Well, the bollocks is officially over and Allawi has “given the go-ahead”. Now for the show. A “source” has suggested to me that most of the guerrillas have already exfiltrated and are intending to create mayhem in the rear once the US Marines are thoroughly committed. The hardly reported massacre of police in the Haditha/Haqlaniya area, some 150km up the Euphrates from Fallujah, at the weekend may show that this is already happening.On Monday, the Haditha police station was assaulted by insurgents. After 90 minutes of fighting they were able to take some 21 police prisoners. These men were later found, handcuffed and shot in the head, near the K3 pipeline pump in the desert. Al-Jazeera link That came a day after 29 people were killed in a string of car-bombings in Samarra, the town supposedly pacified in an operation that was meant to be the “model” for Fallujah. Just to lend personal interest, the chief of security for western Iraq was assassinated.
The police station assault is said to have involved around 200 rebels.