(iraqi claims of media bias, you gotta love it, are they right?)
FALLUJAH, Iraq - When Maher Sahdoun checks out the news about his purportedly dangerous city, he envisions a viper's nest of gunmen bent on avenging the ouster of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
Yet in a matter of weeks, the Iraqi city viewed as the hub of American hatred has become something of a strange success story. The occupiers and the occupied have parleyed their way to a relatively peaceful coexistence.
"The media is making a much bigger story out of Fallujah than it is," Sahdoun says as he strolls his land on the banks of the lazy, reed-lined Euphrates River.
Sadhoun isn't alone. U.S. service personnel are continually perplexed by the distraught letters and emails from their families, who read or hear about a veritable hunting season on U.S. troops when the casualties ? considering the magnitude of invading, pacifying and rebuilding a California-sized country ? pale in comparison to any other American war of such magnitude.
Saddam is a Sunni Muslim, and it's easy to see other Sunnis as fighting a last-ditch battle to prevent the Americans from allowing the majority Shiites to overrun them. But in fact, many tribes of Sunnis, particularly the more devout, have long opposed Saddam's socialist, secular Baath party.
Fallujah gained notoriety when troops from the 82nd Airborne Division fired on protesters on April 28 and April 30. Twenty Iraqis were killed.
The shootings triggered a backlash, and a variety of gunmen took regular shots at military patrols in Fallujah in the ensuing weeks. The incidents and the Fallujah's notoriety seemed to soar in tandem.
"It (the crowd shootings) drew a lot of fighters from other towns to Fallujah, because of the big media presence" in nearby Baghdad, says Capt. John Ives, the 3rd Infantry Division's liaison to Iraqi community.
Hameed acknowledged that many Saddam loyalists had fled to Fallujah during the fall of Baghdad to blend into Sunni society, and people began blaming them for all of Fallujah's random crime, including the looting and torching of a police station a week ago.
Ives said regular meetings with local sheiks and clerics resulted in the appointment of Hameed as mayor and an agreement to keep heavy armor off the streets, creating a less aggressive presence.
"After the shooting, we sat down with the local leaders and said, 'Just tell us what you want,'" Ives said.
In return, they have helped single out people who were hoarding weapons, attacking soldiers and looting, he said. But Ives said a witch hunt of sorts has also emerged, targeting alleged Baath members.
As far back as April, even as Baghdad was falling, clerics and tribal leaders from Fallujah and neighboring Ramadi met U.S. special operatives to negotiate a peaceful American takeover. The result was two major cities in the Sunni triangle taken without a shot being fired.
"Right from the beginning there was an agreement," said the mayor.
Fallujah today has none of the anti-American graffiti found in southern cities dominated by fundamentalist Shiites. Produce and meat markets are open well into the night, and some shops are filled with tires and plastic chairs already being imported from China.
"The Americans are keeping their promises," said Sheik Hasna al Bouaifan, leader of one of the top tribes in the region. "They are patrolling the town to keep peace. One of the clerics who met with them said: 'They must secure themselves before they can secure us.'"
Unlike in the south, few complaints are heard about lack of drinking water, and few calls for the Americans to leave.
U.S. troops have seized weapons for weeks countrywide, including in Fallujah. But last week, the military took the media along, and suddenly Fallujah was again portrayed as the supposed epicenter of anti-American resistance.
FALLUJAH, Iraq - When Maher Sahdoun checks out the news about his purportedly dangerous city, he envisions a viper's nest of gunmen bent on avenging the ouster of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
Yet in a matter of weeks, the Iraqi city viewed as the hub of American hatred has become something of a strange success story. The occupiers and the occupied have parleyed their way to a relatively peaceful coexistence.
"The media is making a much bigger story out of Fallujah than it is," Sahdoun says as he strolls his land on the banks of the lazy, reed-lined Euphrates River.
Sadhoun isn't alone. U.S. service personnel are continually perplexed by the distraught letters and emails from their families, who read or hear about a veritable hunting season on U.S. troops when the casualties ? considering the magnitude of invading, pacifying and rebuilding a California-sized country ? pale in comparison to any other American war of such magnitude.
Saddam is a Sunni Muslim, and it's easy to see other Sunnis as fighting a last-ditch battle to prevent the Americans from allowing the majority Shiites to overrun them. But in fact, many tribes of Sunnis, particularly the more devout, have long opposed Saddam's socialist, secular Baath party.
Fallujah gained notoriety when troops from the 82nd Airborne Division fired on protesters on April 28 and April 30. Twenty Iraqis were killed.
The shootings triggered a backlash, and a variety of gunmen took regular shots at military patrols in Fallujah in the ensuing weeks. The incidents and the Fallujah's notoriety seemed to soar in tandem.
"It (the crowd shootings) drew a lot of fighters from other towns to Fallujah, because of the big media presence" in nearby Baghdad, says Capt. John Ives, the 3rd Infantry Division's liaison to Iraqi community.
Hameed acknowledged that many Saddam loyalists had fled to Fallujah during the fall of Baghdad to blend into Sunni society, and people began blaming them for all of Fallujah's random crime, including the looting and torching of a police station a week ago.
Ives said regular meetings with local sheiks and clerics resulted in the appointment of Hameed as mayor and an agreement to keep heavy armor off the streets, creating a less aggressive presence.
"After the shooting, we sat down with the local leaders and said, 'Just tell us what you want,'" Ives said.
In return, they have helped single out people who were hoarding weapons, attacking soldiers and looting, he said. But Ives said a witch hunt of sorts has also emerged, targeting alleged Baath members.
As far back as April, even as Baghdad was falling, clerics and tribal leaders from Fallujah and neighboring Ramadi met U.S. special operatives to negotiate a peaceful American takeover. The result was two major cities in the Sunni triangle taken without a shot being fired.
"Right from the beginning there was an agreement," said the mayor.
Fallujah today has none of the anti-American graffiti found in southern cities dominated by fundamentalist Shiites. Produce and meat markets are open well into the night, and some shops are filled with tires and plastic chairs already being imported from China.
"The Americans are keeping their promises," said Sheik Hasna al Bouaifan, leader of one of the top tribes in the region. "They are patrolling the town to keep peace. One of the clerics who met with them said: 'They must secure themselves before they can secure us.'"
Unlike in the south, few complaints are heard about lack of drinking water, and few calls for the Americans to leave.
U.S. troops have seized weapons for weeks countrywide, including in Fallujah. But last week, the military took the media along, and suddenly Fallujah was again portrayed as the supposed epicenter of anti-American resistance.
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