Commanders have said they would not enter Fallujah until Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, gave the word. Allawi, who returned to the country Friday night from a diplomatic trip, was scheduled to give a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday.
"We're here in support of the Iraqi security forces," said 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "We would make no move without the direction of the interim Iraqi government."
U.S. Marines outside Fallujah bow their heads in prayer as the military prepared for a possible assault on the Iraqi city, which is held by rebels.
(Anja Niedringhaus -- AP)
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Allawi's government has been negotiating with leaders in Fallujah in an attempt to avert what will likely be an offensive with heavy casualties on both sides. But sources close to the government said Friday that the negotiations had been called off.
[Early Sunday morning, the sound of tanks firing from Fallujah could be heard in a distant but thunderous bass. Helicopters hovered overhead and planes roared across a cloudless sky. The clap of artillery echoed from a Marine outpost near the city in what was shaping up to be another noisy night.]
A delegation from Fallujah headed to Baghdad on Saturday to try to revive negotiations with members of the Iraqi National Assembly, which had requested an effort to end the crisis peacefully. Members of the delegation said the attempt was the last chance before an assault.
"It might be useful that we try. We don't want to blame ourselves when the attack happens," said Maky Nazal, the head of the delegation. "Although the attack is approaching, we have to pay every effort we can to prevent it."
The six-member delegation, four members of the Iraqi Islamic Party and two tribal leaders, were stopped on the way out of the city at a checkpoint set up by the shura council, which has prevented residents from negotiating without its permission.
"But we told them we have to go, at least we try," said a member of the delegation, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Maybe we can prevent the offensive."
Abdul-Hamid Jadou, a member of the negotiating group, said neither the fighters nor the government were willing to resolve the problem.
"We, the delegation members, were like a soccer ball," Jadou said. "Everyone kicks it to the other.
Correspondent Karl Vick in Baghdad and special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.
