IRAQ: Ramadi 'most dangerous place' for US troops

April 26, 2006
Issue 

Doug Lorimer

"US troops repelled an attack Monday by Sunni Arab insurgents who used suicide car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in a coordinated assault against this city's main government building and two US observation posts", Associated Press correspondent Todd Pitman reported on April 17 from Ramadi, a city 110 kilometres west of Baghdad and the capital of Anbar province.

The April 17 attack, Pitman reported, lasted 90 minutes and was "the biggest since April 8, when insurgents besieged the Government Center until US jets blasted several buildings used by gunmen to fire on the Marines".

On April 7, Pitman had reported that Ramadi "is perhaps the most dangerous place in Iraq ... Everyday there are IED [improvised explosive device] blasts, small arms attacks, snipers taking potshots. The level of violence seems leagues beyond the rest of the country ...

"Despite the violence, much of Ramadi is nevertheless normal. It is a functioning city. People sell fruit, appliances, air conditioners in the roads. You see children in the streets. Business goes on. Life goes on. The center of Ramadi, though, is clearly a combat zone. Buildings have been shot up, torn through by rocket-fire, splattered with bullets or shrapnel, collapsed by 500-pound bombs.

"In this area is the Government Center, a compound housing the governor's office. It looks more like a military base with Marines deployed along the rooftop in sandbagged posts covered with camouflage netting. Marines are here to keep the governor alive."

In his April 17 report, Pitman noted that the "fighting in Ramadi provided fresh evidence that the insurgency is thriving in Sunni Arab-dominated areas despite last month's decline in US deaths".

A week earlier, Major-General Rick Lynch, a US military spokesperson, had "told reporters in Baghdad that insurgent attacks in Anbar were down to an average of 18 a day — compared to a daily average of 27 last October", wrote Pitman. "At the same time, US deaths for March numbered 31 — the lowest monthly figure since February 2004. However, US deaths have been rising this month. Of the 47 American service members reported killed in Iraq so far in April, at least 28 have died in Anbar."

The Pentagon stated on April 17 that there have been 2378 US troops killed in the Iraq war, and another 17,549 wounded in action.

The German wire service Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported that three Iraqi civilians were killed and 10 others hospitalised on April 17 when "an armed group firing mortar rounds on the US military base 2 kilometres south of Fallujah was met with return fire from US forces".

Fallujah, 55 kilometres west of Baghdad, is the second-largest city in Anbar province. It "has recently been witnessing a renewed escalation of armed confrontations between US forces and armed Iraqi groups", DPA reported, adding that residents "have been demanding an easing of the tight security procedures imposed" by US armed forces on the city since they recaptured it in November 2004. Residents can only enter and leave the city through three military checkpoints, at which they must submit to body searches by US marines.

IRIN, the news agency of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported on March 21 that 14 months after 10,000 US marines — backed by weeks of intense artillery bombardment and air strikes — forced most of the rebel city's residents to flee, two-thirds of Fallujah's 300,000 inhabitants have returned. However, IRIN reported that despite "Baghdad allocating [US]$100 million for the city's reconstruction and $180 million for housing compensation, very little can be seen visibly on the streets of Fallujah in terms of reconstruction. There are destroyed buildings on almost every street.

"Enormous damage was caused by the two main conflicts in the city in April and October 2004 and according to experts repair work could take up to seven years.

"Local authorities say about 60 percent of all houses in the city were totally destroyed or seriously damaged and less than 20 percent of them have been repaired so far. In addition, 6,000 shops, 43 mosques and nine government offices still require extensive repair work.

"Power, water treatment and sewage systems are still not functioning properly and many districts of the city are without potable water ...

"In addition, the main hospital of Fallujah is working at half capacity and access to the building is difficult as it is under tight security with few doctors working inside, local people said."

From Green Left Weekly, April 26, 2006.
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