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Troops Push Security Door to Door in Iraq

Aug-17-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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By Louise Roug, LA Times

BAGHDAD — Sweating through their uniforms, Capt. Ed Matthaidess and his men hunted through the heart of this Shiite neighborhood. In 120-degree heat, they spent six hours searching drawers and sewers alike. By the end of the day, their afternoon search had yielded slim pickings: four AK-47s and a tiny green water pistol.

While Matthaidess and his Charlie Company were searching Shula in northwest Baghdad this week, other troops built concrete walls around a Sunni neighborhood to the south. Both actions were part of a stepped-up effort by 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops to stem sectarian bloodshed in the capital.

The U.S. military Wednesday announced plans to expand the operation to other neighborhoods of Baghdad. [...]

"The hard-core Al Mahdi guys left on the first day," said Matthaidess, of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He was referring to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi militia, which U.S. military officials believe is behind many of the kidnappings and extrajudicial executions of Sunni Arabs here. [...]

"It's frustrating," said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelly, commander of the 1st Battalion, whose men arrived in Baghdad 10 days ago. About 3,800 soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were about to return home to Alaska when they were told to go to the capital from Mosul, adding 120 days to their yearlong deployment.

In northern Iraq, Kelly and his men fought a Sunni nationalist insurgency. In Baghdad's Shula neighborhood, Shiite militias "are the biggest problem," he said.

Many homes in the neighborhood are decorated with posters of Sadr; Al Mahdi members provide aid to widows and struggling families, and they distribute free gasoline. With only a few hours of electricity per day, Iraqis must rely on generators to keep cool. But at $1 per gallon at the pump and $4 on the black market, the fuel for the machines has become prohibitively expensive.

"They are pretty smart about gaining popular support," Kelly said.


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