Tough action is happening across the deadly Sunni Triangle in Iraq, including many areas of Baghdad itself.
Baghdad exploded in violence Saturday, as insurgents attacked a U.S. patrol and a police station, assassinated four government employees and detonated several bombs. One American soldier was killed and nine were wounded during clashes that also left three Iraqi troops and a police officer dead.Some of the heaviest violence came in Azamiyah, a largely Sunni Arab district of Baghdad where a day earlier U.S. troops raided the capital's main Sunni mosque. Shops were in flames, and a U.S. Humvee burned, with the body of what appeared to be its driver inside.
U.S. forces and insurgents also battled in the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi, where clashes have been seen almost daily. Nine Iraqis were killed and five wounded in Saturday's fighting, hospital officials said.
Zeyad at Healing Iraq says the fighting has been happening right on his doorstep.
I was supposed to leave for Basrah this morning, as soon as I walked out of the front door I was face to face with ten or so hooded men dressed in black carrying Ak-47's and RPG's. They had set up a checkpoint right in front of our door.Someone barked at me to go inside. Nabil was also about to leave for his school. His driver had just called him and said that he was turned back at the street entrance by another checkpoint. We looked at the main intersection and it was swarming with armed men running about and motioning drivers and pedestrians to leave the area.
We watched them from behind the door with my mother frantically trying to get us inside. There was an exchange of fire and someone was bellowing "Where are the National traitors? (referring to the National Guards) Let them come and taste this." More shooting followed.
Tens of voices on the street were chanting "Allahu Akbar" and the ground beneath us suddenly shook from a nearby explosion. The shooting was frantic now and a series of explosions followed. Everyone in the house rushed to open windows to prevent their shattering from the pressure.
BlackFive has gathered an impressive set of frontline reports about the Battle of Fallujah, testaments to the fortitude and courage of our Marines and soldiers.
Fallujah was just the beginning of an entire campaign, which will involve both proactive and reactive engagements, as predicted some days ago by Belmont Club as the "River War."
[I]t is likely that while the battle for Fallujah is ending, the campaign for the Sunni Triangle is just beginning.It's a campaign, not a battle for a single town, and at issue is the destruction or survival of the Sunni insurgency. The enemy is maneuvering to strike at his chosen points and at US lines of communication. It's safe to say the foe will pull no punches. They won't be holding anything back for tomorrow. Allawie has also crossed his Rubicon and so, perhaps, has CENTCOM.
As for the sources of the resistance, World Tribune.com reports this very plausible, if so far publicly unconfirmed, account:
Insurgents captured in Fallujah have told Iraqi military interrogators that most of those fighting in Fallujah were former security officers for the regime of Saddam Hussein.Posted by Alan at November 20, 2004 09:39 AMThe insurgents said Saddam organized special operations units, starting in 2001, to counter any foreign invasion in Iraq. Most of those units, the insurgents said, are still active in the Sunni Triangle.
Officials said the Sunni insurgency was being directed from Syria. They said Saddam loyalists were receiving funding and orders from senior aides of the former Saddam regime based in Damascus, including ex-Vice President Izzet Ibrahim Al Douri.
Iraqi Interior Minister Faleh Hassan Al Naqib said his government and the U.S.-led coalition faced a revolt throughout the Sunni Triangle, Middle East Newsline reported. Al Naqib said the revolt was being directed by a unified command and control network led by Saddam loyalists. He said the insurgents sought to prevent or disrupt national elections scheduled for Jan. 27.