US antiguerrilla campaign draws Iraqi ire

Six weeks ago, President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq a mission accomplished. But in the past two weeks, US soldiers have been targeted in ambushes with increasing frequency. About 40 US soldiers have been killed in various attacks since Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed on April 9, the bulk of them in the areas west and north of Baghdad, primarily Sunni Arab regions considered to be supportive of Mr. Hussein's regime-on-the-run.

In what the US Central Command called "textbook-style, joint operation" of air and land forces, US forces killed 70 people at a terrorist training camp in western Iraq on Thursday, and another 27 people who ambushed a US patrol north of Baghdad Friday.

US military officials say that they do not believe the attacks are the work of an organized resistance movement. But the new mayor of Fallujah says that the city has become a magnet for people disillusioned with US promises to liberate Iraq. These include Baathist loyalists, as well as unemployed Iraqi military personnel who lost their jobs after US administrator L. Paul Bremer disbanded the military.

"Everyone who feels disappointed by the Americans is coming here. The people who want to make trouble come to Fallujah to disrupt things in the city," says Mayor Taha Bidawi Hamid. Moreover, he is already dealing with his third rotation of US forces in the city, he says. "Each time a new group comes in, we lose focus because they don't know how to deal with things."

In this post-war power vacuum, a group of 15 Fallujah professionals decided to form a "city congress" to help administer the city's affairs. But members of the congress - a mix that includes professors, journalists, engineers, teachers and retired military officers - say that US officials have ignored them and instead turned to the tribal sheikhs who are more powerful by birthright more than merit.

"We think the sheikhs represent themselves only, not us," says Sa'adoon Aziz, a member of the council. "People are sensitive to this. They don't want the same people who represented us under Saddam to represent us now."

The fact that Mr. Bremer is going to appoint a political council to advise his administration - elections won't be called until later, after a constitution is drafted and passed in a referendum - further raises concerns that the US is not interested in empowering average people.

"The Americans have the same mentality as the British did when they occupied Iraq, even though that was at the start of the 20th century and now we're in the 21st century" says Mukhlis Shia Khanfer, another member of the congress and a professor of business at Al-Anbar University. "Instead of meeting with the intellectuals and the technocrats, they only speak to the heads of the tribes."

Even that tactic may not be making great headway.

"The sheikhs do not have 100 percent control," says Hussein Ali, an aide to the mayor. "To solve the problem of these attacks, they have to form a government and give people jobs. Then we'll know what they're really here for. "

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