FT.com : US says Falluja truce remains despite firefights

"A ceasefire remained in place in the besieged town of Falluja on Wednesday, US military spokesmen in Baghdad insisted, even though warplanes were targeting insurgents there for a second day."

The careful wording of this article underlines the specious usage of the term "ceasefire" by the US. In effect, there is no ceasefire at all; quite the contrary, the US forces continue to bombard what is a largely civilian area, and the number of civilian dead is apparently quite high (the number 700 has been in the press for the past two weeks). Considering that the total killed in Iraq during the invasion is largely considered to be around 10 000 civilians, this new number, if it is true, is significant.