From: Ghostrider
Looks like we are getting rid of the bad guys and proving ourselves to the locals...
Defiant Iraqi city tempers resistance
sunspot.net.
Progress: Fallujah seemingly is becoming more tolerant as U.S. forces consult community leaders, hand over control and adopt a lower profile
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Once, the stubborn people of Fallujah waged a separate war. Now, perhaps, they have made a separate peace.
Residents of this sprawling city on the Euphrates River, 35 miles west of Baghdad, were among the first to launch attacks on coalition troops after President Bush declared major combat at an end May 1.
Today, Fallujah's quarter-million people seem to be among the first to reach an understanding with the occupying coalition.
There is still plenty of resentment toward Americans here. But it has been tempered, soldiers say, by the decision to have the 7,000 troops of the coalition force adopt a lower profile and a recognition by some Fallujans that they would probably be worse off if the soldiers left.
"Tolerance is probably a pretty good word," an American officer said.
Many Fallujans say they bear no love for Saddam Hussein. But they were angry after soldiers of the 82nd Airborne fired on demonstrators at a school in April, killing 15 Iraqis. Residents of this sun-bleached city resented watching foreigners patrol their streets, stopping their cars and searching their homes.
The first Army units sent to control the city were overwhelmed. The battle-weary 3rd Infantry Division, which led the assault on Baghdad, was sent here six weeks ago to quell a rising tide of violence.
At first, the American soldiers adopted a get-tough approach and met stiff resistance. But a couple of weeks ago, they handed over control of guard posts near the mayor's compound, banks and other important buildings to Iraqi police and security guards. They have consulted more closely with religious and community leaders, and increased work on civic projects. The result has been a period of relative calm.
When he first began patrolling here six weeks ago, children always threw rocks, said Capt. Anthony Butler of the 3rd Infantry. Every time he turned his back, stones rained down.
"There were packs of kids on every block," he said. "It was like artillery."
He tried chasing the delinquents and scolding them. It didn't work. Neither did talking to their parents. So he started walking alongside Iraqi doctors and other trusted Iraqi adults.
"I haven't had a rock thrown at me in two weeks," he said.
In taped messages released over the past 2 1/2 weeks, Hussein has praised Fallujah's residents for leading the fight against the U.S.-led coalition. But Hussein had trouble keeping order in this smuggling center while he was in power, and many residents are contemptuous of the toppled dictator.
Words of peace
Still, Fallujah's calm was shattered at 3:30 p.m. Friday when a bomb detonated by remote control exploded near a U.S. Humvee in a traffic circle west of town. The blast, which left a crater 1 1/2 feet deep, killed a soldier of the 3rd Infantry.
Fallujah's leaders quickly condemned the attack at a news conference, blaming it on outsiders. They invited American troops to stay in the area to provide security.
"The agreement between the Iraqi police, the tribes and the coalition troops is that when there is good security in the city of Fallujah, the American troops will leave," said Mayor Taha Bedawi Hamid.
Until then, the soldiers should stay, he said. He blamed outsiders for the bomb.
"These attackers are paid to do what they are doing," the mayor said. "Who is paying them? Those who don't want peace or benefits for our city."
Sheik Sadun Aziz, 40, a retired Iraqi army officer who teaches at a local college, called the bombing "mindless" and "shocking," and predicted that those responsible would soon be arrested.
"The road now is the political road, not the path of violence," he said.
Aziz, an elder of the al Halabsa tribe, said Fallujans would not take up arms against the Americans if they conduct raids here in response to attacks.
"Maybe that would have happened three months ago," he said. "But not now. The U.S. forces understand what the Iraqis need."
Fallujah is part of the so-called Sunni triangle, an area that includes the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys north and west of Baghdad. This is the heartland of Iraq's Sunni Muslims, who formed the core of support for the Hussein regime.
But Fallujah, a centuries-old caravan town, has long had a reputation for independence. There was stubborn resistance here to Hussein's rule.
Some Fallujans say they have grown weary of the relentless sabotage by Hussein's supporters of power lines, the water pumping station, irrigation facilities and other utilities. And they see American troops helping to restore essential services.
Another reason for the period of relative calm might be that many of those who were attacking coalition troops six weeks ago have been arrested or killed.
"We're running out of people that don't like us," said 1st Lt. Jason Novak, an intelligence officer with the 3rd Infantry.
But there has also been a thaw in the icy relations between Americans and Fallujans, he said.
"When we first got here, they were real standoffish," he said. "But now they respect us. They know if you're bad, we'll get you. If you're doing the right thing, we'll do what we can to help you. They're starting to open up."
Novak expresses concern that the reduction in U.S. patrols could encourage Iraqi fighters to use the town as a place to buy weapons and plan attacks. But he says American soldiers continue to gather information, track the fighters' movements and plan arrests.
Soldiers say they are keeping close track of the rhetoric at city mosques and that the tone of the prayers has changed over the past two months.
"I wouldn't say they are pro-U.S.," one officer said. "But at a minimum, they are less anti-U.S. than they were before."
A fight on two fronts
American forces here have long recognized that they are fighting on two fronts -- against guerrillas staging hit-and-run attacks, and to win the support of ordinary Iraqis. In Fallujah, there has been progress on both fronts, soldiers say.
"It took a while," said Maj. Roger Shuck, 37, of Cape Girardaux, Mo., an operations officer with the 3rd Infantry. "We had to get out there and establish a little trust with the people."
He said the process dragged on until about a month ago, when 3rd Infantry commanders met with counterparts from Mosul, which may be the most peaceful Sunni-dominated city in northern Iraq. Since then, American forces here have slightly altered their tactics, increasing contacts with neighborhood elders, tribal sheiks and religious leaders.
"It's been the key to our success," Shuck said.
About a week ago, someone fired a few rocket propelled grenades or mortar rounds -- no one is sure which -- into the 3rd Infantry's headquarters here, in a former Baathist resort called Dreamland. No one was hurt. Still, Fallujah has been much quieter in recent weeks than Baghdad, Tikrit or other Baathist strongholds to the north.
Even raids by coalition forces have become less violent, soldiers say. Instead of breaking in, a team of infantrymen knocked on the door of two suspected Iraqi fighters a few days ago. Both surrendered without resistance and are being held for interrogation, Shuck said.
To cement their gains, coalition authorities are scrambling to improve delivery of water, propane and electricity. And they've made progress. Fallujans have about as much access to these things as they did before the war, Shuck says.
Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry also are spending more time on civic projects, including the rehabilitation of schools, health clinics and soccer fields. Butler said he was shocked when he first walked into a clinic.
"They had nothing," he said. "Not even supplies to clean the floor."
The walls needed painting, and there was a shortage of medicines, equipment and vaccines. A woman sitting in the waiting room grabbed her children and dragged them as far from him as she could get. But he kept coming back. And the attitude of the Iraqi families has changed, he said. Now, the mothers sit and talk to him.
"Why are the Red Cross and UNICEF not here?" they ask. "Where can we get our children immunized?"
Butler has to tell them that some aid organizations based in Baghdad do not allow their workers to come to Fallujah because of its reputation for lawlessness.
He shook his head.
"It's safer here," he said. |
