The United States-led coalition in Iraq on Monday night unveiled a fresh political blueprint to end the three-week siege of Falluja, but warned that it was fully prepared to seize the city by force if its demands were not met.
US officials in Baghdad said they had reached a deal with civic leaders in Falluja to avoid another devastating offensive. Both sides had called on resistance fighters in the city to give up their heavy weapons, they said.
”It would appear there is an agreed political track,” the US military’s spokesperson Major General Mark Kimmitt said. He added: ”There is also a very clear understanding … that should this agreement not go through, marine forces are more than prepared to carry through with military operations.” The US troops around Falluja could seize the city ”in fairly short order”, he said.
But it was not clear on Monday night whether Sunni fighters in Falluja were prepared to accept the US terms. The civic leaders who agreed on Monday’s communique after days of negotiations do not directly represent Iraq’s Sunni resistance. They are believed to have influence over them, however.
Over the past three weeks US soldiers have killed more than 600 Iraqis in Falluja in an attempt to crush insurgents. Around 1 000 Iraqis have been wounded. The militants have previously insisted that no deal can be struck until the Americans pull back from the town.
On Monday the US military said it intended to shorten the curfew and allow humanitarian access. Iraqi security forces would also return to their posts under the deal, US spokesperson Dan Senor said, and refugees could begin to return. He added: ”The parties agreed that coalition forces do not intend to resume offensive operations if all persons inside the city turn in their heavy weapons. Individual violators will be dealt with on individual basis.”
Monday’s announcement came amid signs that agreement may also have been reached on the US’s key demand that those responsible for the killing and mutilation of four American security contractors in Falluja last month be handed over.
Hachim Hassani, a member of Iraq’s governing council who has been leading negotiations, said the Americans had agreed to allow an Iraqi judge to try the attackers. ”This accomplishes a very important goal — establishing law and government system in the city,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
The US military, however, has insisted that it will still be involved in the process.
After a bloody weekend in which at least nine US soldiers were reported killed, the situation in Iraq on Monday was comparatively calm.
However, US troops were reported to have shot dead two employees of the US-funded television station al-Iraqiya on Monday in the central city of Samara.
Correspondent Asaad Kadhim and driver Hussein Saleh were killed and cameraman Bassem Kamel wounded ”after US forces opened fire on them while they were performing their duty”, the station said.
There were no reports of fighting in Najaf, where US forces have encircled the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army. The cleric had earlier announced a two-day ceasefire to mark the anniversary of the death of the prophet Mohammed.
On Sunday Sadr, who has been leading a Shia uprising against the US occupation, ordered an immediate halt on attacks against Spanish forces in Iraq. His order followed Spain’s announcement that it is to withdraw its 1 300 troops.
Iraqis should now ”maintain the safety of Spanish forces until they return home”, Sadr said.
The decision by Spain’s new prime minister, José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero, to withdraw Spanish troops leaves a gaping hole in the coalition’s 9 500-strong Polish-led multinational force in south-central Iraq.
On Monday Poland’s defence minister, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, admitted the division would have to ”reorganise”.
It was also not clear what would happen to 1 000 Spanish-speaking soldiers from El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, currently under Spanish command, although Honduras said yesterday it was evaluating a possible pullout of its 370 troops.
President George Bush, in a phone call initiated by Zapatero, warned Madrid against giving ”false comfort to terrorists”, the White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said. – Guardian Unlimited Â