Posted on 12/19/2003 11:36:48 AM PST by saquin
By Robin Pomeroy
KADISAYA, Iraq (Reuters) - The fresh produce on the floor outside made it look like any other Iraqi greengrocer's, but the Saddam Hussein portrait hanging inside led a passing U.S. army patrol to take a closer look.
A quick search through baskets of vegetables and bags of seeds on Friday uncovered a stash of ammunition, explosives, detonators and one rocket-propelled grenade. The only thing missing was the shopkeeper who had apparently vanished.
The chance find was significant for the Cougar tank company which patrols the area north of Tikrit, Saddam's home town where he still enjoys open support from the people and where the U.S.-led occupation is bitterly resented.
Soldiers in the area have been plagued by home-made bombs and they are on the look out for bomb makers and materials which could be used to make the crude but effective road-side "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs).
"In Kadisaya, we haven't found much of this, we look for it on a daily basis," said company commander Captain Jon Cecalupo.
"This was found hidden in a basket of vegetables they are selling on the market, these are places we usually wouldn't have looked."
The Saddam picture was spotted by a tank commander from the turret of his M1A1 Abrams and a soldier was sent to gingerly peel it off the wall, mindful of the fact that some such posters pasted on to nearby bus stops have been booby-trapped.
The soldiers had considered the market place a relatively friendly area as it was opposite a school they had "adopted" and recently helped paint.
But far more obvious support for the former regime was pointed out when an army interpreter arrived on the scene. Scrawled in Arabic on the end of the row of shops was the message the troops could not read: "Long live Saddam Hussein."
When reporters left the scene, soldiers were questioning a middle-aged woman who said her husband died four years ago and insisted the shop was run by her eight-year-old child.
"He ran away because someone told him Americans would kill him," the interpreter said after speaking to the woman.
The hunt for insurgents is not the war soldiers expected.
Tank commander Sergeant Anthony Coates said when he initially drove up through Iraq nine months ago he expected to engage in tank battles with Saddam's Republican Guard but as it turned out he encountered no serious military resistance.
Instead he has been patrolling urban and rural areas to fight the constant threat of reprisals by pro-Saddam Iraqis -- a battle style he was not trained for and which, he says, is more difficult that traditional tank warfare.
"In the type of combat we try to do, you know what the enemy looks like and you know if you see an enemy you can shoot them.
"Here, we are reacting."
Geez, Reuters...why don't you just walk store-to-store and tell the Ba'ath terrorists how to avoid detection whydon'tcha?
Morons...
Uh huh. Maybe it's true. And maybe an eight-year-old kid is an easy mark for salamikazes. And if mamma wants to stay out of jail, she'll let her son talk to the nice men, and perhaps point out the b@stards who hide behind little kids.
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