Many Killed in Fallujah U.S. Reservists

ROBERT BURNS

Associated Press


WASHINGTON - At least nine Army and Marine reservists died in Iraq on the first full day of the Fallujah offensive, the highest single-day death toll for part-time troops since U.S. forces entered Iraq in March 2003.

Most of those killed since Monday in Fallujah, Baghdad, Mosul and other cities where insurgents are active have not been identified by military authorities, so it's not possible to give a complete account beyond Monday.

Of the nine reservists killed Monday, six were members of the Marine Corps Reserve, two were Army National Guard and one was Army Reserve.

An Army National Guard soldier from California also was killed on Sunday in Baghdad.

Nine is the highest number of part-time soldiers and Marines to have died in Iraq on a single day. The only comparable surge in deaths of reservists was in June 2004 when nine died in a four-day span, according to Pentagon records.

In the Fallujah offensive alone, at least 18 U.S. troops had been killed in action and 178 wounded by Thursday, according to Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division in Fallujah. Five Iraqi soldiers had been killed and 34 wounded, Natonski told reporters.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him to El Salvador that U.S. troops fighting to secure Fallujah "are well along in that task, and they will finish it successfully."

On the question of whether insurgents had fled the beleaguered city before the operation began, Rumsfeld said: "I have no doubt that some people did leave before it started. We also know there are a number of hundreds that didn't and have been killed. Others have been captured."

Rumsfeld said Fallujah must be eliminated as a "safe haven for extremists, former regime elements and terrorists."

The military's top officer, meanwhile, said in Washington on Thursday that no one should think that success for U.S. forces in Fallujah will mean the end of the insurgency. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was pleased with progress so far.

"From our viewpoint this is very, very successful," Myers said. "If anybody thinks that Fallujah is going to be the end of the insurgency in Iraq, that was never the objective, never our intention, and even never our hope."

Myers spoke as U.S.-led forces steadily advanced through Fallujah on the fourth day of an operation aimed at making the city safe enough so residents can vote in January's planned elections.

"The whole point is not how many insurgents are killed or captured but the return of Fallujah to a status where the people of Fallujah can go about their business without intimidation and where, hopefully, come January, we'll have elections and where they can participate," Myers said.

The Pentagon's reporting of casualties since the Fallujah offensive began Monday has been slower and more incomplete than normal, in part because the military believes that detailed information is of potential value to the insurgent forces they are battling in the Sunni Arab city.

It is unclear how many of the nine reservists killed Monday were directly involved in the Fallujah fighting. Several clearly were not; Spc. Bryan L. Freeman, of the Army Reserve's 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion in Warwick, R.I., for example, died of wounds sustained in Baghdad. Two members of the Kansas Army National Guard were killed in a car bombing in Baghdad.

National Guard and Reserve troops have played a prominent role in Iraq from the start of combat in 2003, and their numbers have grown in recent months. They now make up more than 40 percent of the total U.S. force in Iraq. There is no information on how many are now in Fallujah.

Among the active-duty soldiers killed in Fallujah was Command Sgt. Maj. Steven W. Faulkenburg, 45, of Huntingburg, Ind. He was the senior noncommissioned officer in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. The Pentagon said he was struck by small arms fire Tuesday.

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AP Wire | 11/11/2004 | Many Killed in Fallujah U.S. Reservists