Insurgents and Islam Now Rulers of Fallouja

[papau]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=6&u=/latimests/20040613/ts_latimes/insurgentsandislamnowrulersoffallouja

Insurgents and Islam Now Rulers of Fallouja
Sun Jun 13, 7:55 AM ET By Laura King Times Staff Writer

FALLOUJA, Iraq — More than 10 weeks after the grisly killing and mutilation of four U.S. contract workers turned this town into an emblem of Iraq's wildfire insurgency, Fallouja has become a symbol of a different sort.

In the wake of a truce last month that averted an all-out assault by U.S. Marines, the conservative Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad has taken on the trappings of a mini-republic that lives largely according to its own rules, in defiance of the potent American military force that remains poised on its doorstep.

Fallouja's status as an autonomous fiefdom — where local people say insurgents rule the streets and an increasingly austere brand of Islamic law has taken root — could embolden other towns, particularly in like-minded Sunni tribal areas, to challenge the legitimacy of the country's transitional government as a scheduled hand-over of power to Iraqis approaches.

And the woes of a U.S.-sanctioned security force in this city on the banks of the Euphrates could bode ill for efforts by the American military and occupation authority to appease rebellious pockets of Iraq by setting up locally recruited forces intended to co-opt insurgents. In the dusty streets of Fallouja, the early May pullback by the Marines to stave off close-quarters urban combat and the likelihood of heavy civilian casualties is touted as a glorious victory for the insurgents, who enjoy overwhelming support here. <snip>

Vigilante-style enforcement of religious edicts by the insurgents has been on the rise in recent weeks. Barbers have been warned not to shave men's beards. Several beauty parlors have been shut down, and four purveyors of illicit alcohol were publicly flogged and paraded through town in the back of a pickup truck last month, according to witnesses. <snip>

[SlingBlade]

1. This is what over 800 American Died for.

These fuckers need to all be hung for treason, This is another reason why I hate Freepers.
Each and every day the list keeps getting bigger.

Fucking God Dammed Nazis

[soothsayer]

2. Uh oh, the Taliban there, too?

I still haven't gotten over the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas.

What a mess...!

[WilliamPitt]

3. .