Amid the almost daily killings of sodiers..another today, the resistance has continued to build.
Americans have responded in kind - raids, arrests, the demolitions of houses, troubling echos of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The heartland of the Iraqi resistance is the so called Sunni triangle area. Operation Ivy Blizzard is the latest in a series of campaigns to root out this resistance - the town of Samarra is now completely surrounded by US forces
Two brigades encircled the city, cutting it off from the outside world while soldiers conducted house to house raids for insurgents. The town's significance in the reconstruction of Iraq is high because of it's location on the Strategic Highway one, that runs between Baghdad and Tikrit.
Martin Adler spent ten days with Charlie Company - a unit of the US 4th infantry division at the centre of operations in the Sunni Triangle.
It has been conducting raids against potential insurgents for months now and he now documents the psychological deterioration of soldiers and the worsening relationship between Iraqis and Americans:
It's two in the morning. American soldiers are searching for a local resistance leader, rooting out the remaining resistance in Iraq is a messy business. Every night more Iraqi families come face-to-face with American force.
Every night there's more distress.
Lt. Jack Saville A Company 1-8 Brigade:
"We took (the informer) as prisoner held him for about three or four days. And a lot of the times we use those guys to show us different houses where members of their terrorist cell or whatever cell they are operating with where they live so, just use as leverage against them with the hope that we let out of jail earlier, whatever the case may be, similar to what the police do back in the states. It works out pretty well."
It turned out the men arrested are not resistance fighters at all. They're just cousins of the man the soldiers were looking for. But they were bound hooded and taken away all the same.
I spent ten days with Charlie Company - these men are all professional soldiers and have been in Iraq since April.
Their job is making Highway One safe - it's become the most dangerous road in the world. It links Baghdad to Tikrit. Today the soldiers are dealing with the now familiar problem of a road-side booby trap bomb.
Incredibly, the captain of the company picks up the live bomb and carries it to a 'safe' place to be exploded.
The man who picked up that bomb? Meet Captain Karl Pfuetze, Commander of Charlie company. He's partial to the odd cigar and now finds himself as de facto Governor of the area.
Today he's having a meeting with the newly recruited Iraqi police force in the area. The Iraqi police men are complaining that too many of their colleagues have been killed recently.
Captain Karl Pfuetze:
"I tell you when I see an Iraqi with a weapon and I just shoot him. There's no such thing as celebratory fire."
Later - a mortar attack. The soldiers scramble into their vehicles and they charge into Samara in search of the man who fired at them.
A man was found loitering near what was believed to be the mortar launch site. First Sergeant Mikel can speak Arabic. He can cross the language divide that hampers so many of the missions in Iraq, but his Arabic isn't winning many hearts and minds.
The suspect, bound and hooded was left in waste ground for hours before being taken away into detention.
Back at the base - The Rock - as the men call it, it's all about camaraderie. And the overwhelming conviction is that their cause is just.
First Sergeant Mikel:
"Whether you know other people other Americans who believe its right or wrong it's irrelevant to us - it's not our job to question the commander in chief. The boss, President Bush said go and we'll cut out own throats for President Bush. That's the bottom line "
For others with their own children, the routine of raiding Iraqi homes is wearing them down. Corporal Turpin hasn't seen his own family since July last year.
On the eve of another operation into Samarra, the company prepare for the next series of raids. The campfire has become a place of reflection for the men. PFC Little has reservations about his time in Iraq.
PFC Little:
"I'm mean I just heard it's the wild wild west kind of thing like, that you can't stay in there anywhere without getting shot at that kind of makes me nervous, like I've been shot at before, but not to that extent, to that threat, this hostility."
When on leave recently Little went to a shopping mall with his wife and found himself watching the exits. He felt naked, he said, without a weapon and his squad.
Another night - another raid in Samarra - and this is happening every night until the end of December. "You're all occupiers," the woman cries as the solders burst into her home.
As dawn breaks, the soldiers and their prisoners are back at their camp. For the Charlie Company it was a successful night's work. A few of the soldiers pause to take photo souvenirs.
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