Hidden Enemies

As 2004 dawned, Saddam was in jail and his sons had been killed. But the initial, heady sense of victory continued to crumble. Iraq's civic and economic order had all but ceased to function—and many Iraqis blamed America. In Sunni-dominated cities and towns like Fallujah, shadowy insurgents mounted increasingly deadly attacks on U.S. forces; some were Saddam loyalists, others simply Iraqi nationalists with some military training, still others, radical Islamists from Syria, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. In late March, a mob killed and burned four American civilians in Fallujah and dragged their bodies through the streets. The next month U.S. forces would engage in bloody house-to-house fighting not just in Fallujah but in Baghdad and Najaf, where supporters of the previously obscure Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr rose up against the occupation.

The carnage and chaos seemed as if it couldn't possibly get worse. But with each passing month, it did.

In March, the Marines took over from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Fallujah and immediately assumed a more high-profile presence on the streets.

Marine Capt. Michael D. Martino
March 22, Fallujah

These former military guys are the ones probably causing all the trouble. You can't go through the town of Fallujah without being shot at [ ... ] The people away from the Sunni Triangle will wave at you, but the Sunnis will give you the finger and throw rocks at you. These are the little kids too.

Martino
April 2, Fallujah