Tuesday, April 20, 2004
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. officials and local leaders in Fallujah called on insurgents to lay down weapons in return for a promise from the United States not to resume its offensive against the Sunni Muslim stronghold, an agreement that will depend on how much influence the civil leaders have with the rebels.
Honduras, meanwhile, joined Spain in announcing that it will pull its troops out of Iraq.
The U.S. military said Monday that it does not intend to resume its offensive in the Sunni Muslim stronghold as long as militants are turning in their heavy weapons, but warned that the Marines could quickly storm the city if the agreement collapses.
Iraqi forces allied with the U.S.-led coalition are expected to begin gathering the weapons in the coming days -- if anyone steps forward to surrender them.
Fallujah has been largely quiet for the past few days, with only sporadic clashes.
Gunbattle
Before dawn today, gunmen in Fallujah opened fire on a Marine patrol near the Euphrates river, Capt. Jamie Edge said. Marines and gunmen exchanged fire for about five minutes, Edge added. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
"I think this is something we'll continue to deal with, regardless of what the security situation ends up being in Fallujah," Edge said.
In Madrid, Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono said Spain would pull its 1,300 troops out of Iraq within six weeks, about a month earlier than scheduled.
President Bush said the abrupt withdrawal would give "false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq."
Honduras announced a similar pullout late Monday. President Ricardo Maduro said his country's 370 troops would withdraw "in the shortest time possible."
Spanish and Honduran troops are mostly based in or around Najaf, where U.S. soldiers have been confronting the forces of an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said officials had been discussing how to replace the troops ever since Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won parliamentary elections in mid-March, days after the Madrid terror attacks, on a pledge to bring Spanish troops home.
Deaths investigated
In central Iraq, U.S. troops shot to death two employees of the U.S.-funded television station Al-Iraqiya, the station announced. The U.S. military said it was investigating the report.
Correspondent Asaad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh were killed and cameraman Bassem Kamel was wounded "after American forces opened fire on them while they were performing their duty" near the city of Samarra, the station said. "The circumstances of the incident are not known at the present time."
With their deaths, the number of Iraqi and foreign journalists and employees for news organizations killed in Iraq in the past year -- by U.S. troops, Iraqi gunmen or terrorist bombings -- rose to 26, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The agreement in Fallujah would bring relief to civilians in the besieged city but will depend on the willingness of insurgents to hand over their weapons.
U.S. officials have questioned how much influence Fallujah leaders have with the guerrillas.
Small groups of armed and uniformed Iraqi police and civil defense members patrolled the streets Monday for the first time since the U.S. siege began April 5. Some Fallujans emerged from their homes.
The U.S. military's fighting on two fronts this month -- in Fallujah and against the rebel Shiite cleric's militia in Najaf -- sparked the worst violence in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's fall.
Since April 1, at least 1,100 Iraqis -- including civilians, insurgents and security forces -- have been killed, according to an Associated Press count compiled from hospital reports, Iraqi police officials and U.S. military statements. At least 99 U.S. troops have been killed in action, surpassing the deadliest full month since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
The standoff against radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr outside Najaf has largely been on hold.
U.S. Col. Dana J.H. Pittard said there were no plans for the time being to make a move against al-Sadr in the holy city, a move moderate Shiite clerics have warned would spark outrage. Some 2,500 U.S. soldiers were deployed to Najaf, but that number was to drop to about 500, he said.
"We can wait," Pittard said. "Ultimately, we still want Iraqis to solve this problem."