Marines, Out of the Picture, Try to Monitor Fallujah From Afar

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Behind rows of barbed wire, sandbags and armored Humvees, Iraqi laborers erected a fountain featuring a statue of two hands clasped in friendship.

With the symbolic statue in place, Marines opened a liaison office in a heavily guarded compound on the edge of Fallujah. They hope to retain a foothold in the volatile city, where U.S. forces and insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein clashed last month, and help the Iraqis living in it.

"There is more money being spent here ... than in the 30 years of Saddam," said Col. Jesse Barker of the 1st Marine Division.

Barker, a reservist from Statesville, N.C., is coordinating efforts to reconstruct Fallujah. But he concedes that since Marines and American contractors cannot set foot in the city, it is hard to tell what life there is like, much less how projects are coming along.

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