World

U.S. & Iraqis Talk In Fallujah

April 16, 2004 / 12:02 PM EDT / CBS/AP

U.S. military and civilian officials met Friday with leaders from Fallujah, the first known direct negotiations between Americans and city representatives since the siege of Fallujah began 12 days ago.

Until now, U.S.-allied Iraqi leaders have been holding talks with city representatives trying to find an end to the violence.

"We are coming in here with an open mind. It is very important what we are doing. We are trying to give diplomatic negotiations a chance here," said Marine Maj. T.V. Johnson.

The Marines have halted offensive operations in the city for a week, and Sunni insurgents called a cease-fire on Sunday to allow the talks between Iraqis to take place. But the truce has been severely strained by heavy nightly fighting between the two sides around the Marines' relatively fixed positions.

A U.S. F-16 warplane dropped a 2,000-pound bomb in northern Fallujah during the day Friday, destroying a building where gunmen had been seen, Marines said. The giant blast sent up a huge spray of dirt and smoke that clouded an entire neighborhood, and gunpowder could be smelled miles away.

U.S. AC-130 Spectre gunships were in action before dawn Friday over Fallujah, raking militant hideouts with machine gun fire. Hospital officials tell CBS News Reporter Lisa Barron that 15 people were killed. Militants also fired mortar shells at U.S. positions overnight.

In other developments:

There were some signs that clashes between U.S. troops and militants might be averted in the other flashpoint city of Najaf. An Iraqi leader said he saw "flexibility" on the side of an anti-American cleric based there.

A U.S. businessman was abducted from his hotel in the southern city of Basra by kidnappers disguised as policemen, Basra police chief said Friday. Col. Khalaf al-Maleki said the abduction of the American, who was of Jordanian origin, took place Thursday night. He had no further details.

Also Friday, Denmark's Foreign Ministry said a Danish businessman was believed kidnapped, while a Sunni leader said a Chinese citizen was released. At least 21 foreigners have been abducted over the past week in a wave of kidnappings coinciding with intense violence around the country.

Meeting at the White House, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are looking to show a united front on Iraq, hoping to boost public support and bolster a wobbly military coalition.

CBS News foreign affairs Analyst Pamela Falk reports that after a late-night meeting with Blair, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan "appeared more confident that a new U.N. Security Council resolution would clear the way for a transition government and an international military presence in Iraq."

Mr. Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan, says a new book on his Iraq policy. (The book, by Bob Woodward, is published by a company owned by Viacom, which also owns CBS.)

The Bush administration is viewing positively a U.N. envoy's plan for a caretaker government to succeed the U.S. administration in Iraq.

The government envisioned by Lakhdar Brahimi would be led by a prime minister, and there also would be a president as head of state and two vice presidents. Also, a conference would be called after the June 30 end of the U.S. occupation to create a consultative assembly that would have no legislative powers.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said it was premature for the administration to endorse the outline. The New York Times reported in Friday editions, however, that the administration had accepted the outlines of the proposal.

Brahimi has warned that security must be improved greatly for elections to be held early next year.

Violence has spiked in recent weeks as U.S. troops battled a Shiite militia in southern cities and Sunni gunmen in Fallujah.

U.S. commanders have vowed to "kill or capture" the militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, but have so far limited their actions to small skirmishes on the outskirts of Najaf.

Some 2,500 U.S. troops are ringing the city. But U.S. Maj. Neal O'Brien said the units at Najaf "will not complete this operation" and will likely be replaced by other troops — a rotation that suggests that an assault on the city is not imminent.

Shiite Governing Council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he saw "flexibility from al-Sadr's side" and called on the Americans to show "similar flexibility."

Al-Sadr on Monday withdrew his militiamen from police stations they had occupied in Najaf, Kufa and Karbala last week — meeting a key U.S. demand.

Negotiations now appeared focused on dissolving the al-Mahdi Army — a demand al-Sadr has refused — and how to deal with al-Sadr himself. U.S. officials want him put to trial on charges he was involved in the assassination last year of a rival Shiite cleric.

In the Fallujah talks, 11 city delegates attended the talks, most wearing business suits, but one member attended wearing traditional robes.

U.S. officials would not comment on the substance of the negotiations or give details on who the Fallujah representatives were.

The talks were held at a Marine base near Fallujah. One U.S. coalition official and one military official participated.

In the first sign of possible progress in the inter-Iraqi talks, mosques in Fallujah called on police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members to report to their positions on Friday.

A U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday in the central city of Samarra, north of Fallujah — raising to 88 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in April, the deadliest month so far for the Americans in Iraq.

As of Thursday, April 15, 687 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not expect so many recent American casualties.

"I certainly would not have estimated that we would have had the number of individuals lost that we have had lost in the last week," Rumsfeld said in answer to questions at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Rumsfeld announced that about 20,000 troops will stay in Iraq longer than they had been told to help quell the violence.