thedrifter
01-09-07, 05:45 AM
On the edge of Baghdad's Sadr City, U.S. soldiers wait to be attacked
By: WILL WEISSERT - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A mock bumper sticker affixed to a door in the headquarters building of a U.S. outpost in eastern Baghdad proclaims "I Love Sadr City." Soldiers smile when they see it. They know the opposite is true.
During one tense mission recently, U.S. Army soldiers rolled up to the edge of the Shiite slum in hulking Stryker armored vehicles. They never set foot inside, but they still got a sharp reaction.
A burst of gunfire rang out moments after soldiers got out, prompting one squad to take cover in the home of an unemployed man named Abdul-Kareem Hassan Dhamin.
More shooting followed, but then, just as suddenly, it stopped.
Residents, accustomed to darting indoors during bursts of gunfire, peeked out and re-emerged. A line formed at a bread shop, and women with laundry baskets on their shoulders walked down the street. A man herded goats through a vacant lot strewn with trash.
Sadr City could prove the toughest nut to crack as the Bush administration appears ready to send thousands more soldiers to the capital to have a fresh run at pacifying the capital, where insurgent and militia violence has raged for months.
Iraqi government officials have said their troops, which are preparing to take on Sunni neighborhoods, will largely leave Sadr City to American forces and the Iraqi army's Special Operations Command division.
During the recent U.S. mission, some squads conducted house-to-hosue searches while a group of soldiers holed up on the second floor of Dhamin's home, peering across a street and over a wall into Sadr City.
Much of the area is a slum, and there was little to look at but empty lots and crumbling hovels -- though apartment buildings rose in the distance, providing ample cover for snipers.
Some soldiers crouched on the roof, using towels and blankets to create small barriers and make themselves harder to see. Another group moved into a second-floor bedroom.
"They know we're here. We're just seeing what their reaction will be," said Capt. Matt James, a Seattle native and commander of Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. "We're not trying to provoke a response, but there will probably be one."
The largest Baghdad enclave of Iraq's Shiite majority, Sadr City is the base for the Mahdi Army, a militia led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Under pressure from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in October, U.S. soldiers took down barbed-wire barricades that controlled traffic in and out of the area. Since then, they have ventured in only sparingly.
But so many mortar and rocket attacks have been launched from the outskirts of Sadr City in recent weeks that U.S. commanders decided to raid homes nearby, searching for weapons.
Many soldiers wondered whether what they were looking for was worth the risk.
"Every day we have a mission, but it's hard to see how that helps accomplish what we came here to do, how it fits into the big picture," said Sgt. James Simons, 24, of Tacoma, Wash., a soldier in the battalion's Company A.
A roadside bomb soon exploded under a Stryker driving down a nearby street. No one was injured because the vehicle's engine absorbed much of the force of the blow.
"I hate that combat takes so long," said Staff Sgt. Gaylord Reese of Coffeeyville, Kan., who leaned against a bedroom wall at Dhamin's home. "Why can't we just come out here, have our fight and go home?"
Moments later, two rifle shots cracked. Someone was targeting the house, but the bullets sailed just over the roof.
"Now that was a little too close," said Reese, whose Fort Lewis, Wash.-based battalion is part of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Downstairs, the homeowner sat on a couch chain-smoking. The 46-year-old Dhamin sent his son and two daughters to his brother's house, but his wife cowered in a back room, thinking it inappropriate to be near male U.S. soldiers.
"This is an unacceptable situation. They have been here three hours. They are ruining the carpets with the mud from their boots," Dhamin said bitterly.
Dhamin, a Shiite, used to operate a taxi service, driving his white Chevrolet Suburban between Baghdad and Amman, Jordan. But he quit eight months ago because the route was too dangerous.
"Now it is even worse all over Iraq," he said.
Despite his frustrations, Dhamin said he preferred to have U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As soon as they leave, he said, civil war will break out between Shiites and Sunni Arabs.
"The strong will eat the weak," Dhamin said. "That doesn't always mean the majority. The Sunnis could prevail if they have more money, more weapons and the support of neighboring countries."
The Americans eventually left Dhamin's home, running down the street in their body armor while children kicked a soccer ball around.
The soldiers moved to another home and were there when another roadside bomb detonated. Then, a pair of rockets struck a block away. There were no U.S. injuries, but nerves were taut.
The soldiers eventually moved back to their armored vehicles and drove away. As they left, shooting rang out. When Apache helicopters roared in to provide cover, the gunmen fired at the aircraft.
The soldiers were ordered to stay in their Strykers.
"This is ridiculous. There are gunshots and we walk away," said Spc. Patrick Dugas, a native of South Portland, Maine. "We should be allowed to get out there and find who is shooting. We should be allowed to do our jobs."
Ellie
By: WILL WEISSERT - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A mock bumper sticker affixed to a door in the headquarters building of a U.S. outpost in eastern Baghdad proclaims "I Love Sadr City." Soldiers smile when they see it. They know the opposite is true.
During one tense mission recently, U.S. Army soldiers rolled up to the edge of the Shiite slum in hulking Stryker armored vehicles. They never set foot inside, but they still got a sharp reaction.
A burst of gunfire rang out moments after soldiers got out, prompting one squad to take cover in the home of an unemployed man named Abdul-Kareem Hassan Dhamin.
More shooting followed, but then, just as suddenly, it stopped.
Residents, accustomed to darting indoors during bursts of gunfire, peeked out and re-emerged. A line formed at a bread shop, and women with laundry baskets on their shoulders walked down the street. A man herded goats through a vacant lot strewn with trash.
Sadr City could prove the toughest nut to crack as the Bush administration appears ready to send thousands more soldiers to the capital to have a fresh run at pacifying the capital, where insurgent and militia violence has raged for months.
Iraqi government officials have said their troops, which are preparing to take on Sunni neighborhoods, will largely leave Sadr City to American forces and the Iraqi army's Special Operations Command division.
During the recent U.S. mission, some squads conducted house-to-hosue searches while a group of soldiers holed up on the second floor of Dhamin's home, peering across a street and over a wall into Sadr City.
Much of the area is a slum, and there was little to look at but empty lots and crumbling hovels -- though apartment buildings rose in the distance, providing ample cover for snipers.
Some soldiers crouched on the roof, using towels and blankets to create small barriers and make themselves harder to see. Another group moved into a second-floor bedroom.
"They know we're here. We're just seeing what their reaction will be," said Capt. Matt James, a Seattle native and commander of Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. "We're not trying to provoke a response, but there will probably be one."
The largest Baghdad enclave of Iraq's Shiite majority, Sadr City is the base for the Mahdi Army, a militia led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Under pressure from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in October, U.S. soldiers took down barbed-wire barricades that controlled traffic in and out of the area. Since then, they have ventured in only sparingly.
But so many mortar and rocket attacks have been launched from the outskirts of Sadr City in recent weeks that U.S. commanders decided to raid homes nearby, searching for weapons.
Many soldiers wondered whether what they were looking for was worth the risk.
"Every day we have a mission, but it's hard to see how that helps accomplish what we came here to do, how it fits into the big picture," said Sgt. James Simons, 24, of Tacoma, Wash., a soldier in the battalion's Company A.
A roadside bomb soon exploded under a Stryker driving down a nearby street. No one was injured because the vehicle's engine absorbed much of the force of the blow.
"I hate that combat takes so long," said Staff Sgt. Gaylord Reese of Coffeeyville, Kan., who leaned against a bedroom wall at Dhamin's home. "Why can't we just come out here, have our fight and go home?"
Moments later, two rifle shots cracked. Someone was targeting the house, but the bullets sailed just over the roof.
"Now that was a little too close," said Reese, whose Fort Lewis, Wash.-based battalion is part of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Downstairs, the homeowner sat on a couch chain-smoking. The 46-year-old Dhamin sent his son and two daughters to his brother's house, but his wife cowered in a back room, thinking it inappropriate to be near male U.S. soldiers.
"This is an unacceptable situation. They have been here three hours. They are ruining the carpets with the mud from their boots," Dhamin said bitterly.
Dhamin, a Shiite, used to operate a taxi service, driving his white Chevrolet Suburban between Baghdad and Amman, Jordan. But he quit eight months ago because the route was too dangerous.
"Now it is even worse all over Iraq," he said.
Despite his frustrations, Dhamin said he preferred to have U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As soon as they leave, he said, civil war will break out between Shiites and Sunni Arabs.
"The strong will eat the weak," Dhamin said. "That doesn't always mean the majority. The Sunnis could prevail if they have more money, more weapons and the support of neighboring countries."
The Americans eventually left Dhamin's home, running down the street in their body armor while children kicked a soccer ball around.
The soldiers moved to another home and were there when another roadside bomb detonated. Then, a pair of rockets struck a block away. There were no U.S. injuries, but nerves were taut.
The soldiers eventually moved back to their armored vehicles and drove away. As they left, shooting rang out. When Apache helicopters roared in to provide cover, the gunmen fired at the aircraft.
The soldiers were ordered to stay in their Strykers.
"This is ridiculous. There are gunshots and we walk away," said Spc. Patrick Dugas, a native of South Portland, Maine. "We should be allowed to get out there and find who is shooting. We should be allowed to do our jobs."
Ellie