Free Republic

WITH THE 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION, in central Iraq -- It troubles him, now that the fighting is over. Sgt. Mark N. Redmond remembers shouting "qiff," the Arabic word for halt, but they did not halt. They kept coming. Redmond's unit spent three days and nights fighting for the bridge at Kifl, a village on the Euphrates River. By any military definition -- the territory seized, the number of enemy killed, the mission accomplished -- the Americans' fight ended in victory. After victory, though, comes rest. And with rest comes reflection. "I mean, I have my wife and kids to go...

KIFL, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) - When U.S. tanks rumbled into this town on the Euphrates river, irregular Iraqi forces set up sniper nests up and down the main street, opening fire from doors, windows, market stalls and patches of open ground. A crimson sunset painted the street red and visibility fell to less than five meters (15 feet) as a swirling sand and dust storm kicked up when the guerrilla units attacked. U.S. officers said fighters in minivans, pick-up trucks and cars drove straight at the oncoming tanks. Others took to canoes, rowing down the river and trying to...