PYRRHIC VICTORY

Falluja turns out to bury dead after US pullback

Victory, proclaimed by the people of Falluja when the American Marines who besieged and bombed them withdrew, often carries its own loss. With the fighting in the city mostly over, they are now free to bury their dead.
At a soccer stadium Monday, Iraqi youths dug trenches where they laid bodies freshly pulled from rubble in neighborhoods held by the Marines until a few days ago. The Marines have now pulled back to let an Iraqi force take over.
As plumes of dust and a fetid odor rose from the field, workers planted gravestones -- two and three to a grave, in the case of families -- marking the cost of a month of siege.
"I thank God for letting us stand up to the Americans, but it is also bitter," said Hamid Eisawy, whose daughter was among those killed in Golan neighborhood -- pounded by U.S. bombers last week. Residents were unable to retrieve the bodies until now.