Baghdad Diary: What's Really Fueling the Fire?

How a stream of resentments is turning Iraqis against the U.S.

The most popular DVD selling on the streets of Baghdad these days is Volcano. Though its title suggests the latest natural-disaster flick from Hollywood, the film--a jerky montage of photos and video footage lifted from the Internet--depicts a wholly man-made inferno: the year-long insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq. Set to popular Iraqi military songs, it depicts attacks on U.S. convoys, the devastating results of roadside bombs and American soldiers carrying dead and injured colleagues. The footage also includes pictures of wounded and dead Iraqis in Fallujah and elsewhere.

For Iraqis, such images have come to define the American occupation just...

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