Fallujah Gains Mythic Air - Siege Redefines Conflict for Iraqis in Capital

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6462-2004Apr12.html

BAGHDAD, April 12 -- The U.S. Marine siege of Fallujah, designed to isolate and pursue a handful of extremists in a restive town, has produced a powerful backlash in the capital. Urged on by leaflets, sermons and freshly sprayed graffiti calling for jihad, young men are leaving Baghdad to join a fight that residents say has less to do with battlefield success than with a cause infused with righteousness and sacrifice.

"The fighting now is different than a year ago. Before, the Iraqis fought for nothing. Now, fighters from all over Iraq are going to sacrifice themselves," said a Fallujah native who gave his name as Abu Idris and claimed to be in contact with guerrillas who slip in and out of the besieged city three and four times daily.

He spoke in a mosque parking lot emptied moments earlier of more than a ton of donated foodstuffs destined for Fallujah -- heavy bags of rice, tea and flour loaded into long, yellow semitrailers by a cluster of men who, their work done, joined a spirited discussion about the need to take the fight to the enemy. They included a dentist, a prayer leader, a law student, a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi police and a man who until 10 days earlier had traveled with U.S. troops as a member of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

"Our brothers who went to Fallujah and came back say: 'Oh, God, it is heaven. Anyone who wants paradise should go to Fallujah,' " Abu Idris said.

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[burrowowl]

1. A handful of extremists?

If only a handful, howcome over 600 rebels killed according to U$ (including babies, mothers, grandmas, etc.).:puke:
Is the WP following the Bu$hCo party line?
Either the U$ is going in strong for a handful or they are going in strong for a little more than a handful.

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

2. That article gives me goosebumps.

What bitter harvest are we sowing?

This will radicalize a new generation of Muslim youth better than anything Bin Laden could have done.

[skooooo]

3. I thought peace negotiations were making some headway??

No?

[Dover]

4. Pretty soon the saying "Remember Fallujah" will make it's way into the

Iraqi popular cultural.

[saigon68]

5. Powell "A few dead enders"

Sounds like it to me </sarcasm>

[freethought]

6. Holy S__t! If Baghdad goes insurgent

Our soldiers will be doomed. No amount of high tech weaponry air or sea power will be able to help them! This is just getting worse and worse.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Westerners don't understand, they take down one Icon, another will rise

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