Marching On

U.S. troops closed off entrances to Fallujah with earth barricades ahead of the planned operation, code named “Vigilant Resolve.” Military patrols entered the outer suburbs on reconnaissance missions and to broadcast warnings on loud speakers to residents to stay indoors until Tuesday.

Iraqi police in the city visited mosques, dropping off Arabic leaflets from the U.S. military, telling residents that there was a daily 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. It ordered them not to congregate in groups or carry weapons, even if licensed. It instructed people that if U.S. forces enter their homes, they should gather in one room and if they want to talk to the troops to have their hands up.

Some 1,200 U.S. Marines and two battalions of Iraqi security forces were poised to enter the city to arrest suspected insurgents, said Lt. James Vanzant, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He would not say when the troops would enter the city.

“The city is surrounded,” Vanzant said. “It’s an extended operation. We want to make a very precise approach to this. … We are looking for the bad guys in town.” [read more]

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States is considering deploying Marines and special operations forces on high speed vessels along the Straits of Malacca to flush out terrorists in one of the world’s busiest waterways.

The potential deployment of US forces along the narrow straits straddling Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia would be part of Washington’s new counterterrorism initiative to help Southeast Asia, said Admiral Thomas Fargo, the top US military commander in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Regional Maritime Security Initiative is being devised by the United States military to combat transnational threats like proliferation, terrorism, trafficking in humans and drugs, and piracy.

Fargo said Southeast Asia was a “crucial front” in the US war on terrorism.

“Destabilization of the governments of this region, moderate, secular, and legitimately elected, and with large Muslim populations, would result in decades of danger and chaos,” he said. [LINK]

“We have a difficult security situation. We have a group under Moqtada al-Sadr that has basically placed itself outside the legal authorities, the coalition and Iraqi officials,” said Bremer, head of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

“Effectively he is attempting to establish his authority in the place of the legitimate authority. We will not tolerate this,” he said.

“We will reassert the law and order which the Iraqi people expect,” Bremer told reporters as he met Iraqi government ministers to discuss how to deal with Sadr.