Free Republic

FAHAMA, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2008 – As the teal dump truck made its way down the muddy street, local citizens appeared from behind the gates guarding their houses. They walked to the truck, their hands full of an empty burden. Army 1st Lt. Nick Piergallini (center) and Army Capt. Enardo Collazo (right), talk with Sheik Emad Abdul-Settar Muhammad, the senior sheik for the village of Fahama, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2008. Soldiers escorted a truck filled with empty propane tanks from the villages of Fahama and Gumayrah to Boob Al Sham to exchange them for full tanks. Photo by Pfc....

Fort Carson's 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion had been fighting the forces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for weeks in Diyala Provice north of Baghdad, and beating them soundly, before Wednesday night's fatal strike that took out Zarqawi himself, Lt. Col. Tom Fisher said Friday. The fights had been going on since early in April, when Zarqawi announced in a video message that he intended to take over Diyala Province with his militia. He began a series of atrocities that included taking captives and decapitating them, and executing a bus load of students. Fighting reached a peak April 27, Fisher said, when...