Goodwill is fragile in new Iraq

According to Major Wick, the Americans followed established rules of engagement, carefully targeting only rioters with weapons or seen lobbing grenades. But buildings where assailants had taken up positions - in at least one case with a missile launcher - were fired on. And as at least a dozen individuals retreated with arms into the new market, the Americans turned to blasting the very walls that so recently they had helped build.

On Sunday, violence peaked again when Estonian soldiers on patrol were attacked, obliging the Americans to step in once more. By the time it was all over, at least seven Iraqis were dead - although Wick acknowledges that some of the injured had been removed from the scene by locals, and that 14 funerals were held in Abu Ghraib on Monday.

"The Americans arrest people just for selling in the streets, and now they kill them, so how is this better than Saddam?" says Ali Ahmed Saleh, standing by the flattened hulk that was once the rusty pickup from which he operated a moving business.

Furious that a tank crushed his only source of income, he says it's actions like this that are turning Abu Ghraib away from the US. "The Americans used to walk through the market and buy things, it was nice, but about a month ago they changed. They showed less respect, and now this. I'm afraid that with so many people out of work in the market," he adds, "if someone comes and offers them $200 to kill an American, they won't hesitate to do it."

WHAT happened about a month ago is that attacks on Americans here picked up. Security forces also began getting information about infiltration by outside parties - perhaps Hussein loyalists or radical Islamists - and some local people say they noticed more visits by strangers as well.

American soldiers on search missions following the riots found weapons in one mosque. And on Monday, a new banner, "Long live the Jihadis," fluttered at the town's entrance, though no one claimed to have put it up.

And the Iraqi outsiders weren't the only newcomers. Feeling a need for reinforced security, the nearby American base called in Ace Company, an armored group whose moniker is "Aces of Death." While the 70th Armored Regiment had ridden around Abu Ghraib for months with a smiling turtle as their emblem, now Ace Company flies through town with their symbol, a skull and crossbones.

"They are the dirty unit, they are killers and thieves," says Saad Jemeel, who lost the lamb meat stall he rented in the new market. "What are we supposed to think when we see their flag, that they are coming to help us?"

The local council, which was so proud to be the first elected municipal council of the new Iraq, has also been stunned by riots that targeted Iraqi authorities - the police and the council - as much as the US military.

"So much needed to be done here and we have accomplished so much, there's more electricity, clean water, better schools, it's difficult to understand why this happened," says Dhari Khamis al-Dhari, a local sheikh who was the council's chairman for its first six months. "There isn't much to smile about these days."

Now the council sits behind large sand-filled berms and a locked gate, watched over by two American tanks. Mr. Dhari, still a council member here, has moved up to a seat on the Baghdad city council in recognition of his ability to navigate local and American demands. But he and other council members have received threats in Abu Ghraib, so they don't mingle with the public as they once did.

"I'm sure it's people from outside the area," says Dhari, who admits to feeling deep sadness over the recent events.

The council on Sunday voted to build a new market outside the town center and away from the Fallujah highway - a decision that could inflame public opinion again when moving time comes.

But Major Wick remains hopeful. He says the riots have resulted in an abrupt uptick in local cooperation, as more people decide they want the attacks to stop. And he thinks the bitterness over the ill-fated market can be addressed. On the council, he says, "They're looking at making the destroyed site into a park instead."

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