Cpl. Kevin Lanzi, weeps for his fellow men of Weapons Platoon, Lima Co., 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines at a memorial service. (Andrew Cutraro/P-D)

HUSAYBAH, Iraq - As Marines commemorated the lives of five of their fallen comrades Thursday, some say that they may have turned a corner in their relationship with residents of the troublesome city of Husaybah.

Marines say formerly truculent residents have begun waving and greeting them cordially, just days after some of the fiercest fighting and after Marines conducted harsh door-to-door searches of homes.

Meanwhile, Marines say that Iraqi police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps are showing new signs of cooperation after being less than fully willing to help Marines bring order and stability to the region.

"It's a significant change in the right direction," said Capt. Dominique Neal, the new Lima Company commander. "I was surprised. I thought they'd be more fearful than anything. I think the amount of force that we displayed over the past few days definitely has changed their outlook."

Neal was recently promoted to replace Capt. Richard Gannon, the company commander who was slain along with four other Marines on Saturday during a daylong battle. Also killed were Cpl. Christopher Gibson, Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez, Lance Cpl. Michael Smith and Lance Cpl. Gary F. VanLeuven.

Unlike Fallujah, where Marines have been locked in a standoff with Iraqi insurgents over the past few days, Marines in Husaybah have never lost control of the western city of 100,000, just 300 yards from the Syrian border.

After Saturday's fighting, in which 12 Marines were injured and scores of Iraqis were slain, Marines began a fierce, two-day search of homes in the area, usually kicking in the same doors upon which they previously would have knocked.

"One thing that I do know is that the Iraqi people respond to who they think is the strongest," said Neal, 29, of San Francisco. "They saw the velvet glove when we first came in, and then we took off the glove and showed them the iron fist."

Lima Company 1st Sgt. Daniel Calderon said that during his patrols, he noticed a different attitude from the populace.

"You could tell people were friendlier," said Calderon, of Jacksonville, Fla.

And Sgt. Wilson E. Champion, who had just come back from the most recent patrol, said he saw a similar shift in attitudes.

"The first few days, I think everybody was scared," said Champion, 23, of Jupiter, Fla. "But a lot of patrols are coming back and saying people are starting to be friendly again. Maybe it's because they know that we're not kidding."

Iraqi police were reportedly patrolling in areas in which they normally were not seen. Lima Company Staff Sgt. Matthew St. Pierre was so surprised that he stopped one police officer and asked to see his credentials.

"I couldn't believe it," said St. Pierre, of Vallejo, Calif. "Usually these guys are nowhere to be found. This guy had just graduated from our police academy. He was so proud that he ran home and got his diploma to show me."

When Marines found an unexploded roadside bomb during a patrol earlier this week, they set up a perimeter around the device, and to their surprise, members of the police and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps set up an outer perimeter to help safely guide cars and pedestrians around the site.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police continued to pick up bodies of dead Iraqi insurgents who had been killed in fighting Saturday and Sunday. Many of them had come to the area from Fallujah and Ramadi. The police chief for the region of Al Qaim, an area about the size of Bermuda, said the bodies of a large number of the Iraqis killed in the fighting were still unclaimed Thursday. Apparently, they were not from the region and did not have relatives or friends in the area, he said.

Many residents, particularly women, children and families, have been fleeing the area recently, concerned about renewed fighting.

Marines, however, said they believe they had struck a blow to the heart of the local insurgency. They said they found dozens of weapons caches and even an Iraqi woman who was hiding Iraqi fighters in her home and providing a safe house for them to store weapons.

"We found at least one terrorist there, and we found AK-47s, and Russian machine guns," Neal said. "Two houses from a mosque, we found another cache, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers and multiple rocket-propelled grenade rounds."

While Marines are pleased with the new reception, they remain wary, Calderon said.

"Every time it calms down, the Marines get a little nervous," he said, "because things have a tendency to brew up again."

Reporter Ron Harris
E-mail: ronharris6852@hotmail.com
Phone: 314-340-8214