That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed. They are the sole authority, running the town's security, administration and communications.
A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to.
Haditha exposes the limitations of the Iraqi state and US power on the day when the political process is supposed to make a great leap - a draft constitution finalised and approved by midnight tonight.
For politicians and diplomats in Baghdad's fortified green zone the constitution is a means to stabilise Iraq and woo Sunni Arabs away from the rebellion. For Haditha, 140 miles north-west of the capital, whether a draft is agreed is irrelevant. Residents already have a set of laws and rules promulgated by insurgents.
Within minutes of driving into town the Guardian was stopped by a group of men and informed about rule number one: announce yourself. The mujahideen, as they are known locally, must know who comes and goes.
The Guardian reporter did not say he worked for a British newspaper. For their own protection interviewees cannot be named.
There is no fighting here because there is no one to challenge the Islamists. The police station and municipal offices were destroyed last year and US marines make only fleeting visits every few months.
Two groups share power. Ansar al-Sunna is a largely homegrown organisation, though its leader in Haditha is said to be foreign. Al-Qaida in Iraq, known locally by its old name Tawhid al-Jihad, is led by the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There was a rumour that Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted militant after Osama bin Laden, visited early last week. True or not, residents wanted to believe they had hosted such a celebrity.
A year ago Haditha was just another sleepy town in western Anbar province, deep in the Sunni triangle and suspicious of the Shia-led government in Baghdad but no insurgent hotbed.
Then, say residents, arrived mostly Shia police with heavyhanded behaviour. "That's how it began," said one man. Attacks against the police escalated until they fled, creating a vacuum filled by insurgents.
Alcohol and music deemed unIslamic were banned, women were told to wear headscarves and relations between the sexes were closely monitored. The mobile phone network was shut down but insurgents retained their walkie-talkies and satellite phones. Right-hand lanes are reserved for their vehicles.
From attacks on US and Iraqi forces it is clear that other Anbar towns, such as Qaim, Rawa, Anna and Ramadi, are to varying degrees under the sway of rebels.
In Haditha hospital staff and teachers are allowed to collect government salaries in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, but other civil servants have had to quit.
Last year the US trumpeted its rehabilitation of a nearby power plant: "The incredible progress at Haditha is just one example of the huge strides made by the US army corps of engineers."
Now insurgents earn praise from residents for allegedly pressuring managers to supply electricity almost 24 hours a day, a luxury denied the rest of Iraq.
The court caters solely for divorces and marriages. Alleged criminals are punished in the market. The Guardian witnessed a headmaster accused of adultery whipped 190 times with cables. Children laughed as he sobbed and his robe turned crimson.
Two men who robbed a foreign exchange shop were splayed on the ground. Masked men stood on their hands while others broke their arms with rocks. The shopkeeper offered the insurgents a reward but they declined.
DVDs of beheadings on the bridge are distributed free in the souk. Children prefer them to cartoons. "They should not watch such things," said one grandfather, but parents appeared not to object.
One DVD features a young, blond muscular man who had been disembowelled. He was said to have been a member of a six-strong US sniper team ambushed and killed on August 1. Residents said he had been paraded in town before being executed.
The US military denied that, saying six bodies were recovered and that all appeared to have died in combat. Shortly after the ambush three landmines killed 14 marines in a convoy which ventured from their base outside the town.
Twice in recent months marines backed by aircraft and armour swept into Haditha to flush out the rebels. In a pattern repeated across Anbar there were skirmishes, a few suspects killed or detained, and success was declared.
In reality, said residents, the insurgents withdrew for a few days and returned when the Americans left. They have learned from last November's battle in Falluja, when hundreds died fighting the marines and still lost the city.
Now their strategy appears to be to wait out the Americans, calculating they will leave within a few years, and then escalate what some consider the real war against a government led by Shias, a rival sect which Sunni extremists consider apostasy.
The US military declined to respond to questions detailing the extent of insurgent control in the town.
There was evidence of growing cooperation between rebels. A group in Falluja, where the resistance is said to be regrouping, wrote to Haditha requesting background checks on two volunteers from the town.
One local man in his 40s told the Guardian he wanted to be a suicide bomber to atone for sins and secure a place in heaven. "But the mujahideen will not let me. They said I had eight children and it was my duty to look after them."
Tribal elders said they feared but respected insurgents for keeping order and not turning the town into a battleground.
They appear to have been radicalised, and condemned Sunni groups, such as the Iraqi Islamic party and the Muslim Scholars' Association, for engaging in the political process.
The constitution talks, the referendum due in October, the election due in December: all are deemed collaboration punishable by death. The task now is to bleed the Americans and destabilise the government. Some call that nihilism. Haditha calls it the future.
· Omer Mahdi was in Haditha for a Guardian Films project before security precautions forced it to be suspended.
Ping, in case you haven't seen this. Note the date this was published, very relevant, in my opinon.
Bomb the place into a smoking crater. Sow salt. Repeat as necessary.
bump*bump*bump
bump
I this is the case, I have two questions. How did this happen? Why is it allowed to continue?
I saw this same article on another blog this morning. Amazing isn't it? Apparently it was a hotbed of terrorist activity that the US military couldn't control by the press when it was used to hammer the military, but NOW the military is being characterized as breaking into homes and shooting prayer circles. The "massacre" of innocents.
No, no bias here. Move along. **bleeeech**
BTTT
Ping.
this lines up with the other thread - the interview of the injured Marines who was saying that "you couldn't tell who were the bad guys" in that town, how they used children as scouts and lookouts.
this is the reality the Marines face, and they damn sure deserve alot more support then the weak-in-the-knees statement by the president yesterday about this.
there is no way to reform a town like this. when the kids are laughing in the town square at people being whipped and beheaded, its beyond hope.
Everyone, send this to drudge and post it on your blogs and other message boards.
We can't go in and kill them all. The left and murtha are tying our hands in the matter. They are winning and our soldiers are being wounded and dying because of it. They WANT the terrorist to win.
Iraq's a hell-hole
half as big as Texas. We've
had a three year war
and the bad guys still
can control an entire town?!
This kind of nonsense
makes me think someone
in charge of this Iraq thing
needs to be replaced!
A little something for the libs to ponder.
Why? Because that hostility is everywhere. Haditha is by no means unique. There are lots of towns and neighborhoods of major cities that you could write this same article about. U.S. forces face this kind of thing every time they leave the wire and go on patrol. That's just how it is.
The Iraqi Sunnis don't seem to understand that they are a 20% minority. Whose percentage of the population is going to go way down in the next few years.
oh yeah..the ever socially conscious mujahideen...this story is only missing the beaded slippers and flying carpet...there's just so many unexplained things going on...since this happened in NOV of last year..al jeezera has been quiet...kerry has been quiet...dean has been quiet..for creeps sake...even OBL didn't mention anything about it (guess Murtha has to call BINNY and tell him to whip it up some)....just too quiet, there's just TOO MANY oddities about this story
Doogle
This town must be whipped out. It is worse than Fallujah 18 months ago before the Fallujans learned what is to face the might of the US military.
BBTTT