Fallujah residents emerge from homes to survey their shattered city

"The destruction is huge and it was beyond our imagination," said Abu Mohammed, 50, as he stood near his destroyed house in the al-Jolan district in the northwest of the city.

"Who is going to compensate us after what happened?" said Daher Abu Maan, 40, who returned to find that his house was also completely destroyed.

"We cannot start to rebuild again. We suffered over 12 years of UN sanctions during Saddam Hussein's regime. We hoped that peace will prevail, instead we lost our houses and our hope again," he added.

Other residents, who returned to the city after fleeing from the bloody battles, were too dazed to comment. Young fighters, who had roamed the streets claiming a great victory over the US forces over the weekend, appeared to have gone. Instead, young men were burying their comrades who fell in the fighting.

"Jihad needs sacrifice and we are willing to sacrifice to defend our land and our honor," said Hamd Hajj Hussein, 64, as he looked at men burying three of their colleagues. "We are ready to fight the Americans again until the last drop of our blood," he added.

US marines struck a deal to end the bloodshed in the Sunni Muslim flashpoint of Fallujah by giving power to former Iraqi Army generals and their newly-formed brigade to control the city. The marines believe some of the former Iraqi army troops replacing them in Fallujah have links to insurgents, and hope this will help them end the violence.

But marines were still seen in their positions at the Fallujah railway station on the outskirts of the city and opposite to the Jolan district, where some of the worst fighting was seen.

In houses that the marines had evacuated, ammunition cases littered the floors. Pools of congealed blood and first aid kits were also found.

Bags of military rations and binoculars were also found in some bullet-riddled houses.

The new Fallujah Brigade, put together by former Iraqi generals in less than two weeks, has started moving into Fallujah in recent days as the marines who besieged the city for a month pulled out of their positions.

General James Conway, who commands the marines in Fallujah, admits the brigade, made up of soldiers from Saddam Hussein's disbanded army, includes some people who were willing to take up arms against the United States if coalition troops had sought to seize the city.

Cars clogged the streets and policemen at intersections tried to sort out the traffic jam. Shops opened their doors again, but a sense of fear remained in the battered city, and confusion over what the future will hold.


By Ramzi Haidar, Agence France Presse

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