Massacre at Fish Lake

TIME Correspondent Dean Brelis is the first Western print journalist who has visited the front since the Iranian invasion of Iraq two weeks ago. He traveled to the battle area on a blistering 125° day last week, soon after the Iraqi forces had repelled the first Iranian onslaught. His report:

The wolflike beard and the satanic eyes glared at you from a billboard on the outskirts of Basra. Instantly recognizable, the caricature of Khomeini has a bold red X painted over the face, as if to hold back the hated enemy. Says the...