[Mb-civic] American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold

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American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold
By Kim Sengupta and David Enders in Baghdad
21 February 2005

American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold

Otters and migratory birds return to Iraq's restored marshes

American and Iraqi government forces have surrounded the city of Ramadi in
preparation for an expected full-scale attack on the city, which has in
effect slipped into the hands of insurgents.

The operation, with US Marines forming the main attack force, comes less
than three months after the massive and controversial assault on Fallujah
and follows a pledge by Washington to pacify the remaining rebel
strongholds.

The people of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad and adjacent to Fallujah,
have been placed under a curfew during the operation, codenamed River Blitz.
According to the US military, the operation is at the orders of the Iraqi
interim authority and follows suicide bombings and other attacks on Shia
Muslims marking the festival of Ashura. At least 50 people were killed in
two days. The US and the Iraqi interim government have blamed the blasts on
the Sunni resistance and in particular the group led by the Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Meanwhile, al-Jazeera television aired a videotape yesterday purporting to
show al-Qaida's deputy chief, Ayman al-Zawahri, denouncing US calls for
reform in the region and urging the West to respect the Islamic world. He
said in the video tape that "reform is based on American detention camps
like Bagram, Kandahar, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib".

As American soldiers massed around Ramadi, reports emerged from the US that
diplomats and intelligence officers have been conducting secret talks with
insurgents on ways to end the rebellion. Time magazine reported the
clandestine negotiations, citing Pentagon and other sources.

Maj-Gen Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the
Ramadi operation was necessary to protect ordinary Sunnis. "Operation River
Blitz is designed to target insurgents and terrorists who have attempted to
destabilise the Anbar province. We were asked by the Iraqi government to
increase our security operations in the city to locate, isolate and defeat
anti-Iraqi forces and terrorists," he said.

Maj-Gen Natonski described the militants in Ramadi as "intent on preventing
a peaceful [post-election] transition of power between the interim Iraqi
government and the Iraqi transitional government". As well as putting a
security cordon around the city, the operation will involve more intense
patrols of towns and cities along the Euphrates, which flows through the
city.

Tribal leaders from the Sunni Arab minority were scrambling yesterday to
demand a say in that new government. "We made a big mistake when we didn't
vote," said Sheikh Hathal Younis Yahiya, 49, a representative for northern
Nineveh.

Shias too are less than happy with the direction talks to form a government
are taking. "The people of Iraq do not want to be separate," said Sheikh
Jewad al-Khalasy, a Shia cleric who runs a religious college in Khadmiya, a
north Baghdad neighbourhood. The Karbala resident Abdel Amir Mohamed said:
"We just want our marjaiya [religious authorities] to be safe."

Only 2 per cent of voters in Anbar province took part in the polls. Ramadi,
with 300,000 residents, has long been a focal point for the Iraqi
resistance.
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