NAJAF —— Wrapping their faces in fleece scarves and rubbing numbed hands together against the predawn freeze, a convoy of U.S. Marines and soldiers rolled into the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, early Thursday to finish reinforcing polling places before the nationwide election just 10 days away.

The Marines secured bustling intersections and scouted trash-strewn streets and alleys as a group of Marine and Army National Guard engineers off-loaded heavy concrete barriers from trucks to block entrances to schools where the mostly Shiite residents of Najaf are expected to flock on election day.

"It'll keep suicide bombers from getting at the polling sites," said Marine Staff Sgt. John Baumer, 27, of Pennsylvania, as he guided a block down from a crane near a schoolhouse on a crowded commercial street in Najaf on Thursday.

The Marines, of Camp Pendleton's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, reinforced four of Najaf's schools without a hitch Thursday and were back at their base some 20 miles outside of town in time to eat lunch and prepare for their next round of patrols, which have been stepped up in the days leading up to the Jan 30 vote.

Marine officers said that more than 200 polling sites will be set up in this city of more than 600,000 residents.

Marines have not encountered armed resistance in Najaf since late August. That's when they struck a peace deal with local Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after a month of bloody fighting that killed at least eight Marines and more than 1,000 of Sadr's militia.

Any attacks on or around election day, officers said, most likely would not come from local guerrillas, but from Sunni Muslim rivals sneaking into the city to scare Shiite voters away from the polls.

Iraqis and military officials believe many attacks in other cities are being waged by former Baathists and Sunni Arabs concerned about the potential political power of Shiites, who form about 60 percent of the population. The Sunni Arab minority had enjoyed dominance under Saddam Hussein.

While the threat of violence lurks, Marines who fought off the Shiite insurgents here in August now say they expect few problems in Najaf or the neighboring holy city of Karbala.

"I think we'll be good here," said Col. Tony Haslam, the commander of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "Unless we have something really bad happen in the couple-few days before the vote, I think we'll be fine here."

Both the local clerics and militia have endorsed the vote and seem to have every reason to keep the peace and encourage a big Shiite showing at the polls.

With the chance to elect a new parliament that will draft a constitution and choose the executive leadership, Marine leaders and political analysts say it is the first time since modern Iraq was formed by the British in the 1920s that Iraq's Shiite majority could get proportional representation in government.

Marines say they have trained and equipped enough local police and Iraqi National Guard troops to handle most of the security on election day.

Iraqi officers toting Kalashnikov guns could be seen searching cars and directing traffic at sites all over town Thursday.

On election day, the Iraqi forces will take the lead while the Marines wait in the wings. Haslam called it a position of "reassurance."

"We don't want to be seen near the polls," Marine spokeswoman Capt. Carrie Batson said of the troops' hands-off approach to the election. "It's not our election, it's theirs. We'll just be close by if trouble starts."

'Peace be with you'

The Marines reinforcing polling places Thursday seemed to worry little about attacks on them or on the polls, driving nonchalantly in Humvees down Najaf's dusty streets, returning waves and greeting locals with "a salam ilikem" —— which means 'peace be with you' in Arabic.

They coolly cruised streets filled with chaotic morning traffic, passing men on bicycles and donkey carts, cloaked women with bundles and baskets on their heads, and crowded sidewalk cafes already teeming with customers.

Before the fall of Saddam, Najaf was a poor, independent city usually neglected and often oppressed by the Sunni-dominated Baath regime. It relies on local agriculture, sheep herding and tourism in the form of the thousands of pilgrims who arrive each year to visit the Imam Ali mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, and to bury their dead in the nearby Valley of Peace cemetery, considered to be one of the world's largest active burial spots.

Free of Saddam and the Baathists, Najaf is experiencing a recent boom, with new trade and rapid reconstruction by the Marines, who have spent more than $20 million there to reconstruct buildings and compensate families after the intense and bloody fighting there in August.

On Thursday, the city's walls, fences and power poles were plastered with party fliers and banners to get out the vote, part of the election buzz that the Marines said began about a month ago.

"I ask them about it (the elections)," said Capt. Steve Kintzley, 33, of Phoenix, who leads the reconnaissance platoon in Najaf. "They don't talk about politics, but they say they're planning to vote. They're pretty excited."

Warm welcome

As the Marines made their rounds from school to school Thursday, throngs of children enveloped them at stops and followed them wherever they went.

"Mista! Mista!" they yelled, flashing thumbs-up signs as Marines passed.

"Good! Good!" even the littlest of them yelled as they ran along the dingy streets in sandals. Others waved and shouted from behind the closed windows of passing cars.

Everywhere they went, the Marines received the same warm welcome —— a bright contrast to the violence that greets American troops in many other parts of Iraq.

In Baghdad, bombings have killed at least a dozen Iraqi and American troops this week as Marines try to secure the city for the upcoming elections. In Sunni-dominated regions such as Ramadi and Hit, Marines can hardly travel the roads or enter the city centers without being fired upon or without worrying about roadside bombs.

In Najaf, they pass out candy and learn new Arabic phrases from children.

"The people here are great," said Navy corpsman Doug Debrauwere, 25, of Calabasas, a member of the 1st Marine Reconnaissance detachment in Najaf. While Debrauwere manned a light machine gun on the roof of the Humvee, he spent most of his time waving to locals.

"It gives you a whole different view of Iraq," said Cpl. David Meinhold at another stop, where an Iraqi girl named Reza emerged from her gated home to show Meinhold and Debrauwere photos of her family and neighbors.

While it all seemed routine and friendly in town Thursday, Capt. Steven Kintzley of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit said Iraq is no place —— and election week is no time —— for the Marines to let their guard down.

"I'm always expecting attacks," Kintzley said as his Humvee made its way through traffic, skirting the Old City neighborhood where the Marines battled Shiite militia in August.

"If you don't, you get complacent," he said. "And you can't do that here."

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at dmortenson@nctimes.com.