US smooths way in Fallujah for Muslim relief agency

The convoy of trucks and ambulances from the Iraqi Red Crescent rolled up Sunday to the checkpoint at the edge of Fallujah, as part of the balancing act of providing relief to a city that remains a fluid war zone.

Members of the Red Crescent - the Iraqi equivalent of the Red Cross - began working in Fallujah last week. But friction over their role in the city, escort and security arrangements, and, separately, a history of such convoys being used to carry weapons to insurgents, led to a high-level meeting with US commanders Sunday.

The convoy that arrived Sunday late in the afternoon - with white flags marked with red crescents, at the checkpoint on the eastern edge of the city on the road to Baghdad - was thoroughly searched by US and Iraqi forces, before being allowed to pass.

Part of the mission was to "work out misunderstandings" with US troops who invaded Fallujah earlier this month, Red Crescent President Said Hakki told the US Marine battalion chief, as the two stood among sand-filled barriers during the search.

Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines, overseeing the convoy arrival, replied that marines had delivered food to 15 families the day before, but that fighting had erupted 300 yards away.

"That will be a plus in God's eyes," Dr. Hakki told the Marine officer. "We'll work with you. Your mission is part of our mission. You have security issues, and this is the priority. Humanitarian work comes second."

"Hopefully, they can be done together," Colonel Ramos replied. "Yesterday was kind of an experiment that we're going to repeat on a larger scale."

So far, no other relief agency has been permitted to enter Fallujah, where senior commanders estimate that only half the estimated 50,000 houses in the city have been searched so far.

US officers plan to open every door, and the weekend brought more examples of why US forces here say they are pursuing the door-to-door policy.

Sunday, one platoon of the Light Armored Reconnaissance company discovered a control center that could explode at least eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the kind of roadside bombs that have inflicted large numbers of deaths across Iraq. The control center was set inside a normal building, with a wide horizon view of the main highway that cuts through the city. Each IED was labeled, and the operator had only to touch the copper wire for the battery to set off the explosive.

On Saturday, the 1-8 Marines battalion engaged in a serious battle in the south of Fallujah that killed two marines and wounded several others. As the fight continued, marines estimated that they had killed 34 insurgents and captured another 23 - at least 10 of whom were foreign fighters.

Also Saturday, Bravo company of the 1-3 Marines found two vast weapons caches in the northeast of the city, which is considered to be the most "cleaned" so far, and therefore the most likely to see the earliest return of civilians.

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