Wed Dec 8, 2004 10:28 AM ET
By Michael Georgy
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The offensive that crushed Iraq's fiercest insurgents in Falluja in November turned U.S. Marines into heroes and insurgents into celebrated martyrs.
But there has been little glory from the countless unreported battles that just push up U.S. casualty figures, like the one that killed Marine Captain Patrick Rapicault in Ramadi.
A Frenchmen who became an American citizen, Rapicault had dreamed of becoming a Marine his whole life.
"If there was anyone who was going to make it big, Rapicault was the man," said his friend, Marine Captain Robert Bodisch. "He was very determined and he was completely dedicated to the mission in Iraq. He believed in it."
After surviving several roadside bomb attacks, Rapicault's dreams were cut short by a suicide bomber who rammed a car into his routine patrol, far from the television cameras in the high-profile battle for Falluja.
"I heard the news at the mess hall," said Bodisch, a tank company commander who fought in Falluja. "I could not believe he was gone. The world will just forget him."
The 1,000th U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday in action in the war that ousted Saddam Hussein last year. Including noncombat deaths the figure is more than 1,200.
The Falluja fighting raised the monthly U.S. death toll to one of its highest levels since the start of the war. It's the type of conflict that yields many Purple Heart medals.
But most American troops have fallen in the ordinary, daily grind of clashes with insurgents, deaths that appear buried in long lists in newspapers and U.S. military Web sites.
"The Marines need to be humanized. You see the lists of the dead, but more people need to know who these people were and what they were fighting for in Iraq," said Bodisch.
"We get support back home but people need to know about people like Patrick and what he stood for."
Heroes, Martyrs and Unknowns in Iraq Fighting (Continued)
MARTYRDOM GLORIFIED BY INSURGENTS
Insurgents and foreign fighters don't face that problem. Death always brings recognition in Iraq or their hometowns in other Arab states.
They are celebrated as martyrs in the struggle against U.S. troops in Iraq.
Their bodies, still in fighting outfits, are wrapped in Iraqi flags. Families of martyrs offer meals and sweets to neighbors, relatives and friends in tents for up to three days.
One insurgent sniper named Ammar, who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Falluja before the offensive, was not given the whole treatment because people were afraid that gathering in large groups would arouse American suspicion.
But his name was hoisted on banners, and like other martyrs, it will go down in legendary tales about those who challenged American firepower in Iraq.
Many guerrillas go into battle hoping to be killed.
It's a concept that's alien to people like Bodisch and many other Marines who see their mission in Iraq as a war against "terrorists," not martyrs, to prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Bodisch, who saw major combat for the first time in Falluja, gained a first hand view of insurgents in the western Iraqi city 32 miles west of Baghdad.
"Now I have no doubt about what these people are all about and what they are trying to do and just how dangerous they are," he said, recalling how hard-core militants jumped in front of his 70-ton tank and fired rocket-propelled grenades.
It convinced him that the United States should be fighting in Iraq.
As he sat in a mess hall where Marines boasted of success in Falluja, he learned of another militant, the suicide bomber who killed Rapicault, a Marine he never thought would fall.
Bodisch, 32, of Austin, Texas, first met Rapicault at a school for Marine Captains. He spoke of Rapicault's strong will, even in the face of constant attacks in the guerrilla-infested town of Ramadi. Perhaps it was determination that eventually cost the 34-year-old Rapicault, of St. Augustine, Florida, his life.
"I just hope his death won't be in vain," said Bodisch.
Bodisch said he doesn't have much time to reflect on whether Rapicault will just be another name on a list. His men are still in Falluja, searching for insurgents hoping for martyrdom.
"I can't really think too much about Patrick. I can't right now," he said. "I will have to wait until I can sit down alone when I get home to really understand it all."