Posted on 11/18/2003 8:08:45 PM PST by TexKat
SAMARA, Iraq - When the U.S. Army unexpectedly withdrew most of its troops from this central Iraq town full of Saddam Hussein loyalists, guerrillas firing machine guns, mortars and grenades overran abandoned U.S. bases, leaving a shaken Iraqi civil defense chief pleading for the Americans' return.
"We cannot handle this on our own," Capt. Ihsan Aziz told The Associated Press after the weekend pullout of U.S. troops.
The redeployment of American troops to a garrison about six miles north of Samara may be a harbinger of things to come in Iraq as the U.S.-led coalition moves to turn over security and more authority to Iraqis inside cities and towns, despite worries by some residents that they're ill-prepared to handle insurgents.
Under a new formula announced last weekend, the U.S.-led coalition will transfer sovereignty to an Iraqi provisional government by the end of June. The new government will be primarily responsible for security, although American troops will remain in Iraq for some time to come.
The Pentagon has reported enormous progress in handing security responsibilities to Iraqis. Some 10,000 new Iraqi security officers have been added each week since the beginning of October — bringing Iraqi security forces to 131,000 on Nov. 12, slightly more than the 130,000 Americans in Iraq.
The timetable for turning over control of cities will depend on the local security situation. Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said he will withdraw his troops from the center of Ramadi, capital of guerrilla-infested Anbar province, by the first of the year.
In case the Iraqis can't handle the situation, "we'll be in radio communications with them and we will be able to go ahead and assist them," Swannack told reporters Tuesday in Baghdad.
Whether Iraq's new security forces will prove up to the task, however, remains to be seen.
"The thieves and the Fedayeen," Saddam's paramilitary forces, will return, civil defense chief Aziz said after the weekend events in Samara, a "Sunni Triangle" town about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Aziz insisted that without the Americans, the Iraqis would become vulnerable to guerrilla attacks.
First Lt. Scott Akerley, 24, assured Aziz the U.S. military was not abandoning Samara. "We're going to be here every single day," he said.
Capt. David Polizzotti, commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, told AP that U.S. troops had moved outside the city to allow the "Iraqis to take over and run their affairs."
"We have not left Samara city," he said. "We are here every day."
Mowafaq Hameed, a police captain in Samara, speculated the Americans pulled back after pressure from the city's religious leaders and tribal chiefs. He said the police had no prior knowledge of the move.
The soldiers had barely left Saturday when an army of looters arrived in pickup trucks to strip the bases of whatever they could lay their hands on, including bricks from walls and glass from windows.
Guerrillas fired machine guns, mortar and grenades at one base that was handed over to the U.S.-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. U.S. troops returned to fight off the attackers, wounding one of them, Polizzotti said. Ten men were detained, handcuffed and made to sit against a wall, many of them older men wearing long traditional Arab robes.
No American soldier or Iraqi civil defense personnel was hurt in the shootout, Polizzotti said.
Akerley said looters and "terrorists" had stolen several food containers and other equipment belonging to the base, including air conditioners. Troops found much of the looted goods, as well as weapons, in a nearby house. Then, with two rounds of tank fire as in a "show of force," the Americans destroyed part of the building.
"We want to send a clear message that if you are going to attack Americans, we're going to fight back," said Akerley.
Until the redeployment Saturday, attacks on the U.S. bases in Samara generally came around sundown, when Muslims end their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan, or just before sunrise prayers.
Most of the mortar shells and rockets fired at troops in the Samara area have caused little damage, although two soldiers were killed and four were wounded in an attack Oct. 24. A number of others have died in roadside bombings and ambushes along roads in the Samara area.
Members of the Iraqi militant group Muhammed's Army claim responsibility for the downing of of an American helicopter early this month in this TV image which was broadcast by the Lebanese Al Hayat-LBC satellite channel Monday Nov. 17, 2003. (AP Photo/Al Hayat, Via APTN)
A member of the Iraqi militant group Muhammed's Army claims responsibility for the downing of of an American helicopter early this month in this TV image which was broadcast by the Lebanese Al Hayat-LBC satellite channel Monday Nov. 17, 2003. (AP Photo/Al Hayat, Via APTN
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