OK, now this is a shocker. Who would’ve imagined:
Iraqi rebels are creeping back into areas cleared by US marines in Fallujah, where the military continues daily to secure homes and try to seize weapons caches before they can be used to again attack US and Iraqi troops, marines say.
“The last few days we found 20, 25 guys in houses that were already cleared,” said one marine.
But, apparently reconstruction is going well:
But marines Tuesday were taking no chances as they blasted homes with heavy machine-gun fire and grenades before climbing from roof to roof and storming the empty buildings, according to an AFP correspondent embedded with the unit.
Meanwhile, Fallujah’s refugees are facing winter in their refugee camps:
More than 200,000 people who fled Fallujah ahead of the US offensive have yet to return and many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing, a new UN emergency report says.
Figures compiled by the International Organisation for Migration show that 210,600 people, or more than 35,000 families, have taken refuge in towns and villages around Fallujah.
Nearly all those people remain outside the city, where the population was estimated at 250,000-300,000 before the attack.
US forces are maintaining a cordon around Fallujah as sporadic fighting continues.
Troops are preventing refugees from returning, saying they want to stagger the return so that basic facilities can be restored before people go home.
Most areas of the city remain without power, water, sewage and other basic services.
It is expected to take much longer than previously thought to start reconstruction as hundreds of buildings are completely destroyed.
“The return to Fallujah may take a matter of months rather than days, as was previously suggested by multi-national forces,” the document said.
But the US military is winning the hearts and minds of the hungry civilians trapped in Fallujah:
The US military is also attempting to provide assistance.
At one aid distribution point it recently delivered a supply of American snack food, including frosted flakes, granola bars and bagel chips to needy families, many of whom were left confused by the foreign food and frustrated.
At least some of the troops are forming a more realistic view of what they’re up against in Fallujah:
Marines at 1-3 Charlie Company’s small toe-hold in the city, an abandoned school surrounded by sprawling homes in the largely affluent neighborhood, say they have been frustrated by rebels who appear beaten one day, only to turn up again another.
But they also say with increasingly fewer marines — several units have already left the city following the November attack — there is virtually no way to keep rebels from taking up refuge in cleared buildings.
“If you want to keep this place secured, you need a whole lot of bodies,” said one marine corporal.
Meanwhile, this is Baghdad today:
