The U.S. military and the interim government of Iraq are rapidly losing control of Ramadi, a provincial capital in Iraq located near sister city Fallujah, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
According to the report, Ramadi is considered to be larger and strategically more important than Fallujah, which is a hotbed of anti-American violence by insurgents.
The Times quoted Sheik Ali al-Dulaimi, a leader of Ramadi’s largest tribe, as saying the province had become “chaotic,” and added that there was “no presence” of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s government.
While Ramadi is not exactly a “no-go” zone for the Marines, the Times cited military officers as saying the city is fast heading in that direction. In the last six weeks, guerrillas have stepped up the pace of assassinations of Iraqis working with the Americans, and Marine officials say they suspect Iraqi security officers have been helping insurgents to attack their troops, it added.
Reconstruction efforts have ground to a halt because no local contractors are willing to work, according to the report.
With U.S. forces poised to invade Fallujah, the report said that the Ramadi problem is affecting the calculus of those plans because of close coordination between the two cities’ groups of insurgents.
Compounding the problems, guerrillas have been streaming in since the Marines stepped up airstrikes against the fighters in Fallujah, the report said, citing U.S. Marine officials.
Members of the former ruling Baath Party are believed to be financing the insurgency in Ramadi, where loyalty to Saddam Hussein ran high, the Times said. But there is a growing Islamist face to the rebellion, it added, similar to the character of fighters in Fallujah.