Under fire, US marines hand off battered Fallujah

Senior officers now refer to Fallujah as a "gated community" – putting a deft gloss on the fact that Fallujah has for two years had only six entry points, and entering Iraqi residents still require US-issued biometric cards with retinal scans and fingerprints on file.

But among those Iraqi residents are 150 newcomers a week, fleeing the sectarian violence in Baghdad to a known "Sunni safe haven," in the words of one officer. Others say hundreds of highly trained insurgents, Iraqis from outside Fallujah, have also recently moved in to step up attacks.

"Fallujah has an iconic value to the Marine Corps," says Colonel Nicholson, commander of the Regimental Combat Team 5, which covers Fallujah and a populated swath of Anbar Province, in an interview. "Fallujah falling [to insurgents] would be like Iwo Jima falling to the Japanese again after World War II – it would be intolerable."

Preventing that from happening is a top priority for the Bravo and Charlie companies of the 1/24 that are now in Fallujah. But local Iraqis know the territory better than US forces ever will.

"The insurgents are creative and have advantages," says Maj. Jeffrey O'Neill, the Bravo Company commander from Novi, Mich. "If the Chinese invaded your [American] neighborhood, you would know where to hide, which dumpster behind the 7-11 to stash things. If we don't catch them red-handed, they will probably be on the street again."

Many prisoners were released by the Iraqi government in August amnesties, notes Major O'Neill, and the rules are changing: Even if someone is found with a sack full of washing machine timers that could be used to trigger bombs, unless explosives and a black mask are found too, it may not be enough for an arrest.

The insurgents are also proving agile. On Monday, for example, elements of two US battalions – the 1/24 and 2/6 – staged "Operation Talon," which swept a series of garages and rural areas a few miles north of Fallujah. As many as seven cells were thought to work from the area, using it as a staging post for attacks on the city.

A round-up of everybody in the area–776 men – netted just 13 detainees after full processing, and none were considered high-value targets. But two Shiite hostages were found and released; they had been told by their Sunni captors they would be executed later that same day. Some small weapons caches were also found, and several thousand ball bearings, along with steel plate apparently used to test their armor penetration in home-made mines.

"I don't think [insurgents] have succeeded as much as they would like, but they gave it all they had before the US election to influence people," says Maj. Christopher Kolomjec from Grosse Pointe, Mich. "It is hard for us to know the real support [of the US] of the Fallujah people, because if they are seen to support us, they will have their head cut off tomorrow."

"Each precinct in Chicago or Detroit, makes 100 to 150 arrests per night per 300,000 people," says Major Kolomjec, a lawyer who notes that Fallujah's population is similar. "Here you take 12 to 40 people per day, and people are up in arms. You can't expect stability, when you are not even doing the same level of policing as Detroit."

Another source of frustration: Pursuit in mosques is forbidden without the presence of Iraqi Army units. Marines say some of Fallujah's 76 mosques are used to hide weaponry. Some broadcast messages such as, "God help us defeat the Americans."

"Many would ask: What other war would we allow the enemy to broadcast calls for our defeat, for the sake of cultural sensitivity?" says O'Neill.

But even as insurgents step up the violence, marines make themselves harder-to-hit targets.

"No, it's not worth it," says 1st Sgt Andrew Tomelleri, of Kansas City, when news came of the death and injuries from another roadside bomb. The three-time Iraq veteran had been at the exact location a day earlier. Such patrols are seen as "magnets" for IEDs.

"But it would be [worth it], if we could fight them muzzle to muzzle, man to man," says Sergeant Tomelleri. "They know they can't beat us that way."

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