Iraq

Iraqis' resentment concentrates in Sunni city

FALLUJAH, Iraq - This city in the Sunni Triangle, where many residents have deep tribal roots, some following radical versions of Islam, has been a flashpoint for conflict since the start of the occupation.

Like other cities in the Sunni-dominated area that stretches north and west of the Iraqi capital, Fallujah benefited from Saddam Hussein's 23 years in power. Factories were built there providing employment. The former dictator, himself a Sunni, recruited his elite Republican Guard officers and members of the brutal security agencies from Iraq's Sunni minority.

Many Sunnis are now fearful of a new government after the transfer of sovereignty on June 30 that is expected to be led by a member of the country's Shiite majority.

Resentment of the U.S. presence in this city, which lies on the Euphrates River, 35 miles west of Baghdad, has run deep since American troops fired twice on crowds in April last year during the invasion, killing 18 Iraqis.

Fallujah has a population of some 500,000 people, many of whom adhere to Sunni Islam's austere Wahhabi sect. They find the behavior by American troops like raiding homes and detaining men in front of wives and children as offensive and see the Americans as an occupying army that has come to subjugate them.

On Wednesday, crowds in Fallujah dragged the burned, mutilated bodies of four American contractors through the streets, reflecting a deep hatred for the occupation.

The U.S. military says it is taking pains to adhere to local customs and not offend people. It says it is spending millions of dollars on reconstruction projects, but it acknowledges its benevolent message isn't getting through.

"Fallujah remains one of those cities in Iraq that just don't get it," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said after Wednesday's killings. "They have a view that somehow the harder they fight, the better chance they have for achieving some sort of (restorative) movement within the country."

But he said the rebels were "a small minority" of Fallujah residents.

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