THE TIMES OF LONDON is making its content free online now. I recommend reading this story in its entirety:

Such is the fear that the heavily armed militants held over Fallujah that many of the residents who emerged from the ruins welcomed the US marines, despite the massive destruction their firepower had inflicted on their city.

A man in his sixties, half-naked and his underwear stained with blood from shrapnel wounds from a US munition, cursed the insurgents as he greeted the advancing marines on Saturday night.

“I wish the Americans had come here the very first day and not waited eight months,” he said, trembling. Nearby, a mosque courtyard had been used as a weapons store by the militants. . . .

The same story of arbitrary executions was told by another resident, found by US troops cowering in his home with his brother and his family.

“They would wear black masks, carry rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs, and search streets and alleys,” said Iyad Assam, 24. “I would hear stories, about how they executed five men one day and seven another for collaborating with the Americans. They made checkpoints on the roads. They put announcements on walls banning music and telling women to wear the veil from head to toe.”

It was not just pedlars of alcohol or Western videos and women deemed improperly dressed who faced the militants’ wrath. Even residents who regard themselves as observant Muslims lived in fear because they did not share the puritan brand of Sunni Islam that the insurgents enforced.

These are Michael Moore’s “minutemen.” Read the whole thing. And here’s a claim that the U.S. press is soft-pedaling the terrorists’ behavior in Fallujah.