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thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:37 AM
Brothers reunite in Iraqi desert
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046811553
Story by Cpl. Macario P. Mora Jr.



CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq(June 2, 2004) -- Sgt. Phillip T. Southern has a habit of following his older brother, Gunnery Sgt. David E. Lee, even to a combat zone.

First, there was high school, then he joined the Marine Corps and now the two find themselves assigned together at Regimental Combat Team 7 in western Iraq.

"I was just walking through the chow hall and there he was," Southern explained.

"I just flipped out," Lee added. "I was so happy to see him."

Southern's habit of following Lee started in high school. Lee, 29 and four years older than 25-year-old Southern, sort of paved the way for him. Lee was a star athlete in high school in Lodi, Calif., and his popularity rubbed off on his younger brother.

"I never went to high school with him because he's four years older than me," Southern said. "But, because of his reputation he sure made my life in school a whole lot easier. I was able to hang out with the older kids."

Even after school the brothers continued to shape and influence the other's life.

"It's kind of funny," Lee said. "I was his recruiter and also picked his (military operational specialty) for him."

The two felt obligated to each other and to their country with this deployment. Both were unable to deploy during the invasion of Iraq last year.

"I think we both felt a little left out," Lee said.

Southern almost missed out on this deployment. He was serving at Camp Pendleton's School of Infantry in California, an inactive reserve Marine on active duty.

"We were talking one night," said Lee, an information operations chief for RCT-7. "He told me he was going to come out here with me. I didn't believe him, because most inactive reservists don't deploy, but somehow he was able to get orders."

In fact, Southern convinced his command to swing him orders to 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, which is now serving alongside RCT-7.

Even more, Southern extended his contract to deploy, a fact he didn't share with everyone.

"He never told his wife about the extension," Lee said. "She didn't want him to come out here, but I guess she'll know now."

Still, Iraq is a pretty big place and the chance of running into each other was slim. That was until they saw each other at the chow hall.

Since reuniting, the two brothers have spent every minute available with each other, helping ease the hardships and loneliness often experienced during deployments.

"Whenever I'm not working, I'm with him," Southern said. "It doesn't matter if he's at work or not."

Being together in a combat zone also makes things easier with their family.

"When we're at the phone center we sit there and exchange the phone back and forth to talk to family members," Lee explained. "I've always felt responsible for looking out for him. So now that we're together, I think it has eased some of those back home."

Lee's family tied a yellow ribbon for everyone in his shop. He said they worry a lot for him and his brother and all the military over here.

The two do everything together, from physical training to shopping at the exchange. They also share most of what they have receiving including shared packages and letters.

"Being together makes being deployed a lot easier," Lee said. "He isn't just my brother, he's my best friend. Having him here makes me a lot less home sick."

Southern will be returning home in the next few months to pursue a career in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. Leaving his brother behind, though for only a few months, will be difficult for him.

"The major reason I came here was for my brother," Southern said.

The inseparable brothers don't take their unique opportunity lightly. They know it was part careful planning and bit of intervention that helped them to enjoy their deployment.

"I can't lie," Lee said. "I'm lucky to have him here."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004681415/$file/reunite1lr.jpg

Gunnery Sgt. David E. Lee, an information operations chief for Regimental Combat Team 7, trims his brother's hair at Camp Al Asad, Iraq. Lee and his brother, Sgt. Phillip T. Southern from 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, both are deployed to Iraq and often spend time together.
(USMC photo by Sgt. Jose L. Garcia) Photo by: Sgt. Jose l. Garcia

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1B41EDD2FD33636685256EAD001CEB9A?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:38 AM
Nine Iraqi Militias to Disband; Not Sadr's
NewsMax Wires
Monday, June 7, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Nine major political parties agreed Monday to disband their militias, the interim prime minister said, although radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's fighters did not join the agreement.
In the southern city of Kufa, explosions rocked the compound surrounding the central mosque after ammunition used by fighters loyal to al-Sadr apparently caught fire, witnesses and Shiite militia members said. At least one person was killed and eight others were wounded.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said about 100,000 armed individuals will enter civilian life or take jobs in the state police force or security services. The militias have been credited with an active role in the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein.

"By doing this, we reward their heroism and sacrifices, while making Iraq stronger and eliminating armed forces outside of government control," Allawi said in a statement.

None of the nine militias has been fighting the government and most are controlled by mainstream political movements represented in the government.

The U.S.-led coalition tried to persuade the militias to disband last year but failed because leaders were unwilling to give up their armed fighters at a time of deteriorating security.

Al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army did not join the agreement. It has been fighting coalition forces since an uprising in early April, although an agreement with Shiite leaders to stop the violence appears to be taking hold in Kufa, and its twin city, Najaf.

Under the agreement, most of the militias are to be phased out by 2005, in a countrywide program worth about $200 million.

The militias who signed up would be treated as army veterans _ eligible for government benefits, including pensions and job placement programs, depending on their service, according to coalition officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Participating militias would hand in their weapons to the Ministry of Interior and join the program as individuals, not as units or groups, coalition officials said.

All the rest, including al-Sadr's militia, will be declared "illegal armed forces" that could be arrested when the Coalition Provisional Authority order is signed later Monday, the officials said.

According to the order, which coalition officials said will be part of Iraq's transitional administrative law, nonparticipating militias will also be barred from political office for three years.

The deal includes militia members who fought for the Kurdish parties - the Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. They battled Saddam's forces in the northern part of the county.

Allawi said the Badr Brigade of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq also agreed to disband, although representatives of the party claimed negotiations had not even begun.

"The completion of these negotiations and the issuance of this order mark a watershed in establishing the rule of law, placing all armed forces under state control, and strengthening the security of Iraq," Allawi said.

Other militias affected by the agreement include those of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), Iraqi Hezbollah, the Iraqi Communist Party, and Dawa, a Shiite party.

About 75,000 of the 100,000 militiamen expected to take part are northern Kurds who will either be integrated into the new 35,000-man national army or serve as police, border guards, mountain rangers or counterterrorism agents in Kurdish zones, coalition officials said.

Gunmen, meanwhile, killed Shahir Faisal Shahir, a senior official in the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shiite political party, in a drive-by shooting Monday in Baghdad, a top adviser said. Shahir carried the rank of major general in the Badr Brigade.

In Kufa, firefighters and ambulances went to the site of the explosions near the mosque, where fighters in al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army had been holed up.

One militiaman blamed an American missile attack, but the U.S. military said it had no troops in the area.

Tensions remained high in Iraq after a car bomb outside an American base killed nine people Sunday and injured 30 others _ including three U.S. soldiers. Insurgents also blasted police stations in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad and in a town south of the capital, and a U.S. soldier was killed in a mortar attack.

Riyadh Moussa, a militiaman who had been sleeping in the Kufa mosque compound, said he heard a "whoosh of a missile in the air" and a strong thud when a projectile hit the storage area.

"I'm sure it was the Americans who did it," he said. "We have no other enemies."

A spokesman for the coalition said no forces were near the mosque at the time of the blast. Iraqi police took small arms fire when they tried to approach to see what was going on, the U.S. military said.

The mosque had been the site of near-daily clashes between American troops and al-Sadr's forces. However, the site had been peaceful since Thursday under a deal meant to end the fighting.

Under the plan, al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army is supposed to pull back from the Islamic shrines in Kufa and Najaf, and hand over security to Iraqi police.

The U.S. Army agreed to a request from the local governor to keep U.S. troops away from the Kufa mosque, where al-Sadr preaches, to give Iraqi security forces a chance to ease tensions.

Al-Mahdi Army members were gathering outside the mosques Monday, some armed with rifles, and stopped reporters from approaching the mosque.

Nine people, including civilians and militiamen, were hospitalized in Kufa with injuries from the explosions, mostly burns, and one died, said Mohammed Abdul-Kadhim, a nurse.

However, the number of the injured may be higher since the al-Mahdi militia doesn't always take their injured to hospitals.

Also Monday, Marine officers said assailants fired two 122mm rockets at a Marine base outside Fallujah but caused no damage or casualties.

The attack came hours after the Marines of the battalion suspended assistance and reconstruction projects in Fallujah's eastern suburb of Karma following the kidnapping of an Iraqi interpreter.

Sunday's car bombing occurred at the gate of the Taji air base, which is used by the U.S. Army, about 12 miles north of Baghdad. It was unclear if it was a suicide attack.

The U.S. command also reported an American soldier was killed Sunday and another wounded in a mortar attack on a base near Balad, north of Baghdad.

A U.S. security company confirmed Sunday that four of its employees - two Americans and two Poles - were killed the day before in an ambush on the main road to Baghdad airport. The company, Blackwater USA, lost four employees in an ambush in March in Fallujah that triggered the bloody three-week siege of the restive Sunni Muslim city.

The British Foreign Office reported a British security contractor was killed and three colleagues wounded in a drive-by shooting Saturday in the northern city of Mosul. The four worked for ArmorGroup, which has 1,000 employees in Iraq.


© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/6/7/85749.shtml


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:39 AM
Marine misses graduation to answer call for service in Iraq
Tigard reservist Jim Hays will leave his family behind for a year to fulfill his military commitment
Monday, June 07, 2004
DANA TIMS
TIGARD -- Jim Hays' career, despite a recent layoff, was on track, right down to the special notation in his datebook: Graduation, Sunday, June 6.

Hays did, in fact, graduate. He received his diploma late last week from the University of Phoenix in Tigard, where he obtained a master's degree in technology.

But while the rest of his 261 classmates were walking across the stage during commencement ceremonies Sunday night at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Hays was holed up in Chicago, awaiting his Tuesday flight to Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

After that, it will be on to deployment in the Middle East, most likely Iraq, where the 39-year-old Tigard resident will spend at least a year in a forward combat role, directing airstrikes against enemy targets.

"This certainly isn't how I'd planned everything to go," Hays said during a telephone interview. "But it's what I signed up for and it's part of the job. I'm looking forward to fulfilling my duty."

Family makes trip

Hays' wife, Shelley, and the couple's three young children flew to Chicago to be with him over the weekend, thanks to money raised by members of their Fifth Street Church of Christ in Beaverton.

But what they thought would be the light at the end of their tunnel -- a new degree enabling Hays to seek higher management-level jobs -- the family is now pondering the new sacrifices that at least one full year apart are bound to bring.

"This is his first real deployment since he's been out of active duty," Shelley Hays said. "It was easier then because the children were really small. They're older now, making it so much harder."

The couple's younger daughter, Rebekah, 7, drove that point home recently by asking her mother, "What are we going to do if daddy dies?"

Church members have weighed in with calls offering to take 13-year-old Cody camping and to ball games, she said. They are also planning activities for the girls, including Cori, 10.

"The congregation has been fantastic," Shelley Hays said. "I don't know where we'd be without them."

Jim Hays was on active duty in the Marine Corps from 1989 through 1997. Based in Okinawa, Japan, he pulled duty as a helicopter pilot and flight instructor. When he got out, he moved his family to Oregon, got a job in the booming semiconductor industry and eventually joined the Marine Corps Reserve.

He knew the call back to active duty could come at any time. When it did, the company he was working for, Shinei USA, promptly laid him off.

"There's no doubt in my mind that they didn't want to have to worry about holding my job for an entire year," said Hays, who was working as a production control supervisor when he got his layoff notice. "They thought getting rid of me would be easy, since I wouldn't be around to fight it."

A company spokesman, reached Friday, said Hays' layoff had nothing to do with his pending deployment to Iraq.

"That was not the case," said Kevin Whalon, vice president of corporate communications for Shinei USA's parent company, Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron. "His position was eliminated as the result of a broader restructuring necessitated by the unfortunate downturn we've all experienced the last couple of years."

Whalon said other company employees have been deployed as part of their military requirements and that Solectron has honored all legal and ethical obligations to those workers.

Looking for work

Regardless, upon Hays' return from Iraq, his new degree should put him in a good position to land a job involving research and development, technological innovation and elements of civil engineering.

Yet for now, the call of duty is about the only thing occupying Hays' mind.

"It's tough leaving, of course," he said. "But it's also important to set an example for my children by showing them there are times when you have to do things you wouldn't want to do."

Added his wife, "Even if I could, I wouldn't dream of asking him not to go. It's part of being a Marine."

Dana Tims: 503-294-5973; danatims@news.oregonian.com.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/108643695666190.xml


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:40 AM
Jobs, fresh water to flow to Iraqi village thanks to Marines, local government
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 200466103442
Story by Sgt. Matt Epright



CAMP HABBANIYAH, Iraq(June 6, 2004) -- Supporting coalition efforts to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure, Marines awarded a contract June 4, 2004, that will bring clean drinking water to a village near here.

The $146,000 project, coordinated between the local Iraqi government and 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, sets in motion the installation of a water purification system in the small fishing community of about 1,000 people.

In the past, residents had to hand-carry and boil water from a nearby lake to drink, a process that still left bacteria in the water and caused numerous health problems for the villagers.

For the past few months, Marines from the reserve infantry battalion, who provide security for the 1st Force Service Support Group at nearby Camp Taqaddum, have helped supply water for the community, purifying and delivering 3,000 gallons of water every two weeks.

"They'll have their own water supply now, with multiple drop points, so anybody can get water any time," said Cpl. Jesse C. Kuschel, a driver with the battalion and a 23-year-old native of Springfield, Mo.

The project goes beyond just providing clean drinking water. It will also employ many local Iraqis.

Though it would have been quicker and cheaper for the Marines to install the equipment themselves, they wanted to let the Iraqis take the lead so they would come away with the experience needed to do such jobs on their own in the future.

"We could easily go down and do this project. This is to get Iraqis involved in their future," said Maj. Rollin F. Jackson, the project plans officer for the battalion.

The battalion contacted district manager Thaer Handala, the local Iraqi government representative for the Khaldyah district, to negotiate the contract for the project, so the villagers could learn how to work through their local representative government, said Jackson, a 37-year-old native of O'Fallon, Mo.

"I have been trying for a project like this for the past year. Nothing was accomplished until the Marines came. For this we thank God," said Handala, speaking through a translator.

A Coalition Provisional Authority program that allows commanders to identify and support civil affairs projects in their area funded the contract, said 1st Lt. Johnny F. Luevano, a 1st FSSG disbursing officer and a 31-year-old native of Artesia, N.M.

Marines fronted Handala $100,000, and will make two more installments of $23,000 as work nears completion.

The job is expected to be completed by the end of June.

The project is just one among many the Marines have launched aiming at improving the Iraqis' quality of life.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20046714159/$file/HandalaMarines040604_low.jpg

From left to right, Maj. Rollin F. Jackson, project officer, Cpl. Freddy S. Sobalvarro, comptroller chief, Cpl. Maria C. Diaz, payment agent, and Thaer Handala, an Iraqi government representative, complete the signing of a $146,000 contract with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, at Camp Habbaniyah, Iraq, on June 4, 2004, to install a water purification system in a nearby village. The project will provide safe drinking water for the village of about 1,000 people, who have had to hand-carry and boil lake water or rely on deliveries from the Marines. The work is expected to be completed by the end of June. The project is among many currently being funded by coalition forces to help rebuild Iraq and improve the quality of life for its people. Marines from the reserve infantry battalion provide security for the 1st Force Service Support Group at nearby Camp Taqaddum. Jackson, 37, is a resident of O'Fallon, Mo.; Sobalvarro, 23, is from Miami; and Diaz, 23, is Los Angeles native. Photo by: Sgt. Matt Epright

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/30B2CD7A5538B8C885256EAB005014C7?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:44 AM
Shielding the Blue Diamond:
Counterfire Operations in the 1st Marine Division

by the Staff, 11th Marines

Training pays off as Marine artillery, aviation, and sister
Service fire support assets silenced Iraqi indirect fires capability.

For years leading up to the commencement of combat operations in Iraq the Iraqi Army’s potent artillery force was consistently identified as the enemy’s tactical center of gravity. The Iraqi Army’s combination of modern, long-range cannon and rocket systems and the potential for the delivery of chemical munitions posed a direct threat to the achievement of operational and strategic goals. Through countless peacetime training exercises the challenges of countering this threat had remained a constant theme. Maneuver commanders universally agreed that if the threat of Iraq’s artillery could be eliminated, they would enjoy an overwhelming advantage when they closed to direct fire range with the enemy’s ground forces. The 11th Marines accepted the challenge of silencing Iraq’s artillery and worked diligently with the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing (3d MAW) to create and refine the tactics, techniques, and procedures necessary to shield the Marines, soldiers, and sailors of the Blue Diamond (1st Marine Division (1st MarDiv)) from the effects of enemy indirect fire.


Planning the Counterfire Fight
The successful silencing of Iraq’s indirect fire system was predicated on an indepth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of both the enemy’s indirect fire system and the capabilities of the friendly forces. Prewar analysis of the Iraqi indirect fire system concluded that while the enemy possessed an impressive number of modern weapons systems, his ability to employ these systems to their maximum effect and range would be limited by an antiquated and virtually nonexistent target acquisition capability and a highly centralized and inflexible command and control (C2) system. This analysis also concluded that the enemy possessed a low probability of maximizing the full capabilities of his weapons systems. The impressive 9-kilometer range advantage that the Iraqi GHN–45 possessed over the 1st MarDiv’s M198 was mitigated by the assessment that the enemy would be unable to consistently deliver accurate long-range fires due to weaknesses in his overall fire support system. These weaknesses were exploited throughout combat operations in the 1st MarDiv zone.


Despite these inherent weaknesses, the threat that Iraq’s artillery represented could not be dismissed. The sheer number of enemy indirect fire systems posed a serious threat. A single successful massed strike by the Iraqi’s could have disastrous results on the division’s ability to maintain the speed of attack deemed necessary to seize the Rumaylah oilfields and reach Baghdad. A key early planning decision was to assign fire support the doctrinal task of limiting the Iraqi artillery’s ability to mass fires on 1st MarDiv forces. The identified end state was to completely protect the division from any indirect fires. This aggressive stance required a much higher level of effort by and planning between intelligence and fire support agencies for the successful prosecution of the counterfire fight.


The division planned to initially attack the enemy artillery through an aggressive, proactive shaping effort that would include aviation, rocket, and artillery fires. The dedication of resources to this effort is highlighted by the fact that 11 of the 15 essential fire support tasks developed and executed by the division during the war were focused on the enemy’s indirect fire capabilities. This shaping effort hinged on the ability of intelligence collection sources to locate and identify occupied and potential enemy indirect fire positions. Fixed-wing aviation assets were envisioned to carry the brunt of the delivery of shaping fires. When available, Army long-range rockets were planned to supplement the fixed-wing shaping effort.


While the division’s shaping effort focused on the enemy indirect fire system, there were no illusions that shaping would completely eliminate the indirect fire threat. The sheer number of enemy systems, the planned rapid speed of attack of friendly maneuver forces, and the uncertainty of how long shaping operations would last before crossing the line of departure all led to the conclusion that a robust reactive counterfire effort would be required to complement the ongoing proactive counterfire fight. The success of the reactive counterfire fight relied on the establishment, rehearsal, and execution of the full combined arms team available to the 1st MarDiv.

The 1st MarDiv’s Reactive Counterfire Battle Drill
The task of limiting the enemy’s indirect fire systems called for an aggressive stance in both the proactive and reactive counterfire fight. In accepting limit, the fire support community was accepting the challenge of denying the enemy the ability to effectively employ his indirect fire system. This daunting challenge required the complete synchronization of fire support, intelligence, and C2 assets for success.

The genesis of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that the division would employ in combat came out of the lessons learned during Marine Expeditionary Force Exercise 02 (MEFEx 02) conducted in October 2002 at Camp Pendleton. During this computer simulated command post exercise, the division was successful in focusing fires on the enemy’s indirect fire systems. But, while successful, in hard self-analysis the outcome pointed to an unsynchronized effort. Artillery and air conducted stovepiped fights against the enemy indirect fire system. The complementary capabilities of artillery suppressing enemy artillery and forcing the enemy to displace, therefore becoming more vulnerable to aviation, were achieved more through aggressive game cell execution vice a true top-down centralized plan. The criticality of maneuver forces remaining ever cognizant of their counterfire coverage was also driven home.


The 11th Marines analyzed the lessons learned from MEFEx 02 and sought to codify the successes of MEFEx into a combined arms battle drill to ensure success in the upcoming fight. Critical to this effort was a thorough understanding of the capabilities of each of the systems that would be integrated into this effort. 11th Marines planners recognized that the automated C2 system available through the advanced field artillery tactical data systems (AFATDS) presented the opportunity to rapidly implement command decisions in the execution of reactive fires. When all links were in place, targeting information could be shared in a near simultaneous manner at multiple command echelons, and attack orders could be passed instantaneously from the 11th Marines counterfire headquarters to executing artillery and aviation agencies. To supplement the digital transmission of information between ground and aviation, a direct voice link was established between the 11th Marines air support liaison team (ASLT) and the direct air support center (DASC) collocated with the division headquarters. This hot line allowed realtime coordination of both timing and battlespace between ground and aviation fire support assets. Figure 1 depicts the C2 architecture that was developed and implemented to support Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.


The division codified these procedures into a combined arms reactive counterfire battle drill that sought to maximize our advantage in C2 and synchronize the complementary capabilities of artillery and aviation to bring the enemy artillery under immediate, unrelenting destructive fires. The battle drill recognized the unmatched responsiveness of artillery fires and capitalized on 40 years of automated C2 developments to quickly bring artillery to bear on any enemy artillery that fired. Simultaneously, on-station aircraft could be vectored on to a target to complete the destruction of the suppressed or neutralized enemy artillery. Additionally, the vectored manned aircraft provided critical realtime assessment of the counterfire effort. During peacetime predeployment live fire exercises at Camp Pendleton, artillery fires were consistently delivered on radar-acquired targets in under 2 minutes, and aviation reaction time was reduced to approximately 5 minutes.


The reactive counterfire effort was predicated on successfully orchestrating the efforts of the division’s counterbattery radar assets. These assets included the regiment’s four organic Q–46A Firefinder radars, two attached Q–46A radars from the 10th Marines, and two attached, long-range Q–37 radars of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps. These complementary systems provided overlapping detection capabilities against enemy mortars, artillery, and rocket systems out to 50 kilometers. When in place and actively radiating, these systems were capable of accurately locating hostile weapons to a sufficient accuracy to allow first round fire for effect by artillery and precision attack by air-delivered munitions. To maximize the capabilities of these systems and ensure continuous coverage to the forward elements of the division, the positioning, movement, and security of the radars was delegated to 11th Marines firing batteries. This procedure ensured aggressive forward positioning while simultaneously protecting these high-value assets from ground attack. This nontraditional employment technique was made possible by the assessment that the enemy was unable to conduct electronic or antiradiation munitions attacks against our radars.


continued

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:45 AM
Executing the Counterfire Fight
The 1st MarDiv’s counterfire effort commenced on 5 March 2003 when the 11th Marines deployed its headquarters, three radars, and the 5th Battalion to positions south of the Kuwait/Iraq border to provide counterfire coverage to Kuwaiti engineers conducting berm reduction operations of border obstacles. The commanding general’s (CG’s) guidance was clear—an Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti sovereignty by indirect fire weapons was to be considered an act of war and was to be met with an immediate lethal response. Every member of the command understood the seriousness of the situation as howitzers laid on priority targets located in Iraq.


Simultaneously, the division completed its planning for the proactive counterfire fight. A robust plan was developed against all known enemy artillery locations in the Iraqi 51st Division and III Corps sectors. This fire plan synchronized 3d MAW, Army tactical missile system, and 11th Marines cannons to ensure the redundant attack of all known artillery and facilitate the forward repositioning of radars and cannons to facilitate the reactive counterfire fight.


The division planning team recognized that a successful counterfire effort would require the rapid, unfettered, forward displacement of target acquisition assets and artillery batteries. To accommodate this requirement the division accepted risk by assigning the 11th Marines its own breach lanes through the border obstacles on the Kuwait/Iraq border. Advancing between Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT–5) and RCT–7, the 11th Marines were to be led through its assigned lanes by an attached light armored reconnaissance company to protect the firing batteries from any Iraqi direct fire assets or uncovered maneuver units.


Shaping efforts actually began prior to the onset of declared hostilities. On 19 March an Iraqi GHN–45 battery that threatened planned 1st MarDiv breach sites and initial 11th Marines firing positions was destroyed by aviation flying in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH.


There were no expectations that the plan would unfold exactly as rehearsed, and events bore this out. As the division occupied its forward attack positions on 20 March in expectation of a 0300Z H-hour on 21 March, the Iraqi’s cast their vote and violated Kuwaiti sovereignty with cross-border mortar fires at 1132Z on 20 March. The 11th Marines instantly executed the CG’s intent and answered the Iraqi fire with a two-battalion mass fire mission, silencing the threat.


At 1500Z the division issued a fragmentary order moving the time of attack forward 91/2 hours to 1730Z. The requirement to quickly alter the time of attack meant that the division would attack without the planned 8-hour shaping effort against the artillery in the 51st Division zone. Instead, the 11th Marines immediately displaced two battalions forward, and at 1700Z executed a 30-minute counterbattery program against Iraqi artillery that was positioned to interfere with the division’s main effort—the 5th Marines. The division capitalized on the inherent redundancy built into the fire support plan as that attack unfolded. Instead of a tightly timed and orchestrated plan, the division now executed the shaping effort in event driven modules with artillery carrying the brunt of the counterfire fight when weather limited fixed-wing aviation from consistently positively identifying targets. In a little less than 48 hours the division succeeded in securing all of its objectives without the enemy inflicting a single indirect fire casualty.

As the division swung west and started its drive to Baghdad, the power of the Marine air-ground task force was tapped through division target nominations to the MEF targeting board. Through its nominations the division was able to capitalize on the strength of MAW and joint aviation to reach deep and commence the attack of the Baghdad Republican Guard Division’s artillery battalions in the vicinity of Al Kut. The doctrinal concept of the single battle came alive over the next week as the MAW delivered unrelenting attacks that effectively destroyed the Baghdad division’s artillery while the division defeated enemy indirect fire systems in the close fight along Highways 1 and 7 with artillery and rotary-wing fires. When weather prevented aviation support in the close fight, aviation assets were pushed deep to keep the pressure on enemy formations in the deep fight.


When the division attack rolled past Al Kut and turned north toward Baghdad, the MAW shifted its focus to the Al Nida Republican Guard Division protecting the southeast approaches to the city. Again, the primary focus was on the enemy artillery battalions. In the close fight, detailed coordination between the division main effort, RCT–5, and the 11th Marines ensured the complete integration of 11th Marines assets in the march column. These efforts allowed 11th Marines to maintain continuous support to the rapidly advancing maneuver forces by continually leapfrogging radar, firing units, and C2. As RCT–5 closed on Baghdad all four 11th Marines battalions were positioned behind the lead maneuver units.


The transition from a rapid movement to contact to deliberate attack on the Baghdad metropolitan area necessitated a modification to the counterfire operations that had proven so successful in the drive from Kuwait. In order to minimize potential collateral damage in the urban areas, the decision was made to use artillery to only attack radar-located enemy firing units whose fires were threatening friendly forces. Showing the adaptiveness required on a dynamic battlefield, a procedure was rapidly implemented to utilize high-resolution overhead imagery to provide collateral damage estimates against located targets. Precision attack by air became the first response option against enemy units firing from open areas located in Baghdad. Using this methodology, MAW and joint aviation was vectored to numerous targets within the city.


As the counterfire battle raged for 3 days around Baghdad, it became clear that the key to ultimately eliminating the enemy threat lay in maneuver forces occupying terrain to deny the enemy firing positions. As maneuver forces surged across the city, the counterfire fight ended with a whimper as maneuver units encountered destroyed and abandoned artillery, mortars, and rocket launchers. Throughout the campaign the division processed over 1,900 radar-acquired counterfire targets. Yet, in 21 days of fighting, the enemy managed to only fire two rounds that resulted in casualties to the Marines and sailors of the 1st MarDiv. The division’s aggressive counterfire effort ensured that the enemy never had a chance to apply corrections and get off a second round.


Lessons Learned
MajGen James N. Mattis, the 1st MarDiv CG, had developed speed as the division’s metric for success. In the counterfire fight this speed was generated by a well-developed, rehearsed, and executed counterfire battle drill. The ability of modern information systems to rapidly move data across the battlefield was the key to the division’s success in the counterfire fight. Speed was also generated through the close integration of fire support assets into maneuver formations, ensuring that the counterfire shield was continually extended over advancing forces.


The combined arms approach that the division adopted provided a menu of attack options to deal with the enemy under varying weather and terrain. Additionally, the complementary capabilities of artillery, air and, finally, maneuver forces resulted in the enemy facing an unrelenting dilemma. Fixed-wing aviation hunted the enemy deep, artillery and rotary-wing air punished him in the close fight, and maneuver forces closed and overran any surviving firing units. The road from Kuwait to Baghdad was littered with the carcasses of enemy indirect fire systems.


Finally, the best plan requires aggressive execution. There was no shortage of this throughout Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Throughout the campaign, leaders at all levels took the fight to the enemy. Artillery units fought their way forward in the worst possible weather and found firing positions on the ground that a map or terrain analysis would call untenable. Helicopter pilots pressed the attack at every opportunity, and high overhead manned and unmanned aviation provided eyes on target and rapid bomb damage assessment (BDA).


In the end, the plan for the destruction of the Iraqi tactical center of gravity should be assessed as an overwhelming success. No 1st MarDiv units came under any sustained enemy indirect fire attack. The division’s combined arms approach ensured that the deadliest job on the battlefield was that of Iraqi mortar, artillery, or rocket crewman.

http://www.mca-marines.org/Gazette/0604staff.html


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 06:46 AM
Soldiers hunt for illegal weapons in Marine zone
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20046814452
Story by Cpl. Paula M. Fitzgerald



AR RAMADI, Iraq(June 4, 2004) -- Army Spc. David J. Sieben can't count how many weapons cache searches he's been on since arriving here in September.

The Carson City, Nev., soldier said a large part of his battalion's responsibilities include the retrieval and destruction of illegal weapons that could be used against Coalition forces or Iraqi citizens.

"In the past nine months, we've probably done well over one hundred weapons cache searches," Sieben said. "It's become part of our daily lives."

Sieben is a combat engineer with 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team. The battalion is based out of Camp Ar Ramadi but operates throughout the Al Anbar Province in support of the 1st Marine Division.

To date, the battalion has recovered "literally tons" of rifles, pistols, machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, mortar tubes, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, improvised explosive devices, grenades, ammunition and other assorted heavy and small-arms fire paraphernalia.

Army Staff Sgt. Johnny C. Carnley, squad leader, said his soldiers have worked as far east as Fallujah, 35 miles from here and as far west as Al Asad, about 75 miles away.

"We can operate pretty much anywhere we're needed," he added.

Lately, the soldiers have been searching the area around Ar Ramadi, where thousands of American servicemembers are based.

The soldiers wake up before sunrise each morning to inspect the readiness of their gear, weapons and vehicles. After rehearsals and a quick brief about the mission, they load into their M-113A3 "tracks" and prepare to move to their sector for the day.

"Some of our missions can last up to eight hours and some are less," Sieben said. "Others seem to go on forever."

The soldiers cover miles of area at a time during the searches, climbing over walls; trudging through muddy farmland and jumping across streams of filthy water.

"We went on this one search that lasted all day," said Carnley, of Weatherford, Texas. "We hiked over twenty kilometers."

The soldiers are on the lookout for anything that looks out of place. Most illegal stashes are hidden out of sight, so the soldiers carry metal detectors and shovels.

"Usually, we find caches buried between one to two feet underground near a house or in a field," Sieben explained. "They're usually wrapped inside a burlap sack and greased up so they don't rust."

If the weapons can be linked to a nearby home, the occupants are detained and questioned about the find. More often that not, the accused are less than cooperative.

"Most people pretend like they don't know anything about the weapons," said 2nd Lt. Richard Knox, platoon leader. "Some people have excuses that are very hard to believe."

Knox, of Dexter, Mich., added if the soldiers are unable to prove who is responsible for the weapons, no one is arrested. The weapons are collected and later destroyed.

According to Sieben, uncovering large caches makes the time go by faster, but he also enjoys interacting with the local people while conducting sweeps.

"I can't speak Arabic, but it's still fun talking to them and joking around with them," he said. "They're usually pretty friendly to us."

As the day wears on, the soldiers are occasionally required to go inside residents' homes if deemed necessary.

"The people are usually understanding and welcome us in," Knox explained. "They offer us food and drinks and are very helpful for the most part."

The lack of Arabic speakers within the unit sometimes creates a rift between the Americans and Iraqis, but Knox said that's easy enough to get around through hand gestures and other body language.

"We want them to know that we're out there trying to make Iraq safer," Sieben added. "We may not be able to find the people who hide the weapons, but if we can find the weapons, then they can't be used on troops or Iraqis."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/B914928541F299F685256EAD001F9311?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 08:31 AM
Assailants attack Marine camp outside insurgent stronghold Fallujah
By Associated Press, 6/7/2004 03:22

ADVERTISEMENT

CAMP MERCURY, Iraq (AP) Assailants fired two rockets at a Marine base outside the restive city of Fallujah but caused no damage or casualties, Marine officers said Monday.

Gunnery Sgt. Tracy Reddish said that insurgents fired two 122mm rockets late Sunday from the main road to Fallujah, 40 miles west of the capital, Baghdad.

The projectiles targeted Camp Mercury, the base of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which patrols the eastern suburbs of this Sunni city and also Fallujah's rural hinterland to the east.

The attack came hours after the Marines of the battalion suspended assistance and reconstruction projects in Fallujah's eastern suburb of Karma following the kidnapping of an Iraqi interpreter.

Local Iraqis have come under attack because of their work for U.S. forces and have been labeled as ''traitors'' by the anti-American insurgency here.

Marines based at Camp Mercury and their convoys in the area have been the target of frequent attacks, although violence has largely abated in the past weeks.

In April, Fallujah was the scene of heavy fighting between the Marines and insurgents. The fighting eased after the Americans handed control of the city to a new Iraqi force that includes some of the insurgents.



http://www.boston.com/dailynews/159/world/Assailants_attack_Marine_camp_:.shtml


Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 01:43 PM
Issue Date: June 14, 2004

As power transfer nears, U.S.-Iraqi patrols increase
Bush expresses confidence in interim government, warns of continued violence

By Vince Crawley
Times staff writer

President Bush looked and sounded more confident than he had in weeks following the June 1 selection of Iraq’s interim government, which, coupled with a proposed U.N. resolution, could set the troubled country on a path to independence.
With the controversial June 30 deadline for power-sharing in Iraq fast approaching, U.S. commanders also say they’re trying to increase the numbers of joint patrols with Iraqi security forces. But they acknowledge the violent uprisings that have killed 200 U.S. troops since March 31 likely will continue to escalate.

Hours after Iraqis named a 33-member interim government, Bush met with reporters outside the White House and gave his most relaxed news conference since the uprisings began. He has made no secret that he believes the U.S. presidential election this November will be a referendum on his handling of the Iraq war.

Told that Iraq’s new acting president, Ghazi al-Yawar, has expressed criticism of the U.S. occupation, Bush said such views weren’t necessarily a negative sign.

“What I’m most for is for people who are willing to work toward a free Iraq,” Bush said. “That’s my concern. And it sounds like to me that these men [in the Iraqi interim government] are patriots … who believe in the future of Iraq. If there is some criticism of the United States, so be it. The end result is a peaceful Iraq in the heart of the Middle East.”

Bush also warned that violence is likely to escalate before Iraq’s elections, set to take place no later than Jan. 31, 2005.

“I hate to predict violence, but I just understand the nature of the killers,” Bush said.

Army Maj. Gen. John Sattler, U.S. Central Command’s director of operations, told Pentagon reporters May 28 that U.S. troops in Iraq are conducting 2,000 patrols a day, more than 300 of them joint patrols that include Iraqi security forces alongside Americans.

Another 140 to 150 patrols a day are conducted only by Iraqi units, a number that he said must grow if the mission is to succeed.

“The goal as we move toward sovereignty” is to create enough trained Iraqi security people so that “no patrol goes out, no operation is conducted without an Iraqi alongside of a coalition member,” Sattler said in a telephone news conference from Qatar. The short-term goal for joint patrols this summer is “at least 50 percent, working up to 100 percent.”

The Bush administration and military authorities have said that June 30 will mark a transfer of “sovereignty,” but it’s unclear how much actual power the interim government will have.

Its members, including a prime minister, deputy prime minister, president, deputy presidents and cabinet ministers, were selected with the aid of U.N. diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi.

The selection process had dragged on for weeks when, at the end of May, members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council suddenly defied American preferences and pressed to name interim government leaders of their choosing. The council then promptly voted itself out of existence.

Bush and his advisers at first seemed taken aback by the governing council’s boldness, then took the actions as a sign of Iraqis demonstrating their capability to eventually govern themselves.

Defense Department officials said the interim leaders are spending the month of June “engaging in outreach with Iraqis across the country.”

The Iraqi Interim Government will serve until the January elections. At that point, the plan is for a democratically elected transitional government to take power, write a new constitution and hold permanent elections late next year.

An estimated 10,000 or more insurgents are trying to destabilize the fragile interim government in hopes of driving out U.S. troops and preventing democracy from taking root in Iraq.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2978283.php



Ellie

thedrifter
06-08-04, 05:12 PM
Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony Dilling sat stunned on the train tracks as troops rushed his wounded buddy away. <br />
<br />
It was April 6, and a battle raged some 300 yards away in Jolan, a dusty, tough...

thedrifter
06-08-04, 05:13 PM
Klingman, a 27-year-old sniper who said he joined the Marine Corps to escape a sleepy farming town in Nebraska, said he felt lucky. Some of the guys got it much worse than he did. At least he could rejoin his men, he said.

"On the one hand, I'm glad I got it out of the way," he said of his injuries, seeming resigned to the fact that one would inevitably get wounded in Fallujah. "On the other, I'm thinking, '*******, it's gonna be a long seven months.' "

It was the Marines' second day of on-the-job training with the soldiers, some of the 700 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne's 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The soldiers were quiet, hardened men just trying to survive the last days of a seven-month tour in Fallujah. They lost one man killed in action. Nearly 100 more were wounded.

As their replacements arrived, their commander, Army Lt. Col. Brian Drinkwine, said the Marines would enjoy the challenges of Fallujah. But he warned: "They'll be bloodied."


Trading seats with the Army

D rinkwine said he had learned to limit his soldiers' presence in Fallujah, restricting military operations to in-and-out raids on safehouses or well-planned sweeps of neighborhoods, and working to support local leaders and institutions with small teams of specialists.

But as the Marines took over, it was clear they would take a more aggressive tack.

While the soldiers and Marines worked on the transfer in an air of mutual respect, considerable bad-mouthing went on in private conversations and in graffiti scribbled on outhouse walls.

Some Army officers said they thought the Marines were too eager for action.

The outgoing Army commander warned that it would take more than might to pacify the town.

The insurgency thrived in the absence of hope, Drinkwine said. The Marines would have to spend more time creating jobs, building local institutions and listening to Iraqis than they would waging war.

Some of the Marines seemed to listen. Others blew off the Army's suggestions, dismissing the soldiers as wimps who had left them the brunt of the work.

It was in the final days of the transfer ---- as Marines assumed complete responsibility for patrolling the city's outer roads and policing the base perimeter ---- that the rebels attacked a convoy on the highway just outside of town, killing Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Burgess and wounding several others.

The attack was all it took for Marine commanders to part with the Army's recommended hands-off approach.


Out of the gates

O n March 26, less than 24 hours after the last of the soldiers left, the Marines made their formal debut in Fallujah.

Just before dawn on March 26, 2/1's commander, Lt. Col. Gregg Olson, sent 600 of his Marines to storm the southeastern sector and show everyone that there was a new force in town.

After that, there was no turning back. The massive, daylong operation left one Marine and at least six Iraqi civilians dead, turning the town upside down and stripping away any hopes the Marines would win many hearts or minds in Fallujah.

Palmour and I had hitched a ride into town with Fox Company and followed them as they scoured homes for weapons and questioned residents.

Encounters between Marines and residents were strained from the beginning ---- lukewarm at best. Marines started the day by blasting open some doors with explosives and kicking in others, then trying to calm the women and children frightened by the intrusion.

They gradually lightened up and even had several cordial chats with nervous neighbors as they moved block by block.

Rebels rattled wild fire at us as we weaved our way north through the city. The troops we were with never fired wildly at the attackers ---- they waited for a clear target ---- and warned the neighbors to stay inside.

Despite the Marines' general restraint, we witnessed one incident that made it painfully clear that even a careful use of force could backfire and turn Iraqis against the troops.


Sniper turns tide

A fter talking to several residents and dodging several small attacks, we stopped outside a mosque to wait for other units to catch up. We could hear the sporadic chatter of machine guns and thunderous booms of grenades down nearby streets, but all was quiet on our corner.

Suddenly, a single shot from a Marine sniper on a nearby rooftop broke the calm. More shots followed seconds later. Then, silence.

Minutes later, Lt. Josh Jamison trotted across the open street to the mosque and reported that one of the Marine snipers had "dropped" a man on a nearby rooftop. He said the man had been talking on a cell phone while staring at the Marines' position, so the sniper shot him.

It had been reported that rebels often used cell phones to detonate bombs or to direct military actions, so no one second-guessed the killing.

Soon the snipers reported that a crowd had gathered to remove the body of the man they had just killed.


Marines not welcome

A half-block away at the site of the shooting we found a slick of blood ---- the thick, dark kind that I've always known as death ---- soaking the curb in front of the house.

Women wailed from inside, filling the street with their haunting chorus of grief.

The slain man's brother sat gasping for air at the edge of the pooled blood, crying, "Why? Why? Why?"

Warned by neighbors that we should leave the scene, we pushed a few blocks north, but the troops were soon called to return.

"We're not heroes anymore in this part of town," Sgt. Todd Luginbuhl warned his men as we double-timed through the dust to avoid dozens of mourners who were following the man's body, which was being carried into the mosque.

Passing the block again later, we were faced with a crowd of more than a hundred angry-looking boys and men. Elders warned us to leave ---- now!

The slain man might or might not have been a rebel, but his death had clearly turned the residents of that neighborhood against the Marines.

I later heard from troops who had fought there that similar dramas played out around the town, and at least five other civilians died and more than 20 were wounded in Fallujah that day.

It didn't matter that the other casualties could have been the result of the rebels' indiscriminate sprays of fire or volleys of mortars and grenades. To many residents, the bloodshed was the Marines' fault for being there in the first place and giving the rebels an opportunity to fight.

At the edge of town near the end of the day, I asked an Iraqi how he thought residents felt about the Marines' debut in the city.

"In our culture," he said, "the tribe will have to get revenge."


Blood for blood

R evenge came quickly in Fallujah.

Fallujah's mayor and council of sheiks begged the Marines to pull out of the city. Their presence had only made things worse, they said.

As news of the Marines' first bloody day in Fallujah spread in Iraq and at home, one Marine information officer called the escalating situation a public relations "nightmare."

Over the next few days, intelligence officers reported that rebels were using the local outrage over the raid to their advantage and were waging a propaganda campaign over mosque loudspeakers in Fallujah to keep things stirred up.

Then, on March 31, after several days of bloody skirmishes at the edge of town, the rebels brought the escalating violence to a horrible climax, killing four armed American civilians as they drove through town.

In what would become a widely publicized image of the escalating violence in Fallujah and Iraq, a wild crowd set the victims on fire and then mutilated the charred bodies in the street.

Troops from 2/1 were especially shocked as they watched the images on television from their base a mile or so away. The grisly scenes of burned corpses being dragged through the dirt and hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates River were taken right in their "A.O." ---- area of responsibility.

They knew they would have to respond.

"Bill O'Reilly is saying we should make the people of Fallujah bathe in their own blood," complained Maj. Brandon McGowan a few days later.

"You just don't do that to Americans," warned Echo Company commander Doug Zeimbac as the Marines planned their attack.


The siege begins

J ust before midnight on April 4, about 2,000 Marines from 2/1 and Camp Pendleton's 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment surrounded the city to squeeze it until residents turned in those who killed the contractors.

Officials insisted there were just a few rebels in Fallujah ---- mostly "dead-enders" from Hussein's regime working in concert with a core of extremists and foreign fighters. The Marines would help the Iraqi people and Iraqi security forces weed them out, they said.

When Fox Company reached a train trestle at the northwest corner of the city, rebels attacked with a hail of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, killing combat engineer Cpl. Tyler Fey.

"It all happened so fast," Sgt. Warren Hardy said as he pointed to the pile of rocks where Marines had ducked to avoid the blasts.

It was the first American blood spilled in what Marines dubbed Operation Vigilant Resolve ---- the siege of Fallujah that would soon draw Marines into a month of bloody street-fighting and kill many illusions about the nature of war in Iraq.


Alone to fight

O nly 20 of the 2,000-some Iraqi soldiers who were supposed to be working with the Marines showed up, leaving the Marines standing alone at the rough edge of town.

On the second day of the operation, after hours of tense quiet, Fox Company commander Capt. Kyle Stoddard sent a patrol to probe the Jolan neighborhood on the other side of the railroad tracks where the first Marine was killed the day before.

Residents were still milling around, despite the hundreds of troops amassed on the opposite side of the tracks.

continued..

thedrifter
06-08-04, 05:14 PM
As Marines cautiously walked through the dense neighborhood to an open street, residents suddenly started running for their homes. The street cleared out quickly, save for a few children who ran by the troops pointing imaginary guns and making noises like gunfire before they vanished.

Lance Cpl. Dilling said he knew they were in trouble.

Suddenly, the street exploded with gunfire. In an instant, a Marine was down.

Struck in the back of the head, Lance Cpl. Simmons later said he was able to get off a shot and probably kill his attacker before he faded into shock. Navy Corpsman Michael "Doc" Meaney darted through the fire to start treating his wounds.


Marine down

T anks rushed in as some of the infantrymen pulled the badly wounded Simmons back to the cover of the nearby train trestle.

Screaming and yelling for their buddies to hurry up, troops piled back on the Humvees and sped back to the fight.

During the chaotic next few hours, Marine tanks blasted away with machine guns and cannon. Helicopters swooped in low, firing missiles into rebel-occupied homes.

Armored vehicles ferried in about 100 more men from Echo Company to reinforce the exhausted men of Fox. They'd been fighting waves of rebels firing AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades from Iraqi houses. They took over the houses as residents fled.

Troops said the frightened families scattered down the streets, waving white clothing or sheets as they ran through the gunfire.

By the end of the day, the Marines declared there were no "friendlies" left in the neighborhood, turning the northern section of the city into a free-fire zone where the Marines were allowed to shoot anything that moved and destroy buildings where they thought the rebels were hiding.

For the next few days, as the fighting waxed and waned, Palmour and I watched the daytime action from atop the train trestle and spent cold nights in a nearby mortar pit ---- a 3-foot-deep, 10-foot-diameter hole dug in the ground where a crew of three Marines fired 60mm mortars into the city.

It was about the safest place we could be as rebel mortars and rockets exploded in the surrounding field during the first week of fighting.


Pinned by fire

O ne day a sniper, probably firing from the towering minaret of a distant mosque, pinned us down to the tracks and sent us crawling out with our faces in the gravel to get away.

For days bullets zinged overhead. Some of them were ricochets and errant rounds from distant fights, but some of them were probably well-aimed shots from the minaret. The really close ones made a loud and unforgettable crack.

One night, as I pecked away on a computer under a black, light-proof sheet in the cover of the mortar pit, a half-dozen huge rockets whizzed in and exploded. The closest landed about 75 yards away. The blasts sent Palmour diving in on me from a few yards away, where he was trying to brush his teeth. He ripped the battery and cables from my laptop as he crash-landed.

The rockets and mortars fired from rebel strongholds in the city fell with random abandon on Iraqis and Americans alike, once striking an apartment building full of Iraqi women and children.

As the Marines defended their foothold from the houses and school buildings at the city's edge, rebel snipers invited barrages from Abrams tanks, Super Cobra helicopters and F-16 jet fighters that leveled buildings with 500-pound bombs.

After days of firing mortars and artillery into the city, some troops joked that the town had been turned into a "live-fire range" like the ones they trained on at Camp Pendleton.

"So much for hearts and minds!" said 1st Lt. Ross Schellhaas when another bomb exploded a quarter-mile away from his position.

Operation Vigilant Resolve was first billed by Marine leaders as a cordon, or security perimeter, around the city from which they planned to carry out a series of raids on rebel areas.

Instead, it had become an all-out battle for the city. And Marine casualties were mounting.

The battle wasn't what the Marines had planned or wanted, said 1st Marine Regiment commander Col. John Toolan when he and other top commanders visited troops on the front line on the third day of fighting.

"We were sucked in," he said.


Cease-fire

A fter the first week, Marine commanders agreed to a cease-fire to give some Iraqi politicians a chance to persuade the rebels that resistance was futile. They said the troops would halt offensive operations but would do what they had to do to defend themselves. It was a very loose cease-fire.

Ambulances wailed as they made grim rounds, collecting the dead inside the city during the calm. Reports surfaced that more than 600 residents and rebels had been killed and more than a thousand wounded.

During some slack in the fighting, Palmour and I slipped into the city from the trestle and were taken in by some 20 Marines from Fox Company. They were living in one of the many homes that residents fled during the first few days of fighting.

The troops were getting along with no running water and no electricity, making themselves at home and building up defenses without doing too much damage to the war-torn house.

We settled into a young woman's bedroom, which we identified as such from the stylish clothes and family pictures left behind when she and her family had fled. We pushed her purses and shoes, trinkets and makeup to one corner and made the room our home.

Our padded mats on her concrete floor were much better than sleeping in the fighting hole, where we had choked on dust and ducked rocket shrapnel with the three punchy mortarmen.

But it still felt creepy, and somehow wrong, to be in this woman's room. And nights in this stranger's room were made stranger still by a clock that played American-style nursery rhymes every hour, on the hour.


'They just want to escalate this'

W hile a cease-fire bought some time for leaders to find alternatives, continued attacks from rebels over the next two weeks seemed to make a final assault on the city the only option.

The toughest part of such an attack would be Jolan ---- the old heart of the city along the Euphrates River where rebels had weeks to build defenses and entrench themselves in the narrow streets and crowded brick quarters.

Officers said they believed they had trapped at least 1,000 hard-core fighters inside the city, and they made plans to level the rebel strongholds before the Marines moved in to mop up.

About 200,000 residents were still in the city as thousands of Marines from at least four infantry battalions were poised to squeeze the rebels into Jolan and into 2/1's "kill zone," military leaders said.

Leaning into their machine guns, watching the honeycombed city from atop the roof of our house, some of the troops said they felt like they would have to fight the whole town, that the heavy casualties and destruction had probably turned many residents into rebels.

Fox Company commander Stoddard said that's what he thought the rebels were after with their small, suicidal attacks against the better-gunned Marines.

"They are poking at us to see what we will do," Stoddard said after bullets and mortars crashed near some of his men in the houses. "They want us to come out with bigger and bigger weapons systems so they can say, 'Look what the Americans are doing.' They just want to escalate this."


'Ain't nobody out there but bad guys'

W hile talks between U.S. and Iraqi leaders gave the illusion of peace, Jolan was still at war.

The combatants hunted each other from afar: rebels with random mortar attacks, the Marines with silent snipers. One Marine alone claimed 24 "kills."

The smoldering no-man's land between the rebels and Marines seethed with death as bodies rotted in deserted streets and abandoned buildings.

During the day, it was a fight against time. In the heat and uncertainty of the cease-fire, the troops fought off flies and battled boredom between the occasional thrill of a firefight. Still, they kept their chins up and their eyes peeled on the city from rooftop hideouts and sandbagged machine-gun bunkers.

"Ain't nobody out there but bad guys," Sgt. James Hollon mumbled one hot and humid afternoon as he watched for movement in the maze of brick buildings and green-domed mosques.

At night, it was a war of words. Rebels blared militant chants from neighborhood mosques, and Army psychological operations teams blasted rock music from loudspeakers mounted on Humvees, the good-humored troops countering calls for holy war ---- jihad ---- with heavy metal.

It was during this bizarre and deadly stalemate on April 12 that the insurgents dealt the Marines a deep blow with a mortar attack and ambush, leaving two Echo Company Marines dead and more than a dozen wounded.

Frustrated troops then called for a final, decisive assault on Jolan.


Ambush

J ust after midnight on April 24 ---- nearly three weeks into the siege ---- about 30 Fox Company Marines sneaked away from their houses and ventured out into the city to see what the enemy was up to.

After painstakingly tip-toeing through rubble and broken glass in the vacant blocks, they waited and listened for rebel activity for more than 15 hours, hiding in a house near a mosque where rebels had launched their daily attacks.

We waited, too, and rushed to the roof of our house at 7 p.m. when a radio crackled back to life and Lt. Josh Jamison whispered that six armed men were approaching their hideout.

Seconds later, Jamison announced that the men had emerged from the mosque laden with rifles and ammunition.

The street erupted with gunfire as the Marines ambushed the men.


continued.....

thedrifter
06-08-04, 05:16 PM
Leaving a calling card

W hen the street fell quiet about 40 minutes later, troops radioed that they had killed at least 11 insurgents. They laid the bodies of four of them ---- and what remained of a fifth ---- on the ground in front of the mosque as a grim warning.

Palmour and I had gotten to know almost every one of the Marines in the house over the recent weeks' fighting as we joked and jawed to kill time. We knew them mostly as kids in their teens and 20s who laughed about recent high school exploits, recounted horror stories about drill instructors and talked longingly about their families and friends in hometowns from Marin County to Manhattan.

To us, they had become "the guys." We had always tried to capture their human side in our daily reports and photos.

But when they returned in the dark from the blood-stained mosque, they were not kids anymore.

When they dumped their gear back at the house, they were jubilant, slapping "high fives" and recounting tales of bravado that were getting bigger and badder by the minute.

After they slurped cold drinks and ate a quick meal, a Marine combat cameraman gathered them together to watch a digital video of their handiwork.

They huddled in the living room of the darkened home, laughing and ribbing each other as the battle unfolded for a second time on the tiny screen.


A new light

I n the glow of the DVD, illuminated with smiles as if they were watching their high school playoff game, I saw the guys in a new light, and I withdrew, torn by feelings that fell somewhere between pride and disappointment.

It was war.

It was war that seemed to bring out the best in men ---- the sacrifice, courage, stamina and skill as they risked their lives for their brothers and worked tightly as a team to make it back together.

And it was war that seemed to bring out the worst in men.

It brought these young men ---- known in any other setting as the guy next door, a brother, a boyfriend, a father, a husband, a son ---- to kill. They laughed as they watched one man's broken skull flap open and kidded about a body that looked like "hamburger" when they were done.

"I don't want to kill anybody," Cpl. Peter Madrigal, 21, of Tucson, Ariz., told me a while later. "But I will if I have to. And I won't feel bad about it. It's my job."

It was the best and worst that men could be ---- and exactly what we Americans were asking these young men to become in this murky war in Iraq.


Echo suffers again

W hen Echo Company tried to emulate Fox's success two days later, they suffered a defeat that sent them and the brass reeling.

After Marines sneaked about 300 yards into the city, rebels slipped in between Echo's troops and attacked them at close range, tossing grenades through the windows and firing on them from the roof next door. One Marine was killed and about 15 were wounded in two hours of brutal fighting.

Survivors told tales of Marines who fought fearlessly to regain the upper hand and Navy corpsmen who braved the fire to pull the wounded men back to safety.

It was the "belly of the beast," said Navy Corpsman Jason Duty hours after the fight, his beige boots still covered in black blood.

Men recounted how Duty fought his way into the house to evacuate the wounded and then tried desperately to pound life back into a dying Marine as they rushed him down bumpy roads in the open back of a Humvee.

The April 26 battle seemed to shake Marine leaders from the seductive idea that they could level Fallujah and somehow win in the end.

Civilian leaders said the fighting in Fallujah could affect the June 30 transfer of power and had potentially profound implications for the entire Middle East region.

Soon, even in the isolation of dusty, dangerous Fallujah, we could feel the politicians' clammy hands.


Political price too high

"I t's not our decision to make anymore," Lt. James Vanzant said of the decision to strike, his voice reaching a shrill pitch often heard among the Marine officers as they watched the military victory slip away. "It's way above our heads."

With plenty of time to reconsider, however, some Marine officers had already wondered aloud if leveling Fallujah was in their best interest. A decisive American military victory could backfire and a massive slaughter of civilians could breed insurgents in other regions and other countries faster than they would in Fallujah.

The heavy fighting already seemed to set the standard for other battles in Iraq. The Army laid siege to Najaf in the south much like the Marines had in Fallujah.

"We could do it," Cpl. Jong Kim, 20, of Sunnyvale said of a possible Marine offensive against the town.

"But if we leave, they'll come back," he said of the insurgents. "They're crazy. They're not scared of anything."

Besides, some said, what would they get if they "won" Fallujah? They didn't want the dusty river town and all its troubles.

No ---- a solution in Fallujah had to come from the Iraqis themselves, not from American guns.

As it became clearer to the Marines that they would probably never hoist an American flag in the center of town, an Arab savior appeared like a genie from the desert.

Three days after the attack on Echo Company, the generals announced that the Marines would pull out of Fallujah and release their stranglehold on the town where several Marines and 600 Iraqis had died.


Dealing with the enemy

T he solution to Fallujah's fighting was suspect: a cadre of Iraqi generals led by a former commander in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard had emerged and persuaded the leatherneck generals that they could field a 1,000-man brigade of previously unknown Iraqi troops and bring peace to Fallujah.

The deal was reportedly brokered in back channels between rebel leaders and Marine brass as both sides grappled for a way out and a solution short of a final bloodbath.

On April 30 ---- the last day of a tragic month in which a record 136 soldiers and Marines had died in Iraq ---- Palmour and I went to see the miracle generals for ourselves.

We waited outside as the generals met with Col. Toolan in a closed conference room of the Fallujah Liaison Team building near the Marines' former base. It was where Toolan's bosses had shaken hands on the deal the night before.

Inside, the former enemies shook hands and finalized plans to hand over the city that had cost both sides so much blood.

Just beyond the walls of the heavily guarded compound in Fallujah, the rebels were already announcing victory from the mosques and residents were celebrating the city's martyred sons. The Iraqi generals soon announced that there were no foreign fighters in Fallujah ---- only heroes.

The deal effectively left the town in rebel hands. Marines prepared to pull back to the surrounding countryside to resume their security patrols.


Bitter end

A fter weeks of sacrifice and heroism, carnage and waste, it seemed a bitter end, leaving the Marines about where they started. They wondered what, if anything, had been won.

Before Palmour and I finally packed up and said goodbye to the troops on May 2, Lance Cpl. Simmons, the Marine who was shot in the head in the April 6 ambush near the tracks, rejoined Fox Company.

He had healed well ---- you could hardly see a mark ---- and he was anxious to rejoin the fight.

But by the time he arrived, the battle was over. The Marines were distancing themselves from the heavy hand they had used in Fallujah. Now, as they prepared for a new mission in the countryside, it was all about hearts and minds again.

Whether those hearts will heal and those minds will mend is uncertain.

Fallujah remains a rallying cry for those who rally. Some will remember it for the horror of the contractors slain in the street. For others, it demonstrated excessive American might. The Marine Corps has new heroes; the Islamists have fresh martyrs and recruits.

Fallujah was the fight that turned the bright light of public scrutiny back on the war. It grabbed the world's attention and kept many people tuned in long enough for the other horrors that unfolded in Iraq's prisons and streets.

And though the heaviest fighting appears over, the 2/1 continues to be in danger in Iraq. Already, since Palmour and I have been back, several more men from the 2/1 have been killed or wounded by roadside bombs and other attacks while patrolling their new beats on Fallujah's outlying villages and countryside.

It is not the war they, or we, had envisioned.


http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backb.jpg

Fires burn after an air strike by a U.S. Spector gunship in Fallujah, Iraq, on April 16, 2004.

http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backf.jpg

Navy Corpsmen Deramichaeleous Daniels, 21, left, from Chicago, and Marine Jerod Brown, 19, from Charlston, W.V., have fun sharing wallet pictures with an Iraqi man and children during a patrol by Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, of a small village next to the Euphrates River on Thursday, March 25, 2004.

http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backe.jpg

Affan al-Basit, 8, is treated by Navy Corpsman Robert Davenport in the back of a field ambulance after he and his brother were wounded by shrapnel from a mortar shot by insurgents in Fallujah on April 23, 2004.

continued...........

thedrifter
06-08-04, 05:18 PM
http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backg.jpg

A group of Marines, lower left, watch a 500-pound bomb explode on a rebel position during a U.S. airstrike on the northwest side of Fallujah on April 8, 2004.


http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backh.jpg

An Iraqi man opens the door to his small home not realizing that an Army soldier and a Marine, right, are about to enter and demand that he turn his house lights off during a joint Army and Marine cordon and search operation in Fallujah, Iraq on Sunday morning, March 21, 2004.



http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/06/08/special_reports/backtoiraq//photo_backc.jpg

http://www.nctimes.com/special_reports/backtoiraq/


Ellie