thedrifter
03-11-07, 11:19 AM
Words from war front: Suicides and a battle for hearts and minds
Posted by Mark Silva at 6 am CST
In a remote city of roughly 30,000 on the Euphrates River, about 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, where American Marines are ramping up their assault on al Qaeda and other terrorist networks operating in al Anbar Province, a suicide bombing that wounded several Iraqi police officers but claimed no American casualties went largely unnoticed in the past week's run of news from the war front.
But this is what one Marine saw one day last week in Rawah, from an account relayed by satellite telephone to his father, a friend of ours, back home: The bomber detonated "about 60 pounds of explosives near a popular gathering spot for IP's [Iraqi Police], wounded several IP -- no Marines were injured.''
The Marine and Iraqi police "reassembled'' the body parts of the bomber to identify him: A "20-something Sunni… not local,'' from the ''Syrian border area."
This is nothing new there. "All insurgents want chaos – so all law enforcement targeted,'' reports the Marine, who speaks at the same time about his campaign of "winning the hearts and minds'' of Iraqis in the region. "I take care of my IP's and their families… shoes, food, and 'Beanie Babies' for their kids…
"Last week, I spent $80 out of pocket to bring rice, flour, and Chai to more Bedouins west of Rawah,'' he reports. "(An) elderly grandmother said, 'God sent you. You are like my son.'''
"Lots of rebuilding'' is taking place, with "contracts for rebuilding Rawah decided by local 'Tony Soprano' type,'' notes the Marine, comparing the place to "China in the 1920s… war lords versus warlords.'' There are 16 rebuilding projects underway in Rawah, he says – ''Contracts awarded along 'tribal' lines – unfortunately $10,000 jobs become $90,000 completions.''
"All suicide bombers are outsiders,'' the Marine reports. "Rawah people want to improve their lives.''
The 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion from Camp LeJeune, N.C., has lost three Marines, with 20 wounded and 85 surviving the attacks of improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades, 81 mm rocket grenades and small arms fire. They have "killed and imprisoned large number of insurgents.''
"Each morning,'' the Marine tells his dad, "I ask God, 'What have you planned for me today Lord?'''
* * * *
Such is the violence confronting not only Marines and Iraqi police, but also civilians in Iraq.
Suicide bombings have brought some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, with the Associated Press offering a survey of some of the worst:
March 6: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing 93 people in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims.
Feb. 3: A suicide truck bomber strikes a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 137 people.
Jan. 22: A parked car bomb followed immediately by a suicide car bomber strikes a predominantly Shiite commercial area in the Bab al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, killing 88 people.
Nov. 23, 2006: Mortar rounds and five car bombs kill 215 people in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
April 7, 2006: Two suicide bombers attack the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, killing 85 people.
Sept. 29, 2005: Three suicide attackers detonate car bombs in an outdoor market and two nearby commercial streets in the mostly Shiite town of Balad, north of Baghdad, killing at least 102 people.
Sept. 14, 2005: A suicide car bomber strikes as day laborers gather shortly after dawn in a heavily Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, killing 112 people.
July 16, 2005: A suicide bomber detonates explosives strapped to his body at a gas station near a Shiite mosque in Musayyib, killing at least 90 people.
Feb. 28, 2005: A suicide car bomber targets mostly Shiite police and national guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125 people.
March 2, 2004: A suicide bomber kills at least 85 people at the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
Feb. 1, 2004: Twin suicide bombers kill 109 people in two Kurdish party offices in the northern city of Irbil.
Aug. 29, 2003: A car bomb explodes outside a mosque in Najaf, killing more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.
* * * *
President Bush now is adding 4,700 troops to the 21,500 additional soldiers and Marines he already announced he will deploy in Iraq. This ''surge'' includes an additional 4,000 Marines to the western al Anbar province as part of an escalation of force aimed at regaining control of security in Iraq.
While Bush ramps up, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate are launching a debate over bringing most combat troops home by fall of 2008 latest – spring of 2008 under a Senate scenario.
Bush vows to veto any deadline.
* * * *
The Marines insist they are intent on winning some "hearts and minds'' while securing the place.
The Marine Corps has issued this official military account of work underway in Rawah:
Two Marines stood calmly as a group of local Iraqi men surrounded them.
Although Marines from the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion had posted security up and down the street in the city of roughly 30,000 people, ready for any situation, Maj. Sean Quinlan's hands weren't anywhere near his own weapon.
Instead, his hands were gripping those of the elderly men around him in friendly greeting. Mostly former school teachers, the Iraqi's told Quinlan, the commanding officer for the Company D "Outlaws," about exactly what he could do for them to make their city better.
During the patrol, it meant helping out a 3-year-old girl, daughter to one of the Iraqi elders.
Months back, in her innocent curiosity, she pulled a pot of boiling liquid from the stove. Marines remember ushering the family's vehicle quickly through checkpoints to get the child to a hospital to treat her severe burns. Petty Officer 3rd Class Derek Parker, a 25-year-old Navy corpsman from Morris, Okla., joined Quinlan and the rest of the group to see how he could help with the girl's constant pain.
At the time, Parker didn't have any ointment or medication that could help the girl, so Quinlan made a promise to the men. Several hours later, that promise was fulfilled when the Outlaws returned with supplies.
"Her father put his hand over his heart, looked me in the eye and shook my hand," said Parker, who has children of his own. "The family was very happy with us, they really seemed to like that we cared so much about them."
The majority of the people in Rawah don't want to hurt Marines, said Quinlan. In fact, it seems as though the vast majority of the population are good people who want to live a calm, normal life, he said.
"It's all about random acts of kindness," Quinlan reiterated to his Marines after the patrol. "It's not all about fighting the insurgents; we need to show the people that we care."
in Iraq War
Ellie
Posted by Mark Silva at 6 am CST
In a remote city of roughly 30,000 on the Euphrates River, about 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, where American Marines are ramping up their assault on al Qaeda and other terrorist networks operating in al Anbar Province, a suicide bombing that wounded several Iraqi police officers but claimed no American casualties went largely unnoticed in the past week's run of news from the war front.
But this is what one Marine saw one day last week in Rawah, from an account relayed by satellite telephone to his father, a friend of ours, back home: The bomber detonated "about 60 pounds of explosives near a popular gathering spot for IP's [Iraqi Police], wounded several IP -- no Marines were injured.''
The Marine and Iraqi police "reassembled'' the body parts of the bomber to identify him: A "20-something Sunni… not local,'' from the ''Syrian border area."
This is nothing new there. "All insurgents want chaos – so all law enforcement targeted,'' reports the Marine, who speaks at the same time about his campaign of "winning the hearts and minds'' of Iraqis in the region. "I take care of my IP's and their families… shoes, food, and 'Beanie Babies' for their kids…
"Last week, I spent $80 out of pocket to bring rice, flour, and Chai to more Bedouins west of Rawah,'' he reports. "(An) elderly grandmother said, 'God sent you. You are like my son.'''
"Lots of rebuilding'' is taking place, with "contracts for rebuilding Rawah decided by local 'Tony Soprano' type,'' notes the Marine, comparing the place to "China in the 1920s… war lords versus warlords.'' There are 16 rebuilding projects underway in Rawah, he says – ''Contracts awarded along 'tribal' lines – unfortunately $10,000 jobs become $90,000 completions.''
"All suicide bombers are outsiders,'' the Marine reports. "Rawah people want to improve their lives.''
The 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion from Camp LeJeune, N.C., has lost three Marines, with 20 wounded and 85 surviving the attacks of improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades, 81 mm rocket grenades and small arms fire. They have "killed and imprisoned large number of insurgents.''
"Each morning,'' the Marine tells his dad, "I ask God, 'What have you planned for me today Lord?'''
* * * *
Such is the violence confronting not only Marines and Iraqi police, but also civilians in Iraq.
Suicide bombings have brought some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, with the Associated Press offering a survey of some of the worst:
March 6: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing 93 people in a crowd of Shiite pilgrims.
Feb. 3: A suicide truck bomber strikes a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 137 people.
Jan. 22: A parked car bomb followed immediately by a suicide car bomber strikes a predominantly Shiite commercial area in the Bab al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, killing 88 people.
Nov. 23, 2006: Mortar rounds and five car bombs kill 215 people in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
April 7, 2006: Two suicide bombers attack the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, killing 85 people.
Sept. 29, 2005: Three suicide attackers detonate car bombs in an outdoor market and two nearby commercial streets in the mostly Shiite town of Balad, north of Baghdad, killing at least 102 people.
Sept. 14, 2005: A suicide car bomber strikes as day laborers gather shortly after dawn in a heavily Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, killing 112 people.
July 16, 2005: A suicide bomber detonates explosives strapped to his body at a gas station near a Shiite mosque in Musayyib, killing at least 90 people.
Feb. 28, 2005: A suicide car bomber targets mostly Shiite police and national guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125 people.
March 2, 2004: A suicide bomber kills at least 85 people at the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
Feb. 1, 2004: Twin suicide bombers kill 109 people in two Kurdish party offices in the northern city of Irbil.
Aug. 29, 2003: A car bomb explodes outside a mosque in Najaf, killing more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.
* * * *
President Bush now is adding 4,700 troops to the 21,500 additional soldiers and Marines he already announced he will deploy in Iraq. This ''surge'' includes an additional 4,000 Marines to the western al Anbar province as part of an escalation of force aimed at regaining control of security in Iraq.
While Bush ramps up, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate are launching a debate over bringing most combat troops home by fall of 2008 latest – spring of 2008 under a Senate scenario.
Bush vows to veto any deadline.
* * * *
The Marines insist they are intent on winning some "hearts and minds'' while securing the place.
The Marine Corps has issued this official military account of work underway in Rawah:
Two Marines stood calmly as a group of local Iraqi men surrounded them.
Although Marines from the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion had posted security up and down the street in the city of roughly 30,000 people, ready for any situation, Maj. Sean Quinlan's hands weren't anywhere near his own weapon.
Instead, his hands were gripping those of the elderly men around him in friendly greeting. Mostly former school teachers, the Iraqi's told Quinlan, the commanding officer for the Company D "Outlaws," about exactly what he could do for them to make their city better.
During the patrol, it meant helping out a 3-year-old girl, daughter to one of the Iraqi elders.
Months back, in her innocent curiosity, she pulled a pot of boiling liquid from the stove. Marines remember ushering the family's vehicle quickly through checkpoints to get the child to a hospital to treat her severe burns. Petty Officer 3rd Class Derek Parker, a 25-year-old Navy corpsman from Morris, Okla., joined Quinlan and the rest of the group to see how he could help with the girl's constant pain.
At the time, Parker didn't have any ointment or medication that could help the girl, so Quinlan made a promise to the men. Several hours later, that promise was fulfilled when the Outlaws returned with supplies.
"Her father put his hand over his heart, looked me in the eye and shook my hand," said Parker, who has children of his own. "The family was very happy with us, they really seemed to like that we cared so much about them."
The majority of the people in Rawah don't want to hurt Marines, said Quinlan. In fact, it seems as though the vast majority of the population are good people who want to live a calm, normal life, he said.
"It's all about random acts of kindness," Quinlan reiterated to his Marines after the patrol. "It's not all about fighting the insurgents; we need to show the people that we care."
in Iraq War
Ellie