Another of the men, a 28-year-old son of an official in the interim Iraqi government who was allowed to return to his home in Baghdad, said he heard audiotapes during his captivity in which Zarqawi instructed his associates to kill.
"We saw the cage where the British hostage was put and shown on TV," the man said. "We heard them filming the tapes they sent to satellite channels when they announced the kidnapping of people or the slaughtering of others. They brought new people kidnapped every day. I remember one day, we were eight in the room, all kidnapped for silly reasons."
Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2 stand in formation at a ceremony at a Marine base near Fallujah.
(Jackie Spinner -- The Washington Post)
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In a briefing Sunday, Wilson, the Marine operations officer, called the Fallujah offensive "some of the most intense combat . . . probably since Vietnam." Wilson said Marine units were still combing thousands of structures in the city for insurgents, some of whom had sneaked back into the city.
"There has been a little bit of infiltration . . . for those who don't want to die," he said. "Those are small numbers. It's a large town. You can't completely seal off the town."
Military commanders said the Iraqi government would not allow residents to return to the city until it was clear of bombs, essential public services had been restored and a local governing body was established.
Meanwhile, at a Marine outpost near the city, soldiers from the Army's 1st Infantry Division loaded Bradley Fighting Vehicles and tanks onto flatbed trucks, preparing to return to their bases elsewhere in Iraq. The division's Task Force 2-2 covered the eastern flank of the city when U.S. troops launched the Fallujah offensive.
The Marines provided one beer for each of the 650 soldiers to thank them for their contributions on the battlefield. To date, 51 U.S. troops have been reported killed in the Fallujah offensive and 425 have been wounded.
"We got the easy part," Lt. Col. Peter Newell, the Task Force 2-2 commander, told the soldiers, while lifting a beer to toast the Marines and the troops who were killed. "All we had to do is go in and kick some butt."
Spec. Howard Sheldon, 22, of Farmington, N.M., said the battle was "something I never want to go through again."
"You have no idea how ready I am to go," he said.
