Frightened by warnings of an imminent offensive by the U.S. troops massed around the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, residents are pouring out of that tense city to escape what they describe as a mounting humanitarian crisis.

U.S. and Iraqi forces had cordoned off the city Saturday and were asking civilians to evacuate, residents and Iraqi officials said. Airstrikes on several residential areas picked up, and troops took to the streets with loudspeakers to warn civilians of a fierce impending attack, Ramadi police Capt. Tahseen Aldulaimi said. U.S. military officials refused to confirm or deny reports that a Ramadi offensive was under way.

The image pieced together from interviews with tribal sheiks and fleeing families is one of a desperate population of 400,000 people trapped in the crossfire between anti-American insurgents and U.S. forces. Food and medical supplies are running low, prices for gas have soared because of shortages, and municipal services have ground to a stop.

Thousands of families remain trapped in the city, those who have fled say. Many can't afford to leave, or they lack transportation, and other families decided to wait for their children to finish final examinations at school before escaping.

"The situation is catastrophic. No services, no electricity, no water," said Sheik Fassal Guood, the former governor of Ramadi. "People in Ramadi are caught between two plagues: the vicious, armed insurgents and the American and Iraqi troops."

Residents have been particularly unnerved by the recent arrival of 1,500 U.S. troops sent to reinforce the perimeter of the city. Street battles between troops and insurgents have been raging for months, but the troops' deployment left residents bracing for a mass offensive to take the town back from insurgents.

"It is becoming hell up there," said Mohammed Fahdawi, a 42-year-old contractor who packed up his four children and fled to Baghdad two weeks ago. "It is unbelievable: The Americans seem to have brought all of their troops to Ramadi."

A Vision


This Iraq will reach the ends of the graveyard.
It will bury its sons in open country
generation after generation,
and it will forgive its despot . . . .
It will not be the Iraq that once held the name.
And the larks will not sing.
So walk — if you wish — a long time.
And call — if you wish —
on all the world's angels
and all its demons.
Call on the bulls of Assyria .
Call on a westward phoenix . . . .
Call them
and through the haze of phantoms
watch for miracles to emerge
from clouds of incense.

Saadi Youssef

praying for a miracle