PDA

View Full Version : ISF, 11th MEU continue the fight against Anti-Iraqi Forces



thedrifter
08-12-04, 07:53 AM
ISF, 11th MEU continue the fight against Anti-Iraqi Forces
Submitted by: 11th MEU
Story Identification #: 2004810154958
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Chago Zapata



FOB DUKE, Iraq (Aug. 10, 2004) -- After more than five days of fighting in the ancient city of An Najaf between elements of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) and Iraqi security forces against members of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Muqtada Militia the battle still hasn't ended.

But now there's a new element to the equation. The commander of Multi-National Forces in Iraq ordered I Marine Expeditionary Force to assume control of military operations in the Provinces of An Najaf and Al Qadisiyah, Aug. 9.

This change, however, won't alter the MEU's combat operational procedures, it is driven by the desire to increase and enhance the effectiveness of the MNF-I units in the provinces, according to an I MEF news release dated Aug. 10.

As a response to enemy operations, elements of the 11th MEU, now augmented by two reinforced Army infantry battalions and an Army helicopter battalion, continue to seek out and destroy Anti-Iraqi Forces which continue to resist the An Najaf government's rule of law and order.

AIF continue to apply the same tactics they used during operations at the holy cemetery -- launching attacks from the cemetery and surrounding areas, only to immediately run back and seek sanctuary in the mosques and buildings surrounding the Imam Ali Shrine.

The MEU's current combat operations were conducted at the request of the Governor of An Najaf.

In a move to operate efficiently, members of Najaf's Iraqi National Guard and portions of neighboring ING units were put under operational control of the 11th MEU to effectively put an end to AIF and restore peace in An Najaf.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200481016219/$file/040806-M-7719F-001lowres.jpg

An infantry Marine with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), looks out from his fighting position inside Wadi Al Salam Cemetery during combat operations in the city of An Najaf, Aug. 6. Photo by: Cpl. Daniel J. Fosco

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/51A0AA484244EFE485256EEC006CF22A?opendocument

Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 07:55 AM
Fighting persists for seventh day in Najaf, Iraqi cleric exhorts fighters

By: TODD PITMAN - Associated Press

NAJAF, Iraq -- Insurgents fired mortar shells at U.S. forces moving into Najaf's vast cemetery and American jets roared overhead Wednesday, as the radical Shiite cleric leading the fight against coalition forces urged his followers to battle on even if he is killed.

Iraqi police set up checkpoints that cut Najaf in two as U.S. troops hammered Shiite militiamen near the city's holiest site, the gold-domed Imam Ali Shrine, in the seventh day of fighting in the city. Gunbattles between militants and coalition forces in two other southern cities killed 18 people.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded near a market north of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least six Iraqis and wounding nine others, a hospital official said. The explosion shook the market in Khan Bani Saad, about six miles south of Baqouba.


"The place was crowded, but there were neither police or American patrols during the time of the explosion, and we are investigating this issue," said Baqouba police Col. Adnan Hussein.

In Najaf, Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were once again firing on U.S. troops from a building just 400 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine. On Tuesday, U.S. helicopter gunships pummeled the multistory hotel with rockets, missiles and 30 mm cannons, killing 20 people, the military said, in one of the closest strikes yet to the shrine.

"We keep pushing south and they just keep coming," said Capt. Patrick McFall, from the 1st Cavalry Division.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's interim vice president, called on the U.S. troops to withdraw from Najaf.

"Only Iraqi forces should stay in Najaf, these forces should be responsible for security and should save Najaf from this phenomenon of killing," al-Jaafari told Arab TV network Al-Jazeera from London on Wednesday.

Coalition forces said they were operating in the city at the request of the government.

The top health official in Najaf, Falah al-Mahani, said the deteriorating security situation was causing "a real catastrophe" for the health services.

"Ambulances are prevented from reaching the injured people by the clashing parties. Our staff are not able to reach their hospitals. We are paralyzed," he said, adding that the fighting injured 18 members of his staff.

Sporadic explosions could be heard elsewhere in the city. U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan said Mahdi Army militants attacked three police stations Tuesday, two with small arms fire, one with eight mortar rounds.

"We've pretty much just been patrolling and flying helicopters all over the place, and when we see something bad, we blow it up," said Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment.

"I hope that you keep fighting even if you see me detained or martyred," al-Sadr said in a statement Wednesday. "I thank the dear fighters all over Iraq for what they have done to set back injustice."

To control movement in Najaf, Iraqi police and national guards blocked roads that connect the city's northern and southern parts Wednesday.

The U.S. military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in Najaf since fighting began Thursday, but the militants dispute that. Five U.S. troops have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

Al-Mahani said 25 civilians had been killed and 146 injured by Tuesday night.

The fighting has plagued other Shiite communities across Iraq.

In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police fought off attacks from the Mahdi Army at the town's central police station and other government offices. The fighting killed four people and wounded 20 others said Dr. Falah al-Bermany, a local health official.

"We gave orders to our forces to shoot anyone who gets near government buildings," said Mohammed Ridha, Kut's governor.

Overnight clashes between insurgents and British forces in the southern city of Amarah killed 14 people and injured 42, according to the Health Ministry. Local officials said many of the killed and injured were militants.

In the fighting, British forces attacked positions that militants were using to attack patrols and bases with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, Maj. Ian Clooney, a British spokesman, said. The British suffered two minor casualties.

During the day Wednesday, British tanks were patrolling the major roads in Amarah, while Mahdi Army militants walked through the alleys, witnesses said.

Also Wednesday, gunmen killed the head of a regional office of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shiite group.

Ali al-Khalisi, the head of SCIRI's Diyala province was killed in Mahmoudiya, about 25 miles south of Baghdad, when gunmen drove up to his car and fired at him, said Haitham al-Husseini, a SCIRI spokesman.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement posted on an Islamic web site.

In Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, groups of three to five Mahdi Army militants attacked a district council hall repeatedly Tuesday with mortars, gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, clashing with U.S. and Iraqi forces, said U.S. Capt. Brian O'Malley of the 1st Brigade Combat Team.

One person was killed and 18 wounded in the skirmishes, the Health Ministry said. Other clashes in Baghdad killed seven people and wounded 11 others.

In the southern cities of Nasiriyah, Basra and Samawah, insurgents targeted coalition forces with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, causing no injuries, Clooney said.

"The insurgents are using cover and buildings to (launch) indirect attacks rather than open conflict," he said.

Production resumed at Iraq's vast southern oil fields after authorities reached an accord with militant Shiites who had threatened to attack the country's vital export pipelines for crude, an Iraqi oil official told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

Iraq's South Oil Co. reversed a decision it made Monday to curtail output as a precaution against threatened sabotage by supporters of al-Sadr.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi police defused explosives found in a white gasoline tanker parked outside a hotel used mainly by foreigners, in a busy shopping district in Baghdad.

The driver's cabin was stacked with grenades and gasoline containers, and rocket-propelled grenades, police and Interior Ministry officials said.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/12/military/20_02_038_11_04.txt

Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 07:55 AM
Marine to be tried by jury in Iraq prison death case <br />
<br />
By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer <br />
<br />
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine reservist charged in the death of an Iraqi prisoner of war has chosen a...

thedrifter
08-12-04, 07:57 AM
Gunbattles erupt in Najaf as U.S. forces battle cleric's militia

By: TODD PITMAN - Associated Press

NAJAF, Iraq -- The sound of heavy gunbattles resonated throughout the holy city of Najaf on Thursday, as U.S. forces battled militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

It wasn't clear if the stepped-up fighting signaled the beginning of a major offensive against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, but the U.S. military and Iraqi forces had earlier said they were preparing for a fullscale assault to crush the weeklong uprising.

The planned offensive could inflame Iraq's Shiite majority -- including those who do not support the uprising -- if it targets the revered Imam Ali shrine, where many of the insurgents have taken refuge.


Any assault on the shrine likely would include or be led by the Iraqi forces -- many of whom have only minimal training -- in an effort to lessen the anger. The U.S. military said Wednesday it was holding joint exercises with Iraqi national guardsmen in preparation for the planned assault.

"Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Muqtada militia started," said Col. Anthony M. Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

As clashes in Najaf raged for a seventh day, U.S. troops said they were impressed with militants' tenacity.

"I think they got a reproduction facility down there. I think they're cloning," Capt. Patrick McFall said. As he spoke, a mortar exploded nearby, sending up plumes of black smoke.

In response to the announcement, al-Sadr loyalists in the southern city of Basra threatened to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there if coalition forces launched a major attack in Najaf. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to briefly stop pumping from the southern oil wells.

The firebrand cleric leading the insurgents has exhorted his followers to fight on even if he is killed.

The U.S. military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the Najaf fighting, but the militants dispute the figure. Five U.S. troops have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/08/12/military/20_01_528_11_04.txt


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 07:58 AM
Najaf fight intensifies as U.S. teams with Iraqi forces
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Thousands of U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault Thursday on militiamen loyal to a radical Shiite cleric in Najaf, with explosions and gunfire echoing near the holy city's revered Imam Ali shrine and its vast cemetery.

The coalition forces were trying to crush an uprising led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose fighters have been battling U.S. troops in Shiite strongholds across Iraq for a week. Hundreds of people have fled in the last few days, moving in with relatives and friends in quieter neighborhoods, or out of Najaf entirely.

"Major operations to destroy the militia have begun," said U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment. He said thousands of U.S. troops were taking part.

A column of U.S. tanks lined one edge of the cemetery, as a helicopter flew overhead on patrol. Soldiers crawled on the roofs of single-story buildings, setting up positions.

By Thursday afternoon, five civilians were killed, according to Nabil Mohammed, a health worker in Najaf. Two soldiers were injured when hit by a mortar shell while standing in an intersection of the cemetery, the military said.

"It's pretty standard, they'd push up here, fire off a few rounds, fire RPGs, then leave," said Capt. Patrick McFall.

The offensive risked enraging Iraq's Shiite majority — including those who do not support the uprising — if it targets the shrine, where many of the insurgents have taken refuge. The shrine, the cemetery, and Najaf's Old City were cordoned off. Any attack on the shrine would be led by Iraqis — some with minimal training — to deflect anger.

"Today's operations are designed to restrict freedom of movement of Sadr forces in (nearby) Kufa and Najaf and to further isolate them in these mosques which they use as a base of operations," said U.S. Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel.

U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials say interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi would have to approve any operation at the shrine itself, which would be conducted by Iraqi forces.

"There are instructions that the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi national guard only will enter the compound and secure it, so ordinary citizens can go back and pray at this shrine," Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

Also Thursday, officials said attacks by insurgents and Mahdi militants on government buildings and police stations in the southern city of Kut have killed at least 72 people, all of them Iraqi.

Iraqi forces fought off the militants who targeted the city hall, police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks, the U.S. military said, causing casualties on both sides.

"Seventy-two people were killed and 148 injured in clashes in the last 24 hours," said Falah al-Bairaman, director-general of health for Wasit, the province of which Kut is the capital city.

Iraq's health ministry said 75 were killed in Wednesday's fighting in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

The United States had announced its plan for the offensive Wednesday, and in response, al-Sadr loyalists in the southern city of Basra threatened to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to briefly stop pumping from the southern oil wells.

The U.S. military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the Najaf fighting, but the militants dispute the figure. Five U.S. troops have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

"We're starting to put the pressure on the militia to fight, die, or capitulate," Lt. Col. Myles Miyamasu, from the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, said Thursday.

Jawdat Kadhem al-Qureishi, a member of Najaf's city council resigned in protest of the offensive, he said Thursday.

"I announce my resignation to denounce and condemn the terrorist acts and the shelling that the city of Najaf and the Imam Ali Shrine have been subjected to," he said. "I condemn all the terrorist acts that the U.S. forces have committed."

Earlier, Najaf Gov. Adnan al-Zurufi, who has been a staunch supporter of U.S. forces here, claimed al-Qureishi resigned because kidnappers had snatched his father and demanded he step down in return for his release. Al-Qureishi did not comment on al-Zurufi's report.

Al-Zurufi later said city council members were working to defuse the crisis — though efforts to negotiate an end to the violence over the past week had failed and it appeared unlikely that any new one would succeed.

"I cannot give details about this initiative and we hope that this crisis is solved in the coming days. The situation is unbearable in the city and the militiamen should leave," he said.

The fighting Thursday forced some residents near the shrine to flee.

"We have put up with hunger, electricity outages and lack of water, but we cannot put up with death," said Aqil Zwein, 42.

Elsewhere, two U.S. Marines were killed when a CH-53 helicopter crashed landed in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military said Thursday. Three other people were injured in the crash Wednesday night. The military said that no enemy fire was observed at the time.

An Islamic Web site carried a videotape Wednesday that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man they identified as a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape could not be verified immediately. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said CIA officials have accounted for all employees and no one is missing.

Al-Sadr's fighters have been battling coalition forces since Aug. 5 in a resurgence of a spring uprising that had been dormant for two months following a series of truces.

The top health official in Najaf, Falah al-Mahani, said the deteriorating security situation was causing "a real catastrophe" for the health services.

"Ambulances are prevented from reaching the injured people by the clashing parties. Our staff are not able to reach their hospitals. We are paralyzed," he said, adding that the fighting injured 18 members of his staff.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-08-12-najaf_x.htm


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 08:00 AM
11th MEU battles anti-Iraqi forces in An Najaf
Submitted by: 11th MEU
Story Identification #: 20048120100
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Chago Zapata



AN NAJAF, Iraq (Aug. 11, 2004) -- The first four days of the battle of Najaf, between 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) forces and the Muqtada Militia, started here in the early morning darkness well before dawn, Aug. 5.

A large number of aggressors, later confirmed to be members of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Muqtada Militia, attacked the city of Najaf's main police station at 1 a.m. and were quickly repelled by the Iraqi police. Later, at 3 a.m., they attacked again, this time with heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.

Iraqi National Guardsmen from the 405th Battalion, 50th Iraqi Brigade, were notified and arrived on the scene and helped the IPs successfully defended the station from the Anti-Iraqi Forces.

At this point, the governor of An Najaf province decided to send an urgent message to the 11th MEU requesting their assistance. A quick reaction force from the MEU was dispatched.

"Attacking local police, whose sole job is to maintain peace in Najaf and keep its citizens safe, is another demonstration of the Muqtada Militia's disregard for the people of the city, and their desire to prevent a free and prosperous Iraq," said Col. Anthony M. Haslam, commanding officer, 11th MEU (SOC).

When the Marine Quick Reaction Force arrived, the AIF had withdrawn into the city's exclusion zone. The Marines didn't fire a single shot.

At around 8 a.m. that same morning, it was confirmed that enemy forces were massing near the police station yet again, this time with larger numbers than before.

Marines of the 11th MEU were called in and the battle resumed, this time with the Marines in the thick of it.

"We did not pick this fight. We were down there assisting our partners, who are the Iraqi police and the Iraqi National Guard and of course the governor of Najaf," said Lieutenant Col. John L. Mayer, commanding officer, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th MEU (SOC). "We were asked to assist on behalf of the governor of Najaf, and our motto is 'No better friend, no worst enemy' and the Iraqi police have been our friends since the liberation.

"When they attacked it's like attacking a United States Marine. So we went down there to assist in a battle we did not ask for, but one which we were not going to run away from either," Mayer continued.

Joint Marine, ING and IP forces repelled the AIF from the police station and, forced to flee, they took shelter in the sacred Wadi Al Salam cemetery where they had previously established a base of operations.

The ancient cemetery, riddled with multi-story, mausoleum-like buildings, tombs, catacombs and caves was a perfect sanctuary. The five-kilometer long, three-kilometer wide burial ground, surrounded by walls roughly built of brick and mortar, provided countless of places for the enemy to hide and cache their weapons for later use.

A spokesman for Muqtada al-Sadr claims the Marines broke the cease-fire agreement reached in June between coalition forces and his militia, as brokered by the Governor of Najaf, local civic and religious leaders. The agreement also included the creation of an exclusion zone for coalition forces around the holy Imam Ali Shrine and the neighboring cemetery.

Once the agreement was reached, however, Sadr's forces immediately began using the ancient sacred graveyard as a base of operations against coalition and Iraqi security forces. They took advantage of its sanctuary to stage large weapons caches and began a terrorist campaign, kidnapping, torturing and killing Iraqi policemen and civilians.

Despite their hypocritical claims, the facts speak for themselves; Sadr's forces broke the agreement with their unprovoked attacks on the Iraqi police station.

Over the next two days, Marine and Iraqi security forces, with jets and helicopters swarming the air and armored vehicles racing to engage the enemy, continued to push into the cemetery, digging the enemy out of their holes and crushing them with deadly and accurate fire. At this point, the tally of enemy dead reached 300 and mounting.

"The cemetery is now a field of terror in the city," said Najaf's governor, Adnan al-Zurufi, of the militia's hijacking of the holy site, at a briefing. "This operation will never stop before all the militia leave the city."

The huge cemetery, however, was not cleared without a price. The two-day engagement claimed the lives of four U.S. Marines.

"The price of this fight was high," said Col. Anthony M. Haslam, commanding officer of the 11th MEU (SOC). "Every Marine fought bravely in the field of battle and represents what's best in America and in the United States Marine Corps.

"Let the AIF clearly understand that 11th MEU Marines and Iraqi Security Forces will not allow them to seek sanctuary and hijack this holy cemetery from the people of Iraq,” said Haslam. “We will not allow them to continue to desecrate this sacred site, using it as an insurgent base of operations. There will be no sanctuary for thugs and criminals in Najaf."

In the early hours of the third day of fighting, as sooty black smoke continued to billow lazily over the strife torn city, the Governor of Najaf requested for Marine and Iraqi security forces to continue to conduct raids against suspected AIF positions.

As the day progressed, the militia continued to apply the same tactics, and launched attacks from the cemetery and surrounding areas, only to immediately run back and seek sanctuary in the cemetery, mosques and buildings surrounding the Imam Ali Shrine.

Now, however, an overwhelming surprise was waiting for them as the 11th MEU was augmented by a reinforced U.S. Army infantry battalion, and a U.S. Army helicopter battalion.

Later that morning, elements of that reinforced Army battalion, Task Force 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, began a sweep of the cemetery encountering sporadic resistance and finding yet more weapons caches.

Throughout the rest of the day and into the next, sporadic enemy attacks were rebuffed as joint coalition, Iraqi forces continued to hunt down and destroy the enemy.

Also early on the morning of the fourth day, a Marine unit was ambushed by AIF on its way back to Forward Operating Base Hotel from a recent mission, but the Marines punched through and made it back unscathed. Their vehicles, however, would need to be touched up a bit.

Najaf, one of the holiest cities of Shi'ite Islam, the resting place of Imam Ali, murdered in Kufa in 661, was the center of the attention during the past four conflict-filled days.

The world watched with bated breath, as its streets lay clogged with debris, its holy cemetery desecrated, damaged and smoking by the acts of Anti-Iraqi Forces, which continue to fight against the rule of law and order and do nothing but hurt the people of Iraq.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200481201243/$file/040805-M-4358R-007lowres.jpg


A Marine with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), fires a Tube Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire Guided Missile System during combat operations against Muqtada Militia entrenched in the Wadi Al Salam Cemetery in the city of An Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 5. Photo by: Cpl. Matthew S. Richards


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 08:04 AM
Premier Warns Gunmen In Najaf <br />
Arrest Warrants Issued For Chalabi, Nephew <br />
<br />
By Jackie Spinner <br />
Washington Post Staff Writer <br />
Monday, August 9, 2004; Page A01 <br />
<br />
BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 -- Iraq's interim...

thedrifter
08-12-04, 10:01 AM
24th MEU's ACE keeps Thunder Chickens flying
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 200481172020
Story by Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers



FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (Aug. 10, 2004) -- The thundering rhythm of a helicopter's rotor blades reveals little about the effort it takes to get such a complicated machine off the ground.

Yet, behind every modern marvel in the inventory of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Aviation Combat Element, there is a Marine mechanic ensuring the aircraft will be capable of accomplishing its missions.

"Our different shops come together to form one big team," said Cpl. Renato Pinto, 22, a native of Altamonte Springs, Fla., and flight-line mechanic with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, nicknamed the "Thunder Chickens." "The flight-line mechanics do all of the hard wrench turning. We [perform] all the inspections, taxi and launch the [aircraft]. But we also have specialists for [work like] the airframes and electric wiring."

Each mechanic can expect no less than a 12-hour work day, combating a number of different complications in operational performance, some of which have become prevalent in the Iraqi environment.

"One of the main problems we have is getting sand in the engines," said Pinto. "Since it causes erosion, we have to wash the aircraft and engine every four to seven days."

But there's one thing the mechanics don't have to worry about thanks to the desert's lack of humidity: corrosion. This avoids hours of time spent removing the substance from vital areas of the aircrafts.

Although the work requires him to be meticulous, for Lance Cpl. Scott Atwood, 20, a flight line mechanic from Bridgewater, Mass., this deployment is something he'll always have.

"Twenty years down the line, you won't be talking about college," said Atwood. "This is something you're going to remember."

For others who volunteered to return to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom II and III, the opportunity to be involved in real-world combat is all the gratification they need.

"There's no experience like working on an aircraft in the field," said Pinto. "The missions we do here are real. This [opportunity] is what we've trained for."

24th MEU's ACE keeps Thunder Chickens flying
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 200481172020
Story by Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers



FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (Aug. 10, 2004) -- The thundering rhythm of a helicopter's rotor blades reveals little about the effort it takes to get such a complicated machine off the ground.

Yet, behind every modern marvel in the inventory of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Aviation Combat Element, there is a Marine mechanic ensuring the aircraft will be capable of accomplishing its missions.

"Our different shops come together to form one big team," said Cpl. Renato Pinto, 22, a native of Altamonte Springs, Fla., and flight-line mechanic with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, nicknamed the "Thunder Chickens." "The flight-line mechanics do all of the hard wrench turning. We [perform] all the inspections, taxi and launch the [aircraft]. But we also have specialists for [work like] the airframes and electric wiring."

Each mechanic can expect no less than a 12-hour work day, combating a number of different complications in operational performance, some of which have become prevalent in the Iraqi environment.

"One of the main problems we have is getting sand in the engines," said Pinto. "Since it causes erosion, we have to wash the aircraft and engine every four to seven days."

But there's one thing the mechanics don't have to worry about thanks to the desert's lack of humidity: corrosion. This avoids hours of time spent removing the substance from vital areas of the aircrafts.

Although the work requires him to be meticulous, for Lance Cpl. Scott Atwood, 20, a flight line mechanic from Bridgewater, Mass., this deployment is something he'll always have.

"Twenty years down the line, you won't be talking about college," said Atwood. "This is something you're going to remember."

For others who volunteered to return to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom II and III, the opportunity to be involved in real-world combat is all the gratification they need.

"There's no experience like working on an aircraft in the field," said Pinto. "The missions we do here are real. This [opportunity] is what we've trained for."

[img]http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200481172540/$file/040809-M-1250B-007lores.jpg

Cpl. Dave Flory of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit looks inside the engine compartment of an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq.
Flory, 21, is an airframe mechanic from Canton, Ohio, and is assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263, the Aviation Combat Element of the 24th MEU.
The MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in the Northern Babil province of Iraq.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Sarah A. Beavers

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/E72448ED7C2F6DCF85256EED003E4999?opendocument


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 10:59 AM
US marines poised to crush Najaf revolt <br />
By Adrian Blomfield in Baghdad <br />
(Filed: 12/08/2004) <br />
<br />
<br />
US marines were poised last night to launch a final assault on militants loyal to the rebel cleric...

thedrifter
08-12-04, 12:03 PM
Issue Date: August 16, 2004

A different type of no-fly zone
Insects, beware: Iraqi crop-dusters are back in action

By Gina Cavallaro
Times staff writer


BAQUBAH, Iraq — the dubas, humerias, white flies and lesser date palm moths are running for cover as Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture resumes its aerial crop-dusting program.
The Iraqi ace pilots who wage chemical warfare against the destructive critters earn about $150 a month in the only coalition-sanctioned aviation program in post-Saddam Iraq.

“I like the spraying, and I like the flying. But I really like the flying best,” said Capt. Hassenen Ajeel Mohsin, 29, of Baghdad, who has 600 hours at the stick and is one of 14 pilots certified for the crop-dusting flights, which began May 12.

The Iraqi aviators carry out their pesticide airstrikes, resumed after more than a year’s suspension, from two agriculturally configured, twin-engine Mi-2 Hop-lites, Russian-designed helicopters manufactured in Poland.

They look like rusting buckets of bolts by American standards and are outfitted with flowered upholstery on the cockpit seats.

when the Iraqi pilots crank up the turbine engines of the 1950s-era helos, the birds lift off and glide toward unsuspecting insects, who would all but destroy Iraq’s agricultural industry.

Of special concern is protecting the date palm trees, which account for 45 percent of the world’s exported date production and are the principal fruit exported from Iraq.

At a time when the coalition is working to show evidence that Iraqi sovereignty is on its way to becoming reality, the crop-dusting program is a good poster-child candidate for coalition efforts to demonstrate a shift toward Iraqi economic self-sufficiency.

The Army’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team spearheaded the program in the Diyala province, where a third of the country’s date production is harvested.

The program was back in the air after getting a critical green light from V Corps, which was skeptical and concerned about aerial attacks against coalition troops.

the Iraqi aircraft were escorted by two OH-58 Kiowa helicopters on early crop-dusting missions, but the U.S. airborne oversight eventually was discontinued.

“We just had to trust the Iraqis. We pre-staged it here, then it was 48 hours of high fives,” said Army Col. Dana Pittard, 3rd BCT commander, of the celebration after the success of the first flights.

The sight of “orange and white helicopters followed by two Kiowas … was weird,” Pittard said.

The two Iraqi helicopters operate out of Camp Warhorse in northern Baqubah.

Spraying of date palm groves, cotton, corn, rice and wheat was halted in March 2003 when the United States led the invasion of Iraq.

Before that, pesticides had only been sprayed outside the no-fly zones that were established under sanctions that began in 1990.

“One school of thought was, we can’t let the Iraqis fly yet, it’s too early. The safety of coalition troops is paramount,” said Army 1st Lt. Michael Adams, the division’s air liaison officer with the Ministry of Agriculture. He coordinates airspace management, ground support, fuel and maintenance for the crop-dusting aircraft through the 201st Forward Support Battalion.

Muntadhar Mohammad, 45, of Baghdad, is director of the Agriculture Aviation Department. He was trained to fly in 1978 at the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics at Oakland International Airport in California. The possibility of sabotage or an attack on his two-helicopter fleet doesn’t bother him anymore. What worries him is the condition of Iraq’s crops after a year of not spraying.

“In the beginning, yes, I was worried. I think I’ve gotten used to it,” he said. “In the last year, there has been no spraying. It’s too early to tell about the amount of damage.”

the pesticides, which come from companies in France and Italy, were tested before use and pose no danger to the Iraqi population or coalition forces, Adams said.

Safe from attack?

Adams maintained that enemy forces would have too much to lose by shooting down the helicopters.

“The bad guys are out to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, so if they shoot one down it would turn the Iraqis against the terrorists,” said Adams, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot on loan from 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment.

The program is paid for and operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, whose aviation department was established in 1948 and started with American pilots in Bell 47 helicopters.

For pilot Capt. Wissam Yass Khudair, 36, of Baghdad, it’s a brave new world and Iraqis are anxious to see the promise of a better future come to pass.

“It’s better without Saddam … but we are waiting,” Yass said.

Gina Cavallaro covers the Army.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-288253.php


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 12:04 PM
11th MEU takes over for 1st ID; will train Iraqi security, conduct combat ops


By Jason Chudy, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, August 4, 2004



IRAQ – About 2,100 Marines and sailors from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit took control of the An Najaf and Al Qadisiyah provinces from the 1st Infantry Division’s Task Force Dragon on Saturday.

They will be supported by Army civil affairs, military police and engineer units and an infantry battalion from El Salvador.

The special operations-capable MEU is expected to train and equip Iraqi security forces and conduct combat operations from its three forward operating bases south of Baghdad as part of the Polish-led Multinational Division, according to a news release on the unit’s Web site.

The MEU left San Diego in May, about a month earlier than planned, according to the release. It will be deployed for an undetermined length of time.

The Marines arrived in Iraq last month, disembarking from the USS Belleau Wood expeditionary strike group in Kuwait. After a week’s training, the unit moved into Iraq.

The MEU is comprised of a command element, two companies of the 4th Marine Regiment’s Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, the reinforced Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 and MEU Service Support Group 11.

According to the MEU commander, Col. Anthony Haslam, more than half of the unit’s Marines and sailors have previously served in Iraq.

The 11th MEU’s Web site can be found at: www.usmc.mil/11thmeu/.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=22693&archive=true


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 12:49 PM
Cemetery fight haunts some U.S. soldiers
Both sides see battle as a final showdown

NAJAF, Iraq - Bats flapped out of crypts, startling soldiers creeping through the cemetery with guns up. Graves opened beneath their combat boots. And an old enemy displayed a new professionalism, darting in clearly practiced moves between tombstone and mausoleum to stalk the Americans from above ground and below.

advertisement

In the battle to control one of the world's largest graveyards, U.S. Marines and soldiers say they are coping with a lot, including lingering regret. The vast cemetery in Najaf is sacred to Shiite Muslims, perhaps 2 million of whom lie buried in miles of desert adjoining the shrine of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad.

Soldiers involved in the fighting described how many of the most recent graves are marked by photos, which crumble when U.S. forces shell the cemetery walls to reach the militiamen hiding within.

"Wives, daughters, husbands," said Sgt. Hector Guzman, 28, of the 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Regiment. "You just know you're destroying that tomb."

The Houston native shook his head. "It doesn't feel right sometimes."

"We feel bad that we're destroying, that we're desecrating graves and such," added Staff Sgt. Thomas Gentry, 29, of Altoona, Pa. "That's not what we want to do."

What the reinforced U.S. force in southern Iraq wants to do, commanders say, is destroy the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada Sadr, the militant Shiite cleric. The militia has bedeviled the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq since October, when its largely impoverished, disaffected young gunmen first ambushed a U.S. patrol in a Baghdad slum. A far larger, sustained uprising in April and May undid much of the occupation's effort to establish security in Shiite-populated central and southern Iraq.

The current engagement, which began Thursday with another ambush, is billed by all sides as the final showdown.

Sadr this week brushed aside overtures from Iraq's interim government and vowed to fight to his last drop of blood. Iraqi officials, who consult closely with the U.S. commanders of the 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq, said the door was closed on negotiations.

To close observers, the final signal for decisive battle came with the departure of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the senior Shiite cleric in Iran and a longtime opponent of Sadr, who is widely regard as an upstart. Sistani, who is famous for not having left his Najaf house in six years, traveled to London last week, just as the fighting with Sadr's militia erupted. The official explanation -- treatment for a heart condition -- brings a smile to the lips of U.S. commanders here.

'Green light'
"A lot of people think it's the green light for us to do what we have to do," said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has responsibility for Najaf.

"The people will tell you they want it to end," said Army Lt. Col. Myles Miyamasu, a battalion commander in the 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Regiment, which hurried from Baghdad on Thursday to reinforce the Marines. "They're ready for this to be over."

On Tuesday, while senior commanders huddled to discuss an endgame, the cemetery once again doubled as a killing field.

While U.S. armored vehicles probed the huge brown expanse of graves and mausoleums, a small armada of warplanes, helicopters and armed drones circled overhead. When the vehicles drew fire, spotters located the attackers and radioed the coordinates to a crowded, vaguely air-conditioned room in a Marine operating base on the north side of Najaf.

"Looking for clearance for Reaper," a junior cavalry officer chirped late Tuesday afternoon. A patrol had spotted a sniper, but his perch was close enough to the shrine of Ali that permission to fire could come only from a senior officer, who after several minutes gave it from a base 15 miles away. An Apache helicopter destroyed the building where the sniper was hiding with two Hellfire missiles.

Holahan said 19 insurgents were killed in a separate strike by a Predator drone equipped with a Hellfire missile. The noon sky over the city of 600,000 was darkened by billowing smoke from a hotel set alight by U.S. fire several hundred yards behind the shrine.

Avoiding damage to the shrine -- and the outcry that surely would follow from the world's Muslims -- is a U.S. objective so well known that the gold-domed mosque has become a refuge and staging ground for the guerrillas, U.S. officers said.

'Nothing good'
"There's nothing good that can come of it," said an Army operations officer, laying out the possible outcome of any strike on the mosque. "We win, we lose. We lose, we lose."

The cemetery was deemed less sacrosanct, however. Marines first followed militia fighters into it on Thursday morning after being ambushed while moving to reinforce the main Iraqi police station in Najaf, which had come under siege by several hundred militiamen.

The battle for the graveyard went on for 36 hours. In the end, the Marines counted four of their own dead and more than 300 militiamen. But veterans of the battle said the lopsided casualty count -- disputed by Sadr's officials -- did no justice to the weirdness of fighting on a sweeping landscape that venerates death.

"You're on top of the vehicle, you can see forever, but all you're looking at is tombs," said Gentry, of the Army regiment's Bravo Company.

"It was like New Orleans meets Baghdad," said one Army officer.

The jumble of tombs, mausoleums and catacombs also made it treacherous ground to fight on. Militia fighters hid underground and overhead, soldiers and Marines recalled. "Most of the time," Guzman said, "it was like jungle warfare, only without the jungle."

Soldiers said the insurgents showed signs that they had been training during a cease-fire that had kept violence here to a minimum since early June. U.S. units accustomed to the disorganized, hit-and-run strikes of insurgents in Baghdad and elsewhere were impressed to see the black-clad fighters of the Mahdi Army moving in coordinated units of five: typically three armed with rifles, which they fired to provide cover for the launch of rocket-propelled grenades, the weapon that has been most damaging to U.S. forces in Iraq.

Additional evidence of training: flash suppressors on rifles, simple Starlight-brand night-vision scopes and the evacuation of wounded. Weapons were secreted throughout the cemetery.

"These people are a trained militia," said 1st Lt. Ronald C. Krepps of the 1st Cavalry, who added that one mausoleum contained photos of Mahdi fighters performing battle drills.

"More professional," said Miyamasu, the 5th Regiment battalion commander whose troops provided Najaf reinforcement. "I don't mean to give them too much, but they're good. These guys really make us work to kill them, but in the end, they're dead."

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5665188/


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 01:54 PM
Helicopter Crash in Anbar Province Claims Two Marines
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 2004 – Two Marines were killed and three others were injured the night of Aug. 11 when a CH-53 helicopter flying in support of security and stabilization operations in Iraq's Anbar province crashed, a Multinational Force Iraq news release reported today.

The release said no enemy fire was observed near the aircraft.

An investigation is under way, and Multinational Force Iraq personnel have secured the crash site and started recovery operations, the release said.

In Tikrit, five Iraqi civilians were killed and 11 were injured when an homemade bomb detonated in Khan Banai Saad marketplace just after noon Aug. 11, according to another military news release. An Iraqi was killed and another was wounded in an explosion at an ammunition supply point near Tikrit around 10:30 p.m. Aug. 11, the release added.

Another release reported that fighting broke out in Kut when Iraqi police and National Guard units responded to attacks by armed insurgents on the city hall, Iraqi police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks. Members of both sides were killed and wounded in the resulting firefights, officials said.

Kut's governor, hoping to return security and stability in the town, has contacted the insurgents, the release said. The Multinational Division Center- South's 2nd Brigade Combat Team at Camp Delta has increased its combat readiness level in preparation to support the Iraqi security forces should the insurgents not respond to the governor, the release said. The brigade is located across the Tigris River from Kut.

Iraqi police, with help from Task Force Danger soldiers, captured a suspected bomb maker Aug. 11 near Tuz. Raheem Hakeem Agile was arrested during a cordon- and-search operation. Police confiscated two AK-47 assault rifles, electrical switches and various lengths and gauges of electrical wire. Agile was taken to the Tuz police station, the release said.


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 02:13 PM
Marines who served in Iraq are decorated
August 12,2004
Pat Coleman
Sun Journal Staff

CHERRY POINT -- Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England, who said on Wednesday during his tour of the base that part of his role was to recognize great people in the military, presented two awards to Cherry Point Marines who served in Iraq.

At a ceremony held at Marine Air Support Squadron 1, England presented Sgt. Shaun R. Donahue with the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, with Combat Distinguishing Device, for his actions as an explosive ordnance disposal technician in Iraq.

According to the citation, Donahue "displayed exceptional presence of mind and technical proficiency" while clearing more than 52,000 foreign ordnance items and over 3,000 enemy weapons, while he was exposed to small arms fire and indirect fire. Donahue's actions with Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 contributed to the establishment of six forward arming refueling points and three forward operating bases while Marines advanced north through Iraq.

"He was a key asset in foreign ordnance and weapons research and identification, contributing to the recovery of several foreign ordnance items identified as intelligence sensitive," the citation said.

Cpl. Adam M. Youngman, who was wounded in action on May 13, 2004, was awarded the Purple Heart by England.

The Purple Heart award was established by Gen. George Washington at Newburgh, N. Y., on Aug. 7, 1782.

According to the Cherry Point Public Affairs Office, England also participated in a promotion ceremony, conducted by 2d Marine Aircraft Wing commander Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Moore.

Cpl. Michael T. Ellis, promoted to sergeant, and Lance Cpl. Willie J. Rutledge Jr., promoted to corporal, received their new chevrons and promotion warrants from the general and the Secretary of the Navy.

England thanked the Marines for their service, answered Marines' questions and took a short tour of a static display at MASS-1, before his departure.

http://www.newbernsunjournal.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=16861&Section=Local


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 03:31 PM
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
U.S. Mulls Assault in Holy City
An attack plan to flush out fighters from Ali shrine is ready, but it is unclear whether it will get the go-ahead. Cleric urges militia to fight on.

By Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writer


NAJAF, Iraq — Nearly 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops mobilized Wednesday around Iraq's holiest city for a possible attack to oust radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Al Mahdi militia, who are holed up inside the gold-domed Imam Ali shrine compound in Najaf.

Military officials at a U.S. base here said Wednesday that they had developed plans to strike the militia, but it remained unclear when — or whether — an attack might take place, and whether it would include entering the shrine itself, one of the most sacred sites in Islam.

This morning, the Army attacked Al Mahdi positions with helicopters, mortars and guns. One of the helicopters reported hitting a truckload of militia fighters just northwest of the shrine, but there was no evidence of a move on the mosque itself. Two U.S. soldiers were injured when mortars landed near their Humvee.

On Wednesday, Maj. David Holahan said, "We're preparing for combat operations. The objective is to clear the militia from Najaf, including the Old City." Holahan is executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, one of three U.S. military battalions that have gathered in Najaf.

At one point Wednesday afternoon, it appeared that a major operation was about to begin as a convoy of tanks and armored vehicles began lining up at the front gate of the military base. But the troops turned around and did not leave the base.

Sadr, whose militia is estimated to total 1,000 members, urged his followers Wednesday to fight on no matter what happened.

"Keep fighting even if you see me detained or martyred," he said in a statement released by his office. "God willing, you will be victorious."

Sadr and U.S. military leaders each blame the other side for the violence. The fighting began last week and escalated into intense clashes around Najaf's cemetery, which Sadr followers have been using to store weapons and launch attacks.

Five U.S. troops have been killed. The military estimates that more than 360 militants have died, but Sadr says the number is one-tenth that.

On Wednesday, Col. Anthony M. Haslam, commander of the U.S. troops in Najaf, approved an attack plan. Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi were scheduled to be briefed on the plan later in the day. Any plan to attack the shrine would require the approval of both officials.

In a statement, Haslam warned Sadr and his militia that time was running short. "Iraqi and U.S. forces are making final preparations as we get ready to finish this fight that the Muqtada militia started," Haslam said.

Concerns about an imminent U.S.-led attack drew condemnations from certain circles.

Ibrahim Jafari, Iraq's interim vice president, called on the U.S. troops to leave the city. "Only Iraqi forces should stay in Najaf," he told the Arabic-language satellite TV channel Al Jazeera. "These forces should be responsible for security and should save Najaf from this phenomenon of killing."

But other Iraqi officials have made it clear that Sadr's forces cannot be allowed to remain armed and at large.

Allawi, a Shiite, has called for a crackdown on Sadr's militia, saying that he opposes negotiations. The interim prime minister has said that "those armed should leave the holy sites … as well as leave their weapons and abide by the law."

Besides a U.S.-led assault, other options include having the Iraqi national guard lead an attack or lay siege to the complex to force Sadr's fighters out.

It was unclear which route the military leaders in Najaf were recommending and whether they would receive final approval for any troops to move into the Old City or into the mosque.

In April, military leaders made plans to enter the city to "kill or capture" Sadr, but backed down when political leaders deemed the operation too risky because of possible damage to the mosque compound. In May, fighting was abruptly halted — much to the frustration of the military — after the shrine suffered some minor damage.

By publicly announcing an impending attack, it's possible that military leaders are hoping to frighten Al Mahdi fighters into dropping their weapons and leaving the city.

Allawi is expected to make the final call on a possible attack, Holahan said. It probably will mark the most important decision of his young administration.

Amid deteriorating security, Allawi has been trying to prove that he is a strong leader who can control the country. Yet his political future could be shattered if the shrine is damaged or there are many casualties.

Military leaders fear that Sadr or his followers may respond to a U.S. attack by setting the mosque on fire or bombing it, and then blaming the damage on the Americans.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sanders is traveling with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf.

http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/la-fg-najaf12aug12,1,4619659.story


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 04:24 PM
Iraqi Shiites Angry at Fighting in Najaf

By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Shiites expressed anger Thursday at a major U.S.-led assault on a rebel militia in the holy city of Najaf, warning the violence could spread to other parts of the country and damage the political process.


Fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been holed up in and around the Imam Ali shrine, which holds the remains of Ali, the most exalted Shia saint and the son-in-law and cousin of Islam's prophet Muhammad. Damage to the shrine could anger Shiites and Muslims worldwide.


"This will lead to revenge for the holy sites and for those killed," said Salama al-Khafaji, a former member of the disbanded Governing Council.


The fighting in Najaf, which began a week ago, prompted some residents to leave their homes.


Iraq (news - web sites)'s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who left Najaf a week ago to undergo medical treatment in London, expressed "deep sorrow and great worry" and called on all sides to resolve the crisis.


Najaf, home to some of the most senior Shiite clerics and respected ancient seminaries, has a special place in the hearts of Shiites. After Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s ouster, the city emerged as the spiritual and political hub for Iraq's Shiite majority.


In an effort to avoid a Shiite backlash, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said any assault near the militants' refuge in the shrine would be led by Iraqi forces.


The shrine has suffered slight damage in previous clashes, and some Shiites were appalled the violence has brought foreign troops within sight of the holy place.


Sheik Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, a Shiite cleric, said he and others were angry at seeing Najaf under attack, even if they did not support al-Sadr.


"Let's say Muqtada is the pinnacle of terrorism and extremism, still how can such a holy city with its special status be treated that way?" he said. "No one can accept targeting people in that manner."


Al-Khafaji, who has taken part in mediation efforts between al-Sadr and the U.S. and Iraqi authorities, said the military operations and the loss of life would harm the image of the Americans and Iraq's interim government. "This is not in the interest of America," she said.


In the southern Shiite city of Basra, nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers took to the streets Thursday, demanding U.S. troops withdraw from Najaf and condemning Prime Minister Ayad Allawi for his perceived support of the Americans.


"Allawi and the governor of Najaf are responsible for this massacre," said Abed Jassim, a Shiite in Basra. "They provided protection for the Americans to kill the Shiites."


The fighting comes at a time when Iraq is preparing for a key national conference beginning Sunday, regarded as major step toward democracy.


"We are busy rebuilding Iraq politically," said Redha Taqi of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite political group. "Now, we are worried that such a deterioration could hinder the political rebuilding."


Naseer Hussein, who works in Baghdad's mostly Shiite Kazimiya neighborhood, where a small protest was held Thursday, warned that fighting in Najaf could cause a rift between Iraqis and the government, and create divisions among Shiites.


Others blamed al-Sadr's followers for hiding in the shrine area and subjecting it to U.S. military might.





Sadr's followers "should leave for their own safety and the city's peace," said Sheik Hassan, a Najaf cleric who only gave his first name. "That way the Americans would leave."

Either way, the civilians and the sacred places should be spared.

"I would sacrifice myself and anything I own for the sake of these holy sites," al-Khafaji said. "We ask the international community to intervene to stop this human massacre."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20040812/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_angry_shiites_1


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 06:03 PM
August 12, 2004

Troops storm cleric’s house

By Todd Pitman
Associated Press

NAJAF, Iraq — U.S. forces stormed a Najaf house belonging to a radical Shiite cleric, who has led a deadly uprising against coalition and Iraqi troops for more than a week, as American and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault Thursday on his militiamen. Explosions and gunfire echoed near the revered Imam Ali shrine and its vast cemetery.
Residents saw U.S. forces break into Muqtada al-Sadr’s house without meeting any resistance. Al-Sadr, who has vowed to fight “until the last drop of my blood has been spilled,” was not there at the time.

It was not immediately known where he went, but residents reported clashes between Iraqi police and members of his Mahdi Army militia near the house Wednesday, which may have prompted most residents to leave the area.

Also, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called on Shiite militants to put down their weapons and leave the shrine, where they have sought refuge.

“These places have never been exposed to such violations in the past,” he said, adding that many innocent people have been killed.

“Our government calls upon all the armed groups to drop their weapons and return to society. We also call upon all the armed men to evacuate the holy shrine and not to violate its holiness.”

Coalition forces were trying to crush the uprising in Najaf and other Shiite strongholds across the country.

“Major operations to destroy the militia have begun,” said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

Thousands of U.S. troops were participating, he said.

Under U.S. military rules for embedded journalists, reporters are not allowed to reveal exact numbers of U.S. troops, details of planned offensives or other information considered relevant to operational security.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie went to Najaf to deal with the situation, his office said without elaborating.

U.S. military Humvees had moved toward al-Sadr’s house and fought with militants there, witnesses said. A large fire raged across the street and at least two helicopters flew above the area. U.S. officials said in recent days they had no plans to arrest al-Sadr.

A column of U.S. tanks lined one edge of the huge cemetery sprawling out from the Imam Ali mosque as a helicopter flew overhead. Soldiers crawled on the roofs of single-story buildings to fire at militants.

“It’s pretty standard: They’d push up here, fire off a few rounds, fire RPGs, then leave,” Capt. Patrick McFall said of the insurgents.

Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib said militants fired mortars from the shrine compound and planted mines there. He also reiterated that no foreign forces would be allowed to enter the shrine.

“Iraq is capable ... of repelling any attack,” he said.

By afternoon, five civilians had been killed, said Nabil Mohammed, a health worker in Najaf. Two soldiers were wounded by a mortar shell while standing in an intersection on the cemetery’s edge, the military said.

Meanwhile, fighting between al-Sadr supporters and coalition forces killed at least 72 Iraqis in the southern city of Kut on Wednesday in one of the most intense battles in that city in months. Iraqi forces fought off militants who attacked the city hall, police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks, the U.S. military said.

Residents in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, said U.S. and Iraqi troops fought the militants. The U.S. military said only Iraqi forces were involved.

Violence across Iraq since Wednesday morning killed at least 172 Iraqis and injured 643, the Health Ministry said.

Governments and others across the Muslim world called for a halt to fighting in Najaf. Egypt urged the coalition to rely on dialogue instead of force, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the international community should intervene to “prevent the massacre of defenseless Iraqi people.”

Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who left Najaf for London to undergo medical treatment when the fighting began a week ago, expressed “deep sorrow and great worry” and called on all sides to resolve the crisis as soon as possible and prevent it from repeating.

Al-Sistani said in a statement that his office was “continuing to exert efforts with all sides, Iraqi officials and others, to put a quick end to the current tragic situation.”

Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, criticized Iraq’s interim government for allowing the offensive in a city that is holy to the world’s 120 million Shiites.

The fighting in Najaf risks enraging Iraq’s Shiite majority — including those who do not support al-Sadr’s uprising — if it targets the shrine.

U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials said Allawi would have to approve any operation at the shrine itself and any move at the shrine would be conducted only by Iraqi forces.

“There are instructions that the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi National Guard only will enter the compound and secure it, so ordinary citizens can go back and pray at this shrine,” Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

Nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers took to the streets in the southern city of Basra on Thursday demanding that U.S. troops withdraw from Najaf and condemning Allawi for working with the Americans.

Al-Sadr loyalists in Basra threatened Wednesday to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there if an offensive was launched. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to briefly stop pumping from the southern oil wells.

Allawi said the ongoing violence has cost the country $60 million in recent days.

Al-Naqib called the militants’ actions a “conspiracy against the Iraqi people.”

“This is a war on Iraq, aiming for the destruction of Iraq,” he said. “These groups are trying to destroy the people.”

An explosion Thursday killed a British soldier and seriously wounded another in Basra. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it had few details about the incident but believed a British patrol might have been ambushed.

The U.S. military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the Najaf fighting over the past week, but the militants dispute the figure. Five Americans have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

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

thedrifter
08-12-04, 06:04 PM
Al-Sadr’s fighters have been battling coalition forces since Aug. 5 in a resurgence of a spring uprising that was dormant for two months following a series of truces. The cleric exhorted his followers Wednesday to fight on even if he was killed.

Hundreds of people have fled their homes in Najaf, moving in with relatives and friends in quieter neighborhoods or out of the city entirely.

“We have put up with hunger, electricity outages and lack of water, but we cannot put up with death,” said Aqil Zwein, 42, who left his home near the cemetery Thursday.

In other developments:

— A previously unknown group, calling itself the Green Brigade, posted a brief message on an Islamic Web site Thursday claiming responsibility for a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man they claimed was a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape released Wednesday could not be verified immediately. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no CIA employees were missing.

— Two U.S. Marines died and three were injured when a CH-53 helicopter crashed late Wednesday in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad. No enemy fire was observed at the time of the crash, the military said.

— Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol Wednesday night in Mosul, killing two police officers and two bystanders, police Major Gen. Mohammed Khairy al-Barhawy said.

———

Associated Press writer Abdul Hussein al-Obeidi in Najaf contributed to this report.

NAJAF, Iraq — U.S. forces stormed a Najaf house belonging to a radical Shiite cleric, who has led a deadly uprising against coalition and Iraqi troops for more than a week, as American and Iraqi soldiers launched a major assault Thursday on his militiamen. Explosions and gunfire echoed near the revered Imam Ali shrine and its vast cemetery.
Residents saw U.S. forces break into Muqtada al-Sadr’s house without meeting any resistance. Al-Sadr, who has vowed to fight “until the last drop of my blood has been spilled,” was not there at the time.

It was not immediately known where he went, but residents reported clashes between Iraqi police and members of his Mahdi Army militia near the house Wednesday, which may have prompted most residents to leave the area.

Also, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called on Shiite militants to put down their weapons and leave the shrine, where they have sought refuge.

“These places have never been exposed to such violations in the past,” he said, adding that many innocent people have been killed.

“Our government calls upon all the armed groups to drop their weapons and return to society. We also call upon all the armed men to evacuate the holy shrine and not to violate its holiness.”

Coalition forces were trying to crush the uprising in Najaf and other Shiite strongholds across the country.

“Major operations to destroy the militia have begun,” said Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

Thousands of U.S. troops were participating, he said.

Under U.S. military rules for embedded journalists, reporters are not allowed to reveal exact numbers of U.S. troops, details of planned offensives or other information considered relevant to operational security.

Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie went to Najaf to deal with the situation, his office said without elaborating.

U.S. military Humvees had moved toward al-Sadr’s house and fought with militants there, witnesses said. A large fire raged across the street and at least two helicopters flew above the area. U.S. officials said in recent days they had no plans to arrest al-Sadr.

A column of U.S. tanks lined one edge of the huge cemetery sprawling out from the Imam Ali mosque as a helicopter flew overhead. Soldiers crawled on the roofs of single-story buildings to fire at militants.

“It’s pretty standard: They’d push up here, fire off a few rounds, fire RPGs, then leave,” Capt. Patrick McFall said of the insurgents.

Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib said militants fired mortars from the shrine compound and planted mines there. He also reiterated that no foreign forces would be allowed to enter the shrine.

“Iraq is capable ... of repelling any attack,” he said.

By afternoon, five civilians had been killed, said Nabil Mohammed, a health worker in Najaf. Two soldiers were wounded by a mortar shell while standing in an intersection on the cemetery’s edge, the military said.

Meanwhile, fighting between al-Sadr supporters and coalition forces killed at least 72 Iraqis in the southern city of Kut on Wednesday in one of the most intense battles in that city in months. Iraqi forces fought off militants who attacked the city hall, police stations and Iraqi National Guard barracks, the U.S. military said.

Residents in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, said U.S. and Iraqi troops fought the militants. The U.S. military said only Iraqi forces were involved.

Violence across Iraq since Wednesday morning killed at least 172 Iraqis and injured 643, the Health Ministry said.

Governments and others across the Muslim world called for a halt to fighting in Najaf. Egypt urged the coalition to rely on dialogue instead of force, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the international community should intervene to “prevent the massacre of defenseless Iraqi people.”

Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who left Najaf for London to undergo medical treatment when the fighting began a week ago, expressed “deep sorrow and great worry” and called on all sides to resolve the crisis as soon as possible and prevent it from repeating.

Al-Sistani said in a statement that his office was “continuing to exert efforts with all sides, Iraqi officials and others, to put a quick end to the current tragic situation.”

Lebanon’s most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, criticized Iraq’s interim government for allowing the offensive in a city that is holy to the world’s 120 million Shiites.

The fighting in Najaf risks enraging Iraq’s Shiite majority — including those who do not support al-Sadr’s uprising — if it targets the shrine.

U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials said Allawi would have to approve any operation at the shrine itself and any move at the shrine would be conducted only by Iraqi forces.

“There are instructions that the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi National Guard only will enter the compound and secure it, so ordinary citizens can go back and pray at this shrine,” Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.

Nearly 5,000 al-Sadr sympathizers took to the streets in the southern city of Basra on Thursday demanding that U.S. troops withdraw from Najaf and condemning Allawi for working with the Americans.

Al-Sadr loyalists in Basra threatened Wednesday to blow up the oil pipelines and port infrastructure there if an offensive was launched. A similar threat Monday caused oil officials to briefly stop pumping from the southern oil wells.

Allawi said the ongoing violence has cost the country $60 million in recent days.

Al-Naqib called the militants’ actions a “conspiracy against the Iraqi people.”

“This is a war on Iraq, aiming for the destruction of Iraq,” he said. “These groups are trying to destroy the people.”

An explosion Thursday killed a British soldier and seriously wounded another in Basra. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it had few details about the incident but believed a British patrol might have been ambushed.

The U.S. military has estimated that hundreds of insurgents have been killed in the Najaf fighting over the past week, but the militants dispute the figure. Five Americans have been killed, along with about 20 Iraqi officers.

Al-Sadr’s fighters have been battling coalition forces since Aug. 5 in a resurgence of a spring uprising that was dormant for two months following a series of truces. The cleric exhorted his followers Wednesday to fight on even if he was killed.

Hundreds of people have fled their homes in Najaf, moving in with relatives and friends in quieter neighborhoods or out of the city entirely.

“We have put up with hunger, electricity outages and lack of water, but we cannot put up with death,” said Aqil Zwein, 42, who left his home near the cemetery Thursday.

In other developments:

— A previously unknown group, calling itself the Green Brigade, posted a brief message on an Islamic Web site Thursday claiming responsibility for a videotape that appeared to show militants in Iraq beheading a man they claimed was a CIA agent. The authenticity of the videotape released Wednesday could not be verified immediately. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no CIA employees were missing.

— Two U.S. Marines died and three were injured when a CH-53 helicopter crashed late Wednesday in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad. No enemy fire was observed at the time of the crash, the military said.

— Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol Wednesday night in Mosul, killing two police officers and two bystanders, police Major Gen. Mohammed Khairy al-Barhawy said.

———

Associated Press writer Abdul Hussein al-Obeidi in Najaf contributed to this report.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-302069.php


Ellie

thedrifter
08-12-04, 09:18 PM
Situation Report: Fallujah, Iraq

From Marine Corps LtCol Willy Buhl

We put a whipping on a group yesterday that opened up on one of our mounted patrols from India Company after detonating an IED. The IED was a 155mm round that fortunately hit armor and tires on a 7-ton truck. The Marines in all vehicles immediately returned fire, dismounted and closed with the enemy.

We killed three, wounded four and captured five more after a Sgt threw two frags in a room and they came out with their hands up from another room. All but one of the EPWs appeared to be workers caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure enough, however, we found over 300 155mm shells buried on the grounds of this place. In the midst of the action, Kilo Company's QRF arrived to join in the fight. Great cooperation by all and we had a Harrier aloft with 500lb bombs and his cannon itching for the go ahead.

I strongly considered it as an example and radioed to the ground commander not to take any undue risks with his men but it all worked out. Our Marines were engaged by at least four different weapons systems from this structure to include two RPKs simultaneously. When we finally cleared it after some minutes, killing and capturing as described, we could not find any weapons or brass. The KIAs, however, all tested positive for gunpowder residue on their hands, as did one of the EPWs. Thorough search couldn't locate any spider holes, secret doors, etc. There were quite a few "Jihad" graffiti notes inside the building though, and some drugs and syringes.

The Kharma Iraqi Police who can never be found when there's a fight showed up immediately after casualties were taken by the enemy. This continues to reinforce my belief that they are entirely embedded in the insurgency. The Kharma Ntl Guard troops have a checkpoint just down the hill in view of IED and ran behind cover when the shooting started. We have some good ones in another town that we're training but these troops are dirty and well penetrated by the enemy. We cannot rely on them for anything. Kharma is an evil suburb of Fallujah.

Later in the evening the enemy tried to attack Kilo Company with RPGs and small arms without effect. We returned a heavy volume of fire and cleared the structures where we took fire from to find no one, though we did find brass this time!

122mm rocket landed outside the fence some distance off as I am typing - shook my hootch.

We've begun to receive our first combat replacements, with 14 arriving last night. SgtMajor and I are going to visit our wounded in Baghdad today, see how our Iraqi Ntl Guard troops and CAP Plt is doing in a neighboring town, and then attend the memorial service for Sgt Juan Calderone, Jr., of Lima Company, who was killed in an IED blast a few days ago. We are hitting back hard when the opportunity presents itself and yesterday was a celebration for all hands.

Semper Fi,
Willy



Ellie