American troops prepare for assault on Sunni stronghold

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Originally posted by: BBond
Originally posted by: Tylanner
Bobby,

I get a sense from your posts that your still clinging to the thought that the U.S. can still back out of Iraq. We are well past the point of no return.

Sorry to ruin your parade, but warfare has become far more complex than lining up across from one other and charging.

We would not win a war of attrition, they have got to be delt with. How, is not our choice, it's theirs.

Once again, the name is Bill you moron.

Its funny to watch your arguments evaporate into thin air, until all thats left is correcting people as to your name!!
:laugh:

It's even funnier to watch you being "almost all wrong" and then getting a simple name like Bill wrong as well.

You can't get a fact straight, you can't even get a name straight.

Here's something Rush and Hannity obviously aren't covering.

A sign of the times in the "New USA"?

We are now forced to depend on foreign sources for news.

Americans and rebels begin talks on timetable for withdrawal from Iraq

By Patrick Cockburn

22 February 2005

American officials are talking to negotiators from the anti-US resistance in Iraq, whom they have denounced in the past as foreign fighters and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Insurgent leaders and Pentagon officials have confirmed to Time magazine that talks have taken place for the first time in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Sunni guerrillas want a timetable for a US withdrawal, first from Iraqi cities and then from the country as a whole. American officials aim to see if they can drive a wedge between nationalist guerrillas and fanatical Islamist groups.

Abu Marwan, a resistance commander, is quoted as saying that the insurgents want to "fight and negotiate". They are modelling their strategy on that of the IRA and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. This means creating a united political organisation with a programme opposed to the US occupation.

US military commanders are now dubious about the chances of winning an outright military victory over the Sunni rebels who have a firm core of supporters among the five million-strong Sunni Muslim community. The US military has lost 1,479 dead and 10,740 wounded in Iraq since the invasion began in March 2003.

The talks so far are tentative but they indicate a recognition on the part of the US that it will need a political solution. Those willing to sit down with US diplomats and officials are "nationalists" composed primarily of former military and security officers from Saddam's Hussein's government.

The Iraqi resistance is highly fragmented and regionalised. Groups often only exist in a single city. In guerrilla warfare this may be an advantage since no command structure can be penetrated or disrupted.

The speed with which the insurgents became so effective after the American invasion is explained by many of the fighters being professional soldiers, and their being unemployed after the Iraqi army was dissolved in May 2003.

The Islamist groups, of which the most notorious and heavily publicised is that led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have no intention of talking and have threatened to kill those who do. The cells behind the devastating suicide-bombing campaign are openly sectarian, targeting the Shia Muslim community as they pray or march in religious processions.

The fundamentalist militants believe that Iraq is an ideal location to fight the US. They have local sympathisers and can use the long, open borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria which are impossible to police. They are also well financed in a deeply impoverished country.

The slaughter of Shia civilians by suicide bombers has made it very difficult for the resistance to claim that it is a nationalist insurgency representing all Iraqis against the occupation. After six months of suicide bombings orchestrated from Fallujah against young army and police recruits, most Shia Muslims in Baghdad were delighted when the US Marines largely destroyed the city last November.

A problem for the US and the interim Iraqi government is that it is unclear if self-declared leaders of the resistance possess the authority that they claim. No less than 38 Sunni groups have said that they have carried out attacks on US forces. Many have only a shadowy existence.

There are signs that the different groups are trying to combine militarily and politically. Just as the US Marines were storming Fallujah in November the fighters in the largely Sunni Arab city of Mosul united to take it over. When the US Army counter-attacked, they did not stand and fight but melted away. Some nationalist groups in Mosul went out of their way to show that they were not sectarian by freeing a Christian businessman held by kidnappers. But, when the US Army damaged two mosques, another resistance cell responded by blowing up two Christian churches.

The new Iraqi government about to take office after the election on 30 January will be ambivalent about talks between the US and the resistance. A Shia-Kurdish administration is unlikely to have much sympathy with Sunni fanatics and former Baath party officials who persecuted them for years.

The new Iraqi army reflects this political make-up, being reliant on Kurds and Shias. It is too weak to withstand the onslaught of the insurgents without the backing of the US Army. It will therefore be impossible for the US to withdraw as the resistance demands.

? Two Indonesian journalists and a Jordanian driver freed by militants in Iraq as a "goodwill" gesture were stuck at the Iraq-Jordan border yesterday, waiting for permission from authorities to leave the country.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
0
Originally posted by: raildogg
Fallujah was a tactical success. A great tactical success. We basically liberated the city of terrorists.

Not our fault the terrorists destroyed it.

Oh and BBond, bash America and our soldiers some more :roll:

yes the terroists were the ones dropping bombs from plains and driving around in tanks.

I bet you would blame the russians for the destruction of stalingrad as well, eh?
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
0
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Originally posted by: BBond

According to al-Iyssaue, the hospital emergency team has recovered more than 700 bodies from rubble where houses and shops once stood, adding that more than 550 were women and children. He said a very small number of men were found in these places and most were elderly.

1200 =! 700

So, why do you say there were 1200 civilian casualties?

.

there is more than one "hospital emergency team" in a city the size of faluja. The rest of your post was garbage.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
1
0
Originally posted by: Tylanner
Bobby,

I get a sense from your posts that your still clinging to the thought that the U.S. can still back out of Iraq. We are well past the point of no return.

Sorry to ruin your parade, but warfare has become far more complex than lining up across from one other and charging.

We would not win a war of attrition, they have got to be delt with. How, is not our choice, it's theirs.

why can't we leave? Explain please?
 

Starbuck1975

Lifer
Jan 6, 2005
14,698
1,909
126
yes the terroists were the ones dropping bombs from plains and driving around in tanks.
No the terorrists were the ones hiding behind the protective garb of civilian clothes, utilizing soft targets likes schools, mosques and hospitals as command and control facilities, and targeting their own people as a means to spread hatred, chaos and confusion.

I bet you would blame the russians for the destruction of stalingrad as well, eh?
Poor analogy...the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad engaged in conventional warfare in that they wore the uniform of their nation and faced the German invaders...these "insurgents" in Falluja are engaging in unconventional warfare, which has taken some time for the American military to adapt to...that being said, for an urban combat situation, the civilian casualty rate in Falluja is substantially lower then that of Stalingrad or any other urban combat situation since the dawn of warfare.

There are signs that the different groups are trying to combine militarily and politically.
This is not necessarily a bad thing...considering that our objective is to turn Iraq back over to the Iraqis, it is an encouraging development that these insurgents and factions are bringing their concerns to the table in a diplomatic and political process rather then take to the streets, using violence as their outlet...leaders will rise from these combined political entities, who will have sway over the passions of the masses, and perhaps effectively negotiate a timetable for American withdrawal...how is this a bad thing?
 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
20,577
432
126
Ah, the classic BBond counterargument by posting op-ed pieces that have nothing to do with the issue. :)
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u...0040930/wl_nm/iraq_assault_report_dc_2
But Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, have been rocked by growing violence, including three car bombings Thursday that killed 41 people, most of them children.

The U.S. military has said that with the help of Iraqi forces it will retake rebel strongholds such as Samarra, Falluja, Ramadi and the Baghdad neighborhoods of Sadr City and Haifa Street by the end of the year so that elections can go ahead in January.

Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?
 

ntdz

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
6,989
0
0
Originally posted by: BBond
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Originally posted by: BBond
Originally posted by: Tylanner
Bobby,

I get a sense from your posts that your still clinging to the thought that the U.S. can still back out of Iraq. We are well past the point of no return.

Sorry to ruin your parade, but warfare has become far more complex than lining up across from one other and charging.

We would not win a war of attrition, they have got to be delt with. How, is not our choice, it's theirs.

Once again, the name is Bill you moron.

Its funny to watch your arguments evaporate into thin air, until all thats left is correcting people as to your name!!
:laugh:

It's even funnier to watch you being "almost all wrong" and then getting a simple name like Bill wrong as well.

You can't get a fact straight, you can't even get a name straight.

Here's something Rush and Hannity obviously aren't covering.

A sign of the times in the "New USA"?

We are now forced to depend on foreign sources for news.

Americans and rebels begin talks on timetable for withdrawal from Iraq

By Patrick Cockburn

22 February 2005

American officials are talking to negotiators from the anti-US resistance in Iraq, whom they have denounced in the past as foreign fighters and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Insurgent leaders and Pentagon officials have confirmed to Time magazine that talks have taken place for the first time in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Sunni guerrillas want a timetable for a US withdrawal, first from Iraqi cities and then from the country as a whole. American officials aim to see if they can drive a wedge between nationalist guerrillas and fanatical Islamist groups.

Abu Marwan, a resistance commander, is quoted as saying that the insurgents want to "fight and negotiate". They are modelling their strategy on that of the IRA and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. This means creating a united political organisation with a programme opposed to the US occupation.

US military commanders are now dubious about the chances of winning an outright military victory over the Sunni rebels who have a firm core of supporters among the five million-strong Sunni Muslim community. The US military has lost 1,479 dead and 10,740 wounded in Iraq since the invasion began in March 2003.

The talks so far are tentative but they indicate a recognition on the part of the US that it will need a political solution. Those willing to sit down with US diplomats and officials are "nationalists" composed primarily of former military and security officers from Saddam's Hussein's government.

The Iraqi resistance is highly fragmented and regionalised. Groups often only exist in a single city. In guerrilla warfare this may be an advantage since no command structure can be penetrated or disrupted.

The speed with which the insurgents became so effective after the American invasion is explained by many of the fighters being professional soldiers, and their being unemployed after the Iraqi army was dissolved in May 2003.

The Islamist groups, of which the most notorious and heavily publicised is that led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have no intention of talking and have threatened to kill those who do. The cells behind the devastating suicide-bombing campaign are openly sectarian, targeting the Shia Muslim community as they pray or march in religious processions.

The fundamentalist militants believe that Iraq is an ideal location to fight the US. They have local sympathisers and can use the long, open borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria which are impossible to police. They are also well financed in a deeply impoverished country.

The slaughter of Shia civilians by suicide bombers has made it very difficult for the resistance to claim that it is a nationalist insurgency representing all Iraqis against the occupation. After six months of suicide bombings orchestrated from Fallujah against young army and police recruits, most Shia Muslims in Baghdad were delighted when the US Marines largely destroyed the city last November.

A problem for the US and the interim Iraqi government is that it is unclear if self-declared leaders of the resistance possess the authority that they claim. No less than 38 Sunni groups have said that they have carried out attacks on US forces. Many have only a shadowy existence.

There are signs that the different groups are trying to combine militarily and politically. Just as the US Marines were storming Fallujah in November the fighters in the largely Sunni Arab city of Mosul united to take it over. When the US Army counter-attacked, they did not stand and fight but melted away. Some nationalist groups in Mosul went out of their way to show that they were not sectarian by freeing a Christian businessman held by kidnappers. But, when the US Army damaged two mosques, another resistance cell responded by blowing up two Christian churches.

The new Iraqi government about to take office after the election on 30 January will be ambivalent about talks between the US and the resistance. A Shia-Kurdish administration is unlikely to have much sympathy with Sunni fanatics and former Baath party officials who persecuted them for years.

The new Iraqi army reflects this political make-up, being reliant on Kurds and Shias. It is too weak to withstand the onslaught of the insurgents without the backing of the US Army. It will therefore be impossible for the US to withdraw as the resistance demands.

? Two Indonesian journalists and a Jordanian driver freed by militants in Iraq as a "goodwill" gesture were stuck at the Iraq-Jordan border yesterday, waiting for permission from authorities to leave the country.

Calm down Bob, quit posting articles that have nothing to do w/ the topic and start answering some of the questions posed in here. Specifically, where'd u get the 75% of Fallujah buildings destroyed fact? I want to see where it says that.
 
Feb 3, 2001
5,156
0
0
I hope they use a Neutron bomb on the place about 3 months before they send the troops in. Best to save as many of OUR guys' asses as possible.

Jason
 
Feb 3, 2001
5,156
0
0
Originally posted by: BBond
How would you know, Ntdz? Our subverted "free press" didn't report on Fallujah and you obviously didn't read any of the posts here.

I'll take the word of people who were there over you, the alcholic druggie, or the U.S. military embedded "free press."

Link

Link

Want more? Just do a search of P&N for "Fallujah".

Oh, so now P&N is a valid NEWS source? Keep reaching, BBond, maybe you'll find your fantasy somewhere!

Jason
 

CADsortaGUY

Lifer
Oct 19, 2001
25,162
1
76
www.ShawCAD.com
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?

Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
 

SuperTool

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
14,000
2
0
Why isn't Iraqi government taking care of the problem. They just had elections, it's their problem. What kind of sovereign government gets foreigner's help in fighting their own citizens?
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?

Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
Thanks for voting for the bastard that put them there in the first place!
 

ntdz

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
6,989
0
0
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?

Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
Thanks for voting for the bastard that put them there in the first place!

I'd gladly do it again.
 

umbrella39

Lifer
Jun 11, 2004
13,816
1,126
126
Originally posted by: ntdz
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?

Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
Thanks for voting for the bastard that put them there in the first place!

I'd gladly do it again.

Gladly you won't get the chance.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Originally posted by: ntdz
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?
Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
Thanks for voting for the bastard that put them there in the first place!
I'd gladly do it again.
You'd gladly send 1,500 of our men and women off to their deaths and spend $300 billion based upon deception?


Bravo to you. :roll:
 

HalosPuma

Banned
Jul 11, 2004
498
0
0
I wish our boys well. I don't want to see more injured and dead US soldiers. It that means laying siege to Ramadi and smashing it and everyone inside into the ground, then do it. We need to start focusing our attention on Iran, Syria, and North Korea and how we will kill our enemies.
 

ntdz

Diamond Member
Aug 5, 2004
6,989
0
0
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: ntdz
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: CADsortaGUY
Originally posted by: conjur
Well, the US military leveled Falluja and killed hundreds, probably thousands, of innocent civilians, some apparently in cold-blood. Then we moved on to Samarra. Now it's Ramadi. What's next?
Thanks for supporting our troops!

CsG
Thanks for voting for the bastard that put them there in the first place!
I'd gladly do it again.
You'd gladly send 1,500 of our men and women off to their deaths and spend $300 billion based upon deception?


Bravo to you. :roll:

No, I'd gladly vote for Bush again.
 

Dari

Lifer
Oct 25, 2002
17,133
38
91
Wow, it looks like Bbond is resorting to the same mistakes as BOBDN, by getting frustrated and calling people names. You don't help your cause by arguing with "fools."

Tone it down a little, man. You need to relax.
 

Dari

Lifer
Oct 25, 2002
17,133
38
91
Originally posted by: SuperTool
Why isn't Iraqi government taking care of the problem. They just had elections, it's their problem. What kind of sovereign government gets foreigner's help in fighting their own citizens?

It's a new nation. They need help. I thought you knew that.
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
In the interest of truth here is an article from the Washington Post on the U.S. destruction of and subsequent failure to rebuild Fallujah.

U.S. Feeling Pressure To Rebuild Fallujah

Troops Have Little Time to Secure Residents' Faith

By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 20, 2005; Page A24

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- A few days before U.S. ground forces invaded her city in early November, Raja Hamdi Hussein locked the gate of Taburak primary school, where she is director of girls, and fled to Baghdad to wait out the assault.

When she returned this month, she looked around the school and cried, Hussein said in her small office, cold from the wind that was blowing in through shattered windows. The white walls were covered with messages that U.S. troops presumably left when they searched the premises for insurgents and weapons.

A Marine patrols a street in Fallujah. The house is marked with an "X" to indicate that U.S. and Iraqi security forces have checked and cleared it for weapons. Family members who returned there after the military operation wrote "There is family" to indicate that civilians were inside.

"Fallujah Kill Bodys," one message read. "USA No. 1," said another. And on a wall behind her, next to framed verses from the Koran, the Islamic holy book: "We came. We saw. We took over all. P.S. To help you."

Schoolbooks were strewn about, the doors were broken down and student records were torn and scattered, Hussein said. The scene was almost too much to face, she said, grappling with how to move on with her life amid the rubble of the nearly two-month battle.

Like many residents who have returned to Fallujah, Hussein is not sure how she feels about the military operation that silenced a terrifying insurgency but left the city in ruins and with an occupying force whose armored vehicles roam the streets.

"I cried so much. This is my dear city," she said, clasping her plump fingers, which peeked out of the sleeves of a long black dress. "We were hoping the Americans would bring us a better life than we had."

As the battlefield is gradually transformed into a construction zone, U.S. officials acknowledge that they have a limited amount of time to establish faith among residents eager for life return to normal. If they do not rebuild the city quickly enough, the officials say, they risk losing their already tenuous support, a potentially dangerous situation with insurgents still reported in the city.

"We have a matter of weeks to get this right," said Col. John R. Ballard, commander of the Marine 4th Civil Affairs Group, based in Washington.

Much of Fallujah was destroyed by artillery rounds, gunfire and bombs, as U.S. forces battled insurgents who held the city for seven months. Most residents fled in advance of the operation, and those who returned expressed dismay at the destruction.

The Marines have paid $200 in reparations to each of about 3,200 families, an initial payout to help residents returning to the city, Ballard said. The Iraqi government is in charge of assessing damage to homes and businesses and awarding compensation, but Ballard said those payments had not yet been handed out.

"They've got a process designed," he said in an interview at the Marine civil affairs operations center in downtown Fallujah. "They have money, but it has not gone as quickly. We had a group of people in here the other day, and I asked people to raise their hands if anybody had been paid. Nobody had."

U.S. forces are working with local contractors and the Iraqi government to restore electricity and services. In the two months since residents were allowed back in the city, U.S. and Iraqi officials have reopened 10 schools, three medical clinics and two hospitals.

"We are seeing the population starting to rebuild itself," Ballard said. "In the last two to three weeks, bakeries, barbershops, markets have opened back up."

On some heavily damaged streets, traders have propped up their wares against piles of rock and debris, selling bicycles, bricks, brooms and cigarettes against the curtain of war. On Monday, Fallujah experienced its first traffic jam since the offensive. And in another sign of returning normality, Iraqis waited in miles-long lines for fuel, just like in any other city in this country.

As he waited in line, Saad Khalifa, 39, a taxi driver who lives in northern Fallujah, said he returned to the city on Feb. 1 and found his house demolished.

"We just came back and will start from zero," said Khalifa, who is married and has three children. "We have no other choice."

A Marine patrols a street in Fallujah. The house is marked with an "X" to indicate that U.S. and Iraqi security forces have checked and cleared it for weapons. Family members who returned there after the military operation wrote "There is family" to indicate that civilians were inside.

Khalifa said he applied for compensation from the Iraqi government to rebuild his house and was told he was eligible for the maximum, $4,000, "which is nothing."

"We can build only one room and a kitchen with this money," he said. "They should rebuild the city. Not for the sake of its people, but because they have to prove that they are better than the fighters."

The United States has earmarked about $130 million for initial reconstruction projects in Fallujah and initiated contracts for about half of them, said Cmdr. Alan Flenner of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineering Group.

Flenner said electricity should be restored by the end of April. Five of seven water stations are operating, providing running water to about 90 percent of the city, he said.

One priority for U.S. and Iraqi officials is seeing children return to school. Many students missed most of the school year.

Sami Abelkhader Abbas, director of Taburak primary school, said about 20 students showed up when the school reopened Feb. 5. Today the school, which teaches boys in one set of buildings and girls in another, has about 120 students, of the 387 who attended before the military operation.

Abbas said his students were psychologically affected by what happened to their city.

"Most of their houses have been damaged," he said. "Some of their houses were completely destroyed."

Abbas said he was worried about who would fix the school. The walls and ceilings are pocked with bullet holes, and most of the glass was knocked out during the fighting. The classrooms are cold, he said, and the children shiver in their coats.

Nonetheless, Abbas said he was pleased that the children were coming back. "They have to go back to the schools; otherwise, the whole year was a waste," he said. "Thank God for that."

In central Fallujah, Ali Dulaimi, 47, a teacher, dug through the rubble of his house. He returned to the city on Jan. 17 with his wife and five children.

"We hope they'll reconstruct the city," he said. "But our dream now is to have a room and a kitchen so we can live. The city will take two or three years to be rebuild. The U.S. forces didn't reconstruct anything. They only destroy."

Dulaimi said the compensation he expected was not enough, but was better than nothing.

"We have to accept our destiny," he said. "We helped the fighters, and that's the result. The fighters are not weak. They can be back in the streets in any minute."
 

BBond

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
8,363
0
0
PS

As stated in the OP -- now we're doing the same thing in Ramadi.

IRAQ: Ramadi residents flee city after latest US-led attacks

24 Feb 2005 14:41:07 GMT
Source: IRIN
RAMADI, 24 February (IRIN) - Residents of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province some 100 km east of Baghdad, have started to flee the city following the latest offensive launched by US Marines and the Iraqi army.

The military have carried out raids in the province over the past few days in an attempt to crack down on insurgents, with the main focus of operations eing Ramadi, a rebel stronghold.

Worried that the offensive could proceed as it did in nearby Fallujah, where he majority of the city's population was forced to flee during a near hree-month long campaign, many Ramadi families are taking personal effects and food supplies and heading to relatives' houses in the capital, or to the same camps where residents from Fallujah fled.

A number of checkpoints have been set up around the city of 400,000 and a curfew has been established. It runs from 2000 to 0600. Vehicles are being inspecting carefully and any suspect is being taken for further interrogation, Marines' spokesman Lt-Col Paul Brathen told IRIN.

"Many insurgents have escaped Fallujah to this area but they won't have time to take the city and our early operation will prevent that. People have started to flee the city but it's too early for that," Brathen added.

But citizens, exhausted by ongoing violence, are afraid and are choosing to leave before the situation worsens. "They want to destroy the whole area and build a New York City there, and for that they are tearing down everything. We want to live in peace. We are tired of fighting and bombs. God, please protect us," Muhammad Farhan, a father of five, who was fleeing the city with his family, told IRIN.

Government offices and shops have closed and people are having difficulties getting food supplies as the offensive came quickly and without warning, giving them no time to prepare.

A government official from the city, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN that they expected the situation to get much worse, especially in some areas of Ramadi where insurgents were putting up a strong fight. He added that most government officials had already left the city.

Firdous al-Abadi, a spokeswoman for the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), told IRIN that many people had been trapped in the university and inside mosques for over 48 hours as fighting raged outside.

"The government should take responsibility and provide those people with everything that is required for their survival," al-Abadi added. "People are tired of running from place to place."

Al-Abadi also said that the IRCS had sent a supply convoy last weekend to Fallujah, as nearly 100 families were still homeless inside the city after their homes were destroyed.

"This fighting should stop to prevent more displaced people in our country. If those already displaced are not receiving any help from the government, what will happen if more people become homeless?" al-Abadi asked.