U.S. General: Fallujah Goals Not Achieved

More than a month after the Fallujah siege, a senior U.S. military officer acknowledged Saturday that the Americans had not achieved their goals in the restive Sunni Muslim city, now in the hands of hardline clerics and fighters who held off the Marines.

There's still a long way to go in Fallujah before the coalition - and for that matter the Iraqi government - can be satisfied that we have brought Fallujah to resolution,'' Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the coalition deputy operations chief, told reporters. Ten Marines and hundreds of Iraqis, many of them civilians, died during more than three weeks of fighting, which unleashed a firestorm of criticism among Iraqis, foreign governments and even America's coalition allies. The siege ended with the Marines saying they wererepositioning’’ and turning control over to the Fallujah Brigade, made up of officers from Saddam Hussein’s army and some of the same insurgents who had held off the Marines.

Although the city itself is relatively quiet, the surrounding area remains a major center of Sunni resistance to the occupation. Late Saturday, a U.S. military convoy was ambushed on the main road north of Fallujah, and a U.S. Humvee was on fire, according to a local resident, Wessam Ali.

Witnesses said they heard an explosion, followed by gunfire. A plume of smoke rose as U.S. troops cordoned off the area. The U.S. command had no report of casualties.

During a press conference, Kimmitt listed the goals which the coalition set down during negotiations in April with Iraqi mediators that led to the agreement that ended the fighting.

They included the return of Iraqi government control, handing over heavy weapons and foreign fighters and the arrest of those responsible for the slaughter of four security contractors working for Blackwater USA - whose deaths and mutilation led to the three-week siege.

We are not satisfied we are making active progress in the latter,'' Kimmitt said, referring to the killers of the contractors.We are not satisfied that there has been progress on any of those objectives, with the exception of having an Iraqi presence back inside the city.’’

Kimmitt’s remarks were surprisingly frank in a U.S. operation which rarely concedes any policy missteps and seeks to present an image of a mission on track in building a stable democracy from the wreckage of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.

Last month, Col. John Toolan, commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, presented Fallujah police with a list of 25 people sought in the Blackwater killings.

Toolan conceded with it's going to be a tough job to make the arrests'' and so far none has been announced. Although the city has been relatively quiet, Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi and others complain that the April agreement transformed Fallujah into a sanctuary from which insurgents can launch attacks elsewhere, including car bombings in Baghdad. Real power in the city is in the hands of hard-line clerics and their mujahedeen followers who held off the Marines, according to residents and visitors to Fallujah. On Saturday, seven Turkish hostages were set free by their captors in Fallujah, according to their employer. The body of a Lebanese hostage was found Saturday between Fallujah and the nearby city of Ramadi, Lebanese officials said. Kimmitt told reporters that coalition forcesretain the right to use any military option necessary proportional within the rules of engagement to solve the problem in Fallujah,’’ but he said the military would prefer peaceful means.

Politically, it seems unlikely force could be used again in Fallujah, at least on the scale employed in April.

Last month, The Sunday Times newspaper of London published what it said was a confidential British Foreign Office memo critical of heavy-handed U.S. military tactics in Fallujah,'' which the document saidlost us much public support inside Iraq.’’

French and German diplomats cited the bloodshed in Fallujah in pressing for Iraqi control over U.S. military operations after the end of the occupation June 30. The U.N. resolution approved Tuesday by the Security Council fell short of a clear Iraqi veto on such operations. But the United States promised to consult with the Iraqis on major operations. (AP)