BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW

Called by Stop the War Coalition

The tragic death of four people, including three Scottish soldiers, around Camp Dogwood yesterday shows the criminal irresponsibility of Blair's war policy. This disaster comes a day after Bush's election victory which has increased the anxiety of millions round the world. Meanwhile the bombardment of Fallujah continues as US troops prepare a bloody invasion of the city.

For all these reasons Stop the War Coalition have called a protest at Parliament Square on Wednesday 10th November at 5.30pm. The protest will be attended by members of British military families including families of the Black Watch regiment.

The protest will call for all British troops to be withdrawn immediately.

Members of British military families will call for all other families to join together in an urgent national campaign.

All Stop the War groups in London and the South East are asked to mobilise maximum numbers for this vital protest.

At 4pm: Military families will hand in a wreath at Downing Street

5.30 - 7pm: Protest and Rally at Parliament Sq.

Your quest to defend your cities and towns is far more justified than a bunch of foreigners defending the oil interests of a few billionaires. Good luck to the people of Iraq: you are currently the line of defense for the world against the American war machine.

This from AlJazeera. It seems that while the US are concentrating on Fallujah, the Iraqi resistance is getting stronger over the rest of the country

Ramadi fighting

In a separate development, anti-US fighters took control of the centre of the Iraqi city of Ramadi after 24 hours of clashes with US forces, an AFP correspondent has said.

The US military could not immediately be contacted for comment.


Five US troops were wounded in
clashes in Ramadi

US forces withdrew Tuesday around 2:00pm (1100 GMT) from Ramadi's main streets to their bases east and west of the city, the correspondent said.

Demo in Bristol.

Protest call:  http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20392/index.php

Video:  http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20406/index.php

While the world watches on as the US murders thousands of men and women defending their home, the insurgents, many of whom left Fallujah well before the attack, have taken Ramadi. Just who is winning this war? Does that mean the US have to destroy Ramadi next? And I hear they are going to do the same in Mosul.
When the dust settles, there will be no cities left in Iraq. Hell, at least that will make the oil easier to get at.
I can't believe the depths to which we've sunk. It makes me sick. Victory to the resistance.



Rebels 'stage show of strength'

Iraqi rebels seized the centre of the city of Ramadi and attacked police stations elsewhere as US-led troops continued their Falluja assault.
Armed insurgents in Ramadi moved in when US troops withdrew from the Sunni city, a former rebel stronghold.

Iraqi police and national guard stations in Baquba, Kirkuk and Baghdad were also targeted - reports speak of a number of casualties.

The US military said it "associated" the attacks with the Falluja assault.


"The enemy is concentrating on Iraqi security forces " to intimidate them, US Lieutenant General Thomas Metz told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

Show of force

In Ramadi, about 113km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, hundreds of armed insurgents massed to the heart of the city after US troops had withdrawn.

Rebels - who have recently been fighting US troops in the city - are reported to have been dancing and shooting into the air in a show of force, the BBC's Caroline Hawley in Iraq reports.

"The residents of Ramadi condemn the attack against Falluja and we appeal to the inhabitants of Ramadi to wage jihad [holy war] against the American occupants who want to eradicate Islam," one city resident was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

On Tuesday, rebels also targeted several police stations in and around Baquba, about 60km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

A number of police officers were injured in the attacks and at least one attacker killed, reports say.

In the oil-rich Kurdish town of Kirkuk - about 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad - a suspected car bomb outside an Iraqi national guard based killed at least two people, officials said.

In a separate incident, a group of armed men attacked a police station in south-western Doura neighbourhood in Baghdad, police said.

A police source said he believed there were casualties, but gave no details, Reuters news agency reported.

This from Al Jazeera

Anti-US fighters may have control of Mosul


Friday 12 November 2004, 21:20 Makka Time, 18:20 GMT

Journalists based in Mosul are telling Aljazeera that anti-US fighters in Mosul may have taken control of the northern Iraqi city, contrasting US military statements that the situation is under their control.

Various reports on Friday suggested that Iraqi police and national guards had disappeared from view as masked armed men were wandering freely around Iraq's second largest city.

A main road to the local governorate and police station was littered with roadside bombs, making movement in the heart of the city hazardous, French news agency AFP reported.

Lieutenent Colonel Paul Hastings, the US military spokesman in Mosul, however, said that the situation was under control.

The "governor is actively involved in restoring police presence and is in control of the security situation in the city," he told AFP in an email.

"Mosul is not out of control nor is the city in the control of the insurgents," he said.

'Control the streets'

Eyewitnesses in Mosul told Aljazeera.net that major sections of the city had been seized by anti-US fighters who were seen patrolling the streets.

Independent sources say Mosul is
in the hands of local fighters

"They control the streets, no one is going out for fear of more US air strikes," Abd Allah Ghafar, a freelance journalist in the city told Aljazeera.net in a telephone interview.

"The situation is very bad, there is no security, only armed resistance groups on the streets and it seems there is no government in Mosul," he said.

Another Mosul-based journalist told Aljazeera that US armoured vehicles were forced to retreat from two main bridges they had blocked off after coming under a fierce mortar barrage and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fire.

"US forces have separated the two sides of Mosul city by deploying armoured vehicles on the bridges linking them," Muhammad Thu al-Nun said.

'Fierce attacks'

"However, these armoured vehicles have come under fierce attacks by mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades, forcing them to withdraw and return to their bases."

"The city is now calm," Thu al-Nun added.

But US military spokesman Captain Angela Bowman explained that retreat was carried out at the request of the governorate to allow civilians to attend weekly prayers at the mosques.

Armed local fighters are patrolling
Mosul's streets, say journalists

Bowman admitted there were "pockets of resistance".

"In the southwestern area there are terrorists and insurgents on the streets but this is not city wide. We are still well in control," she said.

A night time curfew, imposed earlier in the week initially until Friday, will remain in place from 4:00pm (1300 GMT) until 6:00am, Hasting said, without specifying when the order would expire.





And this from Democracy Now, www.democracynow.org



As the US siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah continues, Iraqi resistance fighters are stepping up their campaign against the US occupation across Iraq. In Fallujah, at least 18 US soldiers have been killed since the start of the American ground attack on the city on Monday while more than 100 US soldiers seriously wounded during the offensive arrived in 2 planeloads at the US military hospital in Germany with more expected to arrive over the weekend. The injured soldiers are the latest in a steady stream of arrivals at the hospital since the siege of Fallujah began. The military claims it has killed more than 600 resistance fighters in the city. But with almost no unembedded journalists operating in the city, independent information is very difficult to obtain. The reporting of journalists embedded with the US military is subjected to heavy restrictions from US forces. But Fallujah residents who have managed to escape the city describe the bodies of dead civilians laying in some streets and aid groups say the city is now facing a humanitarian catastrophe. There are an estimated 50,000 civilians remaining in Fallujah. Many of the city"s 300,000 residents fled the city ahead of the US offensive. Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesperson says that 2 US Super Cobra helicopters have been downed in separate incidents.
In other areas of Iraq, the resistance has taken control of some key areas of the country, raising questions about the US counterinsurgency strategy. Some analysts say the recent gains by the resistance are a direct result of the US focusing its campaign in a city where most of the fighters had already moved to other areas of Iraq. It now appears that the US is facing a dramatic escalation of a coordinated resistance across the country. In Iraq"s third largest city, Mosul, five Iraqi police stations were bombed and the Iraqi resistance has taken over major portions of the city. Reuters is now reporting that the US has begun airstrikes in Mosul. Meanwhile, parts of Ramadi and Sammarah have now been seized by the Iraqi resistance. In Baghdad, The Asia Times is reporting that resistance groups have taken control of several suburbs on the outskirts of Baghdad. We go now to the Iraqi capital where we are joined by independent journalist Dahr Jamail, one of the few unembedded journalists in Iraq right now.