Today's News: Roundup

The New York Times > International > Middle East >NYTimes reports that US forces have reached the center of the city and now control 1/3 to 1/2 of it. Highlights: "General Metz said that enemy casualties were higher than anticipated, while reminding journalists that the Army does not maintain an official body count for the opposition." "The general estimated that two to three thousand insurgents faced American forces in Falluja, but he also said he suspected that many of the senior rebel leaders, including the Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had fled before the city was sealed off. Several insurgents had been captured and were expected to provide useful intelligence." [Note from Chester: This is the first instance I know of where a senior commander has said Zarqawi may have left. We probably have a task-organized team of Green Berets and other snake eater types, combined with Human Intelligence Exploitation analysts conducting raids on suspected hiding places for many senior lieutenants. They will be supported by conventional infantry forces who will cordon off areas for the raids. Think Blackhawk Down, or capture of Saddam.] "Reports from the military and witnesses inside Falluja 16 hours after American attack was launched indicated that there was still heavy fighting in the southwest quadrant of the city." [Note from Chester: I am about to attack these press reports. They are horrendous. I'm making a list.] "Reports from inside the city said the insurgents were spreading the word that they were not retreating but rather luring the American forces into a "killing zone" deep in the city, though that claim was so far unrealized." [Note: This is excellent news. Wherever they mass we will destroy them. Let's see what kind of a kill-zone they can come up with. Let's hope what we are doing causes them to mass. I doubt the insurgents truly have a final kill-zone set up. No way they have been able to channel our attack into a specific area.] "Witnesses told The A.P. of seeing two American tanks engulfed in flames, but that could not be confirmed." [Note: Would these witnesses be men between the ages of 15 and 55? What are they doing talking to the AP? Someone arrest them.] [Also, what can they kill a tank with? perhaps the reporting is wrong and they mean a Bradley, but a tank? The pictures I have seen of tanks show them with reactive armor plating. RPGs will bounce off. If they've killed a tank, it was through luck or very heavy weaponry, or land mines -- possibly command detonated. More than likely land mines.] "In the Askari and Jeghaifi neighborhoods in the northeastern part of the city, American troops were already seen in the streets by around 8 p.m. Monday, an insurgent who identified himself as Abu Mustafa said in a telephone conversation. He said insurgent forces were staying fluid, moving around the city to reinforce spots as they were attacked by the Americans." [Note: This too is good news. If the plan of the insurgents is to reinforce areas where the Americans are attacked -- that is, areas where the Americans are strong -- then they will fail. The insurgents should be reinforcing areas where the Americans are weak, and hitting them there. To do the opposite is a violation of the most fundamental rules of warfare. But it successfully makes for martyrdom.] "The prime minister said 38 rebels had been captured in the initial assault on Sunday, on the main hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River. Four foreign fighters - two Moroccans and two non-Iraqi Arabs - were arrested, he added." [Note: Earlier US estimates said about 10-20% of the insurgents are foreigners. This seems to be holding water for now.]