***Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room - 18 MAY 03/Day 60 - LIVE THREAD***

Everywhere! | 18 MAY 03 | null and void

[null and void]

Operation Infinite Freedom

Link to the previous thread

Good Morning.

This is the Daily Thread of Operation Infinite Freedom, formerly Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - LIVE THREAD.

It is designed for general conversation about the ongoing war on terror, and the related events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.

[Timeout]

Hellooooooo, Situation Room!

Man, I've covered some ground since I was last here. My best friend's son (and my godchild) was married this weekend in Nashville. As a sister lives about 2 hours from there, I also worked in a visit with her.

And...to add to the confusion...a nephew's varsity baseball team made it to the state high school championship playoff last Wednesday (they won!) and the games were in a city along my way....so I left 2 days early to see the games.

Whew! 1,200 miles, 3 books on tape and 5 days later, I'm beat and ready to just veg out on the sofa.

Did I miss anything? :)

[livius]

And I don't do all of the above every day..

Neither do I. I like to keep my editor guessing.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

MSNBC: National Geographic Explorer: Baghdad Bound - Devil Dog Diaries:

 

Comments from the embedded reporter and the Marines -

 

"People won't really start getting stressed until they start getting shot at."

 

13 vehicles heading out in the column...

 

"I remember the night before the Marines headed out, they heard the President on the air - it was 4 o'clock in the morning...we found out he gave Saddam 48 hours...

 

"I remember the Marines didn't wait for 48 hours..they headed out the next morning..and when the deadline was like within an hour or two, they knew they were going."

 

"They all shared the same goal ...."the faster we get out there and do our job, the faster we get home."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"Immediately there were gas alerts....4 times in one day..sometimes....you could be doing anything....you always had to wear your gas mask at your side....I knew what to do...in the beginning part of that war that was the most terrifying feeling...because you didn't know whether they would use it."..

 

Saddam would use it as a last chance.

 

Yellow "D"...is the line of departure. That's the line between Iraq and Kuwait.

Once the Marines crossed that line they knew they were in enemy territory and the war was on.

 

10 foot high sand embankment...w/holes poked through and those were the holes we were going through..and all the way we knew there were land mines....that could blow up a truck

 

Traveling in the Amtrac (?) was rough...it's hot, it's crowded...but the Marines try to make the best of it....can get to 130 degrees...

 

Generally, the men and I would talk about three things...we'd talk about war, women and we'd talk about cold beer.

 

MREs - a lot of trading goes on.  "If anyone from the MRE company is listening, please put cheese in every one of your meals."

 

The real desert - horizon to horizon no hills...just sand....at night it could go down to the 40s or 50s..

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

On the horizon you could see the flashes in the sky and in the beginning you didn't know...is that the enemy shooting at us? Or us shooting at them?"

 

There job was to secure the airport while the British surrounded it....the Iraqi soldiers were shooting out of the building ...and suddenly (the building) was ablaze..."

 

"We were waiting for some kind of action and it finally came..."

 

"Several hours later....Marines saw how the Iraqi army lived...apparently left in one Hell of a hurry...dropped their helmets, food...apparently the Marines came in and scared the Hell out of e'm...they left behind paper, document...they left behind ammo, weapons...they were all collected. It was interesting to be in the enemy's back yard."

 

After visiting the compound, the Marines went over to the airport....deserted except for ~ 15 men...one guy who seemed like the spokesman said...No, I don't want to talk....

 

Late at night ...Marines explored below the airport...found uniforms, weapons...the number of uniforms and weapons found below the airport matched the number of "workers" at the airport. "I remember the look on some of the officers faces....it was like "we were duped."

[null and void]

There was a guy with a george bush mask and PARTY BUSH written on his chest and he was wearing a red white and blue flag thong and ran beside the leaders at the start of the race, he petered out after awhile tho.

Thong slipped???

[mystery-ak]

Too bad there is no thread for this show...it's very interesting...do Freepers know its even on?

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

We're moving north and everyone's excited...and suddenly a sandstorm kicks up.

 

The wind's blowing 60, maybe 70 miles per hour...getting into your mouth, your hair...that stopped the car cold.

 

The Marines had been in the war for about a week and they were lucky...no serious (wounded)...but that changed.

 

"In pitch darkness we drove about a quarter of a mile and I'll never forget it, (a Marine lying right in front of us)...it was lance Corporal William White from New York...

 

Humvee had tipped upside down in the water...it was cold, "I finally found an air pocket within the cab...it was submerged...got down went back down in there got his feet and pulled him out..." "Went down river...swam about 300 meters...it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life..." (pulling his comrade, trying to keep him warm....) "That's one thing we never do...leave a man behind..but I had no choice.."

 

The doctors ..frantically working...giving Cpl. White CPR, mouth to mouth frantically..but he didn't make it."

 

His friend, who couldn't save him: "I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I didn't want to see death. I wanted no part of it."

 

Corporal White was supposed to go home. He left Kuwait, eagerly, with the rest of his company.

 

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

There are only a few towns along the way....but once they got 80-90 miles to Baghdad we began to see more people...some would wave, thumbs up...a lot of men....that was constantly on their mind...they didn't know if this was the enemy..

 

All the way north they'd see weapons disgarded, they'd see uniforms on the side of the road....they alwasy suspected the Iraqi soldiers were throwing away their uniforms and blending in with the population."

 

I realized we were going to move into this urban battlefield...and I remember thinking, o.k., this is going to be rough..

 

(When we got into the city) "The Marines got out of the amtracks and started to walk ...weapons ready...you didn't know what was up ahead... I remembered what a commander had said to me, "The Marines find their courage this way - put one foot in front of another...following their (comrades)..."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

3rd Battalion, 4th Marines - move into the city...

 

"These streets around here....they're small...

 

"There were second story and third story windows...the Marines would clear buildings individually...either kick the door in or blew a charge...there was a lot of confusion."

 

"They learned that the enemy was there with RPGs, heavy weapons...a lot of them could have died...but no Marines were killed in that city. The enemy ran away. It wasn't like that in Al Kut."

 

Al Kut: The huge archway of Saddam....leading into the city...practically immediately (we drew fire)...Corp. Mark. Evan from Burlington, Vt.  moved to see the enemy better...and while he was moving he got hit.."

 

"That first combat death..it really hurt the men."

 

"One day driving in the tracks, we heard over the radio the call to go to the scene of a civilian casualty...I walk up to the scene and I see what looked to be a 4 or 5 year old boy...the closer I got I saw he was missing most of his face....the boy was crying...his family was there...they were motioning with there hands for help...and I thought, what they must be going through..thinking of my own 6 year-old daughter..thinking this is the ugly side of war..."

 

They had to keep pushing and they all knew that the closer they got, the tougher the enemy was going to be.

 

One day, about 2 weeks into the war...driving down the street...and I heard gunfire...and I saw black puffs of smoke over our column...The enemy was waiting at a bridge...."

 

 

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Hi, T! Nahhh...you witnessed the good stuff.(^;

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You couldn't witness the enemy..it was pretty intense...couldn't tell where the shots were coming from...don't worry about the bullets flying past your head...if they're flying past your head....they're not hitting you."

 

"I thought it was a good time to call up MSNBC and tell them we were in the middle of a firefight....

 

(Over the satellite to MSNBC) "I'm with the 3rd Battalion 4th Marines..."...and right in the middle of that report all Hell broke loose"...LOTS of gunfire....(back on the air) "That was right next to me....they have it under control...the Marines,  they do know what they're doing...good thing they do, too"....:

 

"This firefight was intense and it lasted for hours and hours...artillary would be sent back across the river...."

 

Explosion....fire and debris coming down...Saw the wreckage of the track, bodies lying there...it was pretty disturbing....enemy fired back and they got lucky...in an instant...two of ours were dead....those guys were heroes...

 

India company gets closer and closer to Baghdad...

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Welcome, m-a! We didn't ping anyone, but Kat and I gave a mini heads up as the shows began. CNN's copying MSNBC - and both copying FoxNews....back to Baghdad Bound.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The next morning, the company got mail....first time in three weeks..

 

"It's like Christmas."

 

Letter from home were nice....but they have a bridge to cross.

 

They built a pontoon bridge and they know that once they cross that bridge...they're in Bagdhad ..31 days....into their trip..(still on the outskirts)..

 

Iraqis say, "Welcome to Bagdhad!"  Wave US flag...

 

To see the flag ....it gives you a lump in your throat...

 

"It's a big surprise to everyone that's here...(the welcome).."

 

See 3 sedans...in the drivers seat, dead Iraqis...blood spattered...and when we came upon these vehicles....sometimes the enemy gets confused...they don't know...they come upon you....then I saw a man ...hands up, a woman beside him...suddenly emerging from the death and destruction in that car were two people....they had been there all night...it hurt the Marines to see that civilians had been injured....they gave them water, and food...and dressed their wounds.. They took care of these people. It was one of the most memorable moments of the war."

 

Marines continued down the road....haze...sun low in the sky...all of a sudden ...all I could see tracers from Marines...whipping into this car...this car was heading directly at the tank...wouldn't stop...

 

Marines shot (up the car)...Marines called for weapons experts...opened up the car, the hood....nothing...In my opinion it was a suicide attack. It made us wonder as we were getting closer...(what kind of welcome we'd get)...

 

That night...(we) settled in in an abandoned Iraqi military base...in the morning we woke up to a strange sight...we didn't see them at night...we woke up to 20 brand new Nissan pickup trucks...and people came over the wall...and right before us they started hotwiring the cars....the Captain wasn't about to let that happen...not on his watch...and chased those people away.

 

Later that morning they got the word. They were going to go to downtown Baghdad.. New threat..."beware of exploding walls." Intel got word that the Iraqis would put explosives next to walls...and when they got close...they detonate them...

 

"They started rolling into the heart of Baghdad ...the streets were pretty deserted....you'd see a car now and then. I remember seeing two cars....waving white flags....that wasn't going to cut it...Marines were under orders to fire warning shots and to take those vehicles out...you didn't know if they were wired with explosives..."

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Before the Marines saw one or two people, now, suddenly driving throught Baghdad there are hundreds of people, right next to the Marines...and they're all on edge...but they keep moving...

 

As they get closer, more and more people, more and more cars...

 

"I was waiting for an RPG...suicide bomber...

 

Instead there is this outburst of emotion from the Iraqi people waiting for the Marines...I'm still in hunker down mode...but after a while, after a few more miles the Marines start to get used to it...(cheering Iraqis lining the road!)

 

As they drove on they started to think..as more and more people came out...that maybe it was real...

 

"I've never seen anything like this....after a mile or so the column pulled up to the Palestine Hotel where all the journalists were staying...but I noticed that right near the hotel...there was a statue of Saddam Hussein...the Iraqi people gathered...a rope around his neck...well, the statue came down...and with it any hope Saddam had of holding onto power.."

 

But the war wasn't over...and after the Marines left the circle they set up in a government complex....

 

"Surreal, totally surreal...I couldn't believe...in the middle of Saddam's square...to see that statue..." says one Marine.

 

(Embed reporter) Something very interesting about covering a war...You're there. You see things first hand. (but not the big picture)...Twice a day I would use my satellite phone and call my wife and ask her to compile the news of the day...the Marines would gather around...they knew it was time for the news..."

 

(Wife telling him the Kurds had taken Kirkuk - without a bullet).."It was a pleasure for me to do that (provide the news for the Marines..) 

 

The other big contribution (embed reporter made)....to offer his cell phone to the Marines to call their loved ones...

 

"It was good. It was the best feeling I've had since I've been here." Smiling Marine after phoning home).

[TexKat]

Thanks for the updates on Devil Dog RC, I did not get a chance to give total attention to Devil Dog nor Devil Doc due to unexpected company after which was followed by a lengthy long distance phone call. Perhaps I will catch the repeats later tonight.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"After being in Baghdad a few days, got a new order...to a sprawling medical compound...and there was a lot going on...

 

Finding ammo...missiles..."I remember going on that morning patrol....w/ the Marines and a guy named Bob...not his real name...he was an Iraqi...put himself on the line for us...

 

There were these 4   30-foot long missiles - at a hospital of all places....9 (like?) series of Soviet missiles...

 

"It was unbelievable to walk up on this scene....right in front of the Marines ...dozens of people looting the hospital..."we're doing what we can..."

 

"They're taking out refrigerators...chairs...anything they could get their hands on..."

 

"Well the Marines wouldn't stand for that...this is a hospital..."

 

"I remember walking over to a tractor trailor truck...generator going...this man, crying in grief over what he saw...it was filled with dead bodies...eight to ten...stacked up in there...and the smell that was coming out of that truck...I felt bad for that man...who was in there? I never found out. I recall turning away from the truck with the camera down and right in front of me I saw blood, dried blood...those were footsteps..."

 

Corporal (Aleo-sp?) was killed by friendly fire....At the service, Chaplains pray, "this doesn't seem real, the sadness of losing a friend...We have to deal with death. Death is an enemy we can not see. A person we cannot confront.. Whenever a Marine dies, whether we knew him well or didn't know him at all, it effects every Marine..."  All sing Amazing Grace....

 

"This was a Marine. He had brothers. And (at the service) everybody went by his dogtags...and I could see it in the gesture...they felt they had lost a brother.."

 

Just two days earlier, Jesus Gonzalez...a Corporal had died...his departure date was 4 days prior...he got it extended to come out here.."

 

Spent a lot of time in the Palestine Hotel...comments from journalists: "That was the longest month of my life..." "That was just too hard.." Wouldn't do it again.".

 

"There was a real concern going in that this closeness  (to the Marines) would create problems as journalists. Now that I lived a war with these Marines, I got to admit that after living with these guys for over a month  - I thank God that that situation didn't come up.." (where if he witnessed something wrong - he'd rat 'em out for his job.)

 

My living room wall is being prepared - (for a large group photo of the Marines he came to know.)

 

"The day I left I caught a lucky break...able to catch a ride back to Kuwait in a Marine helicopter. Two days later I was home."

 

"During OIF more than 70 Marines and Navy corpsmen were killed. We lost them to friendly fire, to accidents, and we lost them to the enemy..."

 

Marine reads a poem, beautiful...about arriving in Iraq not believing any of them would die, being Marines...they will stay to finish their job.

If anyone knows the name of the MSNBC embed in this report, please post. {^:

[TexKat]

Al Qaeda Arms Traced to Saudi National Guard (washingtonpost.com)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 18 -- Saudi authorities are investigating suspected illegal arms sales by members of the country's national guard to al Qaeda operatives in the country, U.S. and Saudi officials said.

The weapons were seized in a May 6 raid on an al Qaeda safe house and were traced to national guard stockpiles, the U.S. and Saudi sources said.

[Carolina]

****WARNING: MAY BE HARMFUL TO YOUR EYES*****

Strangling Clinton? Tougaloo College board member Isaac Byrd Jr., right, presents former President Bill Clinton, as he is "hooded" Sunday, May 18, 2003, during commencement exercises in Jackson, Miss. Clinton picked up an honorary degree and delivered the commencement address. AP Photo/Rogelio Solis

[TexKat]

Who, me? Nah!!

Terror accusation angers Arafat

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has angrily rejected Israeli claims he has formed an alliance with Islamists to sabotage efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian violence and resume peace talks within the framework of an international "road map".