By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press
Friday, December 10, 2004; Page A23

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 9 -- When the residents of Fallujah begin trickling back to their devastated city, they will be routed through sandbagged checkpoints where U.S. and Iraqi troops will take their fingerprints, issue ID cards and in some cases scan their irises, part of an elaborate plan to keep insurgents out of the former radical militant stronghold.

The first residents to be allowed back in, possibly by Dec. 24, will be heads of households, according to Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, who outlined the plan Thursday. They will be permitted to survey damage to their houses during last month's battle to retake the city and allowed to file claims for compensation.

Five checkpoints have been set up leading into Fallujah, with roads south of the city blocked by sand berms, said Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

All men of military age will be processed using a central database; they will be photographed, fingerprinted and have iris scans taken before being issued ID cards. The entire process should take about 10 minutes per man, Sattler said.

The system has been in use for several months in Iraq, but until now only to catalogue detainees.

No civilian vehicles will be permitted within city limits as a precaution against car bombs, which, along with roadside bombs, are the deadliest weapons in the insurgent arsenal, Sattler said. All cars will be left on the outskirts of Fallujah, and residents will be bused to their homes, district by district.

"Some may see this as a 'Big Brother is watching over you' experiment, but in reality it's a simple security measure to keep the insurgents from coming back," said Maj. Francis Piccoli, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

The U.S.-led offensive in November wrested Fallujah from the insurgents. The military has said 1,200 insurgents were killed and about 2,000 suspects captured in the battle. At least 54 U.S. GIs and eight Iraqi soldiers were killed.

Sattler said that by Friday, 97 percent of the more than 20,000 buildings in Fallujah would have been cleared of insurgents and weapons caches, although some unexploded ordnance remains.

Women and children will not be allowed to return until the city, about 35 miles west of Baghdad, is "completely safe," said Rear Adm. Raymond Alexander of the 1st Naval Construction Division, whose troops are part of military efforts to rebuild Fallujah.

"It would be terrible for us to have Mr. and Mrs. Iraqi back in the city, and they go into the house and 'boom' -- there is a booby trap in there," Alexander said.

Government and Marine civil affairs teams will be in place to process damage claims, Alexander said. "Their house may be completely gone, so they will have to make a decision whether they want to rebuild or just take that check," he said.

Some of the men will receive jobs with local contractors, vetted by intelligence agents, clearing rubble and repairing water towers, sewage pumps and the city's power lines. The building of a waste water treatment facility, expected to start in January, could employ as many as 2,000 Iraqis, Alexander said.