The new issue of Harper's magazine has a long article by a Canadian journalist who spent time with Iraq insurgents in and near Falluja. It's a gripping tale that reminds us of why we never want to know too much about our enemies -- it makes them too hard to kill.

The most touching portrait is of an insurgent who is highly conversant in Western culture, is a stickler for Arabic grammar and is so popular with kids that they head toward his lap whenever they see him. He says he fights Americans not because he admired Saddam (he didn't) nor because he supports Al Qaeda (he doesn't) but because he's angry that Americans are killing Iraqi civilians and because he believes the Koran commands him to repel occupying forces of nonbelievers. Makes it kind of hard to think that official American policy is to kill him.