Americans Under Mortar Attack in Najaf

CNN ^ | 5/3/04 | Jane Arraf

[Amelia]

Jane Arraf reporting at least 10 mortar rounds fired at U.S. forces, rocket propelled grenades fired by al-Sadr militia.

Our snipers firing back. No casualties on our side so far, as best I can tell.

[HiJinx]

I know a secret...wanna hear it?

Okay, I'm contractor 'scum', too. I work at depot, and help support a contractor workforce throughout the theater. I have a (very) little insight on what constitutes entertainment!

I won't name names, but two of our engineers took to betting on how many mortar rounds would fall on any given night, and how close they would come to their tents!

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[TexKat]

Update:

Militiamen Attack U.S. Troops in Najaf

By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq - Militiamen pounded a U.S. base with mortars Monday in the most intense attacks yet on U.S. troops in Najaf, where the Americans have been holding back their full firepower to avoid enflaming the anger of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. Another American soldier was killed in Baghdad.

American troops returned fire, and their commander estimated that 20 Iraqi fighters were killed, based on bodies and "watching young men fall after being hit."

The fighting came as Thomas Hamill, a truck driver from Mississippi who escaped from his Iraqi kidnappers after three weeks in captivity, flew to Germany on Monday for a reunion with his wife.

At a Najaf hospital, one slain Iraqi policeman and 16 wounded civilians were brought in, including a woman. Hospital officials said they were hit by American fire.

After a volley of mortar fire on the Najaf base in the afternoon, U.S. troops and militiamen traded fire for several hours. Tanks joined the fight, and Apache attack helicopters circled overhead, though they did not open fire. Clashes eased but small arms fire and occasional mortar blasts could be heard throughout the afternoon.

In Fallujah, the U.S. military was moving to install a new commander for the Iraqi force taking control of the city, bringing in a general thought to have opposed Saddam Hussein to replace another general who some allege took part in Saddam-era repression. Maj. Gen. Mohammed Latif, a former military intelligence officer, is likely to take command of the Fallujah Brigade, a senior U.S. official said.

In Baghdad, insurgents Monday opened fire on U.S. soldiers guarding a weapons cache that was discovered the night before, killing one soldier and injuring two, the U.S. military said.

Outside the U.S. base in Najaf, a huge plume of smoke could be seen rising from a building where American soldiers said insurgents had been hiding. U.S. tank and machine gun fire left the building mostly destroyed.

Before dawn Monday, militiamen shelled the troops with some 20 mortars, hitting in and around the former Spanish base that U.S. troops moved into a week ago. There were no casualties.

The U.S. military has deployed at the base and outside Najaf to crack down on radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Lt. Col. Pat White said about 20 fighters were killed, judging from how many bodies were spotted or seen falling.

At a Najaf hospital, doctors said all their wounded were civilians. Al-Sadr militiamen usually wear black uniforms. Razzaq Hussein, 22, a construction worker, was wounded all over his body from shrapnel from a shell he said was fired by the Americans.

The mortar fire came from the area of nearby Kufa, and the gun attack came from three different directions, said Maj. Todd Walsh, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion 37th Regiment, 1st Armored Division. "We don't know if the fighting just escalated or whether it was a concerted probe," Walsh said.

In Fallujah, the new Iraqi brigade, made up of former soldiers from Saddam's army, took up further positions in the cordon around the city, replacing Marines who were pulling back to form an outer cordon. The Iraqi brigade now controls a ring around the southern half of Fallujah and is due to begin patrols inside soon.

On Monday, Iraqi volunteers wearing surgical masks and gloves disinterred bodies that had been buried in houses and backyards for reburial in a football field that has been turned into a graveyard.

Maj. Gen. Latif will likely replace Maj. Gen. Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a former member of Saddam's Republican Guard, as head of the Fallujah Brigade, a senior U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials have acknowledged they did not fully vet the leaders and members of the new brigade to see how close their ties were to Saddam's regime — a sign of the military's eagerness to find an "Iraqi solution" to the monthlong siege.

U.S. officials say the Fallujah Brigade will crack down on hard-core guerrillas in the city — though the force itself will likely include some of the gunmen who last month were involved in fighting against the Marines. Since Friday, masked and armed insurgents have moved freely in the city's streets, sometimes standing alongside Iraqi policemen.

Meanwhile, Hamill was headed to Germany, where he will have a checkup at a U.S. military hospital and see his wife, Kellie.

Hamill, a 43-year-old truck driver from Macon, Mississippi working for the Halliburton Corp. subsidiary KBR, was abducted by gunmen on April 9 after his convoy was attacked outside Baghdad. His fate had been unknown since he appeared in a videotape released the next day by his captors, who threatened to kill him within 12 hours unless the siege of Fallujah was lifted.

On Sunday, Hamill reappeared in the town of Balad, 40 miles north of Baghdad, when he ran up to a patrol from the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, part of the New York National Guard, and identified himself. He then led the soldiers to the house from which he had just escaped, and two Iraqis with an automatic weapon were arrested.

___

AP correspondents Scheherezade Faramarzi in Najaf and Jim Krane in Baghdad contributed to this report.

[Eagle Eye]

I won money from the pool weeks ago. Damned pitiful that I had to loan the guy a buck to cover the money he owed me! We weren't looking at number of rounds (there is no official count here and some of us are technically outside of the area of concern)just the number of separate attacks.

We're so entertainment starved that we work for fun.

I've gotten good at catching flies by hand, about 4 or 5 a day. That's in addition to the dozens more swatted.

For fun we watch the commodes run. No winners yet, but we're hopeful.

We've had lettuce in the DFAC this week. That's been a treat since we went several days without fresh fruits or veggies.

Another thing we enjoy is..is...let me think...


Allegra, I *may* pay you a visit in a few days. BK. My treat. Or Bob Hope. Again, my treat.

Can I borrow Sven for an hour? No, I don't care, as long as he's professional.

[Allegra]

Can I borrow Sven for an hour? No, I don't care, as long as he's professional.

You've been here toooooo long! HAHAHAHAHA

We got lettuce back this week too...AND regular Cokes. Jubilation swept throughout the camp.

[Eagle Eye]

Geeeeze.... I meant a massage! After this long, that's the only thing I could handle for more than five minutes.

oops! maybe I shouldn't have admitted that?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!

Thanks for your service, and prayers for your safety!

[HiJinx]

Wow! Don't include me in that group, I'm stateside!
The guys and gals over there in harm's way are the ones we need to keep in prayers and support any way we can!

[shezza]

Hey, youse guys...Just in case we haven't mentioned it, THANKS for what you're doing there. The Uniformed Ones greatly appreciate your expertise, your hard work, your making life so much easier for them. (I've got one, a Uniformed One, that is, and he came back from Baghdad last fall with nothing but the highest praises for the work of the contractor scum.)

If you need anything, just FReepmail. Stay safe, stay cool, and stay on FR. I love reading your posts. ;o)

[Eagle Eye]

Thanks. For the most part if I can't pack it in a back pack or carry it in my pockets, I don't "need" it. I just normally spend too much time on the road to accumulate things. And some other freepers can tell you that it may take literally a month or two for me and my mail to meet.

As far as the Uniformed Ones go, they are our reason for being here and those that can't quite grasp that don't tend to stay beyond their first R&R. If you don't like the troops, you don't belong here. We exist to make their lives better. We are all (paid) volunteers, so whining isn't appreciated among our ranks. If you don't like the accomodations or the food or the hours, leave. You don't have to be here.

My 'needs' are very few, but my wish list is very large! (no allegra, I said my wish list...) But even if I got my wishes I wouldn't really know what to do with them. Oh well...

But thanks for the offer!

[N8VTXNinWV]

dittos to shezzas post (from Shezzas' sister...me!)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I just normally spend too much time on the road to accumulate things.

Is the road duty like driving in West Texas on a hot August day? Just wondering.

[Allegra]

Hey, thanks for the prayers and good wishes. It's an honor and a pleasure for me to work alongside our troops and to also see the looks on the Iraqis' faces when they talk about how happy they are that Saddam is gone.

And if ya really want to send Eagle Eye something, I hear he likes womens' clothing. That news is all over the camps.

He especially likes really frilly stuff. Just send it to him in one of those plain brown wrappers...you know...so the mailroom folks can't see the "Victoria's Secret" label.

[Eagle Eye]

I don't think so. We can get almost anywhere in the same day we start. And there are no armadillos here.

Although I've heard that if you stop in the wrong place for a beer in either place you'll get shot at.

[Eagle Eye]

LOL...that's low...funny, but low. Bout snarfed coffee out my nose at that.


Now you owe ME lunch, and Bob Hope ain't gonna cut it!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well, that seems to call for a shopping trip!!!

ROFL!!

[Eagle Eye]

Ok, picture this, your browsing the thread when you are startled by a sudden Ka-WHUMP! and then your floor shakes, the windows rattle and you get a funny feelinging in the pit of your stomach. You step outside and can see smoke...in the middle of the night, drifting upwards in the moonlight. Yep, you've just been rocketed. Then you come in and tell your freeper friends about it. I may just put my matress back on the floor again tonight.

[HiJinx]

So, what were we saying about entertainment?

Keep your head down and stay safe, EE. Please?

[Eagle Eye]

Thanks. Someone predicted some action tonight, but over the last week or so people have predicted about 17 of the last 3 attacks, so it's hard to get excited about someone 'predicting' getting hit.

The Rags can't haven't been able to hit anything except the ground on base in weeks. They've been able to miss the same place twice on numerous occasions. Let's hope they continue.

[HiJinx]

They've been able to miss the same place twice on numerous occasions. Let's hope they continue.

Amen to that! One of the Canteen 'Regulars' just finished a tour over there. I distinctly remember one of his accounts, wherein the Rags managed to hit the latrine. Fortunately, it wasn't in use at the time.