"At five heavily guarded entry points to the city [Fallujah], military interrogators are selectively asking returning residents whether they have heard of the upcoming election and, if so, which, if any, candidates they support.

"The goal, officials say, is not to influence how Iraqis vote but to gauge how well residents of politically isolated Fallouja understand the changes that have occurred in their country since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled.

"Many of those in line Thursday were hungry, cold, and appeared dazed by the events that had turned their city, which was untouched in the initial U.S.-led invasion in 2003, into a battlefield. "I didn't do anything wrong, but the Americans destroyed my house," said Sami Fafaj, 49, holding two bottles of water and two food packets. "I want America to rebuild my house and give me money for what they have done," said Fayed Abdullah, 37, collecting food for his seven children. "The Americans are rich and strong, but sometimes I wish they had never come to Iraq." Although public expressions of anger directed at the Americans seem rare, many Falloujans appear to feel they have been wronged by U.S. forces. "Fallouja did something bad and God sent the terrorists to punish us," said Mehdea Salah Jassam, a neighborhood sheik. "Then he sent the Americans to punish us some more."