FALLUJAH: "A SYMBOL OF BARBARITY"

It seems these cretins are conflicted.

Spare me.

As the rage cooled in Fallujah yesterday and the burned and beaten bodies of four American civilians were wrapped in white cloth, many townspeople said they were torn between pride in the attack and shame over the mutilations.

Many said they supported the killing of four security consultants -- three identified by family and friends as Jerko "Jerry" Zovko, 32, Michael Teague, 38, and Scott Helvenston, 38 -- because they were Americans and Americans are despised.

But some of those same people said they felt embarrassed when mobs tore the bodies apart afterward and dragged them through the streets, turning this town in the heart of the Sunni Triangle into a symbol not only of resistance but of barbarity...

"This is a bad advertisement for everything we stand for," said Muhammad Khalifa, a spare parts trader who closed his shop during the disturbance in a sign of disgust. "We may hate Americans. We may hate them with all our hearts. But all men are creatures of God."

In the morning, a team of U.S. officials rushed to a meeting with Fallujah's mayor and top clerics. U.S. officials said the clerics promised to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, at Friday Prayer to condemn the ambush and the grisly aftermath.

One of the gravest sins in Islam is desecrating the dead.

Really? And where might murder rank?