I don't know the pace of military operations in urban warfare but it looks like the fighting in Falluja will be ongoing for the near future. The first objectives in the city were seized
tonight.
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces stormed into western districts of Fallujah early Monday, seizing the main city hospital and securing two key bridges over the Euphrates River in what appeared to be the first stage of the long-expected assault on the insurgent stronghold.
The offensive began hours after the Iraqi government declared 60 days of emergency rule throughout most of the country as rebels dramatically escalated attacks, killing at least 30 people, including two Americans.
Fallujah (
see maps) has a population of roughly 300,000 people, with news reports saying about 80% of the city has been evacuated.
Riverbend has a firsthand account of evacuees from Fallojah. For reference Fallujah is about the same size as Newark, Wichita, or Louisville.
Apparently the main hospital in Fallujah was a key early objective:
American commanders regarded the reports as inflated, but it was impossible to determine independently how many civilians had been killed. The hospital was selected as an early target because the American military believed that it was the source of rumors about heavy casualties.
"It's a center of propaganda," a senior American officer said Sunday.
This time around, the American military intends to fight its own information war, countering or squelching what has been one of the insurgents' most potent weapons. The military hopes that if it can hold its own in that war, then the armed invasion - involving as many as 25,000 American and Iraqi troops, all told - will smash what has become the largest remaining insurgent stronghold in Iraq.
Lots of bad guys in Fallojah but attacking hospitals kind of runs counter to my idea of being the good guys. Apparently the Geneva Convention is now worthless.
Art. 18. Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.
States which are Parties to a conflict shall provide all civilian hospitals with certificates showing that they are civilian hospitals and that the buildings which they occupy are not used for any purpose which would deprive these hospitals of protection in accordance with Article 19.
Civilian hospitals shall be marked by means of the emblem provided for in Article 38 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of 12 August 1949, but only if so authorized by the State.
The Parties to the conflict shall, in so far as military considerations permit, take the necessary steps to make the distinctive emblems indicating civilian hospitals clearly visible to the enemy land, air and naval forces in order to obviate the possibility of any hostile action.
In view of the dangers to which hospitals may be exposed by being close to military objectives, it is recommended that such hospitals be situated as far as possible from such objectives.
Art. 19. The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after due warning has been given, naming, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit and after such warning has remained unheeded.
The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and ammunition taken from such combatants which have not yet been handed to the proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the enemy.
Any Fallujah jibber you want to share? Spill it below...