"The Taliban are still here"

"Surmounting skepticism
Nicholson said the fighting so far has been intense — eight Marines and hundreds of insurgents have been killed — but reasonably straightforward: Buildings must be searched, roads de-mined, bunkers destroyed and snipers targeted. He expressed confidence that the coalition forces will control all of the key roads and bazaar areas by the end of the month.

"We're moving steadily forward," he said.

Efforts to clear militants from other parts of Marja will continue, but Nicholson said the troops will start to concentrate on protecting streets and markets, anticipating that building a bubble of security will give residents enough confidence to identify Taliban members to the Marines. They also hope the changes will lead some low-level fighters to lay down their weapons.

Generating that confidence, however, could take time. On Friday, the Marines sought to convene a meeting of residents at the mosque next to the Loy Chreh bazaar, a crowded, ramshackle place that once teemed with opium merchants who bought poppy paste from local farmers and resold the contraband to drug processors. Now it is abandoned.

The meeting was scheduled for 8 a.m. At 7:45, Lt. Col. Cal Worth pulled on his body armor in preparation for the 50-yard walk to the mosque.

"Inshallah" — God willing — "there will actually be people out there," he said, peering down the street toward the mosque from his battalion's headquarters. But nobody was there.

Fifteen minutes later, he looked again. Again, nobody.

He repeated the routine a few more times before deciding at 9:15 to set off. On his way, he encountered two middle-aged men heading for the Marine base. They wanted to know when they could return to their stalls in the market to salvage a few goods.

He told them the market would be reopened soon and encouraged them to come back to work. The men were noncommittal.

"The Taliban are still here," one of the men said.

"We're expanding security as fast as we can," said Worth, commander of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment."