Outside influence

Hopefully a lot of these outsiders will be dissuaded by the crushing of Fallujah.

Foreign fighters have been traveling to Iraq via Damascus

Two months ago, after the shooting stopped in Najaf, many of the Lebanese fighters volunteered for service against the Americans in Fallujah. As insurgents, they were earning $800 a month—three times an Iraqi policeman's salary. Instead, Ali went home to the Bekaa Valley. "I got scared," he says. "Some local people were friendly, and some were not. It was like you had one enemy in front of you and one behind you."