thedrifter
05-04-03, 07:28 AM
The experience of taking Baghdad
It's a name that has ani mated the dreams and fed the nightmares of the Marines of Alpha Co.ever since they crossed the border into Iraq, three weeks and three hundred miles ago. It has been in their dreams because every Marine knows that the way home lies through this city; it's been in their nightmares be cause if there was any place they expected heavy resist ance, this was it. But as they've discovered all along their long trek here, except for the first bitter fire fight on the first day of the war that claimed one Alpha Co. Marine's life, the Iraqi army hasn't chosen to fight; its soldiers have died in large numbers from air and artillery fire, and deserted in even larger numbers. Instead of resistance from soldiers, as the Marines swam their amphibious assault vehi cles across a broad river and pushed into the squalid sub urbs of Baghdad Tuesday, they were greeted once again by cheering crowds ? this in the very heart of what was supposed to be Saddam Hus sein country. They lined the road as the Marines passed, cheering, clapping, waving white cloths, yellow cloths, brown cloths ? the act of waving appeared to be more important than the colors . Though there was spo radic gunfire in the distance, no one paid much attention. "What's past is past," a man whose business card read, in English, "M. N. Hasen, Handy man," told me as a crowd of hundreds of jubilant Iraqis gathered around. "We don't want to battle with you. We are happy you (the Marines) are here. " And a woman dressed com pletely in black smiled at the Marines, patted her head, put her hand over her heart, gave the thumbs up signal and put her hands together in a prayer-like position ? appar ently trying to cover all the possible cultural variations to indicate approval. "This is what it's all about," Lt. Jeff Broaddus of Austin, Texas, said. "This is how I earn my paycheck ? not that it's much of a paycheck. " But Baghdad remains a vio lent place. One Iraqi civilian walking along the road was waving at the Marines when he stepped on a small land mine and was suddenly enve loped in a flash of light and a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, part of his left foot was gone and he was bleeding profusely onto the road; Ma rine corpsmen rushed to his aid, and he was evacuated to a civilian hospital. Alpha Co. was assigned to set up a cordon on the edge of the city, allowing civilians to leave if they want but not to enter the city. Carts pulled by donkeys and a stream of civil ians on foot passed by. Unfortunately for the Alpha Co. Marines, their view of Baghdad wasn't exactly ex otic. After moving through an urban area, their stopping po sition on the edge of the city placed them in what intelli gence reports had indicated was simply an "open area" ? but which turned out to be a municipal dump. The Marines had to hunker down amid piles of refuse and more flies than anyone ever imagined existed. But the fact that they were in Baghdad, even a dump in Baghdad, excited the young Marines. "It's an awesome experi ence," said Lance Cpl. Mikhail Karpenkopf, 19, of Brooklyn. NY, who came to the U.S.as a refugee from the Ukraine when he was a boy and still speaks with a slight Russian accent. "In a way I hate this country, but I'm also glad I'm here. We're doing good here. I mean, we just stopped a whole battalion to help a guy who got hurt by somebody else's mine" ? referring to the civilian wounded earlier. There is a sense among these Marines, who have met only welcoming Iraqis in re cent days, that the war is winding up - despite the occa sional gunfire they hear as they bed down in the dump. "We're near the end," said Capt. Ray Lawler, 29, of San Diego, the forward air con troller for Alpha Co. "There'll still be some fighting, and some asymetrical threats, probably for months to come" ? that is, unconventional or terroristic attacks. "But yeah, I think we're just about done.
Sempers,
Roger
It's a name that has ani mated the dreams and fed the nightmares of the Marines of Alpha Co.ever since they crossed the border into Iraq, three weeks and three hundred miles ago. It has been in their dreams because every Marine knows that the way home lies through this city; it's been in their nightmares be cause if there was any place they expected heavy resist ance, this was it. But as they've discovered all along their long trek here, except for the first bitter fire fight on the first day of the war that claimed one Alpha Co. Marine's life, the Iraqi army hasn't chosen to fight; its soldiers have died in large numbers from air and artillery fire, and deserted in even larger numbers. Instead of resistance from soldiers, as the Marines swam their amphibious assault vehi cles across a broad river and pushed into the squalid sub urbs of Baghdad Tuesday, they were greeted once again by cheering crowds ? this in the very heart of what was supposed to be Saddam Hus sein country. They lined the road as the Marines passed, cheering, clapping, waving white cloths, yellow cloths, brown cloths ? the act of waving appeared to be more important than the colors . Though there was spo radic gunfire in the distance, no one paid much attention. "What's past is past," a man whose business card read, in English, "M. N. Hasen, Handy man," told me as a crowd of hundreds of jubilant Iraqis gathered around. "We don't want to battle with you. We are happy you (the Marines) are here. " And a woman dressed com pletely in black smiled at the Marines, patted her head, put her hand over her heart, gave the thumbs up signal and put her hands together in a prayer-like position ? appar ently trying to cover all the possible cultural variations to indicate approval. "This is what it's all about," Lt. Jeff Broaddus of Austin, Texas, said. "This is how I earn my paycheck ? not that it's much of a paycheck. " But Baghdad remains a vio lent place. One Iraqi civilian walking along the road was waving at the Marines when he stepped on a small land mine and was suddenly enve loped in a flash of light and a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, part of his left foot was gone and he was bleeding profusely onto the road; Ma rine corpsmen rushed to his aid, and he was evacuated to a civilian hospital. Alpha Co. was assigned to set up a cordon on the edge of the city, allowing civilians to leave if they want but not to enter the city. Carts pulled by donkeys and a stream of civil ians on foot passed by. Unfortunately for the Alpha Co. Marines, their view of Baghdad wasn't exactly ex otic. After moving through an urban area, their stopping po sition on the edge of the city placed them in what intelli gence reports had indicated was simply an "open area" ? but which turned out to be a municipal dump. The Marines had to hunker down amid piles of refuse and more flies than anyone ever imagined existed. But the fact that they were in Baghdad, even a dump in Baghdad, excited the young Marines. "It's an awesome experi ence," said Lance Cpl. Mikhail Karpenkopf, 19, of Brooklyn. NY, who came to the U.S.as a refugee from the Ukraine when he was a boy and still speaks with a slight Russian accent. "In a way I hate this country, but I'm also glad I'm here. We're doing good here. I mean, we just stopped a whole battalion to help a guy who got hurt by somebody else's mine" ? referring to the civilian wounded earlier. There is a sense among these Marines, who have met only welcoming Iraqis in re cent days, that the war is winding up - despite the occa sional gunfire they hear as they bed down in the dump. "We're near the end," said Capt. Ray Lawler, 29, of San Diego, the forward air con troller for Alpha Co. "There'll still be some fighting, and some asymetrical threats, probably for months to come" ? that is, unconventional or terroristic attacks. "But yeah, I think we're just about done.
Sempers,
Roger