Posted on 05/28/2005 2:27:29 PM PDT by Dubya
HADITHA, Iraq - More than 1,000 Marines, sailors and soldiers are taking part in a counterinsurgency operation in Haditha, a Sunni-dominated trouble spot 140 miles north of Baghdad, the military said Friday.
Two Marines have been killed in the operation, which began Wednesday.
U.S. forces returned to Haditha less than two months after they thought they cleaned up the Euphrates River town. But insurgents assassinated the police chief and devastated his force more than a month ago, leaving Haditha without a security force.
Iraqi troops also stayed clear of Haditha.
Until Iraqi forces can handle security in places like Haditha, U.S. troops will have to stay in Iraq to do the job.
A rocket-propelled grenade killed a Marine in Haditha on Thursday, the military announced Friday. Another Marine was killed on the opening day of the operation Wednesday.
For U.S. troops, incessant anti-insurgent operations in the tough towns west of Baghdad have grown disheartening. It's an even bigger problem for Washington, which has long been talking up the capabilities of the Iraqi troops.
Many Marines currently in Haditha went door-to-door through the city back in March, searching nearly every building, seizing weapons caches. They met light resistance then.
But in April, the bodies of 19 Iraqis were found slumped against a bloodstained wall in a soccer stadium. And earlier this month, militants launched a well-coordinated attack from the local hospital, killing four U.S. troops in a suicide bombing and ambush.
The blast caused a fire that gutted much of the hospital, and residents in this riverside town of 90,000 now travel for hours to other cities for treatment.
Since March, U.S. military officials acknowledge, their presence here has been light - similar to a highway patrol operation, said battalion commander Lt. Col. Lionel Urquhart. That allowed insurgents to creep back in.
"It's frustrating that we can't keep more of a presence here," said Marine Maj. Steve Lawson, a company commander in the 25th Marine Regiment's 3rd Battalion. "You wish you could spend more time in these areas."
Urquhart said Iraqi troops will soon take over for the Marines.
"It's going to be very apparent to the enemy that there will be an Iraqi Army presence here in the near future," he said, declining to give figures or an arrival date due to security concerns.
Until then, the Marines of Lima Company of 3rd Battalion are again hustling in search of resilient insurgents. After raids and patrols, they pile into stuffy rooms in a commandeered Iraqi home that they've tried to transform into comfortable living quarters.
House rules are already in effect, with each soldier staking out his turf. Everyone knows not to drink out of claimed water bottles. Spots on the floor are marked out with space for machine guns. Off-duty Marines' trivia games are left undisturbed by the explosions punctuating the night.
Insurgents have warned city residents against cooperating with the Americans. Earlier this month insurgents paid a bold visit to the local radio station and threatened the manager against broadcasting U.S. military messages.
City leaders have also kept their distance. The local government denies insurgents are in the city and, as of Thursday, had not asked for a meeting with the military since operations began, Urquhart said.
Right now, the only Iraqis traveling with the Marines are four Shiite soldiers - three of whom are related - from the faraway southern city of Basra. These Iraqis know little of Sunni Haditha.
"What I need most now is someone who can say this is a good guy and this is a bad guy," said Marine Col. Stephen W. Davis, who commands all the troops in Regimental Combat Team 2 in the city.
Each pass there are fewer and fewer bad guys... be patient.
"We keep taking the same turff over and over."
Until the Iraqis can hold the town, we will have to continue to do search and distroy operations.
Looks like the Iraqis decided to start with Baghdad. A success there will swell their recruiting.
I watched a media guy interview two soldiers in Iraq yesterday. The media man was not a bad guy, but the visual was interesting. There he was, standing between to soldiers with his mike and his beautifully coiffed hair and Dan Rather on assignment type clothes, and flanking him were two men in camo who were so clearly part of the finest fighting force the world has ever seen. Their responses were intelligent, brief and to the point. It was like two men and some guy. It really struck me.
LOL, listen to the Associate Press's GLOWING performance review of the Iraqi terrorists: "incessant," "resiliant," "well coordinated," "bold," etc. The writer of this piece can't wait to get over to Iraq to offer himself as a love toy to the terrorists he obviously idolizes so much. Funny NOTHING is said about terrorist casualties, but we're reminded of how utterly hopeless it is for the US and its allies in Iraq with yet another tired recitation of US and coalition casualties. I have never before in the history of the Republic seen the US media so openly rooting for an enemy and against their own nation. I don't think it was even this bad during Vietnam.
LOL, listen to the Associate Press's GLOWING performance review of the Iraqi terrorists: "incessant," "resiliant," "well coordinated," "bold," etc. The writer of this piece can't wait to get over to Iraq to offer himself as a love toy to the terrorists he obviously idolizes so much. Funny NOTHING is said about terrorist casualties, but we're reminded of how utterly hopeless it is for the US and its allies in Iraq with yet another tired recitation of US and coalition casualties. I have never before in the history of the Republic seen the US media so openly rooting for an enemy and against their own nation. I don't think it was even this bad during Vietnam.
Carrying water in a sieve. Unless honest, honorable Iraqis decide enough is enough, their country will remain home to murderous cutthroats.
murderous cutthroats = muzzies
Haditha = giant box of kitty litter.
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