Reuters
21 July 2005
By Michael Georgy

Some insurgents whose bases were flattened by U.S. air strikes are laying mines again. Residents want Iraqi forces out. Jobs are scarce.

Falluja is simmering again eight months after a U.S. Marine offensive that crushed the nerve centre of Iraq's insurgency. There are signs guerrillas are trying to make a comeback.

"We are facing one big prison here. There are military fences and checkpoints all around Falluja. We are cut off from the rest of the world," said Fahd Suleiman, 67.

The Iraqi government was hoping the U.S. assault in November would pacify Iraq's most rebellious town after an estimated 2,000 militants and insurgents were killed or captured.

Muslim militants no longer behead people in the basements of Falluja houses and Saddam Hussein's former agents don't operate freely in the town 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad.

Residents said there have only been about 10 car bombs since the offensive ended, a small number compared to the daily blasts that shook the town.

But police and residents said guerrillas are active again, laying landmines on the town's edge. U.S.-trained Iraqi forces are resented in a town known for its defiance, even in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Doors locked
"We always keep our doors locked so the soldiers do not loot our homes. They insult us and call us sons of pimps," said Satar Taresh, 35. "They tell us 'we are heroes and we have taken over your town.'"

Officials at Iraq's defence and interior ministry were not reachable for comment on the accusations.

Even though Falluja is a predominantly Sunni town, it is still vulnerable to sectarian tensions spreading through Iraq.

Many Iraqi forces in Falluja are Shi'ites, a majority sect that gained power for the first time during January elections.

Sunnis who once dominated Saddam's government have been sidelined and the reversal of fortunes has deepened sectarian strife, raising fears of civil war.

"Security is a big problem. What we need is police from Falluja, not outsiders," said Falluja mayor Dari Arsaan.

But nothing is easy in Falluja, "the city of mosques" which has paid the heaviest price for the conflict in Iraq.

Local security forces have a history of collaborating with insurgents in Falluja, a dense collection of bland, cement homes beside a once thriving trade route to Jordan.

About 75 percent of its residents have returned since the assault, hoping to build a new life after first facing militants and insurgents who ruled their streets and then U.S. bombs and artillery that turned many homes into rubble.

Traffic is lively again but jobs are scarce, residents said. Some Iraqis complain that they can't generate enough income to buy cement to rebuild their pockmarked homes.

"I just keep looking for work," said labourer Saad Farhan, 25. "We have a hateful government that is spreading sectarian problems."

Falluja became the focus of the U.S. military after guerrillas killed four U.S. security contractors on its main street in 2004. The charred and mutilated remains of two were hung on a bridge by town residents, including young boys.

These days, much of the anger is focused on Iraqi forces.

"Previously we hated the Americans. Now it is the Iraqi forces, these Iranians," said Suleiman, underscoring Sunni suspicions that the Shi'ite-led government is too close to Iran.

Despite Falluja's bitter past, some community leaders are urging people to join the political process, something the government hopes would defuse the Sunni-led insurgency.

"In my sermons I have been telling people to register to vote. Otherwise there will be no stability," said Sheikh Alwan Rahman, a cleric at Falluja's Rahman mosque.

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