Next Fallujah battle: hearts, minds

In the opening days of the week-old assault on Fallujah, the Hadra Mohamadiya mosque was a major battleground. The rocket-propelled grenades used by insurgents holed up here are still kept in a corner; the minaret has been hit by US forces repeatedly.

But Monday the mosque became a food and medical distribution center - the first tentative step by US and Iraqi forces to move this broken ghost town from war to peace.

Some 88 families sent men on foot to collect food and water, handed out by Iraqi National Guard units after US civil affairs teams broadcast news of the distribution.

The danger of the rebels remains: One man was carried dead to the mosque, after being shot while on his way by what his friends described as a foreign insurgent sniper. Elsewhere in Fallujah, a US marine was also killed by a sniper.

"People were so happy [when they came], because they need water and food for so many days," says Dr. Adnan Naji, a medical doctor and captain in the Iraqi armed forces, who set up a clinic inside the mosque Monday that treated nearly 20 cases.

"This is a very important day for us, and for Iraqi and American soldiers, because we let the people go out," says Dr. Naji.

Senior American commanders speak of a race against time in which they must begin to restore services and the faith of the people of Fallujah. After making rapid progress toward ridding the city of radical Islamist fighters loyal to Al Qaeda, the challenge now for the US Marines is to turn military control into political progress.

"The clock is ticking before civilians start to come back into the city," Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, chief of the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines that occupy northeast Fallujah, told his company commanders. "Let's get these programs rolling. We're going to exploit some of those [military] actions with hearts and minds."

Many of Fallujah's residents fled in the run-up to the assault. When they are finally allowed to return, they will come home to a city where many buildings have been pulverized. Black smoke still rises from fires throughout the city, and the sound of air and artillery bombardment still echoes. At least 38 US soldiers and hundreds of Iraqi and foreign insurgents dead were killed in the fighting.

With pockets of resistance remaining here, the US military wants to control the initial humanitarian work. The Iraqi Red Crescent sent truckloads of food and medicine for the city, but US forces turned back the convoy at the main hospital Monday.

Speaking of those civilians who remained, Dr. Naji said: "Some of them are angry, because of the destruction, and others are not angry, because they suffered from the bad situation."

"All are in their houses, fearing the insurgents and terrorists, who told them they would be shot if they go out. An old man came up to me, and said: 'Thank you, thank you [American and Iraqi troops], for saving us from the insurgents.'"

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