The US Marines, M-16s pointed, forced the Iraqi men out of their vehicle, questioned them, and shoved them down onto the rocky sand -- slashing their tires first to ensure they wouldn't tail a convoy again any time soon.
After the hoped-for popular welcome in Iraq turned into deadly ambushes by ruse, US forces heightened their vigilance Monday regarding a people they had hoped to win over.
"It felt great when we came in, with the crowds waiting and smiling. Now you wonder what's behind those smiles -- and what lies behind those crowds," said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Belcher of the 1st Marine Division.
"It's tough to win over their hearts and minds now, when you have to hold them at arm's length," Belcher said.
His men dealt with the three Iraqis -- suspected ex-Iraqi soldiers, holding suspected Iraqi military goods.
In two cases Sunday near An Nasiriyah, Iraqi forces deceived Americans into believing they were surrendering or welcoming them.
US officials said one Iraqi unit indicated it was giving up, but as the Marines approached, the Iraqis opened fire, killing nine Americans. US military sources said about 40 were wounded.
US forces have been skirting cities and towns as they push toward Baghdad, the capital. On Monday, residents of a border town, Safwan -- one of the few towns directly taken by US forces -- stoned the passing military convoy.
With resistance tougher than expected, there have been no joyous scenes of liberated towns as there were in Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
"When you're at war in someone's homeland, it's a different story," said another US Marine of the 1st Marine Division, a Gulf War veteran digesting word about the ambush and killings.
"Last time, everyone was happy to see us. We were heroes. We won and we went home," said the Marine, whose car pulled away before he could give his name.
This time the few sightings US forces have of Iraqis in the desolate, little-populated impoverished south are of Iraqi deserters.
The ex-soldiers walk on the scorching sides of the highway in clusters, belongings strewn over their shoulders, scrounging for food, searching for water to drink in culverts.
Some waved big and smiled wide when US forces passed. But especially since Sunday's ambushes, US forces have looked at them warily and kept their distance, weapons ready.
On Monday, US Marines lay sprawled on the sides of the road by halted convoys, machine guns and rifles trained on parched fields and flocks of sheep.
The three Iraqis stopped by Belcher's unit Monday were pulled over after they had made a long swing by the US convoy, doubled back, and swung by again.
The Marines suspected they were Iraqi deserters and looters with military goods in their apparently stolen car.
They slashed the tires to keep them from continuing on, and put them face down in the dirt. The Iraqis stayed there under the hot sun, sprawled and not daring to raise their heads, for the hour or so until the convoy passed.
Catching a stranger's eye, one man ventured a thumbs up and a grin. It faded and he pressed his face back down again in the sand in defeat.
Camels crossed the highway path of the US tanks, tow-mounted vehicles, machine gunners and other hardware.
Desperately poor families stood in baked clay courtyards of the rough stone houses watching the invading army go by -- but they only stared.
Only the youngest among them waved back and smiled at the strangers.
Not all interactions between US forces and Iraqi people are negative.
Unable to trust the grown-ups, US troops turn to the children as outlets for the goodwill they all say they feel for the Iraqi people. Daily, ragged, barefoot children make their way to the highway route of the invasion to beg for food.
On Monday, one little boy in a grimy Arabic gown brought his even younger brother.
The older brother raised his arms in supplication to the troops.
His little brother looked over at him, and copied him, thrusting both arms toward the convoy.
Plastic bottles of water bounced down around them, and military ready-to-eat rations pelted the pavement. The boys moved before the grinding treads of tanks to retrieve the bounty and fold it into a roll of the older boy's gown.
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