Free Republic

Later, much later, Lt Col Stephen Twitty, the commander of the 3rd Battalion 15th Infantry, would look at the map of Baghdad. "Objectives Curly, Larry and Moe - named 'em after the Three Stooges. Those three intersections will go down in history. They were three hellacious battles." As they rolled north along Highway 8 towards Baghdad's southern suburbs, the men had no idea that ahead lay desperate, 10-hour firefights against suicidal enemy soldiers - most of them Syrians intent on fighting a jihad rather than regular Iraqi army troops. They did not know that victory would allow a single infantry...