WASHINGTON, D.C. (4/1) - In Fallujah, Iraq yesterday there was pure horror. It was reminiscent of Mogadishu, Somalia where the bodies of American soldiers were drug through the streets in "Blackhawk Down." Four American contractors were driving two cars through the streets of Fallujah when they were attacked by a mob which lit their cars on fire and killed all passengers. Their charred bodies were pulled form the burning cars and drug through the streets. The members of the crowd hit the dead bodies with shoes - a form of  insult - like the Iraqis did to Saddam's statutes and pictures a year ago.  At least one body was militated. The crowd hung two other blackened parts of bodies  from a bridge. Crowds, including many children, danced in the streets, repeatedly stoned the burning cars of the victims, and chanted that Fallujah was a graveyard for Americans.  Some residents vowed to repel U.S. forces if they raid the city. According to an AP report, "We will not let any foreigner enter Fallujah," said Sameer Sami, 40. "Yesterday's attack is proof of how much we hate the Americans."

Ambassador Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq,  said the deaths of the Americans in Fallujah would not go unpunished. Iraqi police manned roadside checkpoints in and around Fallujah, but no U.S. troops could be seen inside the city. One Fallujah resident said, "We wish that they (U.S. forces) would try to enter Fallujah so we'd let hell break lose."

Fallujah is about 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of Baghdad. It has been the scene of some of the worst violence on both sides of the conflict since the beginning of the U.S.-led occupation a year ago.  Fallujah is becoming  a major flashpoint which appears very hard to control. This lastes incident certainly enhances Al-Fallujah's reputation As hotbed of Anti-American sentiment.

Although some American authorities asserts that the Fullujah violence is a result of the desire of a few to return to the days of Saddam or that it is a fight against freedom. Other reasons may apply. As reported by The Christian Science Monitor: "But to Iraqi experts on the deeply clannish tribal networks of much of the Sunni Triangle, the horrifying killings and mutilation of four US security contractors Wednesday were more about a people obsessed with personal honor and revenge than evidence of nostalgia for Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

To them, the scenes were simply the extension of a cultural clash that began soon after the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division took control of the area last spring.

"You can never forget that in this area retaliation is almost the fundamental element of the tribal system, its focal point,'' says Sadoun al-Dulame, a Baghdad-based political scientist who grew up in the area as a member of the Dulame tribe, one of its largest. "This is a revenge culture where insults to people's honor will always be repaid with violence."

The U.S. military has expressed an intent to focus more on Fallujah.  This will mean more violence and more revenge. After almost a year since Bush made his "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the war on Iraq appears to be escalating.