U.S.Troops Urge Civilians to Leave Iraqi Rebel City(detaining men under45)

[maddezmom]

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces warned residents of Falluja through loudspeakers and leaflets on Friday that they would detain any man under 45 trying to enter or leave the rebel-held Iraqi city.


U.S. troops also urged residents, in Arabic, to help them capture "terrorists" and warned women and children to leave the Sunni Muslim city, locals said.


The U.S. military had no immediate comment.


U.S. troops are poised for a major offensive on Falluja and the nearby rebel stronghold of Ramadi to crush foreign militants and Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists they say are entrenched there.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20041105/ts_nm/iraq_dc

:eyes:

edited to add: headline and info changes since OP


U.S. Tells Civilians to Flee Rebel Iraqi City

~snsip~
"We are making last preparations. It will be soon. We are just awaiting orders from Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi," Marine Colonel Michael Shupp told Reuters near Falluja.


Many residents have already fled the Sunni Muslim city of 300,000, about 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.


U.S. warplanes and artillery bombarded Falluja on Friday, residents said, and rebels fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces on the city outskirts.


There was no immediate word on casualties. Ambulances were waiting for fighting to ease before venturing on to the streets.

~snip~

[2Design]

1. why not just line them up before a firing squad - same thing -

democracy in action will kill you or your husband, son, father

[leftchick]

3. as a marine itching to fight said on Friday.....

"Leave or we will kill you." It is the ameriKan way.....

[maddezmom]

4. there better be embeds on the ground to see what they do with the men

under 45 that they detain.

[Nihil]

12. As truthful, impartial and honest as the last lot?

I'm sure all the loyal inbreds/inbeds/embeds/serfs have already typed
up the CentCom official releases for the next few days, dutifully
recording the bravery of the valiant heroes, the successful destruction
of the insurgency bases and the comparatively low collateral damage.

Any who have refused (or failed) to submit suitable articles will have
been moved to "alternative locations".

[saigon68]

25. Rumsfeld "Kill them all"

"Let God sort them Out."

[wtmusic]

31. s68 is that quote for real? n/t

[saigon68]

45. No it isn't ------ its my attempt to fire this place up a little

[LivingInTheBubble]

26. Mass graves

In a year or so some govt press release will say how they have found a mass grave and it must have been saddam..

[jmcgowanjm]

34. funerals will be staged by Fremen for captured family

Dune-Herbert

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

41. "Red America" has already indicated that they couldn't give a flying

fuck what happens to our victims/captives. Whatever horrors await these POW's in our Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo dungeons are not the concern of these people as long as they don't have to look at pictures of it over their TV dinners.

Anyone dumb enough to get caught perpetrating acts of torture can become "Scapegoats of the Empire".

[2Design]

6. yes but they won't let the men leave - they are going to kill them

anyway

they want them to turn in their weapons and they will shoot them

and they want them to leave a city but won't let the men leave - this is out right murder - I am sure christ loves these christian actions

[Armand04]

2. Sieg Heil!!!

Duby-ass stormtroopers in actions ... Disgusting ... Sieg Heil!!!

Proud Member of the Spanish Workers Socialist Party (PSOE)

[LibDemAlways]

5. So they want to kill every male

under 45? What's the lower-end cut-off? 10? 5?
Mindlessly slaughtering people just because they happen to be Iraqis?
We have become Nazis.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

8. lower end is 14, I think

They're not letting any males older than that to leave, I believe. So, if you're the mother of a male teenager, you have the Solomon's choice of leaving your child to die, or staying with your other children to die with him.

[Sara Beverley]

7. Just like Herod--kill all the males. It's genocide folks. American

sponsored genocide and the rest of the world just sits back and shakes their collective heads, as do we.

[kslib]

9. So I debated on posting this

but, a few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend of mine and her family. Her brother is in the marine ROTC. He made a comment that really, really bothered me, but I hesitated to post it because I'm not really sure that it is at all representative of the majority of troops (or, like him, troops-in-training). He said that he couldn't wait to go over there (Iraq) and shoot him some people. He said that if he saw a child on the street that he would put "two in the head, one in the chest" even if (s)he wasn't armed. Ask questions later, they're all our enemy. I found this extremely disturbing. Later that day, he carried the flag onto the field in our college homecoming game. When he came to sit with us, everyone was pouring out their support to him (as a man in uniform), but I just couldn't. It really affects the way that I see the uniform now. Even though I disagree with the war, I still support the troops, but I wonder how many more are like him. I know of at least one, because his friend was with us, and echoed the same sentiments.

:scared:

[maddezmom]

11. I pray they are in the minority

and the fact that many are so young, they are likely "brainwashed"...remember that most of Faux viewers still think Saddam and 9/11 were connected. :(

[kslib]

15. yes!

There is obviously a bad culture going on in this situation.

[TahitiNut]

50. A 'minority' can be 49.9%

Sadly, among the 10-20% of troops who're in the combat arms and regarded as "front line" troops, I'd guess this attitude is common to a plurality. It's an attitude that survives military training and indoctrination (pacifist attitudes DO NOT).

Wishing this to be a 'minority,' and even being granted one's wish, would not under any circumstance have precluded the full range of abuses and atrocities committed by Nazi Germany.

[JohnyCanuck]

16. When I see TV news programs showing US troops in Iraq

I get the same visceral feeling of contempt and disgust as I get watching old newsreel footage of German troops invading Poland in 1939.

[MisterP]

19. millions of Americans thought My Lai was a GOOD thing

some say Milosevic's genocide against the Bosnians was a-okay as they're all terrorists.

[kslib]

28. I'm so conflicted!

I think killing innocent people is so wrong, but I want to support our troops. They are someone's kid or spouse or parent, and many of them never expected to have to fight so long (or ever). Yes, I know that they signed up for it, but a lot of these soldiers needed a way to help pay for school. (it's tough, and getting tougher) I also know that many Americans can't or won't see the flip side. The people we are killing are also someone's kid or spouse or parent. How sad to lose the human face of war. I think it's very unfortunate that our media doesn't do stories of "regular" Iraqi citizens and the impact this is having on them. One face at a time. There is a lot of this kind of story-telling about our soldiers. 'sigh' I'm just sick of it I guess. I'm starting to lose the fire and fight, and starting to gain the resignation.

[wtmusic]

29. Don't support "our" troops

"Our" troops have invaded a sovereign nation and are busy killing off anyone that resists. I don't support them, I don't support what they're doing, and I never will.

The ones with any moral fiber whatsoever have gone to jail rather than participate in this massacre.

[Dangerman]

40. I don't support "our" troops, neither.

[mike_c]

47. all murderers are someone's kid or spouse or parent....

We still put them in cages to protect the innocent. The military puts them to use killing the innocent.

I don't support them. They're killing civilians and partisan resistance fighters IN MY NAME. I take exceptional offense at their misuse of my authority.

[jasmineblue]

46. He's not the only one

and it's not only a reaction to the "War on Terrorism" either. my husband's sister is married to a retired Marine (retired about 2 years ago). While still on active duty as a recruiter, in 1999 before--- *W* & before 9/11 & the "War on Terrorism" to justify their mindset, we were at their house where a few of the other recruiters were hanging out. I couldn't believe they were talking about the Gulf War & the reasons they joined the marines was to "be able to kill somebody legally"! I was speechless. He's probably really upset that he retired before the Iraq War & is missing all that "fun & legal killin'. Makes me sick. NOTE: He happens to be married to my husband's sister, but is NO RELATION to us!

[Catfight]

10. Ah yes....like gas chambers, only sand chambers...how christian.

[saigon68]

22. FALLUJAGRAD

Fallujagrad

The “Real Iraqi Resistance” has already left Fallujagrad..

The only ones remaining are a few die hards that want to kill as many amerikans as possible
before they die. They have set thousands of mines and booby traps.

The war in Iraq-Nam is only starting.

It will be the WARSAW GHETTO part 2

As General Jurgen Stroop of the Marines levels the city. And exterminates the remaining
inhabitants



Stroop crushed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. SS Major General
Jurgen Stroop (center) looked on as the Warsaw ghetto went up in
flames. The Nazis resorted to burning the ghetto, building by
building, in order to flush out any Jewish fighters remaining in
the ghetto. Sentenced to death by an American Military Tribunal
for shooting American pilots, he was subsequently extradited to
Poland, retried, sentenced to death and executed in Warsaw in
1951.

[jmcgowanjm]

36. Difference-these guys, the IR have everything

& more than the Chechens in Grozny.

IMHO-I think most everyone here is underestimating the
force that is lined up against us.

More than 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines have
taken positions around Fallujah for an expected assault, as
U.S. jets pummeled insurgent targets Friday and troops
blocked key roads. Iraq 's prime minister warned the "window
is closing" to avert an offensive.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

The Baath Socialist command will wait for us to fully engage
in Fallujah.

Then Ramadi will explode.

At the same time BW will be engaged in Latifiyah/
SW Baghdad.

Forces have left Baqouba/Samarra undermanned.

And then, there's Little Falluja/Hayfa St, Baghdad.
---
US column caught in Resistance pincer attack between al-Karmah and Abu Ghurayb.

Thursday 110404
A US column was reported caught in an Iraqi Resistance
pincer movement in the area around al-Karmah (north
of al-Fallujah) and Abu Ghurayb, south of Baghdad. The
US column set out at sunset on Wednesday to come to the aid
of other American aggressor forces in al-Fallujah but fell into
a Resistance trap in al-Karmah. The Americans tried to fall
back but were attacked by the Resistance fighters coming
from Abu Ghurayb.

www.islammemo.com

[Neecy]

38. well...

I think this is more like the Czech town in WWII that the Germans entered, sent away the women and children, and machine-gunned the men.

You know that between the airstrikes and the shelling there won't be much left there save for smoking rubble and dead civilians.

This makes me sick, but hey, the will of the Amerikan people...

[Nihil]

13. Hope they remembered the bulldozers ...

... for the mass graves (just like in the other "attacks for peace").

I know that many of the troops are good men & women and I pity them.
The world will only remember them with the broad brush of "mass murderer".

My thoughts and hopes for the coming storm are not with the bombers at
10,000 feet up, the brave artillerymen, the courageous tank crew or the
unstoppable jarheads.

My goodwill is reserved for the Iraqis at the focus point: the children
sheltering from armour-piercing shells behind mud walls, the imams trying
to give solace where there is only fear, the resistance fighter with
his archaic bolt-action rifle, the damned waiting for hell to break,
their only remaining hope being to take one of the murderous infidels
to damnation with them.

Nihil

[prayin4rain]

14. I am confused by this why can't the men leave too?

I read another story that said the same thing when they attacked another city. A family who was fleeing the city because they had received a flier or something and then got to the border of the city and then apparently due to poor communication from our military sometimes the soldiers guarding the borders wouldn't let them out. Then a family had to beg the soldier to let the thirteen year old little boy leave with the rest of the family and the soldier did finally agree (which it is likely the soldier was only about 5 years older than the little boy).. I blame the administration %1000. Sounds like it is a fucking mess in there for everyone. But why are they making the men of fighting age stay and fight even if they don't want to? Does anyone know?

[Bridget Burke]

17. Because they're all potential "Insurgents"

So they need to die.

Any that are still alive after this will surely become insurgents. And the little brothers who survive. And probably some of the women.

[Englander]

18. Allawi Warns Fallujah Rebels of Deadline

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4598026,00.html
>>``We intend to liberate the people and to bring the rule of law to Fallujah,'' Allawi told reporters in Brussels after meeting with European Union leaders. ``The window really is closing for a peaceful settlement.''

>>Allawi spoke in English. An Arabic-language TV channel, al-Arabiya, quoted him as saying ``the window had closed,'' apparently a mistranslation.

>>``We have been asked by the people of Fallujah to help them liberate them from the terrorists and insurgents,'' he said. Allawi said most of the city's civilian population had left.<<

So,if most of the population has left, all those killed by the wehrmacht will be evildoers.

[wtmusic]

30. Beware: he said 'liberate'

why does that always end up meaning 'annihilation'?

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

20. Genocide

I don't support the troops anymore. I have a nephew in the army in Iraq and he is so proud to have voted for Bush again. He has a wife and three kids at home---I cannot support him or the other human slime!!!!!!

[beniciodeltoro]

21. War crimes;Massacre;Genocide. Hello good Germans!

[saigon68]

23. here we are





Pictured here are German sappers assigned to blow up the bunkers where the Jews were hiding,
together with Jews that had been removed from one of the bunkers; apparently on May 8, 1943

[0007]

51. ......how many times have we seen this exact scenario?

First the plead to turn in your arms for cash. Then a few more air strikes to incite more fear. Then the propaganda leaflets.Then Allawi announces that this is your last chance. One more time, "We have the place surrounded, no one will escape alive...... then the U.S. sez, "We don't negotiate with Terrorist." Then the U.S. pulls back while the world watches. Then the scenario starts all over again. Oh, I almost forgot we have polls, lots of 'em.

[anarchy1999]

24. I think we need a media blitz on this, is it possible?

Please don't let this happen. We just can't.

[Jerseygirltoo]

27. Because every Iraqi is a potential enemy

This is another nasty trick that the US learned from the Israeli Defense Forces. And remember what happened when the Serbs held all the men at Srebenica? The families will refuse to leave, and abandon their husbands, sons, & fathers, so many women & children will get killed in the coming attack. But the US will say, hey we offered to let them go.
I am sickened by this.

[leftchick]

32. Does this poor fellow look under 45???

Photo from the front page google news....




A Fallujah resident is cared for in a hospital in the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, Iraq Friday.(AP/Bilal Hussein)

[wtmusic]

33. 'Saddam loyalists'? Oferchrissake...

how about, "Iraqis who want the US the fuck out of their country"?
:grr:

[Darranar]

35. So we're just going to slaughter the males under 45...

I feel so much better about this....

Nice to know that we support the rule of law, too.

[Az_lefty]

37. Overlooked the part were we are taking orders from Allawi..

We are just awaiting orders from Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi,"
I guess this is OK with bushco being that it's not the UN.

[maddezmom]

39. Allawi is just waiting for CENTCOM

to say green light

[moondust]

42. Holy War.

U.S. gummit at war with religious wackos on behalf of religious wackos. Welcome to the Middle Ages.

[MRDU]

43. US Troops now under foreign control

We are making last preparations. It will be soon. We are just awaiting orders from Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi," Marine Colonel Michael Shupp told Reuters near Falluja.

AWAITING ORDERS? Allawi now has a veto? Over our troops? And I thought they gave Kerry a bunch of shit about giving France a veto.

Shameful!

[demgrrrll]

44. He rejected Annan's letter from the U N too. eom

.

[Cocoa]

49. it's just the "sovereignty" sham

this is an American operation, on an American timetable. They waited til after the election since they expect a ton of deaths.

[mike_c]

48. the coalition WANTS a slaughter....

Why else provide only Solomon's choices to the civilians left inside Falluja? For the men, either stay and die, or surrender and be imprisoned. They might as well fight. For women with teenaged children or with husbands, either leave them to their deaths, or stay and die with them.

[VegasWolf]

52. I had thought Iraq would be the new Vietnam from the get go,

now we are beginning to dis the troops. If I remember
correctly, it was for the same reasons, the massive killing
of innocent Vietnamese women and children that turned a
lot of folks against the war. I thought this country
could never get into such a failed war again, but bush's
stupidity surpasses all rational logic.

We are the occupiers, these people are fighting for their
homeland. Killing massive Iraqis in Fallujah will only
strengthen their resolve, not end the resistance to the
foreigners. Here, we are the terrorists.