You deliver on some commitments, they deliver on some commitments
Civilians Return to Falluja as U.S. Starts to Implement Plan
By IAN FISHER
Published: April 20, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 20 — American officials in Iraq took initial steps today to put into effect an agreement with civic leaders in the flash-point city of Falluja intended to end a standoff between American troops and Sunni insurgents.
The spokesman for the governing Coalition Provisional Authority, Dan Senor, said that the authority had shortened the curfew, begun to allow for the passage of official ambulances through the city and permitted the return of a limited number of families who had fled the fighting. News services also reported that some Iraqi police officers returned to their posts in the city today.
But Mr. Senor warned that American officials were still waiting to see whether the Fallujan negotiators would be able to convince the Sunni rebels to turn in their heavy weapons, a cornerstone term of the agreement.
"Time is running out," he said at a news conference here. "And while we believe that the Fallujan negotiators — the Fallujan delegation — were quite serious about their intentions, we continue to question whether or not they will be able to deliver on those intentions, on those commitments."
