Najaf also had armed insurgents, but no terrorists. We would differentiate the Najaf insurgents from the terrorists of Fallujah as they snarled, but did not bite as the Fallujah baddies did. Both of them wanted us out of their cities and out of Iraq, but the terrorists of Fallujah had made known their extent of their viciousness by lynching four of our citizens who were in Iraq as private security guards to provide security to the reconstruction effort. The savagery of this action in April of 2004 shook the world when we witnessed the charred bodies of the murdered guards hung up on a bridge for the world at large to see. The terrorists of Fallujah sent a message that this was a no hold barred war against us.

Quite to the contrary, there was no such barbarism in Najaf, where the insurgents had holed up in the holiest of holy Imam Ali shrine in the center of the town. They did not plant IEDs on the roads. They sniped at us, but the casualty rate was far lower on both sides and there was no naked display of barbarism as it was at Fallujah.

Why did both sides hold their fire at Najaf, while they went all out at Fallujah, Qaim, and other cities in Al Anbar?

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