FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Gunmen Celebrate in Fallujah The new "Fallujah Brigade," led by Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, fanned out and imposed a cordon around nearly the entire southern half of Fallujah, replacing Marines who were pulling back to set up a second cordon, some five miles from the city.
The willingness to install a relatively unknown armed force with ties to the ousted regime at the forefront of the Fallujah standoff was a sign of U.S. eagerness to find a way out of the siege, which raised an international outcry and angered many Iraqi leaders who supported the United States.
A U.S. officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Fallujah model, though not a "hard and fast" policy, might be applied elsewhere.
The force came about suddenly — a dramatic reversal less than a week after the United States was threatening to launch a new offensive into Fallujah. The former generals approached Marine commanders and offered to take over security duties in the city using their own former soldiers, the military official said.
Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, insisted that the U.S. withdrawal did not mean a let-up in the pursuit of the guerrillas. He said Saleh — who served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard and as a commander of the Iraqi army's 38th Infantry Division — has presented a plan to confront the city's hard-core militants.
"They understand our view that these people must be killed or captured," Conway said. "They have not flinched. And their commander has said as much to his assembly of officers."
Conway said the Iraqi force will be made up of 1,100 fighters, mostly former army soldiers. Another senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 700 fighters had been gathered under the force so far.
The Fallujah Brigade, effectively, turns some of the insurgents — those who joined for money or resentment at losing their jobs when Saddam's army was disbanded last year — against the more ideological anti-U.S. guerrillas.
Former Iraqi generals are putting together the force, and the ex-soldiers have been their "recruiting pool," Conway said. He added that he could not rule out that some of the recruits may have fired on his Marines.
"I'd like to think that has not been the case, but I can't say categorically that it hasn't," he told reporters outside of the city.
The senior U.S. military official said the brigade may be more or less a reconstitution of Saddam-era military units from the Fallujah area.
Conway said he was not concerned that the Iraqi forces, which will be under his overall command, might carry out atrocities or resort to unlawful methods in its hunt for insurgents. But he said Marines would be quick to stop them if they did.
"We don't see any extremism in any fashion in this group of Iraqi general officers," he said. "We're not concerned about that at this point. ... There will be no horrific acts."
The willingness to install a relatively unknown armed force with ties to the ousted regime at the forefront of the Fallujah standoff was a sign of U.S. eagerness to find a way out of the siege, which raised an international outcry and angered many Iraqi leaders who supported the United States.
A U.S. officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Fallujah model, though not a "hard and fast" policy, might be applied elsewhere.
The force came about suddenly — a dramatic reversal less than a week after the United States was threatening to launch a new offensive into Fallujah. The former generals approached Marine commanders and offered to take over security duties in the city using their own former soldiers, the military official said.
Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, insisted that the U.S. withdrawal did not mean a let-up in the pursuit of the guerrillas. He said Saleh — who served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard and as a commander of the Iraqi army's 38th Infantry Division — has presented a plan to confront the city's hard-core militants.
"They understand our view that these people must be killed or captured," Conway said. "They have not flinched. And their commander has said as much to his assembly of officers."
Conway said the Iraqi force will be made up of 1,100 fighters, mostly former army soldiers. Another senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 700 fighters had been gathered under the force so far.
The Fallujah Brigade, effectively, turns some of the insurgents — those who joined for money or resentment at losing their jobs when Saddam's army was disbanded last year — against the more ideological anti-U.S. guerrillas.
Former Iraqi generals are putting together the force, and the ex-soldiers have been their "recruiting pool," Conway said. He added that he could not rule out that some of the recruits may have fired on his Marines.
"I'd like to think that has not been the case, but I can't say categorically that it hasn't," he told reporters outside of the city.
The senior U.S. military official said the brigade may be more or less a reconstitution of Saddam-era military units from the Fallujah area.
Conway said he was not concerned that the Iraqi forces, which will be under his overall command, might carry out atrocities or resort to unlawful methods in its hunt for insurgents. But he said Marines would be quick to stop them if they did.
"We don't see any extremism in any fashion in this group of Iraqi general officers," he said. "We're not concerned about that at this point. ... There will be no horrific acts."
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