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Americans step up attacks against Fallujah

Nov- 5-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

It looks like a battalion from the 1-25 SBCT is involved in operations near Fallujah.

[Link to Full Article]
By Jim Krane, Associated Press

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) More than 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines have taken positions around Fallujah for an expected assault, as U.S. jets pummeled insurgent targets Friday and troops blocked key roads. Iraq's prime minister warned the ''window is closing'' to avert an offensive...

For the past three nights, long convoys of American soldiers from Baghdad and Baqouba have rolled onto a dust-blown base on the outskirts of Fallujah, a city that has become the symbol of Iraqi resistance. U.S. commanders here have been coordinating plans either to fight their way into the city or isolate it from the rest of Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland.

If they fight, American troops will face an estimated 3,000 insurgents dug in behind defenses and booby traps. Military planners believe there are about 1,200 hardcore insurgents in Fallujah at least half of them Iraqis. They are bolstered by insurgent cells with up to 2,000 fighters in the surrounding towns and countryside...

The attack force includes one battalion from the Army's Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division, which has been placed under Marine command. The division's 2nd Brigade is relieving Marines of control of surrounding farmland and villages.

The Army's 1st Infantry Division also sent a battalion from its base near Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, that is expected to join the Marine-led assault.

Troops from the Army's 2nd Infantry Division are expected to seal off western approaches to the city. Also, an Army Military Police battalion, based at Fort Carson, Colo., and a tank platoon and battalion of the Army's new Stryker armored vehicles, from the 25th Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., have been earmarked for the operation.

The massed forces also include scattered Army logistics units, a Military Intelligence company, Psychological Operations troops and Air Force forward air controllers to help pinpoint airstrikes.

This article also briefly mentions the Stryker's role in the last paragraph.


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