Briefing by US general, incl slides of Fallujah mosque

(8 Apr 2004)
1. US Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez walking in
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"Let there be no doubt. We will continue the attacks until (Muqtada) al-Sadr''s influence is eliminated and al-Sadr''s militia is no longer a threat to Iraq and its citizens."
3. Sanchez
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"We are working with multiple initiatives that are attempting to take some humanitarian assistance into the city of Fallujah. We are coordinating that and as a tactical situation allows we will definitely give them the opportunity to take that into the city of Fallujah. There''s no plan to on our part to isolate the people from the basic needs of food and medical assistance and we''ll continue to provide that and allow that to go into the city."
5. Sanchez
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"This first slide right here is the mosque that was hit in Fallujah. This is a shot that shows the detonation. Next slide, please. This is the damage that was caused by hitting the mosque - next slide, please - and that shows that the mosque, infrastructure and the buildings were still intact. Was there some damage? Probably some minor damage to the physical infrastructure. Now, to answer your question, okay, slides off, please. To answer your question specifically the Geneva convention and also, I think, religious principles state that mosques are to be preserved as religious sites as long as they''re being used for that purpose. Once they''re being used for military purposes as was in this case where we had element that was attacking our Marines it loses its status as a protected site. That is what occurred. We had a regimental commander on the ground that was suffering casualties from the elements occupying this mosque and that was the result."
7. Sanchez
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"Now first of all in terms of negotiations in the city of Fallujah I am aware of some initiatives to conduct some sorts of talks. I wouldn''t call them negotiations ''cause we''re not negotiating. We''ve established what our criteria is, we know what our objectives are and we going to achieve our objectives in the city of Fallujah. We''re not negotiating at this point."
9. Sanchez
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"We will retake the city of Al Kut imminently."
11. Sanchez
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
(Question: The Muqtada al-Sadr claim to be holding some Spanish coalition troops and possibly an American soldier and they say they want to swap them for Mr. Yacoubi (aide to al-Sadr, Mustafa al-Yacoubi, arrested Saturday 3rd April). Do you have anything on that?)
"I know nothing about that."
13. Sanchez
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ricardo Sanchez, US Army Lieutenant General:
"Shadows of Vietnam? I don''t see any shadows of Vietnam here in Iraq. It''s two totally different battlefields and I wouldn''t even begin to characterise this as a Vietnam for the American forces."
15. Sanchez leaving
STORYLINE:
A top United States (US) general in Iraq on Thursday said that coalition forces will continue attacks until "al-Sadr''s militia is no longer a threat to Iraq".
Militiamen loyal to an anti-US Shiite cleric controlled large swaths of three Iraqi cities on Thursday after clashes with US-led coalition forces, while US Marines backed by airstrikes fought insurgents for the second day around a mosque in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.
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