For victory in Fallujah, land grab not enough
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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld likes to say that US forces will fight battles &quot;at a time and place of our choosing,&quot; another way of saying, &quot;seize
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The massive military operation to retake Fallujah has been âaccomplishedâ, a senior Iraqi official said today. Fierce fighting continued in the war-torn city where pockets of resistance were still holding out against US forces.
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(CBS/AP) American forces pushed deeper into the southern reaches of Fallujah, cornering militants backed into smaller pockets of the city.
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As Iraqi officials declared Fallujah liberated, U.S. forces continued intense combat operations aimed at securing the last section of the city.
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The recapture of Fallujah has not broken the insurgents' will to fight and may not pay the big dividend U.S. planners had hoped &#151; to improve security enough to hold national elections in Sunni Muslim areas of central Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi assessments.
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So, the long-postponed offensive in Fallujah is finally under way, though it&#39;s unclear to what end. Hundreds, probably thousands, of insurgents will be killed.
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When the first bullets snapped by overhead, Iraqi civilians collecting corpses in Fallujah on Wednesday stood confused, rooted to the ground &#151; until U.S. Marines opened up on the insurgents with heavy machine guns. That sent the workers dashing for cover.
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WASHINGTON - The steady advance of US-led troops into the rebel stronghold of Fallujah does not mean smooth sailing ahead either in that city or, more broadly, in Iraq as a whole as the American-led coalition seeks to rout the insurgents.
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Insurgents tried to break through the US cordon surrounding Fallujah on Thursday as American forces launched an offensive against concentrations of militants in the south of the city.
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SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq -- This week's invasion of Fallujah is a direct test of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's yardstick for measuring American success against terrorism: The question is whether US and Iraqi forces can capture or kill more insurgents in the rebel city than are being recruited and deployed elsewhere in Iraq.
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The assault on Fallujah by US and Iraqi forces entered its fifth day on Saturday, with US officials saying they are close to gaining complete control of the city.
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NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The hulks of the 69-ton M1A1 Abrams tanks were barely visible on the dark desert plain, but the rumble of their engines filled the night.
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Nearly all of  Fallujah's 250,000 residents emptied the city  in advance of the military operation. The city partially reopened to residents on Dec. 23, and U.S. military officials now estimate that 60,000 people have come back, but not everyone who has returned has opted to stay.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Captain Paul Fowler sat on the curb next to a deserted gas station. Behind him, smoke rose over Fallujah. His company of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles had roamed the eastern third of the city for 13 days, shooting holes in every building that might pose a threat, leaving behind a landscape of half-collapsed houses and factories ...
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U.S. military officials said Saturday that American troops had now "occupied" the entire city of Fallujah and there were no more major concentrations of insurgents still fighting after nearly a week of intense urban combat.
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Iraq&#39;s national security adviser says the massive military operation to retake Fallujah &quot;is accomplished,&quot; with only a few pockets of resistance remaining.
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The U.S. military's ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine commander who planned the offensive said Sunday.