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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Straight Poop on Sadr Uprising |
| 2004-06-30 |
| Part of an e-mail from Joe Roche, serving in Iraq The 1st Armored Division, of which the 16th Engineers are a part, led the charge against Muqtada Al-Sadr’s uprising. The 16th was in the front in all this in Karbala, Najaf, Kufa and Baghdad. And contrary to the negative news coverage, the reality is that we have won some major victories that are having dramatic impact region-wide. I don’t think most Americans are aware of the seriousness of the threats we confronted and defeated. Sadr’s Mahdi Army was backed by extensive foreign fighters and a huge amount support. Iran’s formidable Al-Quds Army (named for the conquest of Jerusalem, Israel) directly assisted their attacks against us. They trained some 1,200 of Sadr’s fighters at three camps they ran along the Iran-Iraq border at Qasr Shireen, ’Ilam, and Hamid. This was backed by what one Iranian defector to us has said was $70 million dollars a month given by Iranian agents to our enemies -- from which Sadr’s forces were directly funded in just the past few months by up to $80 million more. The Iranian Embassy distributed some 400 satellite phones in Baghdad to Sadr’s forces, while 2,700 apartments and rooms were rented in Karbala and Najaf as safe houses. Sadr’s ability to influence the Iraqi people was further enhanced by 300 "reporters" and "technicians" working for his newspaper, radio and television networks -- persons who are actually members of the Al-Quds Army and Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. We also faced Chechen snipers in Sadr’s forces who were being paid anywhere from $500 to $10,000, depending on differing accounts, for each American soldier they hit. One sniper hit five soldiers in less then a minute-and-a-half, killing one with a shot in the neck. These mercenaries were sending this money back to Al-Qaeda-allied guerrillas in Chechnya to fight the Russians. We also have constantly faced Lebanese and Palestinian Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon mixed in the fighting. Their claim to fame for the killing of 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut in 1983 is something we have had to consider every day and on every mission. Najaf and Karbala are the two most important Shiite cities in the world. They are very densely packed and overcrowded tightly around the mosques that dominate the center of each. Baghdad’s Sadr City has a population of over 2 million even more densely populated. Do you see what I’m getting at? The odds against us were extreme and it looked for a while like all of Iraq would collapse in an orgy of violence and chaos that threatened to erupt the entire region. The enemy tried constantly to force us into killing innocent civilians. This didn’t work. The people of Najaf and Karbala were extremely friendly. Kids poured out at times to greet U.S. soldiers because it was the first time many of them saw us. They knew the Mahdi Army was an alien outside militia, backed by foreign fighters, seeking to hijack their holy sites and force a larger regional conflict upon the U.S. When our patrols would go into the cities to clear schools where the militia hid weapons, or to secure government buildings, the Iraqis were very helpful and welcoming, giving much information to us to find and destroy Sadr’s forces. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #1 Please, Mr. Blackhat....Please, PLEASE move a couple of divisions into the disputed Shat Al Arab. You would look very good in a MOAB. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2004-06-30 4:09:53 PM |