Saturday, August 11, 2007

Hunting Terrorists   [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]

AN UNDISCLOSED PATROL BASE NORTH OF FALLUJAH — Two nights ago, I rode out in the first of two convoys for the evening from Al Taqaddum — or as the Marines call their camp inside TQ, Hotel California — to a combat outpost north of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. Driving most of the night, we passed through the heart of Fallujah (sometime during the 10 to 11 o'clock hour).

Riding through Fallujah at night is an eerie, somewhat surreal (I hate that overused word) experience: Lights were on in most of the houses as we rumbled past, dogs running alongside our Humvees and seven-ton trucks. I was sitting in the backseat of one of the Humvees, listening to the strained, pushed-to-the limits groaning of the engine and the squawking of the radio — "Slasher six, slasher six, over ... " — sweating underneath my helmet and body armor, constantly fighting the overwhelming desire to fall asleep, sipping Gatorade and nibbling on a sugar cookie.

Beyond Fallujah, the highway and countryside were pitch dark, lit only by the occasional pop-up flare.

We passed two undetected IEDs. The second convoy, a few minutes behind us, wasn't as lucky. Both roadside bombs detonated as they passed. Several Marines were wounded: One badly.

Sometime after midnight, we arrived at my destination outpost where I met and was briefed by Capt. Warren Cook, commanding officer of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 13th MEU (Special Operations Capable). 

Following a short burst of sleep — alternately sweating in the heat and shivering whenever my body temp dropped — in one of the hootches, I rode out to a very small patrol base where I linked up with one of Cook's Marines: 2nd Lt. Phil Peacock, a 25-year-old former enlisted Marine who speaks Arabic and is BSed by nobody. On this patrol, it was suggested I might be armed. This was, after all, one of Al Qaeda in Iraq's regional bases of operation up until a few weeks ago when the Marines moved in. And AQI and other "mujh" — as the Marines call them — are still operating in the area.

As we moved out on foot beyond the patrol base and along a bomb-cratered road, we found some copper wire used to make IED pressure-plate triggers. We searched one house and found nothing. At another house, were several Iraqi men. After a conversation with the men, we detained one of them.

More to come.

Editor’s note: Please see this note.

08/11 05:28 AMShare