Fallujah's city council battles to hold its ground

Marine officers note that, in the 45 days prior to the shooting incident, marines had reported a half-dozen incidents of teenagers or children throwing grenades at US forces. "This is the tough thing that is Fallujah," says Lt. Col. Harold Van Opdorp, a commander from Stafford, Va., of the 1/24 Marines battaltion, with units in the city. An initial investigation concluded that the shooter believed the teen was throwing a grenade, though it was not clear if such a weapon was located.

The marines have seen a "significant increase in the level of violence" directed at them in Fallujah in the last four months, says Colonel Van Opdorp.

That dynamic adds a degree of combustibility on the streets as the Marine presence shrinks. There are now fewer than 300 marines who work in Fallujah, and half of those are not based inside the city limits. Most are likely to be pulled back in the next few months.

The mayor notes that the area around OP Fenton is relatively safe, and that there should be communication between the sniper and residents. "If a sniper actually sees someone place an IED, yes, please shoot them," says Bedawi. "Look at this sniper incident, which has set a bad example for all the citizens of Fallujah of the marines."

Clouding all the proceedings are the pall of numerous threats, and the awareness that, outside this fortified meeting place, these men and one woman are top targets for insurgents. The mayor relates threats aimed at his wife, sent by cellphone, and warnings against his family. At one point, he lowers his head into his arms in despair. Later, while discussing the theft of city and business property, he laments how little good citizenship seems to be taught by the 76 mosques here.

But Fallujah is buffeted as much as any city in Iraq by forces beyond local control. The US State Department official for Fallujah, Kael Weston, stands up to describe the consequences of the shift of congressional power far away in Washington.

The mood in America about Iraq is that "people are anxious," Mr. Weston tells the council. "It pains them as much as it pains you, to see the kidnapping in Baghdad, and see the killing that's going on. But Americans are not the most patient people in the world [and] are looking for changes.

"So until I leave and the marines leave, we will make small steps [of progress], and that is probably the most lasting contribution we can make," says Weston.

"We've made many mistakes, and I've not pretended otherwise. And unlike most Americans, I've lived through 3-1/2 years of those mistakes," adds Weston. "I think it would also be unfair to indict the American government, because we did not have a perfect crystal ball."

Still, he says, the future "will be determined more by you and less by us. And that's not necessarily because we wanted it that way, but that's the reality we face."

"This is escaping from the reality," protests "Engineer Khalid," a councilman.

"If Iraq fails, America fails - I've said that before," replies Weston. "And we don't like to fail."

The meeting shifts to talk of school opening days, and the US colonel asks who will protect the telephone-exchange boxes.

"Americans will guard it," suggests the mayor, helpfully.

"We're supposed to be going home!" replies an exasperated Nicholson. "Americans guarding this is a step backward, not a step forward."

The next issue: The recent killing of one British and three Iraqi security contractors, while trying to deliver crucial medical equipment to a local clinic.

"The simple, ordinary people thought that the Ministry of Interior [which is Shiite controlled, and widely blamed for operating death squads against Sunnis in Baghdad] sent three trucks of medicine, most of it expired and poisoned," explains Engineer Khalid. "We support you, [but] this was something taken advantage of by the other side, to aggravate the people."

The question for Fallujans is whether such an atrocity will be more likely, or less, after Americans withdraw.

Bedawi voices concern for the day when Fallujah is handed back fully to Iraqis. When asked how capable the council will be then, he pulls a reporter aside.

"We don't want the Americans to leave until the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police are rebuilt and well armed, and they kill a lot of people from Al Qaeda, and dismantle militias, and kill extremists," he says. "After that, the Americans can leave."

"I think we are capable enough, to do our work without the help of any side," says secretary Abbas Ali Hussein with a well-practiced optimism after the meeting. "No one in our city council is intimidated."

"Rebuilding now is going on very well; people are appreciating what is going on," says Mr. Hussein, adding that vigilante groups are being formed to go after militants. "There is a wakening in the city toward us, and ideological disgust of Al Qaeda.

"People have begun to realize their interests, [and that militants] are pushed by foreign hands, just to kill the will of the people toward welfare and prosperity," he continues. "Everybody who works for the sake of his people and his country - he will be secured first by God."

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