July 17, 2006

Marines fight to retake Ramadi
Hospital search yields IED triggers

By Brian Gartlan
Times staff writer


Still considered one of Iraq’s most dangerous places, Ramadi has seen a surge in violence over the last several months despite continuing pressure on insurgents by Iraqi army forces, Marines and soldiers.

A “murder and intimidation campaign” against provincial government officials, near-daily roadside bomb ambushes and attacks on Marine outposts have forced leathernecks from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, based in the city, to take Ramadi back “section by section,” restricting civilian traffic into and out of the city and setting up more combat outposts with Army and Iraqi security force presence.

“This is pushing insurgents into a box,” said coalition spokesman Maj. Chris Perrine.


Despite their aggressive patrolling and relationship-building with residents and government officials, Marines executed a July 5 raid on a Ramadi hospital they alleged was being used to treat wounded terrorists and serve as an enemy sniper perch.

The raid, which involved hundreds of Marines, uncovered the decapitated bodies of police officers. The Leathernecks also discovered about a dozen triggers for improvised explosive devices hidden in the tiled ceiling.

During the raid, relations between some doctors and Marines were contentious. Marines said one member of their platoon had been shot in the arm near the hospital while handing candy to children at a school. Some angrily accused doctors of harboring and helping insurgents.

Doctors said they knew nothing of insurgent activity or the triggers. They insisted they were bound by their oath to serve all patients.

“On my floor of the hospital, I’ve seen nothing. I have no idea about the other floors,” a medical aide said when asked if insurgents had ever visited the hospital.

Marines expressed frustration at the lack of cooperation.

“They don’t play by the same rules that we do,” Pfc. Gilberto Rodríguez, 20, said as he stood guard in a hallway. “Insurgents have free rein here. They can do whatever they want. They use whatever tactics are most effective.”

Meanwhile, Multi-National Force-Iraq spokesman Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell announced June 30 that Iraqi and Army forces had raided Ramadi’s soccer stadium, uncovering several caches of IED-making material.

“It was a heavy IED fabrication location that we were able to find,” he said. “[There were] a lot of pre-wired base stations, already set up, already put together, set to be used as IEDs.”

The caches included pressure switches used to detonate IEDs, explosives, artillery shells and small arms. Caldwell said insurgents fashioned the IEDs so they would blend in with the road, making them hard for troops to identify.

“It does not stand out,” he said. “It’s not distinguishable.”

Insurgents built sophisticated hiding places for the caches in the stadium’s outbuildings using false cinder-block walls.

Officials in the city say they’re making steady progress pushing the insurgents out, gradually increasing the number and quality of Iraqi forces in the city in an attempt to get the population accustomed to the government presence in hopes of handing over full security operations to local forces soon.

Caldwell compared the rise of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein to a child learning how to eat, talk and walk.

“The march continues with each step toward national reconciliation with each gesture of peace, with each rejection of terror and embrace of freedom,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ellie