Sada, Iraq -- Moving almost soundlessly, the Marines sprinted up to the sandstone wall surrounding the flat, yellow mosque, then hunkered down -- backs against the wall, their heads turned to look over it, M-16s at the ready. An Iraqi flag flew from the metal minaret. Two empty, haphazardly nailed coffins lay on a weedy, dusty lawn. Everything inside the compound was quiet. But such tranquility can be deceptive, said Marines conducting house-to-house searches as part of Operation Iron Fist, a military assault aimed at ridding western Iraqi towns near the Syrian border of armed insurgents before the Oct. 15...
