A Long Night Draws Closer for Fallujah

Watch the British media the next few days for the real coverage from Iraq. Without an election looming tons of missing explosives have made barely a ripple in the news pond there. From page one of the London Daily Telegraph:

Iraq's government yesterday offered the leaders of rebel-held Fallujah a "last" chance to negotiate as an American military commander described the city as a cancer that had to be dealt with.

Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi prime minister, indicated that time was fast running out for those who were harbouring insurgents there.

"This chance could be the last," he said in a statement, imploring "the leaders and notables of Fallujah to use it to find a political solution".

But with military preparations at an advanced stage and American officials suggesting a major offensive could begin next week, there appeared little hope of a deal.

"Fallujah is a cancer," said Maj Gen Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, who would lead any ground attack. "We can't have a sanctuary for the enemy and expect to make progress."

He said he had received no request from the Iraqi government to carry out military operations and offered no opinion on whether a peaceful solution was possible. "I don't know who they're negotiating with."

But he made clear that his men were ready for action in Fallujah. "It's a rats' nest but if we have to go in and clear it out we will." He urged the foreign elements in Fallujah and those loyal to Saddam Hussein's regime to come out and fight.

"We can take these guys on if they show their faces. Not a problem whatsoever. That's why they've resorted to the tactics they have [suicide bombings and landmines] because they know every time we face them we kill them."

The shadows grow long in Fallujah, the day is at it's end.