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heat, dust and the hunt

Jun- 4-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

If you did not read part 1 of this story about the 6-day mission of the 2-14 "Rattlesnakes", you may want to start here.

Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune

Editor’s note: This story picks up immediately at the end of the Stryker story in Friday’s paper. AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – For six months, the cavalrymen of the Stryker brigade had hunted a suspected smuggler and terrorist known as Abu Anwar.

They believe he is one point of a triangle connecting the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Biaj with smugglers across the border in Syria. The smugglers move guns and materials for use in suicide bombings against Iraqi and U.S. forces.

“He’s a guy who trains, recruits and equips foreign fighters,” said Maj. Bryan Denny, the executive officer with the Fort Lewis brigade’s 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.

But they’ve never been able to nab him in and around Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 where the Cav normally operates.

So this past week the Rattlesnakes, as the 2-14 is known, fanned out across the heart of the Al-Jazirah Desert. It’s where Anwar’s tribesmen dwell in primitive villages and secluded shepherd’s tents.

For six days, the squadron’s 500 scouts trekked beyond their normal boundaries all the way south to the Euphrates River, 185 miles away.

It was here they hoped to find their prey, in a place he might feel most at ease because they’ve seldom pursued him there.

They’d not likely get a better chance to track him across his desert home. After this, the squadron would be moving to Mosul with the rest of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, for operations in the city of 2 million.

No social call

The morning of the fifth day, Capt. Keith Walters and a platoon from his Blackjack Troop rolled up to a mud-brick compound, spacious compared to most of the crude shelters in the hot, dusty desert.

The man of the house was [name deleted], a member of the Jeygafi Tribe. A few days earlier he had been detained because of suspicious communications traced to his property. His brothers were still in custody.

Hamed came outside to greet his guests, all smiles and handshakes, but he knew this wasn’t a social call. He had promised the Americans that if they released him, he would give them the individual they were seeking – a fellow tribesman named Naef Gabash Abed – within a few days. [...]

Follow the link to the full article for the conclusion of this very interesting story.


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