Senior fighters escape Fallujah

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

U.S. military commanders think senior foreign fighters in Fallujah have escaped during the Marines's monthlong siege that has produced an inconsistent allied war policy.

Meanwhile, in southern Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition continues to come under deadly attacks from black-clad militiamen loyal to radical cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr.

Despite vowing to "capture or kill" the renegade sheik, the United States has refrained from using force against him or to launch an all-out assault on his Mahdi's Army. The United States fears such an attack would inflame the passions of Shi'ites in battles that also are likely to result in the deaths of civilians.

A military source said if international terrorist Abu Musaab Zarqawi was ever in Fallujah, as was suspected, he was able to escape. The source said although the Marines blocked roads leading out of the town of 300,000 residents, the cordoning was not "airtight." He said the assessment that senior fighters have left Fallujah is based on intelligence reports.

"The problem is they don't know where they have gone," the source said.

The assessment comes as the United States is sending conflicting signals about how it plans to quell the violence in Fallujah, a troublesome hot spot ever since the coalition ousted Saddam Hussein 13 months ago.

The mixed message has allowed insurgents to claim victory and has forced commanders to deny they are pulling out of the frontier town.

The confusion comes at a particularly bad time. The Bush administration is trying to contain damage from the release of photos of American service members abusing Iraqi prisoners images that reinforce the militant Arab view that the occupation force oppresses Muslims.

U.S. commanders have estimated that there are about 2,000 hard-core insurgents in Fallujah, including several hundred foreign fighters. A Pentagon official says there are probably "several thousand" foreign fighters in Iraq, many of whom entered through Syria's long desert border.

The U.S. mission around Fallujah has been marked by inconsistencies since early April, when the ambush and mutilation of four American contractors there spurred the Marines to begin an offensive to clear the town of militants.