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But the battalion, along with the other marines in the city, abruptly got the call to halt that day. Their orders were to stop offensive operations, which include patrols. They are allowed to shoot at anyone with a gun. And they have orders to shoot any male of military age on the streets after dark, armed or not. But the Marines are not allowed to pursue insurgents through Falluja's densely packed neighborhoods or seize any more of the city.

Many Marines said it was like snatching a bone from a dog — mid-meal.

"Marines like to be on the offensive," said Staff Sergeant Steve Marcil. "We're not like the army. Our job is to move."

The marines are not moving anywhere right now. Many are squatting in Iraqi homes they have cleared, oiling their guns on oriental carpets sprinkled with glass. Many Falluja families hastily left the city right before the siege began. In one vacated house, a group of exhausted Marines lied on a poster of Mecca.

Meanwhile, the resistance seems as dogged as ever.

On Sunday, a Marine tank fired 18 rounds into a house where a suspected insurgent was firing from, said Jeremiah Day, a combat engineer from Minnentonka, Minn.

"And afterwards the guy was still standing," Corporal Day said. "It was like Scarface or something."

That same day, Brent Bourgeois, a 20-year-old lance corporal from Kenner, La., said he saw an American helicopter fire a missile at a man with a sling shot.

"Crazy, huh?" Corporal Bourgeois asked.

Falluja is now a strange replay of the war. Even with the ceasefire, the action here represents the heaviest fighting since Mr. Hussein's government fell a year ago.

"It's the fight that never came last year," Major Petrucci said. "I guess these guys didn't really want to die for Saddam. But all this anti-American feeling is now uniting them."

Colonel Baggott said the insurgents are increasingly well organized. But when asked if he knew whom the insurgents were — which groups or alliances — Col. Baggott paused for a moment.

"We don't," he said.

Many of the marines staring over the low brick walls expect the peace talks to falter and the siege to resume.

"If it's all about the diplomatic process," said Lt. Don Bergin, his face a mix of dust and sweat, "you're looking at the end of the diplomatic process."