Fighting in Holy City of Najaf Kills 43

[thedrifter]

Fighting in Holy City of Najaf Kills 43

By BASSEM MROUE

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships battled with insurgents overnight near the southern holy Shiite city of Najaf, killing 43 gunmen and destroying an anti-aircraft system belonging to the insurgents, the U.S. military in Baghdad said Tuesday.

The fighting began Monday night and lasted several hours, a military spokesman said. It came as around 200 U.S. forces made their first deployment inside Najaf, moving into a base that Spanish troops are vacating about three miles from holy shrines near where an anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric is holed up.

Night footage taken by the Associated Press Television News, from a road between Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa, showed U.S. army helicopters flying low over plumes of smoke rising from a green area and the sparks of flashes, likely from gunfire.

U.S. commanders have said they will not move against the shrines in order to capture cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose armed supporters have launched attacks against the U.S.-led forces.

Attempts to capture al-Sadr have been put on hold while negotiators try to resolve the standoff. The Americans say they're aware that moving against the shrines could turn the cleric's limited revolt into a wider anti-U.S. uprising by Iraq's Shiite majority.

The U.S. military spokesman didn't give any more details of the fighting, besides saying the 43 insurgents were killed and ant-aircraft system destroyed.

Earlier Monday, U.S. troops came under a heavy insurgent attack in Fallujah a day after U.S. officials decided to extend a cease-fire rather than launch a full-scale offensive on that city. Eight suspected insurgents and one U.S. Marine were killed.

U.S. Marines battled Sunni guerrillas around a mosque in Fallujah's Jolan district, a poor neighborhood where insurgents are concentrated. U.S. helicopter gunships joined the battle, which sent heavy black smoke over the city. Tank fire demolished a minaret from which U.S. officials said gunmen were firing.

The U.S. troops met "a real nasty bunch," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commander of the U.S. military's 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. But he said the violence would not deter plans to begin joint U.S.-Iraq patrols in the city.

The patrols are a key part of the U.S. effort to establish a semblance of control over Fallujah without a wider assault, which would revive the bloody warfare seen earlier this month. The United States decided to try the patrols after President Bush consulted with his commanders over the weekend, and the cease-fire was extended in part to allow for patrols to be organized.

The fighting in Fallujah was the latest violence to shake a two-week-old cease-fire. Still, U.S. officials said they wanted to press forward with a political track, a day after abruptly toning down threats to launch a full-out assault on the city.

"We will take the time necessary to see if there is not a political solution," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday. "But as you saw today, when our soldiers and our Marines are attacked, they will respond and they will respond with force to protect themselves."

Meanwhile, a workshop in Baghdad, believed to be producing chemical munitions, exploded in flames moments after U.S. troops broke in to search it on Monday. Two American soldiers were killed and five wounded. Jubilant Iraqis swarmed over the Americans' charred Humvees, waving looted machine guns, a bandolier and a helmet.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt did not say what sort of chemical agents were suspected of being supplied to insurgents from the Baghdad warehouse. After the blast Monday, there was no sign of precautions against chemicals.

"Chemical munitions could mean any number of things," including smoke grenades, he said.

The cause of the blast was unclear. Kimmitt said a large number of explosives were in the building, located in the northern neighborhood of Waziriyah.

Asked about reports that the search team included members of the Iraq Survey Group _ the U.S. team looking for weapons of mass destruction _ Kimmitt said only: "The inspection was by a number of coalition forces."

The blast leveled the front half of the one-story building and set ablaze four U.S. Humvees parked outside. A U.S. soldier was taken away on a stretcher, her chest and face severely burned.

In Baghdad, Bremer heightened warnings about the reported stockpiling of weapons in "mosques, shrines and schools" in Najaf _ and his spokesman noted that such actions make the sites fair targets for military action.

"The coalition certainly will not tolerate this situation," Bremer said in a statement addressed to residents of Najaf. "The restoration of these holy places to calm places of worship must begin immediately."

Bremer's spokesman, Dan Senor, would not elaborate on steps the coalition was ready to take to do so. He noted that in the case of military action, "those places of worship are not protected under the Geneva Convention" if they are used to store weapons.

The deaths of the two soldiers in Baghdad and the Marine in Fallujah brought to 114 the number of U.S. troops killed in combat so far this month _ nearly as many as the 115 Americans killed during the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein a year ago.

The golden domes of the Shiite shrines at Najaf's center were visible from inside the compound. Spanish troops are due to leave within days, and the Americans moved in to ensure the site was not left empty for al-Sadr militiamen to overrun.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/27/ap/Headlines/d82729gg0.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Amid violence, hopes for a solution

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- While heavy fighting in northwest Fallujah took the lives of two more Marines on Monday, and belied the effectiveness of a 2-week-old cease-fire, U.S. and Iraqi officials in other parts of the besieged city were trying hard to find at least a short-term solution to the violence there.

Marines resumed training Iraqi police and security forces Monday, making good on promises that joint U.S.-Iraqi forces would begin patrolling some sections of the city.

U.S. military officials met with the city's mayor and other government officials to find out what residents need to improve their lives and what steps can be taken to discourage them from aiding the insurgency.


To the shock of some, Fallujah's mayor said there were "thousands," not hundreds, of Iraqis in the city ready to fight the Americans. Military officials had recently set the number at somewhere in the hundreds, with 1,000 often cited as the high-end estimate.

But the higher estimate seems in line with recent comments by some military officials that residents ---- not just foreign fighters, former soldiers or jihadists ---- also support the rebels in some parts of the city.

Threats of more violence loomed large Monday as Camp Pendleton-based Marines vowed revenge for the day's losses and two important anniversaries were sure to stoke the flames of insurgency following Monday's fighting.

Today marks one year since soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division killed at least 17 Iraqi protesters in a Fallujah schoolyard while trying to quell a disturbance. The "Fallujah massacre," as it is known in some circles, is thought to have been an early spark for the insurgency in Fallujah and may incite more violence on its anniversary.

And on Wednesday, former Ba'ath Party loyalists are expected to celebrate Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's birthday; the celebration brought violence in several parts of the country last year.

"The warnings are out that there could be some increased contact," Lt. Col. Gregg Olson, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Monday as he prepared to meet with Iraqi officials to discuss the timing of joint patrols in the city.

Military officials said they were hesitant to inaugurate the patrols on such inflammatory anniversaries. And questions remain as to whether the Iraqis will be ready, or will even show up, for their debut.

Nearly 2,000 Iraqi Civil Defense Force soldiers and hundreds of police officers, officials say, deserted their posts or didn't show up for work once heavy fighting began in Fallujah on April 5.

Now, many are being given a second chance.

Fallujah officials say only a fraction have shown up to work, and some of the trainees are providing cover for insurgents getting into and out of the city.

Marines said they were skeptical about how effective the police will be in the short run because the insurgents continue to stand up to Marines. But they pledged to do their best to make the plan work.

"I'm starting from scratch here," said Sgt. Rick Wiggins, who was pulled off the front lines to help the Marines get their training program started.

Last month, Wiggins helped train dozens of Iraqi Civil Defense Corps troops who later deserted.

"Hey, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again," Wiggins said.

The Iraqi police showed a lot of enthusiasm during their one-day training Monday; all but a few seemed to lack the skill and discipline it would take to work alongside Marines and, if need be, fight alongside them.

"We won't put them out there until we're confident they can handle it," said 1st Lt. Caleb Ewers, executive officer of the Headquarters Company, North Carolina-based 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.

Ewers said the recruits' first task to master would be inspecting vehicles at roadblocks.

Wiggins, who gave Ewers and others some pointers Monday, said they're all trying to get the Iraqi troops to "defend their own city."

"That was our original goal," he said. "And that's still our focus."

Olson and others said that despite the Iraqi troops' reputation as flaky partners, they had high hopes the joint patrols would act as beat cops: friendly, helpful and highly visible, but strict and deadly if they have to be.

Olson said he hopes the patrols bring "some of the security that the people of Fallujah are so desperate for."

"Marines and ICDC (Iraqi Civil Defense Corps) on the street can be a much better thing than the guy on the street with the headscarf standing on the corner with an AK-47," Olson said.

He said it was to be hoped that some of the Marines' recent rural operations and work with families on the outskirts will rub off on some people in Fallujah, so they realize that "a Marine presence in their city doesn't necessarily come at the cost of violence."

It is in these outlying areas that the Marines say they are making the most difference and eroding the rebels' influence.

Capt. Kevin Coughlin, the staff judge advocate for 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, said he has been paying Iraqis money to compensate for damages and deaths caused by U.S. forces.

And Capt. Steve Coast, leader of the battalion's detachment of the 3rd Civil Affairs Group, said his troops have been able to bring food to needy villages and services to outlying parts of the city.

Other officials promised the mayor they would try to provide trash removal, street cleaning, power, water and fuel for residents of cooperative neighborhoods.

"There may be neighborhoods in the city that are ready for the kind of security that joint patrols can provide," Olson said, adding that the neighborhood his battalion operates in is probably not one of them.

The northwest corner of the city along a huge "S" bend in the Euphrates has been the main battleground between American forces and the insurgents since the Marines surrounded the city April 5, when they lost their first man minutes after arriving, and where they lost two more in Monday's battle.

The area, known as Jolan, is the old heart of the city, Olson said, with narrow and irregular streets, and small winding alleyways. It is the most densely populated part of the city and military officials say they believe it is home to the largest concentration of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters.

Military officials say it could be an extremely difficult place for Marines to fight.

While they said joint patrols and other measures could stabilize some neighborhoods, military leaders said other regions like the Jolan are still too solidly in the hands of the rebels to venture into without force. In those neighborhoods, mainly in the west, a military offensive seems to remain on the table.

"In areas where we can do that, we're going to do that," Olson said of joint patrols Monday.

In others, he said, "We'll continue military operations where that is necessary."

Staff writer Darrin Mortenson and staff photographer Hayne Palmour are reporting from Iraq, where they are with Camp Pendleton Marines. Their coverage is collected at www.nctimes.com/military/iraq.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/27/military/iraq/20_46_194_26_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fallujah effort beset by array of complications
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq — Marines in Fallujah, a bastion of anti-American resistance, face an enemy that is hard to distinguish from the civilian population.

They also risk solidifying the image of this predominantly Sunni Muslim city of 200,000, already seen as a symbol of Iraqi resistance to the U.S.-led occupation that began a year ago.

Thousands of Marines, backed by artillery and air power, were positioned around the city, 35 miles west of Baghdad, shortly after an attack March 31 in which four private U.S. security guards were killed and mutilated. More than a week of fighting that followed that attack left hundreds of Iraqis and more than 30 Marines dead. Now Marines complain that the two-week truce may have done little more than allow insurgents to build defenses and set ambushes in the city.

The U.S. military is concerned that insurgents will use civilians here as cover to escape without a fight. Guerrillas also could launch attacks from mosques and hospitals, hoping U.S. forces would be reluctant to respond.

Fallujah representatives have turned in some heavy weapons as part of the agreement signed earlier this month. But about 90% were not serviceable and didn't appear to reflect the arsenal available to guerrillas. Marines have found large weapons caches, including mortars and rockets, in searches around the city. "The weapons turn-in is the first key piece," said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, who commands the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. "It's way off the mark."

Local leaders may have little control over insurgents, who are a disparate group. Each faction appears to have different motivations. "They are not united in a cause," says Marine Col. John Coleman, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force chief of staff. "They are united in circumstances." The insurgents include:

• Foreign fighters who have some training in tactics and weapons, are motivated by religion and often are willing to die for their cause. About 10%-20% of the forces in Fallujah are foreign fighters, the U.S. military says. Their objective is to sow chaos and try to defeat America wherever they can.

• Former members of the regime of Saddam Hussein, many of whom were in the security and intelligence services. They are fighting because they have lost their elevated status and want to return to power. U.S. military officials believe they can negotiate with this group if they can be separated from the foreign fighters. Some would lay down their arms or turn on the foreign fighters if they were offered opportunities in post-Saddam Iraq.

• Criminals. Saddam let as many as 100,000 out of prison before the collapse of his regime. They are paid and trained by insurgents to carry out attacks on U.S. forces and are mostly motivated by money.

"There's no overarching political purpose with these groups," says Marine Col. Craig Tucker, commander of Regimental Combat Team 7.

The Marines are pursuing a complicated strategy. They hope to avoid street fighting that could kill and injure civilians. Instead, they want to identify and eliminate insurgents, particularly fanatical foreign fighters. They also want to drive a wedge between the extremists who won't surrender or negotiate and former members of Saddam's regime who might.

A key part of the strategy will depend on allying with members of the city's police and security forces, who should be able to point out foreign fighters in their city.

Fallujah negotiators have agreed that police and civil defense forces should patrol with U.S. Marines inside the city to assist in identifying the enemy. Iraqi forces already are manning checkpoints outside the city with Marines.

But almost all police and civil defense forces abandoned their posts when fighting started earlier this month. U.S. officers acknowledge the loyalty of the Iraqi security forces in the city remains untested.

Contributing: Gidget Fuentes, Marine Corps Times, in Fallujah

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-25-fallujah-usat_x.htm

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraqis want sovereignty restored but welcome U.S. security assistance, Iraqi minister says

By: EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Iraqis want "complete sovereignty" restored on June 30 but will welcome U.S. assistance for security and will seek additional help through the United Nations, Iraqi Governing Council member Nesreen Berwari said Monday.

Berwari, the minister of public works who was the target of an assassination attempt last month, said Iraqis must take control and make decisions on "day-to-day life," including budgets and "how to move the country politically."

But they will need help with security, stabilization and building democratic institutions, and are seeking such assistance from the United Nations, she said.


"The situation so far doesn't look positive on the readiness of the world to support Iraqi security. The only country who is committed is the United States, and we're going to take that commitment and we welcome others. We need others to take part of it, too," Berwari said.

The shape of an Iraqi interim government expected to take power from the U.S.-led coalition on June 30 is still being formulated with help from U.N. special adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, who is scheduled to brief the Security Council Tuesday on his recent trip to Baghdad.

Brahimi has called for disbanding the 25-member U.S.-picked Governing Council on June 30 and replacing it with a government led by a prime minister, president and two vice presidents.

The council is expected to start debating a new U.N. resolution dealing with the interim government next month, and a number of potentially contentious issues already have emerged, including how much sovereignty that government will have.

Another issue is whether the Security Council will need to authorize the continued presence of the U.S.-led coalition force now in Iraq as well as a new, separate force whose sole job would be to protect returning U.N. staff. The United States recently started soliciting countries to contribute to this U.N. protection force.

"It's very important that the Iraqi people receive complete sovereignty," Berwari said. "What that means is decisions at local level should be done by Iraqi people. National decisions should be done by the national government. There are some issues that the Iraqi people will need support with, like security, like stabilization, and democratization."

But Chile's U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said that regardless of the name, "there will be limited sovereignty anyhow because this will be a government that will be chosen as part of a political agreement and not as a result of direct elections."

The government's main duty will be to oversee the election process "so Iraqis can vote freely in January," he said.

Berwari said she was "very happy and positive" about the way a caretaker government was being selected. But she added that Iraqis should not have too many expectations about the new government and should focus instead on electing a permanent government in January.

She said the temporary laws adopted by the Governing Council to guide the transition need more details and shouldn't be scrapped or changed as some have suggested, stressing that this would be "a mistake that will cause us time and energy."

The coalition made "mistakes" a year ago in the critical area of security, including delaying giving responsibilities to Iraqis to handle security and disbanding the Iraqi army, Berwari said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/27/military/21_34_454_26_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

For the children

Peoria Marine going out of his way to help Iraqis

April 25, 2004





By ANGELA GREEN


of the Journal Star


PEORIA - Cpl. Joe Sharpe of Peoria wrote his mother about a month ago from his post in Fallujah, a major Iraqi hot spot.

Joe talked about his Marine unit's nighttime "counter mortar patrols" and mentioned he and other soldiers had been attacked by machine gun fire for 10 hours straight.

"Don't worry, I'm surrounded by people I trust and the bad guys have terrible aim," he wrote.

But the Marine, who uses his Arabic training to act as an interpreter of sorts for his unit, also spoke of talking with locals and visiting schools and police stations.

"I want you to realize this isn't a reflection of the majority of the population," he wrote of the war. "Most Iraqis still love us, and we still give toys to children, but Fallujah is a different story."

The Iraqi children love Starburst candies and soccer balls, he told his mother

and stepfather, Judy and Joe Trujillo of Las Vegas, in the letter dated March 27.

"Please let everyone know I'm doing fine and I miss them. If you want to send things, Starburst and other candy, and if you or anyone else wants to send soccer balls for the children, that's their favorite thing in the world. It would be greatly appreciated. I love you guys," the letter said.

His mother said Joe has always loved kids. "He is kind of a pied piper when children are concerned."

"When most other kids were more interested in themselves, Joe has never been that way. I can only say he's special," Judy Trujillo said Wednesday.

"He's very sensitive. Being a Marine is the last thing people who know him would expect him to do, but it's what he has always wanted."

Alive and well in Fallujah

Tuesday's Journal Star featured an Associated Press photograph of an Iraqi citizen kissing Joe on the hand after Marines gave the man a supply of food and water in Fallujah the day before. The snapshot was a far cry from the other furious battle images coming back from the city, one of the strongholds of the Sunni-led insurgency that for months has plagued U.S. forces across central and northern Iraq.

Joe's father, Bill Sharpe of Peoria, didn't catch the photo in the local paper, as he was on a business trip, but he saw it nonetheless - on the front page of the New York Times. People in Arizona, New Hampshire, Florida and in Washington, D.C., also saw the picture of Joe in their papers.

Joe's wife, Tara Sharpe, said she and a girlfriend went out Tuesday and bought copies of all the papers they could find that ran the picture.

She lives at Camp Pendleton, Calif., among other women whose husbands are fighting in Iraq. They live on pins and needles, savoring any little bit of news that comes their way "about anything remotely close to what they're going through over there."

Tara builds her day around the television news. She scans newspaper headlines any time she passes a news rack and religiously checks an e-mail blog that she and the other women maintain.

"I wake up with the news, I go to sleep with the news," she said. "It's every minute of the day."

Joe's mom put it another way.

"My first reaction at seeing Joey's picture was relief. The picture was taken the day before, and he was OK. That's what we do day to day, any news that tells us he's OK, we latch onto," Trujillo said.

"You think about it 100 times a day. It's never out of our minds. You think you can walk away from the TV, but 10 minutes later, you're turning it back on. You can't stand not having some kind of connection," she said.

Bill Sharpe said his son has wanted to be a Marine since he was 4 or 5 years old.

"I thought he'd grow out of it, but he never did," he said.

Joe, a 2001 graduate of Peoria Notre Dame High School, enlisted when he was 17. He was inducted into the Marine Corps Sept. 11, 2001, the infamous day of the terrorist attacks on America.

His father said he was nervous his son was entering the service before, but it was a whole new level of fear after Sept. 11.

"It's always in the back of your mind every minute. It has to be," Bill said, choked up.

Joe, who was deployed to Kuwait in February 2003, was one of just a few Marines in his unit selected earlier this year for a monthlong class on the Arabic language.

He completed the instruction and rejoined his company in Iraq in March. They entered Fallujah on April 5, his 21st birthday.

His mother has created a scrapbook of the letters he has sent home during his two Iraqi tours. The very first note was written on a piece of brown cardboard ripped from his meal packet. Alongside the nutrition facts of beef with mushrooms and sauce, Joe wrote that he was alive and well.

"It's probably the most precious piece of mail I've ever received," Judy said.

She said Joe has told her he and other troops are handing out candy to Iraqi children, and she isn't surprised he asked for family to send him Starbursts and soccer balls.

"Starburst happens to be his favorite. It would be like Joe to assume if it's his favorite candy, it would be those children's, too.

"But I know he is doing this for the children. He hates soccer. Baseball is his sport."

A military wife's worrisome wait

Tara, who said she's a 1996 Illinois Valley Central High School graduate, waits weeks, if not months, to hear Joe's voice. When she does get a call, she knows she'll only have a couple of minutes to ask all the questions she's been saving up and to tell him how much she cares.

As soon as they connect, she pours out a string of "I love yous" and "I miss yous," just in case they are disconnected. It's happened before.

She's learned to be patient with her own needs.

"Of course, I need to hear it (that he loves and misses her). But most definitely, they need to hear it, too. Even though they may be TOUGH Marines," she said in a mock "tough guy" voice, "they need the support. He needs it more than I do."

It's tough, considering she and Joe used to see each other every day when they worked together at an Avanti's in Peoria.

The couple catches up when Joe's unit comes back for down time at Camp Pendleton in California.

The first time he came home from Iraq, they sat on the couch and Tara peppered him with questions for three hours. He told her everything she wanted to know.

There is one thing, though, that Joe and his buddies don't really care to discuss with their wives and girlfriends. Tara said she and the other women at the base have gotten short, clipped answers when they ask about guys in the unit who have been injured or killed.

"I think they want to keep those two parts of their lives separate," she said.

His tour officially ends in September 2005, but Tara said they're not sure if he will re-enlist if given the choice.

She said Joe will be tickled but a little embarrassed when he finds out he has inadvertently gotten so much media attention.

Tara's proud.

"He'll absolutely love it," she said. "I want everyone to know he's wonderful. He's handsome. He's a great guy, and he's got such a huge heart."

http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/b2qsitil031.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Duty going to the dogs in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 2004426104648
Story by Lance Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(April 23, 2004) -- CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq - Oscar isn't what most Marines would call a team player.

"That dog is unlike the others," said Pfc. Theodore J. Randolph, a provisional military policeman for Regimental Combat Team 7. "You think he's nice but in an instance he'll turn on you. He's a lot like Cpl. Harwell."

Cpl. Gary D. Harwell should know. He's a K-9 handler for RCT-7 who's known Oscar for a while. Harwell and Oscar, a black Belgian Malinios, perform a variety of duties including vehicle and personnel searches, security and being straight out intimidating.

It's a match of personalities cemented through time and training. Harwell knows his moods, his likes and dislikes and knows... well, that the dog is sometime just like his master.

"These dogs are just like humans," Harwell said. "Just like in school you have nerdy ones, the fat kid ones and the bullies. Oscar is a bully. He's the bully of bullies."

Randolph, from Cincinnati, said Oscar's just plain mean.

"Yeah we're both alike," Harwell said.

They're teamed like many duos - based on personality and abilities - complimenting each other in every way. They eat, sleep and spend every waking moment with the other, better preparing themselves for the rigors of duty in Iraq.

"I love dealing with them," said Harwell. "I did this as a civilian, but these animals in the military are much better trained."

Harwell was part of K-9 unit before joining the Marine Corps. Working with dogs in the Marine Corps, though, is a bit different. For instance, Harwell and Oscar are only one of fewer than 150 Marine-dog teams in the Corps.

"This is a secondary MOS," Harwell said. "I'm really lucky to be doing this. Oscar means a lot to me. He's like my child."

Sgt. Charlie H. Clawson, embark and supply chief for the military police company from Alexandria, Va. said they were more like brothers.

"I see them together all the time," Clawson said. "They're like more like brothers than father and son. Both have the same personality."

Harwell admitted to the accusations saying the teams are put together based on personality.

Clawson said if Oscar was in a pack of dogs, he'd be the alpha male. Not only is Oscar the meanest of the bunch but also the best trained.

"Oscar is really smart," Randolph added. "He does any and everything Cpl. Harwell asks him to do with out hesitation."

The dogs go through a "doggie boot camp" at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Harwell explained. They're trained to become proficient in tracking ordinance and searching people for explosives.

"It's a lot like boot camp for us," Harwell said. "They go there to learn the basics, but it isn't until you hit the Fleet when you really start the learning process."

Military working dog teams, or K-9 units, are spread throughout Iraq from the Syrian border to Fallujah working or training everyday.

"When we don't work, we train," Harwell said. "It's a constant struggle keeping the dogs trained up and ready to go at a moment's notice. We never know when we'll be going somewhere. I guess that's kind of the fun."

The team has already been successful since hitting the hard dirt of Iraq.

"They really impressed them the other day," Clawson said of a recent demonstration. "They hid Oscar in a room and then I hid a small hand grenade in a field a few hundred yards away. Oscar found it in less then a minute.'

While not fully credited with the captures and findings of explosives, Oscar has deterred suspected terrorists. It's his intimidating look the dog maintains that keep most suspects on their toes.

"They absolutely hate them, but most don't mind being searched," Clawson explained. "Several times already we've seen many men turn and head the way they came from, making us believe Oscar's stopped many instances before they even happened."

Harwell and Oscar have worked together for more than a year, making their duty look easy. The bond and relationship is as strong as any good friendship could be, Harwell explained.

"I trust Oscar more than anyone, man or animal," Harwell said. "Just the same, Oscar listens to no one but me. He'll do anything I ask of him and he's always there. You can't ask for more than that from anyone."

According to Harwell, Oscar is the best dog with whom he's trained.

"Not only the best dog I've worked with," said Harwell. "But the best person I've ever worked with. We understand each other."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200442610494/$file/Dog2lr.jpg

Cpl. Gary D. Harwell and Oscar, a Belgian Malinois military working dog, run through a day's training session at Camp Al Asad, Iraq. Harwell and Oscar are a unique team that allows Marines to search vehicles and personnel against hidden explosives at the Iraqi desert base.
(USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.) Photo by: Lance Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/2FDFB560901AC0D085256E82005130AF?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

'They fought like lions'
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 200442773726
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva



CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq(April 27, 2004) -- Marines in Fallujah repulsed a sustained enemy attack Monday. The attack came just a day after Coalition Forces announced joint Marine and Iraqi patrols were to begin in the city.

Marines fended off attacks against a force outnumbering his own, according to Capt. Douglas A. Zembiec, commander for Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in comments to reporters during the battle.

"I am very proud of my men," Zembiec said. "They fought like lions."

Two Marines from the division died in the past week; one killed in action and another as a result of wounds incurred in fighting earlier this month.

The attack Monday began about 9:45 a.m. when Marines reported three men shot at them from the Al-Ma'adhidy mosque in northwest Fallujah. Marines returned fire, confirming they killed one of the attackers.

Marines played instructions in Arabic over loudspeakers that told anyone in the mosque to come out with their hands raised over their heads. No one exited.

Marines briefly entered the mosque and found it empty. Expended ammunition casings were found on the floor of the mosque's minaret.

A short time later, anti-Iraqi forces re-entered the mosque and again fired on Marines. Marines responded with tank fire against the minaret, silencing the attackers.

Marine helicopters also returned fire on attackers in nearby buildings.

The pitched battle, which waged for several hours, came on the heels of an announcement that Marines and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers and the Iraqi Police Service would conduct joint patrols through Fallujah. The aim is to allow Iraqis to form an Iraqi solution to the problems in the city instead of resuming an all-out Marine offensive.

"A military solution is not going to be the solution here unless everything else fails," said Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, 1st Marine Division commanding general to reporters.

Marines will work with Iraqi forces to allow them to move through the city. The exact composition of the patrols and firepower available won't be hindered.

Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne, commanding officer for 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, told reporters in Fallujah that Marines would have heavy firepower and air support on call.

"It will be a combat patrol in the city that is prepared to deal with anything they run into," Byrne explained. "If we are attacked, we will absolutely eradicate that source of fire.

"We're perfectly happy to move down the street, destroy a bad guy over here and just continue on with the patrol," he added.

Elsewhere in Iraq, Marines are already patrolling the streets alongside Iraqi police. Marines in Karibilah, in western Iraq, joined Iraqi police after outfitting them with Kevlar helmets and Camelbak hydration systems.

Marines in Ar Ramadi are in the middle of street rehabilitation projects, paving roads where there was once dirt and raw sewage flowing into alleys. Representatives from the 1st Marine Division also met with the Iraqi governor for Al Anbar Province to hammer out the details on $540 million worth of construction and rehabilitation projects.

Some immediate projects include a new hospital and medical clinics.

"This is the way we want to do it," Mattis added when speaking to reporters. "We didn't come here to fight."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200442774023/$file/roll1lr.jpg

Marines with 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, staged in Kharma, Iraq, prepare to move out on mounted patrols. Marines and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers will soon begin joint patrols of Fallujah to stabilize the city.
(USMC photo by Lance Cpl. Kevin C. Quihuis Jr.) Photo by: Lance Cpl. Kevin C. Quihuis Jr.


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200442774355/$file/roll3lr.jpg

An overhead image of the mosque where Marines were fired upon shows the accuracy of te tank fire to eliminate the minaret without damaging surrounding structures.
(Official Department of Defense photo) Photo by: Official Department of Defense photo

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/CA7D724DE4DFAEDD85256E83003FDA30?opendocument


Ellie


Lions Always get their Prey;)

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: April 26, 2004

Regional experts fear civil war in Iraq

By Riad Kahwaji
Special to the Times

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Widespread chaos and fierce clashes in 10 Iraqi cities in recent weeks were caused by “shortsighted” policies and mismanagement by the U.S.-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, according to regional experts and officials who warned unrest could spread across the region.
“The developments in Iraq are alarming and we fear that we are facing a civil war in Iraq like Afghanistan and Lebanon,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatar’s foreign minister, said during an April 7 interview on Al-Jazeera television. “We cannot leave Iraq in this state because this disease will spread, and I believe the situation is out of hand.”

The decision by CPA head L. Paul Bremer to crack down on Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and Sunni insurgents “came too little, too late to produce positive results,” said Qassem Jaafar, a defense analyst based in Doha, Qatar.

“The war [U.S. invasion of Iraq] that ended prematurely has re-ignited, and thus the coalition forces have to end it. They should have disarmed all militias, rehabilitated Iraqi armed forces and police instead of disbanding them and turning tens of thousands of military men jobless overnight, and cleaned up ammunition dumps that were left unguarded for looters and insurgents,” Jaafar said. “The U.S. administration and the CPA are paying now a heavy price for their arrogance and shortsightedness.”

The CPA was set up shortly after the collapse of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. One of Bremer’s early decisions was to disband the Iraqi armed forces.

Jaafar pointed out that many Arab leaders and experts repeatedly told American officials that “toppling Saddam was the easy part and the real challenge was managing a multiethnic and multisectarian Iraq. But nobody was listening.”

Mustafa Al-Ani, an Iraqi Middle East expert at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, agreed.

“What is happening in Iraq now is exactly what we’ve been warning the Americans of for the past year,” Al-Ani said. “The ground in Iraq is ripe for a civil war.”

Graphic images of Iraqis, including women and children, killed in various Iraqi cities filled the screens of Arab satellite television stations and the front pages of Arab newspapers the week of April 5, which infuriated Iraqis already frustrated by unemployment and socio-economic difficulties.

“A day of massacres in Fallujah,” read the headline banner on the front page of the leading London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on April 8.

News bulletins around the hour on the main Arab 24-hour news channels, Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, spoke of “heroic” and “brave” resistance of Iraqis against “American occupation forces.”

Most Arab analysts say that despite all the difficulties coalition forces face in Iraq, the United States cannot afford to leave.

“If the Americans lose Iraq, they’ll lose the region,” Jaafar said. “U.S. policy in the region would be seriously undermined and pro-U.S. regimes would likely face a wave of uprisings that could overthrow them.”

Sectarian fighting also could spill over into neighboring countries, like Kuwait, one of a number of states in the region — including Jordan and Qatar — that have provided assistance to U.S. forces during the invasion of Iraq, and still host American forces.

The Kuwaiti prime minister warned on April 6 that Sunni-Shiite tension in Iraq could become destructive for the whole region.

“If civil strife erupts, it will burn down our country,” said Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who was involved in meetings with rival Sunni and Shiite leaders in Kuwait after a week of heated exchanges between the two sides.

“The worst-case scenario for the Americans and the entire region is for fighting in Iraq to turn into a war of attrition, like what the Soviets faced during their occupation of Afghanistan,” Jaafar said. “Iraq would be divided into tribal areas based on ethnic and sectarian divisions and would be run by warlords.”

The analysts agree that the CPA must quickly regain control over Iraq, because time is not on its side.

“The longer chaos and fighting lasts, the worse the situation would become and a civil war would then be inevitable,” Jaafar said.

Riad Kahwaji is the United Arab Emirates bureau chief for Defense News.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2821356.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bench press equals stress press in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 2004426103747
Story by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(April 24, 2004) -- Packing on the pounds became a good thing for Marines here April 24.

More than 40 servicemembers pushed, moaned and groaned their way through the first bench press invitational meet this year held by Marine Welfare and Recreational Services. It was an open contest Marines welcomed to break up the hum-drum of daily routines.

"It's great to have competitions like this," said Lance Cpl. Daniel A. Nieman, 20, from Ft. Worth, Texas and a supply administrator with Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 3, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. "It makes you get in the gym and also makes time pass by."

The bench press contest tested lifters' strength and endurance while boosting their morale.
Athletes weighed in prior to the contest, received rules, regulations and were told how they would be scored. The contest was no different than others hosted by Marine bases in the United States. Competitors were told to lie down on the bench, keep both feet on the ground and not arch their backs as the bar was pushed up.

Staff Sgt. Mike E. Sroka, of Charleston, South Carolina and a radio operator with Combat Service Support Battalion 7, won the competition with a lift of 285 pounds.
"It feels great to be the base champ," said 30-year-old Sroka. "I have to keep working out and be ready for the next."

Sroka walked away with the win weighing in at 147 pounds.

This was the first bench press contest for many of the competitors. Some entered just to do something different. Others used the event to prepare for upcoming contests.
"First time entering a bench press contest," said Army Sgt. Terry L. Gathers, 28, a mechanic with the Army's 507th Medical Company, 30th Medical Battalion.
Gathers, from Santee, S.C., said the event was a good break from the constant operations Marines and soldiers endure.

"Under the stressful environment, this was something I looked forward to besides combat," he added.

The first-time event was a kick-off for more contests to come, said Jon. C. Williamson, the MWR coordinator for the base. Future bench press event are scheduled for once a month, expanding categories for weight classes with increased participation.

"Right now our feet are wet," Williamson said. "This was a learning experience for us.

"We want to keep everyone's mind off on what's going over here for a short time and let the troops know we are here to support them in any way possible," he added.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200442610429/$file/bench1lr.jpg

Staff Sgt. Mike E. Sroka, of Charleston, South Carolina and a radio operator with Combat Service Support Battalion 7, pressed 285 pounds and won the first Camp Al Asad bench press competition April 24. Sroka weighed in at 147 pounds.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose E. Garcia) Photo by: Sgt. Jose L. Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1D9425B1F344E3CC85256E8200505D42?opendocument


Ellie