Browne, from Boston, says he has killed several
rebels so far, probably Iraqis. "I don't even think about those people
as people," he says.
...
The band of U.S. marines in this insurgent stronghold received two
big orders this year. They were told to return to Iraq to stabilize
the Sunni areas west of Baghdad, Iraq's toughest patch of territory.
The normally clean-shaven marines were also told to grow moustaches
in an attempt to win over Iraqis who see facial hair as a sign of maturity.
"We did it basically to show the Iraqi people that
we respect their culture," said Lance Cpl. Cristopher Boulwave, 22,
from Desoto Texas.
But after the killing of four American contractors
in Fallujah on March 31, they tossed aside such pretences. First to
go were the moustaches.
"When you go to fight, it's time to shoot - not
to make friends with people," said Sgt. Cameron Lefter, 34, from Seattle.
In the fight for Fallujah - which
has killed more than 600 Iraqis, according to city doctors,
and about a dozen U.S. soldiers - the marines say it's easier to cope
with the daily work of killing a seemingly unending supply of rebels
if they don't think about the suspected Iraqi rebels as people. Under
different circumstances, they might have been trying to help them.
"If someone came and did this to our neighbourhood
I'd be pissed too," said Capt. Don Maraska of Moscow, Idaho, a 37-year-old
who guides air strikes on enemy targets in the town. "I've never had
people look at me the way these people look at me. I don't know what
came before, but at this point, what else can we possibly do but fight?"
...
These days, the marines are speaking a more familiar language.
"We didn't initiate this," said 1st Marine Regiment
Commander Col. John Toolen. "I came in here with more money than bullets.
Now I'm running out of bullets but the money is still in my pocket."
The marines are frustrated with the negotiations
to halt the firing in Fallujah. Many say they want to finish the battle,
take control of the rebel city by brute force - whatever it takes -
rather than wait for Iraqi negotiators to thrash out a deal to stop
the fighting.
"We're the guys that go in and put our foot in the
door," said Maraska, a veteran of the first Gulf War and Somalia. "We'll
do any mission. But we're better at pushing and fighting."
Behind the front line, marines are trying to supply
the holed-up locals that they encounter with food and water, one of
the few areas their cultural training is put to use.
But Cpl. David Silvers, based in a front-line building
nicknamed "the tower," says his experience with Iraqis has been limited
to dodging bullets from a persistent and shadowy gunman he dubbed "Bob
the sniper."
"He's the guy who wakes us up every morning and
fires at us all day. He hasn't got anyone yet but he's come close a
few times," Silvers said.
Even though the marines have given Bob his name,
they say they still want to kill him.
"This is the closest relationship I have with an
Iraqi right now," Silvers said.
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