Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Link of the Day
This blog keeps a running list in excruciating and sometimes numbing detail of the war in Iraq as it affects Americans, Iraqis and insurgents.
Into the breach
David called at 5:45 a.m. today. I woke up immediately to a half-ring, groggily trying to remember if it was the sound of the phone or Craig's alarm clock. He had already gotten up and picked up the phone.
He had two pieces of news. His platoon's time in the reserves, of holding perimeters and running food and water to civilians, is over; he is going into throes of battle in Baquaba, clearing houses and searching for insurgents -- and enormous, hidden IEDs planted throughout the town. His first shift began later tonight -- three days on, one day off -- so we should not expect to hear from as often.
I asked him something along the lines if his job was nerve-wracking.
He interrupted: "Not nerve-wracking. I've just had to learn a lot in a short amount of time."
Just over three weeks ago, we were hiking through the forests of Mt. Rainer National Park; now he is responsible for the lives of 21 men, for a mission and dealing with a hostile human and physical environment.
The contrast rolls one's brain in circles.
I try to say something that is supportive but not suffocating, or to ask even good questions, but I am so glad to hear his voice that I can't think. Craig is better at this than I am; he even remembers to take notes so we remember exactly what to get him.
He asks for a few personal items, and then gives the second piece of news: A camera crew from NBC News filmed his staff sergeant during their humanitarian mission. He thought might be on tonight's (June 27) broadcast of "NBC Nightly News" so he wanted us to look for it.
It wasn't; but we'll keep looking, and I'll post a link or try downloading the clip from MSNBC and post it here when it happens.
He didn't seem to think he'll be in it; still it will give us a view, however slight, into his world.
The TV news distracts me from thinking about his changing assignment and he carefully and casually mentions it, underplaying it. Or, maybe I overplay it.
This is what he came for, what he trained for, what his officer training was all about. Still, it must be bigger, dirtier, more uncertain than any training could give him. I fear for him, not because he is incapable or untrained, but because the risk is greater and shaped by an opponent who uses his cunning to fit his ideology -- as we all do.
Except this enemy builds IEDs, and we use tanks and artillery.
He had two pieces of news. His platoon's time in the reserves, of holding perimeters and running food and water to civilians, is over; he is going into throes of battle in Baquaba, clearing houses and searching for insurgents -- and enormous, hidden IEDs planted throughout the town. His first shift began later tonight -- three days on, one day off -- so we should not expect to hear from as often.
I asked him something along the lines if his job was nerve-wracking.
He interrupted: "Not nerve-wracking. I've just had to learn a lot in a short amount of time."
Just over three weeks ago, we were hiking through the forests of Mt. Rainer National Park; now he is responsible for the lives of 21 men, for a mission and dealing with a hostile human and physical environment.
The contrast rolls one's brain in circles.
I try to say something that is supportive but not suffocating, or to ask even good questions, but I am so glad to hear his voice that I can't think. Craig is better at this than I am; he even remembers to take notes so we remember exactly what to get him.
He asks for a few personal items, and then gives the second piece of news: A camera crew from NBC News filmed his staff sergeant during their humanitarian mission. He thought might be on tonight's (June 27) broadcast of "NBC Nightly News" so he wanted us to look for it.
It wasn't; but we'll keep looking, and I'll post a link or try downloading the clip from MSNBC and post it here when it happens.
He didn't seem to think he'll be in it; still it will give us a view, however slight, into his world.
The TV news distracts me from thinking about his changing assignment and he carefully and casually mentions it, underplaying it. Or, maybe I overplay it.
This is what he came for, what he trained for, what his officer training was all about. Still, it must be bigger, dirtier, more uncertain than any training could give him. I fear for him, not because he is incapable or untrained, but because the risk is greater and shaped by an opponent who uses his cunning to fit his ideology -- as we all do.
Except this enemy builds IEDs, and we use tanks and artillery.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sunday call
We connect in the strangest places.
David called Sunday morning while my husband and I were hiking on trail in Harriman State Park, about 35 miles north of New York City. It was lucky that we were near the top of the trail because cell service is spotty in the park.
Craig and I huddled over his cell phone on a mountain trail canopied by oaks, maples and tulip trees, trying to catch each word. I brazenly hushed other hikers as they walked by (later apologizing.) fearing we would lose the connection.
He is fine. His unit is in brigade reserve, meaning they are not currently in the thick of the house-to-house action in Baquobah, but they are called in as needed, and when they’re not called, they sit around in his three-Stryker platoon on the edges of town. He is in command of 21 men.
Sometimes they keep the residents from leaving town. The newspapers are saying that’s to keep the insurgents and Al Qaeda fighters from slipping away, but there are also residents who want to go out for daily shopping or personal errands and then come back, and that’s a problem while the fighting is going on.
His other missions include escorting two loads of humanitarian supplies – food, water, medicines -- to people in Baquobah. One, organized by the Iraqi police, was chaotic; the other, organized by the Army, was less so. In one of those missions, he worked with Audrey, one of his ROTC classmates from GW-Georgetown who is an MP (military police office) working with the Iraqi police.
He also helped escort the Stryker ambulance that carried out the wounded and dead when a Bradley tank was upended by an IED. There was a quite a firefight, he said, before they could get away.
To me, he sounded tense and tired, but he said he is happy with his assignment. He asked for bath wipes, because it’s hot and dusty and they sweat a lot. Even though their tents are air conditioned, the daytime temperatures remain about 100 degrees F. He said he drinks about eight to 10 liters of water a day, sweating out most of that.
He asked what was new here, and I find it hard to say something that doesn’t seem trivial. So we talked briefly about Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers $8 to drive in downtown Manhattan (his reaction was generally negative.) He asked for a download of a Jon Stewart show and news about the war. I promised to send him a “subway” copy of the “Transformers” movie as soon as it shows up in the merchandise of sidewalk vendors.
As we talked with in the near idyllic Eastern woodlands of Harriman State Park, the only sound disrupting the wind and birdsong was the distant thunder of artillery at West Point or its nearby Army base, both just about 10 miles from the park.
For us, reminders of the war are never far away.
David called Sunday morning while my husband and I were hiking on trail in Harriman State Park, about 35 miles north of New York City. It was lucky that we were near the top of the trail because cell service is spotty in the park.
Craig and I huddled over his cell phone on a mountain trail canopied by oaks, maples and tulip trees, trying to catch each word. I brazenly hushed other hikers as they walked by (later apologizing.) fearing we would lose the connection.
He is fine. His unit is in brigade reserve, meaning they are not currently in the thick of the house-to-house action in Baquobah, but they are called in as needed, and when they’re not called, they sit around in his three-Stryker platoon on the edges of town. He is in command of 21 men.
Sometimes they keep the residents from leaving town. The newspapers are saying that’s to keep the insurgents and Al Qaeda fighters from slipping away, but there are also residents who want to go out for daily shopping or personal errands and then come back, and that’s a problem while the fighting is going on.
His other missions include escorting two loads of humanitarian supplies – food, water, medicines -- to people in Baquobah. One, organized by the Iraqi police, was chaotic; the other, organized by the Army, was less so. In one of those missions, he worked with Audrey, one of his ROTC classmates from GW-Georgetown who is an MP (military police office) working with the Iraqi police.
He also helped escort the Stryker ambulance that carried out the wounded and dead when a Bradley tank was upended by an IED. There was a quite a firefight, he said, before they could get away.
To me, he sounded tense and tired, but he said he is happy with his assignment. He asked for bath wipes, because it’s hot and dusty and they sweat a lot. Even though their tents are air conditioned, the daytime temperatures remain about 100 degrees F. He said he drinks about eight to 10 liters of water a day, sweating out most of that.
He asked what was new here, and I find it hard to say something that doesn’t seem trivial. So we talked briefly about Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to charge drivers $8 to drive in downtown Manhattan (his reaction was generally negative.) He asked for a download of a Jon Stewart show and news about the war. I promised to send him a “subway” copy of the “Transformers” movie as soon as it shows up in the merchandise of sidewalk vendors.
As we talked with in the near idyllic Eastern woodlands of Harriman State Park, the only sound disrupting the wind and birdsong was the distant thunder of artillery at West Point or its nearby Army base, both just about 10 miles from the park.
For us, reminders of the war are never far away.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Link of the day
I'm not a big fan of Fox News, but this correspondent is on the ground in Baqubah, and has some interesting observations on daily life there.
http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/surrender-or-die.htm
http://michaelyon-online.com/wp/surrender-or-die.htm
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Google alerts
Google alerts are filling my e-mail box.
It's my own fault. The search words are "Diyala," "Baquobah," and "Warhorse" -- the latter for David's camp, or FOB, as the Army labels it.
When I told people about David going to Iraq, many told me to stop listening or reading the news. I thought it about trying that, but it's not in my nature. I have been in newspapers as a reporter or editor for 35 years, and it's ingrained in me now to read newspapers, watch and listen to broadcast news, and now, to find it on the Internet.
So every day, Google sends me about 20 to 30 alerts, mostly the same stories.
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
The repetition is numbing and frightening at the same time, as if each time the total was new and additional casualties were piling up.
Most of the alert stories are culled from other bloggers, who have linked to major media stories or who are commenting on the war. I don't find much use for most of these; they don't give me new facts and their opinions are repetitive and rarely well formed.
The trouble is that I'm a media gatekeeper, you see. I look for the source of information and the value of those sources, an activity not always found in Internet sites, and I'm not really interested in someone's interpretation.
Still, I have found some off-the-wall sources I don't find in The New York Times, which by the way, is doing the best coverage in American media.
For example, InfoVlad.Net Clearinghouse 2.0 - http://clearinghouse.infovlad.net, clearly an anti-war site, is reporting that the 1920s Brigade of Sunnis is not supporting the U.S. effort in Baquobah, contradicting the Times stories. Which source is more reliable? Generally, the Times, but you have to keep your ears open to the non-American and even Arab opposition sources, especially in times of war. The one truth a reporter learns is there is never one truth, but many ways an event is perceived, comprehended and digested.The way the Army is perceived, no matter what they actually do or don't do, has and will be key to their survival.
So what do I get out of welter of conflicting and sometimes depressing and disjointed facts clogging up by e-mail account? I'm not sure. It somehow comforts me to try to put this puzzle of events together. For me, knowing is better than not knowing, but I also know it's a way of putting the events at arm's length, as all journalists do to protect themselves from the pain of life.
It's my own fault. The search words are "Diyala," "Baquobah," and "Warhorse" -- the latter for David's camp, or FOB, as the Army labels it.
When I told people about David going to Iraq, many told me to stop listening or reading the news. I thought it about trying that, but it's not in my nature. I have been in newspapers as a reporter or editor for 35 years, and it's ingrained in me now to read newspapers, watch and listen to broadcast news, and now, to find it on the Internet.
So every day, Google sends me about 20 to 30 alerts, mostly the same stories.
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
"The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in several attacks in the past 48 hours..."
The repetition is numbing and frightening at the same time, as if each time the total was new and additional casualties were piling up.
Most of the alert stories are culled from other bloggers, who have linked to major media stories or who are commenting on the war. I don't find much use for most of these; they don't give me new facts and their opinions are repetitive and rarely well formed.
The trouble is that I'm a media gatekeeper, you see. I look for the source of information and the value of those sources, an activity not always found in Internet sites, and I'm not really interested in someone's interpretation.
Still, I have found some off-the-wall sources I don't find in The New York Times, which by the way, is doing the best coverage in American media.
For example, InfoVlad.Net Clearinghouse 2.0 - http://clearinghouse.infovlad.net, clearly an anti-war site, is reporting that the 1920s Brigade of Sunnis is not supporting the U.S. effort in Baquobah, contradicting the Times stories. Which source is more reliable? Generally, the Times, but you have to keep your ears open to the non-American and even Arab opposition sources, especially in times of war. The one truth a reporter learns is there is never one truth, but many ways an event is perceived, comprehended and digested.The way the Army is perceived, no matter what they actually do or don't do, has and will be key to their survival.
So what do I get out of welter of conflicting and sometimes depressing and disjointed facts clogging up by e-mail account? I'm not sure. It somehow comforts me to try to put this puzzle of events together. For me, knowing is better than not knowing, but I also know it's a way of putting the events at arm's length, as all journalists do to protect themselves from the pain of life.
Link of the day
This is the link of the day, a five-facts-about-Diyala-province from Reuters that's useful:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BUL045191.htm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BUL045191.htm
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
More on Baquba
For the second day in a row, David's Stryker commander is quoted in a lead story from The New York Times' front page. Click http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/world/middleeast/20military.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin for today's story.
I'm sitting here in rainy, steamy Queens, ignoring work, wondering what he's seeing, doing, reacting to, and realizing the limits of my art and my work for the last 30 years -- journalism. The New York Times is brilliant at giving the overall picture, but of course, I want the closeup.
Maybe that's why he's there, too.
I'm sitting here in rainy, steamy Queens, ignoring work, wondering what he's seeing, doing, reacting to, and realizing the limits of my art and my work for the last 30 years -- journalism. The New York Times is brilliant at giving the overall picture, but of course, I want the closeup.
Maybe that's why he's there, too.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Baquoba push
David posted briefly with his mailing address on The Interested Soldier blog yesterday.
The New York Times has a lengthy story on the Baquoba offensive on its front page today. I've put a link to the story, but to summarize:
More 2,000 troops, led by the Third Stryker Brigade, is leading a charge against Sunni insurgents and Al Quaeda.
Fighting is expected to be hard.
There are about 2,000 insurgents around Baquoba, a mix of Saddam's army and paramilitary, Al Quaeda, and embittered Sunnis. They are increasingly well trained, disciplined and well armed.
The operation has begun by assaulting their hideouts. The next step is house-to-house clearing.
Resistance, so far, according to the Times, has been limited. The city's population has turned against Al Quaeda and seem to hope if Iraqi forces can join with Americans to get Al Quaeda out, Americans will go home.
However, insurgents have buried enormous bombs, able to blow up armored vehicles, around the city.
I don't want this blog to be repeater of news stories; there are plenty of blogs that do that much better, plus I am very conscious of the copyright issues as someone who has been on the other side of seeing those rights blindly violated. So, I will link to stories and occasionally summarize stories that I think are useful or interesting.
The New York Times has a lengthy story on the Baquoba offensive on its front page today. I've put a link to the story, but to summarize:
More 2,000 troops, led by the Third Stryker Brigade, is leading a charge against Sunni insurgents and Al Quaeda.
Fighting is expected to be hard.
There are about 2,000 insurgents around Baquoba, a mix of Saddam's army and paramilitary, Al Quaeda, and embittered Sunnis. They are increasingly well trained, disciplined and well armed.
The operation has begun by assaulting their hideouts. The next step is house-to-house clearing.
Resistance, so far, according to the Times, has been limited. The city's population has turned against Al Quaeda and seem to hope if Iraqi forces can join with Americans to get Al Quaeda out, Americans will go home.
However, insurgents have buried enormous bombs, able to blow up armored vehicles, around the city.
I don't want this blog to be repeater of news stories; there are plenty of blogs that do that much better, plus I am very conscious of the copyright issues as someone who has been on the other side of seeing those rights blindly violated. So, I will link to stories and occasionally summarize stories that I think are useful or interesting.
Baquoba in The New York Times
The New York Times has a lengthy story on the fighting Baquoba (spelling of this name seems to differ, depending on style guides, I guess).
To summarize:
The U.S. Army is working with Sunni forces to drive Al Quaeda forces
To summarize:
The U.S. Army is working with Sunni forces to drive Al Quaeda forces
Monday, June 18, 2007
Baqubah
This appeared in the Los Angeles Times this morning. I can't say that it encourages me.
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: JOURNALIST SLAIN; A PROVINCE DETERIORATES
U.S. troops form uneasy alliances in Iraq
In Diyala province, soldiers are willing to risk teaming up with militias to fight insurgent groups.
By Garrett Therolf, Times Staff Writer
June 18, 2007
BAQUBAH, IRAQ — U.S. soldiers on patrol here recently watched a man walk into the street with a bomb and begin to dig. They killed him before he finished. Out stepped another man to finish the job, so they shot him too — then another, and another and another.
In all, five people tried to place the makeshift bundle of munitions in the same hole within an hour.
"You see what we're up against," said Adam Jacobs, a 26-year-old Army captain, after recounting the astonishing story.
Despite a major push by U.S. forces this year to retake deadly Diyala province by focusing on insurgent outposts in Baqubah, huge sections of the city have no meaningful American or Iraqi security presence.
The roads are riddled with explosives powerful enough to kill soldiers inside every vehicle at their disposal. Al Qaeda in Iraq caravans career through the streets with men openly carrying machine guns.
Many of the militants arrived in Diyala after being pressured out of portions of Baghdad by the U.S. troop buildup there. Even more were pushed out of Al Anbar province, the desert hinterland west of Baghdad, when tribal sheiks who had harbored them decided to form an alliance to expel them.
Diyala is now the primary sanctuary for the militant group, and some American officers worry that the insurgents will spread out into the country at an increasing rate. The future, they worry, will be marked by an increasingly sophisticated armed resistance to U.S. and Iraqi security forces, and the imposition of a stringent fundamentalist vision of Islam on the people within the fighters' grip.
On a per-capita basis, Diyala has proved to be the deadliest place in Iraq for American troops, although its total casualties trail those in Baghdad.
The violence here also contributed to the high toll in April and May, the deadliest two-month period for Americans in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The situation is so desperate that U.S. forces over the last month decided to seek uncomfortable alliances with some of the groups that have killed Americans but now say they hate the group Al Qaeda in Iraq even more, and are willing to fight it.
Members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, a Sunni resistance group that is dedicated to the expulsion of U.S. forces and takes its name from the revolt that pushed out the British occupation, are among those newly granted the right to patrol with U.S.-supplied uniforms and be exempt from AK-47 weapons seizures, said Lt. Col. James D. George, the acting American commander in the province.
Hopeful period
Just a year ago, this region appeared to be nearly pacified. Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was killed just outside Baqubah, and U.S. commanders decided the province was ripe for the transfer of primary responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.
Instead, Al Qaeda quickly regained a sanctuary in the province and imposed its extremist interpretation of Islam. U.S. and Iraqi security forces scarcely venture into west Baqubah, where smoking is prohibited, as is the sale of women's clothing by men. Even placing a cucumber next to a tomato in the markets is forbidden because they have been gendered male and female.
Violators have been arrested and confined to outdoor mats in makeshift prison camps. U.S. soldiers found and freed 41 people last month in such a camp, including a 13-year-old boy who said he had been caught smoking.
As Al Qaeda assumes some of the trappings of government, the elected local government faded from view for long stretches of the last year.
The provincial governing council did not hold a single meeting for six months ending in April and spent only 2% of its $165-million budget for basic services and reconstruction projects last year.
George said things were slowly improving after a sustained effort to retake Baqubah since his brigade's arrival in October. A $228-million budget was recently sent by the provincial governing council to Baghdad for approval, and government salaries are once again flowing.
The commander credits the tenuous gains to the block-by-block effort to take back the city, beginning with a police station in the southeast section where Al Qaeda operatives had lowered the Iraqi flag and raised a black one.
"We said OK, fine, we're taking it back," George said.
But even with the recovery of the station, he acknowledged that security in the surrounding area remains poor, and the effort to add more U.S. military outposts has not reached the western half of the city.
"Obviously, we had hoped to be farther along by now. Unfortunately, the enemy has a vote," George said.
A significant hindrance to the effort has been the Iraqi security forces, he said. The Iraqi army and police proved to be ineffective and abusive, targeting Sunni Arabs for detention and holding them for 10 months or more without any access to the courts, George said.
In the meantime, U.S. forces in Diyala are looking past the Iraqi police and army for help driving Al Qaeda from the province. Dozens of militia members have been outfitted by American troops with brown T-shirts spray-painted with numbers and will soon be provided with cards identifying them as members of "the Concerned Local Nationals."
The gunmen are allowed large caches of AK-47s and ammunition, and they are promised eventual positions in the Baqubah police force.
Risky strategy
George said the group included members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade and other fighters who have engaged in violent battles with Americans, but he said no one on a "high-value target" list would be able to evade American capture.
"Since we came here, the No. 1 priority has been to drive a wedge between insurgents and terrorists, and this is one of the only ways to do that," George said.
He acknowledged that aligning with fighters whose long-term agenda remained unclear was risky, but said it was part of a countrywide strategy to jump-start efforts against the insurgency.
On a recent day, Capt. Marc Austin led a squad of soldiers from their command outpost in an abandoned women's college to visit the new partners.
Along the way, Austin passed homes demolished by Apache helicopter fire after insurgents used the dwellings to set off bombs that killed members of his company. Main thoroughfares were impassable because of bomb craters. On one narrow street, Austin's men had been ambushed by snipers on rooftops.
"On each of these streets, I've lost guys," Austin said.
Finally, at an intersection where three of his men died in a Bradley fighting vehicle when it was struck by a makeshift bomb, the soldiers entered a courtyard to find dozens of men wearing the brown T-shirts.
The men said they knew where to find two newly planted improvised explosive devices in the road and agreed to dig them up for the Americans, who then detonated the devices, causing windows to crack. One of the devices blew a 6-foot-deep crater.
"Thank God we found that. It would have destroyed basically any vehicle we have," 1st Lt. Sean McCaffrey said.
Rifle turns up
But relations soured when the Americans found a sniper rifle in the home that was not covered by their agreement. When Austin insisted on seizing the weapon, some of the men's eyes began to well with tears and the leader of the group, who identified himself as Haidr, said, "We are trying to help you, but you are not trying to help us."
The Americans walked a few blocks to another abandoned home where more members of the Concerned Local Nationals were found.
Austin asked for the man he had been told led the group, but a thin man wearing a red "Seattle Sport Club" sweatsuit said he was the group's actual leader and wanted Austin to leave.
"He said he doesn't want to work with the U.S. He hates the U.S.," the American military interpreter said. "He said the neighbors say, 'You guys don't work for Iraq, you work for the U.S.'
"If he's not going to go outside and tell me where I can find these IEDs," Austin said, "what's the point of me letting him maintain AK-47s here? What are we doing if he isn't going to dig?"
Finally, one of the militia members agreed to wear a disguise and point to the place where the Americans could find an IED.
The soldiers laid some explosives on top of the spot in the road and took cover inside the home of a 78-year-old man who said he had been abandoned by his 12 children when they left for safer parts of Iraq. The old man said he had no food and wanted to die.
Outside, the explosives laid by the soldiers blew up, but there was no IED underneath.
garrett.therolf@latimes.com
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: JOURNALIST SLAIN; A PROVINCE DETERIORATES
U.S. troops form uneasy alliances in Iraq
In Diyala province, soldiers are willing to risk teaming up with militias to fight insurgent groups.
By Garrett Therolf, Times Staff Writer
June 18, 2007
BAQUBAH, IRAQ — U.S. soldiers on patrol here recently watched a man walk into the street with a bomb and begin to dig. They killed him before he finished. Out stepped another man to finish the job, so they shot him too — then another, and another and another.
In all, five people tried to place the makeshift bundle of munitions in the same hole within an hour.
"You see what we're up against," said Adam Jacobs, a 26-year-old Army captain, after recounting the astonishing story.
Despite a major push by U.S. forces this year to retake deadly Diyala province by focusing on insurgent outposts in Baqubah, huge sections of the city have no meaningful American or Iraqi security presence.
The roads are riddled with explosives powerful enough to kill soldiers inside every vehicle at their disposal. Al Qaeda in Iraq caravans career through the streets with men openly carrying machine guns.
Many of the militants arrived in Diyala after being pressured out of portions of Baghdad by the U.S. troop buildup there. Even more were pushed out of Al Anbar province, the desert hinterland west of Baghdad, when tribal sheiks who had harbored them decided to form an alliance to expel them.
Diyala is now the primary sanctuary for the militant group, and some American officers worry that the insurgents will spread out into the country at an increasing rate. The future, they worry, will be marked by an increasingly sophisticated armed resistance to U.S. and Iraqi security forces, and the imposition of a stringent fundamentalist vision of Islam on the people within the fighters' grip.
On a per-capita basis, Diyala has proved to be the deadliest place in Iraq for American troops, although its total casualties trail those in Baghdad.
The violence here also contributed to the high toll in April and May, the deadliest two-month period for Americans in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The situation is so desperate that U.S. forces over the last month decided to seek uncomfortable alliances with some of the groups that have killed Americans but now say they hate the group Al Qaeda in Iraq even more, and are willing to fight it.
Members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, a Sunni resistance group that is dedicated to the expulsion of U.S. forces and takes its name from the revolt that pushed out the British occupation, are among those newly granted the right to patrol with U.S.-supplied uniforms and be exempt from AK-47 weapons seizures, said Lt. Col. James D. George, the acting American commander in the province.
Hopeful period
Just a year ago, this region appeared to be nearly pacified. Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi was killed just outside Baqubah, and U.S. commanders decided the province was ripe for the transfer of primary responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.
Instead, Al Qaeda quickly regained a sanctuary in the province and imposed its extremist interpretation of Islam. U.S. and Iraqi security forces scarcely venture into west Baqubah, where smoking is prohibited, as is the sale of women's clothing by men. Even placing a cucumber next to a tomato in the markets is forbidden because they have been gendered male and female.
Violators have been arrested and confined to outdoor mats in makeshift prison camps. U.S. soldiers found and freed 41 people last month in such a camp, including a 13-year-old boy who said he had been caught smoking.
As Al Qaeda assumes some of the trappings of government, the elected local government faded from view for long stretches of the last year.
The provincial governing council did not hold a single meeting for six months ending in April and spent only 2% of its $165-million budget for basic services and reconstruction projects last year.
George said things were slowly improving after a sustained effort to retake Baqubah since his brigade's arrival in October. A $228-million budget was recently sent by the provincial governing council to Baghdad for approval, and government salaries are once again flowing.
The commander credits the tenuous gains to the block-by-block effort to take back the city, beginning with a police station in the southeast section where Al Qaeda operatives had lowered the Iraqi flag and raised a black one.
"We said OK, fine, we're taking it back," George said.
But even with the recovery of the station, he acknowledged that security in the surrounding area remains poor, and the effort to add more U.S. military outposts has not reached the western half of the city.
"Obviously, we had hoped to be farther along by now. Unfortunately, the enemy has a vote," George said.
A significant hindrance to the effort has been the Iraqi security forces, he said. The Iraqi army and police proved to be ineffective and abusive, targeting Sunni Arabs for detention and holding them for 10 months or more without any access to the courts, George said.
In the meantime, U.S. forces in Diyala are looking past the Iraqi police and army for help driving Al Qaeda from the province. Dozens of militia members have been outfitted by American troops with brown T-shirts spray-painted with numbers and will soon be provided with cards identifying them as members of "the Concerned Local Nationals."
The gunmen are allowed large caches of AK-47s and ammunition, and they are promised eventual positions in the Baqubah police force.
Risky strategy
George said the group included members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade and other fighters who have engaged in violent battles with Americans, but he said no one on a "high-value target" list would be able to evade American capture.
"Since we came here, the No. 1 priority has been to drive a wedge between insurgents and terrorists, and this is one of the only ways to do that," George said.
He acknowledged that aligning with fighters whose long-term agenda remained unclear was risky, but said it was part of a countrywide strategy to jump-start efforts against the insurgency.
On a recent day, Capt. Marc Austin led a squad of soldiers from their command outpost in an abandoned women's college to visit the new partners.
Along the way, Austin passed homes demolished by Apache helicopter fire after insurgents used the dwellings to set off bombs that killed members of his company. Main thoroughfares were impassable because of bomb craters. On one narrow street, Austin's men had been ambushed by snipers on rooftops.
"On each of these streets, I've lost guys," Austin said.
Finally, at an intersection where three of his men died in a Bradley fighting vehicle when it was struck by a makeshift bomb, the soldiers entered a courtyard to find dozens of men wearing the brown T-shirts.
The men said they knew where to find two newly planted improvised explosive devices in the road and agreed to dig them up for the Americans, who then detonated the devices, causing windows to crack. One of the devices blew a 6-foot-deep crater.
"Thank God we found that. It would have destroyed basically any vehicle we have," 1st Lt. Sean McCaffrey said.
Rifle turns up
But relations soured when the Americans found a sniper rifle in the home that was not covered by their agreement. When Austin insisted on seizing the weapon, some of the men's eyes began to well with tears and the leader of the group, who identified himself as Haidr, said, "We are trying to help you, but you are not trying to help us."
The Americans walked a few blocks to another abandoned home where more members of the Concerned Local Nationals were found.
Austin asked for the man he had been told led the group, but a thin man wearing a red "Seattle Sport Club" sweatsuit said he was the group's actual leader and wanted Austin to leave.
"He said he doesn't want to work with the U.S. He hates the U.S.," the American military interpreter said. "He said the neighbors say, 'You guys don't work for Iraq, you work for the U.S.'
"If he's not going to go outside and tell me where I can find these IEDs," Austin said, "what's the point of me letting him maintain AK-47s here? What are we doing if he isn't going to dig?"
Finally, one of the militia members agreed to wear a disguise and point to the place where the Americans could find an IED.
The soldiers laid some explosives on top of the spot in the road and took cover inside the home of a 78-year-old man who said he had been abandoned by his 12 children when they left for safer parts of Iraq. The old man said he had no food and wanted to die.
Outside, the explosives laid by the soldiers blew up, but there was no IED underneath.
garrett.therolf@latimes.com
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Happy Father's Day
David called from Baquobah at 6:30 this morning, hot, tired and dusty from a night mission, to wish his Dad a happy Father's Day.
I was in still asleep, but my husband was already up and picked up the phone.
"I'm waiting in line at the barber's," he told us.
I tried to imagine why he'd need another haircut since he'd already gotten a buzz cut just before Memorial Day, but wearing a helmet in the 115 degree Iraq heat must make any longer hair itchy, I thought.
My husband had opened the tie and card David sent before he left. They bantered about the tie design, David saying he saw designs he would have liked, but chose one that his Dad liked.
He gave an address to send mail and packages to, the first we've had since he left the country.
He's met his platoon, and most importantly, his staff sergeant, his key non-com. He's been out on two missions both at night, though he didn't tell us what he'd been doing, except he'd mostly been observing, but soon he will be leading.
This is what he came for, why he turned down a "safe" post at Ft. Riley, Kansas, where he would have taught safely out of harms way, so that he could lead a platoon.
The Army is fighting Al Quaeda here, which is in the midst of a falling out with its former Sunni insurgent allies.
His requests were a surprise to me: a type of strap for his glasses so they stay on, called Rec Specs; cash (there's a PX, a coffee place, but no ATMs at Camp Warhorse); and Arabic coffee in a Arabic coffee can.
Arabic coffee? Isn't that like bringing the mountain to Mohammed?
We think he wants the can more than the coffee, but whatever the motivation, we'll find it.
It's a happy Father's Day.
I was in still asleep, but my husband was already up and picked up the phone.
"I'm waiting in line at the barber's," he told us.
I tried to imagine why he'd need another haircut since he'd already gotten a buzz cut just before Memorial Day, but wearing a helmet in the 115 degree Iraq heat must make any longer hair itchy, I thought.
My husband had opened the tie and card David sent before he left. They bantered about the tie design, David saying he saw designs he would have liked, but chose one that his Dad liked.
He gave an address to send mail and packages to, the first we've had since he left the country.
He's met his platoon, and most importantly, his staff sergeant, his key non-com. He's been out on two missions both at night, though he didn't tell us what he'd been doing, except he'd mostly been observing, but soon he will be leading.
This is what he came for, why he turned down a "safe" post at Ft. Riley, Kansas, where he would have taught safely out of harms way, so that he could lead a platoon.
The Army is fighting Al Quaeda here, which is in the midst of a falling out with its former Sunni insurgent allies.
His requests were a surprise to me: a type of strap for his glasses so they stay on, called Rec Specs; cash (there's a PX, a coffee place, but no ATMs at Camp Warhorse); and Arabic coffee in a Arabic coffee can.
Arabic coffee? Isn't that like bringing the mountain to Mohammed?
We think he wants the can more than the coffee, but whatever the motivation, we'll find it.
It's a happy Father's Day.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Call anytime
The other-worldly pulsating ring of my cell phone went off after midnight, not long after I'd closed my book and turned off the light.
Groggy, I stumbled out of bed in the dark and ran into the living/dining room of our apartment, my bare feet padding on the parquet floor. I groped through my purse for the phone that cast a faint glow on the table but managed to lodge itself stubbornly its snug storage bag.
I'd told David several times last week when he called from Baghdad to call anytime, day or night.
Finally I pulled the phone out, flipped it open, remembered to hit the send button, and put it to my ear. I heard a faint woman's voice mutter something indecipherable -- and then nothing.
"Hello? Hello?" I said loudly, still standing in the dark.
Nothing. I looked at the face, and it showed the ocean scene wallpaper I'd picked from the standard phone choices. It's re-appearance meant the caller had disconnected.
Was it him? By this time, my husband had stumbled out of bed as well, and we both stood there wondering if we'd missed a crucial connection.
I checked the received call list. The number had the same West Coast area code as the number I'd retained when we moved from California to New York.
Most likely, a wrong number.
We crawled back into into bed, spooning despite the warm night, his hand on my hip.
By the sound of his breathing, I knew he wasn't asleep.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"I was wondering what David is doing, where he's at," he said.
"Me, too," I said.
And here I am, at 2:07 a.m., still wondering.
Groggy, I stumbled out of bed in the dark and ran into the living/dining room of our apartment, my bare feet padding on the parquet floor. I groped through my purse for the phone that cast a faint glow on the table but managed to lodge itself stubbornly its snug storage bag.
I'd told David several times last week when he called from Baghdad to call anytime, day or night.
Finally I pulled the phone out, flipped it open, remembered to hit the send button, and put it to my ear. I heard a faint woman's voice mutter something indecipherable -- and then nothing.
"Hello? Hello?" I said loudly, still standing in the dark.
Nothing. I looked at the face, and it showed the ocean scene wallpaper I'd picked from the standard phone choices. It's re-appearance meant the caller had disconnected.
Was it him? By this time, my husband had stumbled out of bed as well, and we both stood there wondering if we'd missed a crucial connection.
I checked the received call list. The number had the same West Coast area code as the number I'd retained when we moved from California to New York.
Most likely, a wrong number.
We crawled back into into bed, spooning despite the warm night, his hand on my hip.
By the sound of his breathing, I knew he wasn't asleep.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
"I was wondering what David is doing, where he's at," he said.
"Me, too," I said.
And here I am, at 2:07 a.m., still wondering.
A beginning
The phone call came Wednesday morning, during the middle of deadline for the weekly newspapers I work for. I immediately grabbed my cell phone out of my purse, put down the proofs I was editing, and answered. I knew it was from David, my son, in Baghdad.
He was heading out to Baquoba, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, by helicopter, that night.
By night, I asked? I tried to imagine flying over the surface of the desert, which he had said looked like pictures of Mars, in the night.
Yeah, that's the way we do it, he said.
I grasped then the safety of flying at night, lights low, making them less of a target. But I also thought of the copters that had been shot down. I did not say that.
I asked instead if he felt ready to go.
He had heard me ask this before, and had his answer rehearsed.
He felt well trained, he was ready to meet up with the (platoon? sorry, David, if I have the term wrong) of Stryker team members he'd be guiding. This is his first tour of duty, and he is joining a team from Ft. Lewis, Wash., that has already been in Iraq for at least eight months.
I told him, unhelpfully I'm sure, it was OK to be afraid, that fear would keep him sharp.
He didn't want to hear that, so instead we talked about movies, Tony Soprano, bit torrent software, and that his grandfather had been in the hospital briefly but was back at the assisted living facility where he resides.
Then there seemed little more to say. I told him, I loved him, to stay safe, and that we would send him things when he got a permanent APO. He reminded me that in the Army, no news is good news.
And since then, no word, no e-mail, no post on his blog. It is now late Saturday night. I don't to hear from him for a while. Too say he is busy is some kind of understatement, but the definition is unclear. I don't know yet what he is doing. Did the Army send him out to fight right away in the active Diyala Province? Or, is he doing what he has done each time he goes to a new post: fill out reams of paperwork and sit around and wait?
I just know it is past 10 p.m. here, which means no one in a chaplain's uniform can knock on my door until the next morning.
He was heading out to Baquoba, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, by helicopter, that night.
By night, I asked? I tried to imagine flying over the surface of the desert, which he had said looked like pictures of Mars, in the night.
Yeah, that's the way we do it, he said.
I grasped then the safety of flying at night, lights low, making them less of a target. But I also thought of the copters that had been shot down. I did not say that.
I asked instead if he felt ready to go.
He had heard me ask this before, and had his answer rehearsed.
He felt well trained, he was ready to meet up with the (platoon? sorry, David, if I have the term wrong) of Stryker team members he'd be guiding. This is his first tour of duty, and he is joining a team from Ft. Lewis, Wash., that has already been in Iraq for at least eight months.
I told him, unhelpfully I'm sure, it was OK to be afraid, that fear would keep him sharp.
He didn't want to hear that, so instead we talked about movies, Tony Soprano, bit torrent software, and that his grandfather had been in the hospital briefly but was back at the assisted living facility where he resides.
Then there seemed little more to say. I told him, I loved him, to stay safe, and that we would send him things when he got a permanent APO. He reminded me that in the Army, no news is good news.
And since then, no word, no e-mail, no post on his blog. It is now late Saturday night. I don't to hear from him for a while. Too say he is busy is some kind of understatement, but the definition is unclear. I don't know yet what he is doing. Did the Army send him out to fight right away in the active Diyala Province? Or, is he doing what he has done each time he goes to a new post: fill out reams of paperwork and sit around and wait?
I just know it is past 10 p.m. here, which means no one in a chaplain's uniform can knock on my door until the next morning.
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