RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Fallujah 2004 - one of the biggest stories in Iraq. The Sunni city was taken over by al-Qaida. When U.S. Marines finally invaded in force in November of that year, they drove most of the fighters out and destroyed the city. But the problem was those fighters - al-Qaida militants - didn't disappear. And the city needed to be rebuilt. The U.S. had promised to start reconstruction immediately. It didn't actually do so until now, as NPR's Anne Garrels reports.
ANNE GARRELS: Major Andy Dietz, a Marine, is on his second tour in Fallujah.
Major ANDY DIETZ (U.S. Marines): You know, here for the battle last time, now I'm back here fixing it, which is kind of ironic.
GARRELS: Fallujah is still an armed fortress. Anyone coming in has to show a U.S.-issued residency card at checkpoints on the perimeter. It's a pain. But there hasn't been a car bomb here since last March, and local police are now able to secure the city instead of the unpopular Iraqi army brigade, which have been brought in from the Shiite south.
Shopkeeper Yassir al Jumeili(ph) says the changes are dramatic.
Mr. YASSIR AL JUMEILI (Shopkeeper): (Through translator) Insurgents used to kill anyone working in the police force. Now we have 1,300 policemen. This provides incomes for people here, and the police are much better than outsiders - Iraqis or Americans.
GARRELS: As many as 40 percent of the city's residents have still not returned because of the destruction. The big fight now is rebuilding and improving services. Major Dietz says electricity remains the biggest problem.
Maj. DIETZ: Fallujah doesn't have a lot of power right now. Well, what's tied to power? Water. You can't push water if you don't have power at the pumps. You can't move sewage if you don't have power at the lift stations. And it goes on and on.
GARRELS: Children performed at the recent opening of a U.S.-funded business center, their families apparently no longer afraid they would be targeted for supporting a U.S. project.
(Soundbite of child reciting)
GARRELS: This little girl still wants a return to the way things were before the U.S. invasion and al-Qaida. She wants her old school back. She wants to see her grandmother, who's no longer in Fallujah. It's not like it was, but Yassir al Jumeili says at last contractors feel safe enough to take on projects.
Mr. AL JUMEILI: (Through translator) Not so long ago people couldn't work here because armed groups extorted money from them, or they were simply killed for taking bids from the Americans.
GARRELS: The Americans are widely seen as the engine behind the rebuilding. Asked if he felt he was still being neglected by the Iraqi government, Sheikh Hamid al-Alwani, the head of the city council, didn't miss a beat.
Sheikh HAMID AL-ALWANI (Fallujah City Council): (Through translator) Yes.
GARRELS: The Iraqi government has spent far less on rebuilding than the U.S. predicted.
Sheikh AL-ALWANI: (Speaking foreign language)
GARRELS: Sheikh Hamid, a Sunni, thinks the Shiite-led government is deliberately shafting Fallujah for sectarian reasons. He says it claims there are still a lot of bad people here. But there are a lot fewer bad people than there were, and the sheikh and the Americans argue there would be fewer still if there were more jobs.
Sheikhs like Hamid who spearheaded the fight against al-Qaida remain vulnerable, especially outside the city perimeter. This week, a 12-year-old managed to get through guards around a leading supporter of the U.S. The boy was supposed to be paying respects; instead he blew himself up. He missed his target but killed five others.
The youngster was a relative of the sheikh. Successful attacks like this are often inside jobs. This poses a problem for tribal leaders who want to reintegrate former al-Qaida members. Marine General John Allen says tribes demand the former fighters make amends for killings in the past in a very specific way.
General JOHN ALLEN (U.S. Marines): You must commit yourself in public, and in the light of day, to opposing al-Qaida, and you must go fight al-Qaida. You must equalize this blood feud. You've got to get al-Qaida blood on your hands.
GARRELS: But trust is still a problem, and there are some former fighters whom General Allen will go after no matter what.
Gen. ALLEN: Each one we end up having to treat separately.
GARRELS: You'll notice a number of interviews in this report were conducted by phone. It's still risky for a foreigner to walk the streets of Fallujah. In the past, engineer Amin(ph) said he couldn't consider for a minute hosting a foreigner in his house.
Mr. AMIN: (Through translator) I would have been killed and any foreigner too.
GARRELS: He discusses with his family whether it's safe enough now to have a foreign visitor. The conclusion: soon, but not yet.
Anne Garrels, NPR News.