CENTCOM closed or bombed all medical facillities in Falluja, killing some doctors, nurses and patients, and seized or fired on and destroyed all ambulances that were operating within Falluja, killing one crew and the person(s) being transported, simply to prevent accurate reporting of civilian casualties. Mr. Abbud's son, a third grader, died a preventable death, to prevent this Sunday's talking bubble heads from having to talk about numbers. Numbers of non-combatants killed and wounded.
3pm EST: The US KIA count is now 12 or 15, with the wounded count at least as great. All but three of the KIA were killed in the Falluja fight. Elements of the US forces have reached the main east-west road (from the north).
10am EST: Le Monde reports that US armor has reached the center of Falluja, however the defenders still control two-thirds of the city. Damage reports for the four-hour long bombardment inflicted 24 hours earlier are that pervasive devistation has taken place in the city-center. US KIA count is now 5, with 14 more not yet dead or just maimed or simply wounded.
7am EST: AFP reports that the center of Ramadi is no longer under American control. US forces retreated under fire down Warar Avenue, an arterial, leaving the city. The Allawi regime announced a curfew for Baghdad begining at 8:30pm local time. The Wahdat, Tahrir and Mafrak police stations in Bakouba were engaged by defensive forces, killing 45 and wounding another 30. The Bohroz police station was engaged with automatic weapons and rpgs and is reported to be completely destroyed. The third in a series of car bombings (two churches and the ambulance entrence of Yarmouk Hospital yesterday is now reported to have killed at least four police.
4am EST: The first political casualty. The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) (Sunni) has decided to withdraw from the Iyad Allawi "government". The one IIP seat in the Allawi cabinet, Industry and Minerals Minister Hajem al-Hassani, decided to keep his governent job, and resigned from the IIP. Reuters has been reporting that a US helicopter was successfully engaged by a missile, and CENTCOM has issued a denial.
Posted by EBW at November 9, 2004 05:27 AM | TrackBack