http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chickenrun15jul15235621,1,5057886.storyFALLOUJA, Iraq — Sgt. Jason McGinn's Humvee convoy pulled up in front of the Saud ibn abi Wakas mosque with a load of frozen chickens Monday.
The chickens, rapidly defrosting in the midday sun, were meant for the needy families of Fallouja. McGinn's psychological operations unit was making the delivery as part of its efforts to win over clerics and civilians alike in this city west of Baghdad that has been a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. military occupation.
The imam, a slender, bearded young man, stared hard at McGinn and shook his head indignantly.
"We would rather eat rocks than eat chickens from Americans," he spat out. "Even the poorest person in Fallouja doesn't want chickens from you."
McGinn's unit was brusquely turned away at three of the four mosques it visited. The brushoff was yet another reminder for U.S. soldiers that hostility to the occupation runs deep in many quarters, and that it will take a lot more than frozen chickens to pacify Iraq.
"Hey, it's a slow process, winning the hearts and minds of the people," McGinn said after driving with the spurned chickens through a hail of rocks and bricks thrown by neighborhood children. "But we're getting there, slowly but surely."
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