, whose men maintained positions in parts of the city where
fighting has been heaviest, said they would continue operations against
guerrillas who refused to hand over heavy weaponry and against suspected foreign
Islamic militants.
Heavy explosions in the east of the city showed fighting was still going on.
A suicide car bomber killed two Marines and wounded six close to their base
near Falluja, adding to the death toll in the bloodiest month for U.S. forces in
Iraq.
Kimmitt said U.S. troops were still aiming to capture the killers of four
American security guards whose much televised mutilated bodies prompted the U.S.
crackdown a month ago.
U.S. officials have struggled to stamp out open insurrection in Falluja while
avoiding more of the bloodshed that has turned many Iraqis against them.
SLIDING POLL RATINGS FOR BUSH
Bush, watching sliding poll ratings ahead of November's presidential
election, gave commanders a free hand in Falluja this week and the Pentagon (news
- web
sites) sent more tanks.
But the improvised peace deal appeared to have averted an all-out assault on
the city of 300,000 -- for the time being.
Local doctors say 600 people have been killed in the siege, a source of
grievance for many Iraqis, notably the once-dominant Sunni minority in the
heartland of support for Saddam.
People who had fled homes in Falluja lined up at military checkpoints to
return, but U.S. troops let few pass into the battered city.
Winning over Iraqi opinion is important for Washington as it prepares to hand
formal sovereignty to an interim government in Baghdad on June 30 while leaving
more than 100,000 U.S. troops in a country where many are hostile.
Since Bush declared an end to "major combat operations" a year ago on
Saturday, 428 U.S. service personnel have been killed in action in Iraq, 127 of
them in April alone. Fewer than 100 died in the three weeks it took to topple
Saddam.
Washington suffered another public relations blow on Friday when Arab
television channels broadcast pictures, first aired in the United States,
showing U.S. soldiers apparently abusing Iraqi prisoners in Saddam's notorious
Abu Ghraib prison.
BUSH SAYS DISGUSTED AT PICTURES
Bush said he felt a "deep disgust" at the pictures.
It was unclear what influence the new Iraqi force in Falluja has over the
estimated 2,000 or so guerrillas, some of whom U.S. officials say are die-hard
Saddam supporters.
Some guerrillas might even be part of Saleh's new force. One Marine officer
said that would not necessarily be a problem: "It's not a bad thing because
they're not on the wrong side."
A relative of Saleh said he had been chief-of-staff of a brigade of the elite
Republican Guard before transferring to a regular infantry division.
The U.S. occupying authority disbanded Saddam's 375,000-strong armed forces
after last year's war.
U.S. generals were unwilling to discuss Saleh's background, referring queries
to officers in Falluja who were unavailable.
Around the southern holy city of Najaf, U.S. forces kept up roadblocks around
the Mehdi Army militia loyal to rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has
taken refuge among shrines sacred to Iraq's long-oppressed Shi'ite majority.
(Additional reporting by Baghdad bureau) The Mulindwas Communication Group
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