Fallujah vulnerable if Marines leave

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Fallujah's fragile calm could end when U.S. Marines leave and sectarian rivalries ignite, suggest interviews with Marine and Iraqi officials.

Security has improved enough that the coaltion military is planning largely to withdraw from Fallujah by next spring, depending on the Iraqi government, which has failed to give the Falluja police even routine supplies, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The relative calm in Fallujah, once the most violent area in Iraq and the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency, often is cited as a success story and model for the rest of Iraq, The Times said.

But Marines interviewed by the newspaper question how security forces in Fallujah would do on their own, especially when a ban against vehicles is lifted, prompting the return of bomb-laden trucks and cars.

“There is a good chance we would lose everything we have gained,” said Sgt. Chris Turpin, a U.S. intelligence analyst in Fallujah.