Posted on 06/02/2004 5:35:26 PM PDT by saquin
TADJI MILITARY TRAINING BASE, Iraq, June 2, 2004 – Two companies from the Iraqi National Task Force's 2 nd Battalion, here netted more than 6 tons and seven truckloads of cached weapons on the outskirts of Al Tarmiya in a previously unreported four-day operation in May after sweeping through a hidden insurgent arms depot just south of the city.
The operation, from May 20 to 24, 2004, a coalition coordinated mission, comes only weeks after widespread reports roundly criticized the unit for its role in an early April operation north of Baghdad. Battalion soldiers were alleged to have turned and run on their American partners before heading into a planned operation in Fallujah – a report disputed by the actual participants in the engagement.
The find, consisting of nine sites in a roughly 4 kilometer-square area of dense “triple-canopy” palms just off an improved dirt and gravel road in the area, is being reported as the largest single-operation haul in many months as the Iraqi National Task Force and coalition forces continue the attempt to bring security and safety to the citizens of Iraq.
“In just a hundred yard area we found countless weapons,” said Coalition Military Assistance Training Team member Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Andrew R. Garcia, a 2 nd Battalion advisor support team member working with the force as an operational mentor.
“The enemy was marking trails,” Garcia said, “by burning marks on the ground and it came to a point where you could just take a metal detector and start digging things up everywhere.”
The find amounted to a staggering payload of terrorist and insurgent warfare materiel that included, in addition to mountains of small arms and ammunition, huge quantities of Russian-made rockets, SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, Sagger missiles, TNT, RDX-type explosives, hand grenades, mortars, machineguns, sniper rifles, artillery shells, machinegun ammunition, plastique-type explosive materials, TOW missiles, launch tubes, fuses, maps and reams of other various demolition and improvised explosive device materials and triggering and detonation components. The rocket haul alone netted nearly 270 rounds and the find included, as well, some thirteen 55-gallon barrels of an RDX-type explosive material similar to TNT.
“The soldiers were beside themselves,” said an Iraqi army 2 nd Battalion company commander involved in the operation, and also a veteran of the early April Fallujah operation. “They were very excited,” he added.
“There were weapons everywhere and we knew that these were the weapons that had killed many people in towns like Karbala, Najaf and Fallujah,” said the commander. “And they didn't want to stop. They just wanted to find more and more.”
The find caps a rocky period from a perception standpoint for the battalion – the Iraqi National Task Force's sole fully trained, tested and completely operational battalion – where reports in April characterized the unit's functional capability as insufficient to support coalition efforts to bring peace and stability to the country as the nation prepares for the June 30, 2004 transition.
The Iraqi National Task Force currently consists of three other battalions conducting additional training and will add another 23 battalions in the coming months.
“It shows to everybody who had doubts about how well the Iraqi army would perform in the face of an adverse situation,” said Coalition Military Assistance Training Team 2 nd Battalion Senior Advisor, Marine Corps Maj. David E. Lane II – an Acquisition Support Team member, along with Garcia, especially familiar with the unit's operational readiness.
“After Fallujah, they come back and do the training – work harder than they've ever worked before – and still have the confidence to go out and accomplish missions that they've been assigned,” Lane said. “And the fact that coalition forces actually use them and they're actually a part of the coalition demonstrates that they play a vital role in the security of this country,” he added.
The U.S. Marine Corps team that accompanies the 2 nd Battalion soldiers on all missions – a 10-man team of Marine volunteers from various stations throughout the United States – is a part of the Office of Security Transition specifically tasked with training and equipping the Iraqi armed forces. The small unit has been with the battalion since early March and has seen the force come a long way including Fallujah and six recent cordon and search missions resulting in the capture of nine suspects identified on the Combined Joint Task Force-7, 1 st Cavalry Division and 39 th Brigade Combat Team commands' target lists.
“The practical effect, though,” Lane said, referring to the battalion's great success in May, “Is that when you look at all the munitions and weapons that were found, you realize that there's going to be lives saved in direct correlation with the amount of weapons that were found and the type that were found.
“A lot of the ammunition that was found,” he continued, “Would be used to produce IEDs and to detonate IEDs. And the mortars that were found will reduce the enemy's ability to conduct indirect fire on different facilities around the country. And the same thing with the IEDs.
“The result is you have a reduced number of attacks,” Lane said. “So lives saved. Equipment saved. And it definitely puts the enemy in a tougher situation.”
A fact not lost on the Iraqis.
“These weapons and munitions might have destroyed many buildings in Iraq and killed many people,” the Iraqi National Task Force company commander said. “Many Iraqis and many babies and children,” he added.
“This makes us very happy and very proud,” he continued. “You know these soldiers are ready now. Fallujah just clarified our situation. Now when they ask us to go on missions to capture bad guys or terrorists, the soldiers are very enthusiastic at any time.
“Anytime they want us to clear Iraq of bad guys, we'll go,” the officer said. “In Basrah, Mosul, Baghdad … anywhere.”
Nothing to see here people...move along.
Great news gets out despite the "Media"!!!!
WoW!!!
Slowly the good news trickles out. Expect similar or even better stories in the near future.
Tom Daschle is saddened, deeply saddened.
Great, great piece and wonderful news....don't worry, you'll only see it here
WOW! Six tons of weapons found by the Iraqis themselves. Great start and great news. (I'd like to stick 'em one by one up Rather's and Jennings' blowholes) That's the only way there would be any mention on the alphabet news.
Gee, I didn't see this on the SeeBS Evening News.
this is the beginning of the end of the bad news
Pray for W and Our Great Troops
bttt
Yep.
Ping-a-Ling
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I didn't think so.
The Iraqis are starting to sound like Marines!
Evildoers and bad guys: be afraid, be very afraid.
CB^)))
bttt
Jihadists are prone to burying things. Men, women, children, AK's, RPG's, plastique and test tubes with bio weapons. No doubt anthrax and vx also occupy a place underground as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.