Since then, Falluja has become a mini-Islamist state, with all manner of anti-American fighters roaming the town.

This has been perhaps the most unsettling achievement of anti-American fighters in Iraq.

In a news conference Saturday, General Kimmitt said the goal of anti-American fighters who killed Iraqi civilians working for the occupying forces was to delay the advent of democracy.

Yet a leader in the village was identified by local residents as a "mujahid," a term used to describe anti-American fighters.

The more experienced anti-American fighters were sent here from other cities in Iraq, Colonel Reilly said.

He sees Iraq becoming another breeding ground for Al Qaeda, and the postwar insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan as magnets for anti-American fighters.

There, the Americans agreed several weeks ago to include anti-American fighters in a local "security force" as part of an agreement to end the violence there.

Today, the same schools appear to produce anti-American fighters.

Falluja has become a safe haven for anti-American fighters who answer to hard-line Sunni clerics.

At least 15 people suspected of being anti-American fighters died in the raid.