11/1/2004 Allawi has warned of imminent military action against Fallujah. According to the The Lancet, civilian deaths in Iraq since the beginning of the US invasion have now reached 100,000 . The level of violence has been on the increase with daily deaths of civilians in US bombings (and other other actions) and daily attacks on US and British troops.
10/16/2004 Locals are fleeing Fallujah as the US steps up its offensive. US bombings have increased in recent days following a Resistance atack on Iraq's Green Zone on October 14th.
On October 13th, Allawi threatened a massive assault on Fallujah unless those in the city turned in militant Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi. Representatives from Fallujah said they did not know where Al-Zarqawi was and accused the US of trying to "torpedo" the negotiations by continuing air bombing of residential areas. "The allegation that Zarqawi is here has been used to justify killing women and children" read a statement from a group of Fallujah scholars in an appeal to the international community. Negotiations between Falluja residents and the US went from bad to worse on October 15th, as the US was accused of kidnapping Fallujah’s chief negotiator, a charge the US denies.
The situation in Iraq is getting worse every day, but news coverage in the US is sparse as most of the country is now unsafe for Western journalists.
How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind | Wikipedia: Fallujah | BBC: Inside besieged Falluja