Thursday 18 November 2004 - Despite heavy fighting with US-led forces in Falluja, resistance in Iraq is likely to increase in scope and size in the area, a report distributed to senior marine and army officers in Iraq says.

Marine intelligence officials issued a report warning that any significant withdrawal of troops from the Iraqi city of Falluja would strengthen the resistance, the New York Times said on Thursday.

The pessimistic analysis was prepared by intelligence officers in the First Marine Expeditionary Force (1 MEF) last weekend as the offensive in Falluja was winding down, the daily said.

One officer said the seven-page classified report, parts of which were provided to the daily, was "brutally honest".

It also appears to contradict the US government's accounts of victory by US-led troops against fighters in Falluja and other parts of northern Iraq.

Although the resistance crumbled in the face of the offensive, the report warned "the enemy will be able to effectively defeat 1 MEF's ability to accomplish its primary objectives of developing an effective Iraqi security force and setting the conditions for successful Iraqi elections".

Worst-case assessment

Senior military officials in Iraq and Washington disputed the findings of the report, describing it as a subjective judgment of some marines that did not reflect the views of all intelligence officials and commanders in Iraq.

"The assessment of the enemy is a worst-case assessment," Brigadier-General John DeFreitas, the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq, said of the report in a telephone interview with the New York Times.

The general said there were no plans to withdraw forces from Falluja: "We have no intention of creating a vacuum and walking away from Falluja."

AFP