FALLUJAH, Iraq — The charred bodies have been cut down from a bridge over the Euphrates river, but the shadows of the four American security contractors who were killed here continue to fall over this restive Iraqi town.
As leaders in United States and Iraq huddle to map their next moves in Fallujah, the key actors on the ground are showing no signs of being able to prevent a fierce clash.
A day earlier, a senior U.S. military official said the American forces would not embark on "a pell-mell rush" into Fallujah, and that any military strike "will be precise" and "overwhelming."
On the outskirts of the city Friday night, battalions from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force geared for a battle, setting up checkpoints and camps in preparation for their eventual return to the hostile city. As they braced against one of the season’s first blistering sandstorms, several Marines said they were rearing to avenge Wednesday’s brutal killings.
"I’ve got a lot of hate inside me, but I try to put that aside," said Sgt. Eric Nordwig, 29, of Riverside, Calif., a veteran of the battle to topple Saddam Hussein. "We just sit and take it and be mortared." The time has come to "clean up the town," he said.
In Washington, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz briefed members of the House Armed Services Committee on plans for retaliation in Fallujah. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the committee’s chairman, said the classified briefing suggested that a reprisal may entail the use of U.S. air power.
Inside Fallujah, many of the city’s quarter-million residents warned of further bloodshed if the Marines return.
Before Friday prayers, a senior Fallujah cleric made no apologies for the attack on the four Americans as they drove through the town Wednesday morning, but condemned the subsequent mutilation of corpses and dragging of the bodies through the streets.
"The killing is legitimate," said Khalid Ahmed Salih, cleric at the Al-Badawi mosque. "But we do not accept the mutilation of the bodies. Islam orders us not to do that to a dog. No decent man will accept this."
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior military spokesman, said the city could avoid a crackdown if it hands over the attackers. "The question — Is there going to be a fight? — is one you should ask the insurgents, one that you should ask the government, the governors and the mayor inside Fallujah," Kimmitt said Thursday.
"It’s hard (to be patient)," said Lance Cpl. Michael Shaffer, 22, of Owensboro, Ky. "Unfortunately, I know it’s more a mental fight than a physical fight. If we go in and tear up the place, the Iraqi people will resent that and we’ll just have more trouble."
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