Margaret BauerLast weekend a series of attacks by Iraqi insurgents resulted in the deaths of 80 Iraqis, including 17 contractors, 18 Kurdish militiamen and 12 Iraqi police officers. Since the invasion of the insurgent stronghold town of Fallujah last month, Iraq has been embroiled in a resurgent cacophony of violence unequaled since the turbulent month of April.
Washington University students following the current security situation in Iraq remain concerned about the recent action.
“If it’s a minority that’s resisting, it’s a very loud and deadly minority,” said freshman Elizabeth Ochoa.
On Nov. 8 the United States launched a major offensive on Fallujah-a predominately Sunni Muslim city 40 miles west of Baghdad-in order to take the city from insurgents that had been using it as a base of operations.
“What we’re trying to do is work our way into the major cities of the Sunni triangle [with] hopes that they will be pacified in time for the elections in January, which is of course the great aim of the Iraqi government and our forces,” said Victor LeVine, professor emeritus of political science at the University.
The offensive occurred with the approval of Iraq’s interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. According to the Pentagon, between 10,000 and 15,000 American soldiers were involved in the offensive, along with the Iraqi National Guard. The battle of Fallujah was the largest military engagement of the war since spring 2003 when the invasion began.
Fallujah first gained notoriety as an anti-occupation bastion on March 31, 2004, when four Americans were killed in a grenade attack, their bodies burnt and hung on a suspension bridge over the Euphrates River. As pictures of these events circulated through the media, plans were drawn for the US Marines to assault the city in April. Leaflets were airdropped into Fallujah warning civilians to flee the city, and it has been estimated that approximately half of the city’s 300,000 inhabitants did flee.
U.S. Marines pushed in from the outskirts of Fallujah, but before reaching the city center received orders from on high to halt their attack. American officials negotiated with Sunni tribal leaders and contracted a Baathist general to lead patrols through the city. Neither of these initiatives proved to be effective, and Fallujah remained a safe haven for insurgents.
When the new offensive began in November, U.S. forces encircled the city to prevent insurgents from escaping and took possession of the hospital in the city’s center, which prevented journalists not embedded with American forces from publishing images of the battle’s carnage, and possibly intimidated wounded insurgents from seeking treatment.
“No one holds the American media accountable,” said freshman Ian Pearson. “If I followed the war, I’d go insane.”
Most of the city’s inhabitants had continued to flee, and many estimates put the portion of inhabitants that remained at well below 50 percent of its original population. Because most of the population of the city had fled, insurgents were able to use the many empty buildings to conceal sniper and mortar positions, which dogged the American advance; however, US forces were able to call on heavy artillery, heavy armor and air power to obliterate entrenched positions.
“I think our military is trying very hard to switch from the military mode to the reconstruction mode-trying to fit people back into houses,” LeVine said. “A good deal of the population that isn’t housed will probably be housed in tents or other temporary kinds of structures.”
Although there are no concrete body counts available, 51 American soldiers died during the offensive, and approximately 500 were wounded. Between 1,200 and 1,600 insurgents were killed, and about 1,000 prisoners were taken during the ordeal, according to US officials. In the aftermath of the battle, it became apparent that many of the insurgency’s leaders fled the city before the American offensive, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian al Qaeda operative who US officials believe to be coordinating many aspects of the insurgency.
In the days following the battle of Fallujah, the focus of the insurgency seems to have shifted even more toward terrorizing Iraqi civilians than cooperating with the interim government and the U.S. In the northern city of Mosul there were bombed police stations and dead members of the Iraqi National Guard; police lost control of the city.
Doubts were expressed by the Pentagon publicly as to whether or not the Iraqi National Guard and police force were reliable enough to secure Iraq for the elections scheduled for January. As it stands now, Fallujah is under American control, and soldiers are in the process of sweeping through every building in the city searching for insurgents and weapons caches.
“The campaign in Fallujah is by and large over, and the insurgency has shifted over to the other Sunni towns… but the big question has to do with whether the insurgency can force a delay in the election,” LeVine said. “The election seems to be the pivotal point for Iraqis themselves. If it is perceived to be legitimate, there may be some hope for retrieving Iraq itself. If not, we’re in for a long dark night there.”
For some students watching the situation closely, the plan to secure Iraq seems shaky at best.
“I think President Bush should publicly admit that he made a mistake, and to ask the international community to provide a large number of troops -about 100,000-to help provide security,” said senior David Rogier.