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Iraqi civilians feed hungry US marines
AFP/Yahoo ^ | 3-29-03

Posted on 03/29/2003 11:53:24 AM PST by baylorbaylor

Edited on 03/29/2003 12:18:57 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

Iraqi civilians fleeing heavy fighting have stunned and delighted hungry US marines in central Iraq by giving them food, as guerrilla attacks continue to disrupt coalition supply lines to the rear.


CENTRAL IRAQ (AFP) - Iraqi civilians fleeing heavy fighting have stunned and delighted hungry US marines in central Iraq by giving them food, as guerrilla attacks continue to disrupt coalition supply lines to the rear.

Sergeant Kenneth Wilson said Arabic-speaking US troops made contact with two busloads of Iraqis fleeing south along Route Seven towards Rafit, one of the first friendly meetings with local people for the marines around here.

"They had slaughtered lambs and chickens and boiled eggs and potatoes for their journey out of the frontlines," Wilson said.

At one camp, the buses stopped and women passed out food to the troops, who have had to ration their army-issue packets of ready-to-eat meals due to disruptions to supply lines by fierce fighting further south.

Civilians have remained largely out of sight since the invasion began 10 days ago. Towns and villages are virtually deserted, prompting speculation that most had shifted to safer ground before the fighting began.

Corpsman Tony Garcia said the food donation was an act of appreciation for the American effort to topple the brutal regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"They gave us eggs and potatoes to feed our marines and corpsmen. I feel the local population are grateful and they want to see an end to Saddam Hussein," he said.

"It was a lovely, beautiful gesture."

Khairi Ilrekibi, 35, a passenger on one of the buses, which broke down near the marine position, said he could speak for the 20 others on board.

In broken English he told a correspondent travelling with the marines: "We like Americans," adding that no one liked Saddam Hussein because "he was not kind."

He said Iraqi civilians living near him were opposed to Saddam Hussein and that most were hiding in their homes and were extremely tired.

Lance Corporal David Polikowsky stood guard over 70 POWS near the broken down bus, saying how grateful he was for food cooked and donated by locals, which included oranges.

Looking on warily at the POWS he was guarding, who included two Jordanians, as well as an Iraqi colonel, captain, major and second lieutenant from special forces and the regular army, he said he had been moved by comments from local civilians.

He said they told him: "We welcome you. What is your name? We will pray for you."

He said another group of POWS, largely conscripts, had been moved south.

"They told me they wanted to go to America after the war. I said where. They said California. I said why? They said the song Hotel California and they left singing Hotel California."

Soldiers with this marine division -- on the east of a two-pronged thrust toward Baghdad -- have seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war so far.

They battled their way through heavy fire at Nasiriyah, Sharat and Rafit before pausing to resupply within 250 kilometres (180 miles) of Baghdad on Thursday.

Prisoners have been taken and pockets of displaced people carrying white flags have been seen along the way. Some have waved, others have asked the marines for cigarettes and water.

But US troops have been keeping a wary distance from civilians, mindful of reports that some Iraqi forces were mingling with civilians in order to drift through American lines and launch surprise attacks.

Ambushes and harassing fire along the massive communications lines to Kuwait in the south have caused casualties and disrupted supplies of water, food and fuel to the frontline troops.

Garcia and Wilson are attached to a Shock Trauma Platoon with the Marine Expeditionary Force and have treated about 20 civilians for war-related wounds in the past five days.

As troops munched on their feast, one medic warned the food could have been deliberately contaminated.

He was quickly disregarded as the hungry marines forged ahead to make a fondue out of a donated tin of Australian processed cheese, but the potatoes were eaten before the cheese could melt.

"Man I never thought a boiled egg could taste so damn good," one burly marine observed.

(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: actsofkindness; iraq; iraqicivilians; iraqifreedom; supplylines; war; warlist
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To: TPartyType
I wonder what a Big Mac would taste like after being mailed to the front lines in a care package . . .

One night at 4 am I woke up starving (I think I'd skipped dinner for some reason), and discovered a Quarter Pounder with Cheese I'd tossed in the back of the fridge a week and a half earlier. I microwaved it; it was mushy, the bun was hard, and I thought it was personally fried up for me by God. So I think any soldier handed a week-old Big Mac would be in heaven no matter how degraded it had become ... as long as it had been packaged properly and hadn't become covered in green mold or something.

Anyway, this whole thread reminds me of all those old storied I've read about American soldiers meeting a new "colleague" somewhere in Europe in WWII and then shooting him in the head for being a German spy the moment he forgot the Yankees are in the American League.

81 posted on 03/29/2003 1:28:17 PM PST by Timesink (If you use the word "embedded" in a conversation, you'd better be carrying an x-ray to show me.)
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To: don-o
Sounds like some good hearted Iraqi folks shared their food.

The Friday night before last Barbara Walters had five Iraqi women who now live in this country on 20/20.

They said that ALL the people that they were able to communicate with kept asking "When are you coming? What's taking so long."

And she said that the Iraqis are in their homes, COOKING for the American troops.

I believed them.

82 posted on 03/29/2003 1:31:11 PM PST by Howlin
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To: AAABEST
I was out of commision for a week because of a nasty case of dysentery. That's because they fertilize their food with human feces over there.

Aw mannn! Right when I'm eating a hot dog! Wasn't there ANY other way you could have established your credentials? :)

83 posted on 03/29/2003 1:31:21 PM PST by Timesink (If you use the word "embedded" in a conversation, you'd better be carrying an x-ray to show me.)
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To: baylorbaylor
Is this true...we don't have food?
84 posted on 03/29/2003 1:33:39 PM PST by The Raven
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To: baylorbaylor
Nah....this can't be true......must be disinformation.
85 posted on 03/29/2003 1:35:28 PM PST by The Raven
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To: Timesink
Heh. Lemme know when you're done with that hot dog and we'll talk about how those are made.

I eat 'em anyway. Nothing better than a Nathan's hot dog on the grill.

86 posted on 03/29/2003 1:38:14 PM PST by AAABEST
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To: soycd
"Iraqi civilians feed hungry US marines"

God bless them all! (except the ones carrying AK-47s, RPGs, chemicals, car bombs, burning flags, etc., etc.)
87 posted on 03/29/2003 1:40:28 PM PST by salmon76
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To: The Raven
Is this true...we don't have food?

Our troops are not "starving" as this headline put out by AFP(Agence France Presse) seems to purport, IMO.

AFP had to stick something negative into the story, so the folks back home in France are happy about something about this positve and gracious gesture by Iraqi civilians.

88 posted on 03/29/2003 1:40:55 PM PST by Dane
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Not sure what good that is going to do him out in the desert...

Looks like it would stop some shrapnel.

89 posted on 03/29/2003 1:43:13 PM PST by StriperSniper (Frogs are for gigging)
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To: baylorbaylor; *war_list; W.O.T.; 11th_VA; Libertarianize the GOP; Free the USA; knak; MadIvan; ...
Now this is good news!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

90 posted on 03/29/2003 1:50:33 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Iraq is a terrorists haven)
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To: ewing
They're down to 1 MRE a day, not 2-3. I'll betcha they're some hungry grunts.
91 posted on 03/29/2003 1:51:49 PM PST by Future Snake Eater
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To: Redcloak
warning their men not to eat anything offered to them. IMO, the offerings are dangerous, but not because they have been deliberately poisoned. In that region near the Eurphrates, the water is very risky in summer, and they use local pools of water preparing their food. The locals are alright, they are hardened to those germs. Outsiders come down with violent gastric fevers.

It was in that region that Alexander the Great died of fever, and as one Greek writer put it, "the poison was water."

Many of these fevers will spread among the troops anyway, in these summer months. I do not know why they timed the invasion for summer. Also, the mosquitos come out in armed battalions, carrying every form of malaria, often drug resistant.

92 posted on 03/29/2003 1:53:00 PM PST by BlackVeil
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To: tiredoflurking
Well, dear, there comes a time when we are going to have to either trust the Iraqis or not, and episodes like this will deepen the trust both ways.
93 posted on 03/29/2003 1:55:45 PM PST by ChemistCat (Zen and the benzene ring)
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To: baylorbaylor
Look at what Clinton could have meant to Iraqi's if he had held Saddam accountable. A freed Iraq will tell the world the truth very soon.
94 posted on 03/29/2003 1:55:50 PM PST by Arpege92
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To: baylorbaylor
"They told me they wanted to go to America after the war. I said where. They said California. I said why? They said the song Hotel California and they left singing Hotel California."

For God's sake, I wished they would stop giving the Federal Government any ideas......

95 posted on 03/29/2003 1:59:09 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Illbay
the Frogs--who consider their own culture the non pareil

I thought non pareil's those disgusting cheap chocolates with the little white sugar beads on top. Are they French? No wonder.

96 posted on 03/29/2003 2:06:01 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: sciencediet
don't you hate when that happens?
97 posted on 03/29/2003 2:20:19 PM PST by jerri
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To: ohioWfan
OWF,

How is your son? Haven't been on the Dose for a while. Haven't seen you talk about him.

Been praying for the boys over there.

lizbet
98 posted on 03/29/2003 2:25:39 PM PST by lizbet (Obey God and things will be better for the USA!)
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To: HairOfTheDog
Now for a chorus of It's a Small World After all!
99 posted on 03/29/2003 2:31:23 PM PST by Lady Jag (Googolplex Star Thinker of the Seventh Galaxy of Light and Ingenuity)
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To: jerri
don't you hate when that happens?

It's like follow the bouncing ball inside your skull.

100 posted on 03/29/2003 2:33:26 PM PST by Lady Jag (Googolplex Star Thinker of the Seventh Galaxy of Light and Ingenuity)
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