One Year On: Mounting resistance leaves occupation increasingly desperate.

One year after the US occupation of Baghdad, “Madinat as-Salam,” “the City of Peace”, the brutal American aggressor forces are embroiled in a situation that, for them, becomes more desperate by the day. The Iraqi Resistance is continuing and stepping up its strikes despite the vicious use of the most sophisticated weaponry ever devised against the unarmed civilian population.

Friday Night: Fierce Resistance meets US ground attack on al-Jawlan neighborhood of al-Fallujah after intense American air attacks and artillery bombardment.

A violent battle erupted in the last hour before midnight (Mecca time) on Friday as US Marine invaders attempted to break into the western approaches to al-Fallujah, the al-Jawlan neighborhood of the defiant city, more specifically the American assault was centered on the area around al-Jisr al-Qadim (“the old overpass”) that links al-Fallujah General Hospital, which has been occupied by the US aggressors, with the rest of the city. The ground assault followed an intense bombardment of the city that lasted for several hours and left dozens dead and wounded.

At the same time, al-Jazeera reported that American aggressors were pounding the northwestern section of al-Fallujah with mortars as US military aircraft prowl the skies in the darkness over the city.

Just after midnight, Mecca time, in the first minutes of 10 April, al-Jazeera's correspondent in al-Fallujah reported that F-16 fighter bombers had resumed intense bombing of al-Jawlan neighborhood. There was no word at that hour about casualties from the intense bombardments and bombing to which that part of the city was subjected. Indeed, usually the casualty toll is difficult to assess until daybreak, particularly since US aircraft and snipers target ambulances and civilian cars in the streets.

Earlier, al-Jazeera TV reported on Friday night at about 9:45pm Mecca time that US F-16 fighter bombers and other US aircraft were intensely bombing al-Jawlan neighborhood in the besieged city of al-Fallujah. Further details were not immediately available.

The intense bombardment and ground assault followed assurances by the US deputy commander in Iraq, General Mark Kimmitt that the “cease fire” announced at noon Friday was still in force.

Al-Fallujah, Iraq's Defiant Bastion of Liberty, fights on for fifth straight day.

For four straight days under fierce and constant bombardment from the air, the Iraqi Resistance defenders of al-Fallujah smashed one American assault after another on their defiant city. Beaten, bloodied, exhausted and frustrated, the US invaders – in the person of proconsul L. Paul Bremer – declared a “cease fire” on the ground around al-Fallujah, but US fighter planes and helicopters continued their murderous round-the-clock air assaults on the residents and defenders of the Iraqi bastion of liberty.

Mafkarat al-Islam website (www.islammemo.cc) which has a correspondent inside al-Fallujah, reported that the US had halted its attempted advance into the city and had issued calls for supplies and reinforcements in order to resume the assault in coming days.

Determined to deny the aggressor time to catch his breath, the Resistance continued their attacks on the US invaders unabated. Ninety minutes after Bremer's declaration of a “cease fire,” the US Marine invader commander announced that the “cease fire” was at an end, yet the US army general Mark Kimmitt insisted that it was still in force. Western news agencies reported that the of the fighting in al-Fallujah seemed notably less intense than it had been on the four previous days.

Eyewitnesses reported that a US military convoy was attacked and set ablaze on the outskirts of al-Fallujah. Al-Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Iraqi Resistance has mounted a number of strikes against the occupation forces in the city and surrounding areas on Friday.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent in al-Fallujah describes conditions in the city as “frightful” with bodies and severed limbs lying about the streets as US aircraft thunder through the skies violently shelling, rocketing, and strafing homes. Clouds of smoke rise from every part of the besieged city. Ambulances and private cars dodge the looming US aircraft – which target anything that moves in the streets – to take corpses, body parts, and the wounded – most of them women and children – to makeshift medical centers and morgues. Al-Fallujah General Hospital itself was severely damaged by US shelling on the first day of the American attack, forcing doctors to set up field hospitals.

Doctors from al-Fallujah's hospital say that the health situation in the besieged city threatens catastrophe as the number of untended dead and wounded continues to rise, most of them women and children. Many of the wounded are likely to die because it is impossible for them to get to medical centers in the city.

Al-Jazeera's correspondent reports that the Resistance is waging fierce battles in al-Jawlan neighborhood for the fifth consecutive day, as American tanks shell and helicopters fire rockets and cannon into the once peaceful residential quarter.

Residents of al-Fallujah, many of them now homeless and bereaved, have begun to try to escape the inhuman nightmare that the US invaders have brought down upon their city where indiscriminate fire from American aircraft, artillery, and tanks. But al-Jazeeera's correspondent reports that a large number of the cars loaded with these new refugees are forced to turn back into the burning city for the US aggressor forces have blocked the roads.

Sa'dallah ar-Ruway, head of the city council, said that bodies of the dead and wounded fill the hospitals and mosques. A member of the city council and Director of al-Fallujah Hospital have issued an appeal to the world through al-Jazeera TV to intervene to put a halt to the bombing and shelling of the city, to allow medical aid into the city, and to permit the dead and wounded to be brought to medical centers and morgues.

Iraqi Resistance destroys several US military vehicles at the entrance to al-Fallujah.

Witnesses reported at around mid-afternoon on Friday that Iraqi Resistance fighters had attacked a US military convoy at the entrance to besieged al-Fallujah. Al-Jazeera TV reported that the Iraqi Resistance attack had left a number of US military vehicles destroyed. Al-Jazeera's correspondent had been interviewing local people from al-Fallujah on a rooftop in the city when the attack on the convoy took place. Al-Jazeera's camera was able to record the attack on film showing columns of thick black smoke rising from the scene.

Heavy fighting and intense bombardments continue on Friday afternoon, evening in al-Fallujah.

Ahmad Mansur, al-Jazeera's chief correspondent in besieged al-Fallujah, reported on Friday that US aircraft were carrying out constant and heavy bombardment of various parts of the city. The US aggressors were employing aircraft and artillery in their attacks, leaving dozens of dead and wounded as fierce battles between the aggressors and the Resistance fighters continued in several districts of the city. The American aggression continued despite the “cease fire” announced by US proconsul L. Paul Bremer which was supposed to have begun at noon on Friday.

Medical sources in al-Fallujah: 450 Iraqis dead, 1,000 wounded in US offensive.

Al-Jazeera TV reported on the authority of medical sources in the besieged city of al-Fallujah that the US aggressor attacks on the city have so far left 450 Iraqis dead and more than 1,000 wounded. The Director of al-Fallujah's main hospital told Reuters that at least 450 Iraqis had died and more than 1,000 others had been wounded in the US bombardment of the city which has been continuous for six days running.

Nine US aggressor troops killed near Abu Ghurayb.

Friday brought that at least nine American aggressor troops had been killed and an unspecified number of others injured – also believed to be Americans – in a rocket attack on a US military fuel convoy near Abu Ghurayb, a western suburb of Baghdad where the US has a major base and concentration camp for Iraqi prisoners. Al-Jazeera TV's correspondent reported that the attack destroyed three fuel tankers belonging to the US forces and crippled three Humvees. Later in the day, the US officially admitted to one of its soldiers being killed in the attack.

A report carried by the Agence France Presse (AFP) on Friday stated that Resistance fighters now control the road linking al-Fallujah with Abu Ghurayb.

One US soldier killed in Resistance attack in northern Baghdad.

Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked an American base in the northern part of Baghdad with light arms and grenades on Friday killing one US occupation soldier US wants al-Jazeera TV expelled from al-Fallujah.

Alarmed that al-Jazeera TV's team of reporters and cameramen in besieged al-Fallujah was broadcasting minute-by-minute evidence of American war crimes in that Iraqi bastion of liberty, US military authorities reportedly stipulated that al-Jazeera's team must be expelled from al-Fallujah before the US would agree to any cease fire in the city. Al-Jazeera had dispatched its distinguished veteran correspondent Ahmad Mansur to head its team in the besieged city. Mansur and his colleagues were able to get into al-Fallujah one day before the American assault on the 300,000 people of al-Fallujah began, and have been able to cover their defiant rejection of surrender and insistence upon jihad and Resistance.

US aggressors shoot directly at al-Jazeera TV crew twice on Friday.

Later on Friday, al-Jazeera's correspondent in defiant al-Fallujah city reported that US aggressor troops had aimed and fired at al-Jazeera's TV crew in the city. The correspondent said that the US forces had fired on the site from which the al-Jazeera crew were working. Two times on Friday the Americans opened fire on the al-Jazeera team. The correspondent said that the bullets went over their heads and beside them. The team then left that position, which had been out in the open, for a more secure location.

US General Mark Kimmitt: al-Jazeera “broadcasting lies” from al-Fallujah.

US aggressor Deputy Operations Commander in Iraq Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt accused al-Jazeera TV of “spreading lies” about his invader troops. Kimmitt, speaking in an al-Jazeera interview, said that Ahmad Mansur broadcasts lies about the situation there. Ahmad Mansur is al-Jazeera's veteran reporter now covering defiant al-Fallujah's struggle from the inside.

When al-Jazeera asked whether Kimmitt regarded the scenes of dead and wounded broadcast from al-Fallujah by al-Jazeera, Kimmitt acknowledged that those were not “lies” but said that the US aggressor forces were merely responding to those who targeted them, and therefore such American attacks did not constitute a violation of the so-called “cease fire” that America announced at noon local time and then promptly violated.

US admits three Marine invaders killed west of Baghdad on Thursday.

On Friday the US aggressors belatedly admitted that the Iraqi Resistance forces had attacked US aggressor troops west of Baghdad and left behind them three dead American Marines on Thursday.

Nighttime explosions shake downtown Baghdad.

Shortly before 11pm Mecca time on Friday evening, al-Jazeera reported a number of powerful explosions were heard in the center of Baghdad.

Explosions Rock Baghdad.

On the first anniversary of the American occupation of the Iraqi capital, explosions shook Baghdad on Friday and clouds of smoke rose in the north east of the city near the Umm al-Qura cathedral Mosque.

Powerful explosion hits building near Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad.

A powerful explosion shook a private club, Nadi al-'Alawiyah al-'Iraqi which is located on Firdaws Square in the center of Baghdad near the Sheraton Hotel and other hotels used by the occupation forces and their hangers on. The area is regarded as “secure” for the occupation forces and officials, where a curfew was imposed on Friday morning.

There were no initial reports on the extent of damage or casualties, if any, that might have resulted from the blast, but al-Jazeera's correspondent indicated that the explosion was “extremely powerful” and could be heard in al-Jazeera's own bureau. US occupation vehicles could be observed heading towards the scene of the blast.

Resistance battles American aggressors in al-Miqdadiyah.

Iraqi Resistance forces knocked an American tank and several US military vehicles out of action after a fierce battle in al-Miqdadiyah.

Resistance land mines explode near Hit, killing and wounding American troops.

Four Iraqi Resistance land mines that had been planted on the highway in al-'Assaf district, 3km west of Hit exploded under an American patrol setting two US military troop transport vehicles ablaze and killing or wounding a number of American aggressor troops.

Resistance wounds three Spanish occupation troops in ad-Diwaniyah.

Three Spanish aggressor troops were wounded, one of them severely, in the city of ad-Diwaniyah on Friday morning. The Spanish Defense Ministry reported that the troops fell into an ambush as they were walking over a bridge in the city. One of the wounded men was struck in the eye and neck and was severely wounded although his life is supposedly not in danger. The Spanish aggressor troops – two soldiers and one captain - were attacked with anti-tank weapons and received shrapnel wounds.

Large explosion strikes US base in Kirkuk.

A powerful explosion shook the airport at Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Friday. US invader troops have converted the airport into their local headquarters.

Curfew imposed on Mosul after a series of Resistance attacks.

The puppet governor of Mosul on Friday declared a curfew in the city for 12 hours after a number of attacks by the Iraqi Resistance on various American aggressor positions. AFP reported that the security situation for the Americans and their stooges in the city had greatly deteriorated as the sound of explosions and gunfire could be heard. US aggressor forces and their puppet so-called civil defense forces battled with Resistance fighters particularly on the right bank of the Tigris River which divides the city in half.

The United Arab Emirates newspaper al-Bayan reported eyewitnesses as saying on Friday that Resistance forces had used mortars to attack US military positions in the Presidential Palace (which they had occupied as their headquarters in al-'Arabi neighborhood). Four mortar shells landed on the headquarters. In addition, the US headquarters in ad-Dubbat neighborhood of Mosul was also hit by a number of mortar shells and a fire fight broke out there between the Resistance and US aggressor forces.

Southern Iraq.

In southern Iraq, battles continue between occupation forces and supporters of Shi'ite leader Muqtada as-Sadr. The US army announced that it was prepared to take back control of the city of al-Kut, two days after Ukrainian forces had withdrawn in the face of mass opposition. US forces reportedly now control the center of al-Kut and columns of their armored vehicles have appeared in the streets of the city, with Ukrainian invaders serving the American occupation troops.

Four Italians, two Americans captured and held hostage.

Iraqi Resistance fighters have taken four Italians and two Americans hostage in the Abu Ghurayb suburb of Baghdad. Reuters reported that a witness said he had seen some of the hostages being held in a mosque in the area. One of the Italians was reportedly wounded in the shoulder and both were weeping.

US occupation soldiers in a tank near the village of adh-Dhahab al-Abyad said that they knew for a fact that a number of Americans had been kidnapped but gave no further details, other than one of them saying, “that's why we're closing this street.”

Resistance sources told Reuters that the four Italians who were taken hostage had been captured while driving in a four-wheel drive vehicle in which there were weapons. They added that the Americans were taken hostage in a separate incident.

Al-'Alam TV: one American, one British guard killed on Friday.

Al-'Alam TV reported that one American soldier was killed west of Baghdad in an Iraqi Resistance attack on Friday. In a separate incident, the British Foreign Office announced that a British “security guard” working for an American company in Iraq had been killed.

Spanish aggressor helicopter kills seven Muslim worshippers in al-Kufah mosque, then fires rockets at residential area.

Eyewitnesses have reported that at least seven Iraqis have been killed and more than six others wounded when a Spanish aggressor helicopter opened fire on Iraqis as they left a mosque in the city of al-Kufah after Friday congregational prayers. According to reports, the Spanish helicopter also fired four rockets at a residential area in the city, completely destroying three shops.

Spanish aggressors intercept Muqtada as-Sadr's convoy on its way to al-Kufah Mosque.

News agencies reported that US and Spanish aggressor forces intercepted the convoy of as-Sadr and prevented him from going to Friday congregational prayers in al-Kufah Mosque.

Iraqi puppet police force disintegrates.

The US Associated Press reported that it has become clear during the fighting in Iraq this week that the Iraqi puppet police have abandoned many of their posts and are now standing aside and watching the Resistance take the streets of Iraqi cities. This has lead the American leadership to fear what the ultimate role of their puppet policemen might be.

In an-Najaf, for example, puppet police on Thursday watched from their puppet police headquarters as a small truck carrying a dozen militia men supporters of Muqtada as-Sadr rolled in to take over, putting up no resistance whatsoever.

One puppet policeman told the American Associated Press “we cannot intervene in what's going on at all. If his excellency Muqtada as-Sadr issues an order we are obliged to carry it out and I am ready now to leave the [puppet] police if I'm asked to because we came here from the start on the basis of instructions that said we would be serving the city but now we have become targets.” In many cities of southern Iraq that have now come under the control of the Shi'ite militia run by Muqtada as-Sadr – known as the Army of the Mahdi – the puppet policemen have been compelled to stay in their places but not interfere in what is taking place, despite the fact that the US occupation authorities were relying on the puppet police to preserve their “order” in Iraq for them.

The puppet policemen had long complained that the American occupation troops did not trust them while the local population looked askance at them. Often they found themselves ordered to take up arms against their own kinsmen, a role many could not play. Recently US General Martin Dempsey noted that in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Baghdad known as Madinat as-Sadr, three puppet policemen, one of them with the rank of colonel, had announced that they stood with Muqtada as-Sadr when the chips were down.

Karbala'.

Karbala' and surrounding areas on the other hand have seen violent confrontations between the Army of the Mahdi militia of Muqtada as-Sadr, on the one side, and Polish and Bulgarian occupation forces on the other. The clashes at a Polish checkpoint left 15 dead, including six Iranians, according to reports from medical sources.

An-Nasiriyah.

In an-Nasiriyah al-Jazeera's correspondent reported that Italian aggressor forces re-deployed their tanks along the banks of the Euphrates River across from the main part of the city which is now in the hands of supporters of Muqtada as-Sadr.

Bremer meets his puppet council.

In the shadow of these events, US proconsul L. Paul Bremer convened a meeting with his puppet so-called interim governing council stooges. Fearful of being associated with some of the US aggressors' bloodiest outrages, some members of the US-appointed puppet council attempted to distance themselves from the behavior of their American masters. One member of the council, 'Adnan al-Bajah Ji, said that the use of force by US forces over the last few days was inexcusable regardless of circumstances. Al-Bajah Ji expressed his “sorrow” over “the killing of a large number of innocent civilians” by the US government whose violent occupation he himself has endorsed and served since its illegal creation on the Iraqi soil one year ago.

As desperation grows among the American occupation authorities in Iraq, Washington has launched a campaign to pressure some 12 satellite nations into sending troops to Iraq to die for America. Ostensibly a drive to recruit troops to protect United Nations facilities, which themselves would be fronts for the American occupation, Washington's pressure campaign has begun with France, Pakistan, and India. So far no Arab state has been approached by the United States, nor has America requested troops from Turkey.

The British newspaper The Independent, reporting the story, noted that the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq has compelled the Bush Administration to seek United Nations cover for its occupation, stipulating a role for the UN prior to the American propaganda circus set for June when “power” in Iraq is to be transferred from America's stooges in the so-called interim governing council to another group of American stooges. Washington hopes that the second group of puppet “Iraqi leaders” will enjoy the blessings of the United Nations and the thin veil of “legitimacy” that that will afford within international imperialist circles.

Continuing reports can be found on Jay's Leftist and Progressive Internet Resources Director
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