BAGHDAD, 13 April 2004 — A joke circulating in Baghdad says: “If you want to frighten an American soldier, shout ‘Fallujah’.”

The town where US troops have been blocked for seven days by Iraqis fighting from street corners, rooftops and minarets — often using less than sophisticated weapons — has become a symbol of the changed attitude to the US-led occupation forces.

In one year, American GIs have fallen from the status of superwarriors to ordinary men in the eyes of Iraqis who have seen them fall victim to old rocket-launchers and home-made bombs.

A year ago, after the rapid collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime and rout of his forces, the American Army with its high-tech weaponry seemed invincible to many in the Iraqi capital.

“It had an image of incredible force. People attributed extraordinary powers to it, with some saying the tanks were so sophisticated they could deflect the course of incoming rockets. Its soldiers were viewed as supermen,” said Ouissam Taofiq, a geography teacher. But then, the first patrols fell victim to explosions of home-made bombs or the bullets of 30-year-old light arms.

“The Iraqis realized that the Americans were not so sophisticated, that it was easy to hit their convoys or helicopters with old rocket-launchers and Kalashnikovs; that the soldiers were ordinary men, as vulnerable as us,” said the 60-year-old Sunni teacher.

A year later, attacks against US troops have become increasingly frequent and murderous. Respect for them has evaporated.

“They have shown weakness. Instead of getting rid of them, they freed ex-military men or Baathist paramilitaries, who have reorganized,” said a former Shiite commander, referring to the supporters of the former ruling Baath Party.

“American soldiers have shown themselves incapable of ending insecurity here and have lost the respect of part of the population,” added Shamsi Al-Zahawi, aged 70.

For others, the Sunni fighters or the members of the Mehdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who no longer hesitate to display their weapons, the thing that has vanished is fear.

“The ease with which American soldiers have been attacked for a year has encouraged the mujahedeen (warriors) and the militiamen of Moqtada Sadr,” according to Taofiq.

The culmination of this resistance is the battle for Fallujah, the Sunni town some 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad where 2,000 Marines have failed to crush resistance after a week of ferocious combat.

“To see the most powerful army in the world incapable of conquering fighters equipped with light weapons in a small town like Fallujah, is a sort of victory,” said an official of the Baghdad journal Al-Manar.

“Patriotism is the root of the Iraqi people. The rout of our army was seen as a humiliation. The battle of Fallujah is like a renaissance,” he said, asking not to be named.

Since the start of the offensive against Fallujah — mounted to flush out the killers of four US contractors — the Sunni resistance movement has gone strongly to oppose American forces, like in the Adhamiya district, the Sunni center of Baghdad, which has seen clashes over the past week.