Iraqi officials say the suicide car-bombing that killed at least four US Marines in the Shia holy city of Najaf at the weekend is but a taste of things to come.
"Any means that will stop the enemy or kill the enemy will be used," the Vice-President, Mr Taha Yassin Ramadan, threatened.
Mr Ramadan identified the bomber as a non-commissioned officer named Ali Jaafar al Namani, who, he said, "took his own life in order to take the lives of five Marines".
Because Arabs and Muslims have no weaponry to vie with US technology, Mr Ramadan said, "all they can do now is turn themselves into bombs".
If one bomb dropped by a B-52 can kill 500 people, he boasted, "I am sure that some operations by our freedom fighters can kill 5,000".
President Saddam Hussein posthumously awarded the dead man the "Mother of all Battles" and "al-Rafidain" ("two rivers") first-class military medals, and promoted him to the rank of colonel.
Sgt Maj Namani was 50 and a father of six. His family will receive a house, car and money, and his children will attend university for free.
The military spokesman, Gen Hazim al-Rawi, later claimed Sgt Maj Namani killed 11 Marines, destroyed two armoured personnel carriers and damaged two tanks.
"The martyr Ali blew himself up in his car among tanks and armoured vehicles. He chose the right place and time," he said.
Gen al-Rawi said more than 4,000 Arab volunteers had arrived in Iraq to prepare for suicide operations, though other sources indicated the figure was closer to 200. The volunteers are from every Arab country, he added, and are determined to die in Iraq for jihad, or holy war, "which is a duty prescribed by God when a Muslim country is invaded". Iraqi strategists see suicide missions as an efficient way of fighting a far stronger enemy, because they instill fear and minimise losses on their own side.
Suicide-bombings are unprecedented in Iraq. Suicide - intihar in Arabic - was until now considered a sin here. Mr Ramadan rejected the term, saying the Arab volunteers "are not suicide fighters, because those who commit suicide are desperate people and not people who are full of faith and confidence in their nation ... to the degree that they reach a moment of sublimity, and we call them martyrs, and they have a special, high place among our people."
Gen al-Rawi said the Arab volunteers were determined to die in Iraq.
Unlike Sunni Islam, Shiaism has a tradition of martyrdom that inspired the Hizbullah to drive Western forces - and ultimately the Israelis - out of Lebanon. Their example was followed by the Sunni Palestinians fighting Israel.
The families of Palestinian martyrs often receive cheques for tens of thousands of dollars signed by Saddam Hussein. Although there are no proven links between al-Qaeda and the Iraqi regime, the horrific results achieved by Osama bin Laden's men have doubtless played a role too.
Sgt Major Namani was a Shia from Najaf, and he acted of his own volition. Asked whether Iraq was establishing martyrdom units, Gen al-Rawi said: "Until now, it was self-inspired, personal. This first operation was carried out by one of our soldiers called Ali - like Imam Ali (the founder of Shia Islam)." The general laughed here. "The farmer who shot down a helicopter (in the first week of the war) was also called Ali."
The commitment of Shias - whom Gen al-Rawi called "these simple combatants on whom the Americans pinned futile hopes" - is a source of satisfaction for the regime, but one that could yet backfire. The Information Minister, Mr Mohamed Said Sahaf, yesterday said Iraq downed two more Apache helicopters.
"This is a beginning," Vice-President Ramadan said, in reference to the car-bombing. "What is an Arab going to do when he does not have an aircraft or a missile to respond with - capitulate?"
He claimed the US administration wanted to portray the Iraqi people as terrorists. "They have come to occupy Iraq and they expect the Iraqi people to welcome them."
He predicted the US administration would "turn the whole world into people willing to die for their nations".