*EPF103 11/15/2004
Defense Department Report, November 15: Iraq Operational Update
(Abizaid says coalition will fight insurgents until none left in Iraq) (420)

Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the battle to rid Fallujah of insurgents has proceeded according to plan, but a commander closer to the scene said November 15 that some of the insurgents slipped out of the coalition's grasp and have moved elsewhere to fight anew.

When Myers flew into Baghdad on November 14, he said the battle for Fallujah had gone "pretty well as planned," but later Marine Colonel Michael Regner said some of the insurgents have moved on to fight in Ramadi and other Iraqi cities.

Regner, who is the operations officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, briefed the press at the Pentagon via teleconference from Fallujah November 15. While the city is basically secure, he said, military operations continue to clear the city of weapons and small pockets of resistance forces. Although Iraqi, Marine and Army forces "can go anywhere at any time" in Fallujah, he also said Marines are still fighting in certain parts of the city.

Army General John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, made his own visit to Iraq November 14, and he said coalition forces would fight the insurgents until they had nowhere to left to hide. "We will fight them until there are none ... left to fight," he vowed.

In his update on the Fallujah action, known as Operation al-Fajr, Regner said 37 Americans and six Iraqis have been killed. He said 320 Americans have been wounded in action, but 134 have returned to duty. The Iraqi military reports 28 wounded in battle, while two have returned to the fight. The Iraqi military forces have done "an excellent job," he said, and have blended in alongside coalition forces.

Regner said the number of detainees being held as a result of the fighting in Fallujah has passed the 1,050 mark, and is expected to climb even higher overnight.

The U.S. military official also said that he had shown Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Alawi videotapes of the precise and accurate targeting of coalition munitions in the close quarters of Fallujah. Regner said Alawi was pleased with the level of precision targeting.

Regner said he showed the prime minister a photo with several snipers positioned in a minaret. In a subsequent image, the minaret was taken down, but not a single brick from it had fallen upon the mosque.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents