A Battlefield Tourist

Families Return

Sep 18 at 1:01am by David

Mahmudiyah is a mixed pot of Sunni and Shia Muslims, with the the Sunni sect dominating the countryside and the Shia sect primarily within the city of Mahmudiyah itself.  As the sectarian stew bubbles, those lines are constantly fluid with one side chasing the other out, in a fight to purify that particular sects’ area.

Monday, I got another chance at a patrol with the same platoon I did the air assault with the night before.  Actually, I learned they were going on patrol and asked to go, gaining permission just moments before they punched out.  Of course, that made me almost late once again, and I made it to the outgoing convoy of four HMMWV’s just in time.  In fact, as my ass hit the right rear seat of truck #4, we immediately rolled out of the gate.

Mahmudiyah is in terrible shape.  As you go into town, a majority of the shops are closed down.  There’s trash everywhere and other stark reminders of how difficult life must be for these people.  Farther in, businesses are open, heavy equipment is digging up the main square (which contained a monument of sorts that sported a large painting of Muqtada al-Sadr) and people are going about there business.  The one image I want to retain is that of a playground up on a hill, its slide slightly twisted, unused for what looked like eternity… like out of a spooky movie.  Even though I did see a trash truck with men loading it, the streets were just filthy.  I’ve never been here before, so it’s impossible to compare it to its previous state, but it certainly reminded me of the poorer areas of some third world countries I’ve seen in the past.

As we moved along, the females generally ignore us, the males just stare at us, but occasionally a child or a teen would smile or give the thumbs up.  A far cry from the types of greetings I was used to seeing in Afghanistan.

Today we were heading to a small Sunni enclave within the city itself.  We had heard the Jaish al-Mahdi militia (devoted to al-Sadr) had previously ran the people off, who were now returning home.  Lt. Cleveland’s assignment was to assess the situation and report back his findings.

As we piled out of the HMMWV’s, we’d unexpectedly picked up the “Light Horse” choppers as overhead watch (Kiowa attack choppers), which provided a sense of security beyond our means and those of the Iraqi Army that was already there.  We were met at the front gate of the first home by a woman and some of her sons who were eager to show us what had happened.  In a nutshell, the woman told Lt. Cleveland that they had been chased out and when they returned, everything was gone. 

As we walked past a group of girls and young ladies near the front of the house, they tried to hide their smiles.  “Salaam Alikeum”, I said.  “Walikum Salaam”, they replied.  I kept my camera down and my eyes averted because in this culture, the mixture of women and non-family men is not normally an appreciated situation.  I kept walking.

Inside, as the woman said, it was stripped bare.  Nothing left at all.  I broke out my cameras and started recording both video and stills.  At this point, the men realized I was a journalist and were more than eager to have me come to their homes to document the damage.  Most of the homes were completely gutted and burned out, as were their vehicles.  I signaled for a young boy to come toward me, then I took his picture and showed him the result.  That earned me a burst of laughter from all the men and boys.  It’s a trick that always works, even in the shadows of their burned out homes.

In all, six families had dared to return.  Lt. Cleveland sat down with one of the men to get his version of events and asked that he call him if the JAM members returned.  The man said he would, and we moved on.  Outside, another man was talking with Lt. Cleveland, so I walked up to listen in on the conversation.  It was clear that made the man very uncomfortable and he asked that they speak alone.  I obliged instantly.  I would later learn that the man had information on local insurgent activity and info on those that burned his home, but in the presence of me and/or the Iraqi Army, he didn’t want to talk about it.  Here in Iraq, fear and distrust rule the day.

As our patrol pushed on, our next mission was to head to Route Tampa, a most dangerous and important highway that bisects that country.  It is surrounded by fence and Iraqi Army posts, but still manages to produce a significant number of IEDs.  Lt. Cleveland was tasked with finding out what the IA was going to do about it.  This same stretch of highway made the news recently when a double suicide car bombing brought down a highway overpass, killing several Americans.  This attack is the epitome of how the news can mismanage perception back home.  While the attack did bring down the overpass, this bridge was not an active, working overpass, but a place where the soldiers had created a battle position.  My perception of the event, when it happened, was that it was some major blow to the transportation infrastructure, and that was not the case. 

All along route Tampa in this area, these overpasses are where IA soldiers live and defend the route.  Somehow, in between them, the insurgents manage to plant IED after IED.  I wondered how they could do this, considering the road is asphalt?  Apparently they pour gasoline on the road to soften it up, pick the asphalt out and then bury the explosives before resurfacing the spot.  I saw literally several dozen holes dotting the side of the highway from previuos explosions.  I can only imagine how many people have died or been horrificaly injured here.  The process of getting these IEDs buried is not an easy task and I could only wonder how in the hell no one would see this activity.  In defense of the Iraqi Army, they do not have night vision, but it still seems like a lot of trouble is right under their noses.

At most of the battle positions we visited, there were no officers.  “A lot of these guys are just taking up air”, complained one soldier.  However again, in the IA’s defense, this section of Tampa was just assigned to the IA working out of Mahmudiyah.  Their success as a unit is earning them a bigger battlespace which is stretching them to the limit.  One thing for sure, though:  These battle positions are 100% Iraqi Army, all the way down the road.  They have armored vehicles, weapons and many have body armor.  Again it isn’t perfect, but it appears that the IA is starting to stand on its own (with US guidance).

After returning to base, the rest of my day was spent writing the various things I need to get working on (including this post) and getting the pertinent information I need to write future articles.  I also got in a nice nap where I was again assaulted with some very strange dreams.