Perspective: In Fallujah, Marines bring good will, but trouble can follow

A marine talks with Iraqi kids in Fallujah

While their weapons were ready, this was a mission about charity. The US Marines weren't entering a hospital in downtown Fallujah to root out insurgents, they were going there simply to help.

But any interaction with American forces can prove deadly for Iraqis, and these marines received an uneasy welcome.

Death threats - and increasingly murder - are common against anyone seen to be cooperating with the US. And already, the presence of a Marine observation post, built adjacent to hospital grounds just days before the mission, had cut the number of patients coming to the hospital from 35 a day to just five.

The wariness that greeted this civil affairs unit two weeks ago points to the difficulty faced by US forces as they search for a balance between rebuilding and bringing security to a city where insurgent attacks are on the rise.

"Our being here today, will it cause trouble for you?" asks US Navy Capt. Lee White, there to get a list of any needed medical supplies.

"I am sorry to tell you, yes. I'm so sorry," says Talib al-Janabi, owner of the private hospital.

Read the rest at the Christian Science Monitor