Home » Archives » "Iraqi forces stand by while youths harass U.S. patrol"

Iraqi forces stand by while youths harass U.S. patrol

Sep-16-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

By Anita Powell, Stars and Stripes


BAGHDAD — U.S. operations around Sadr City met with increased resistance this weekend, as soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team continued clearing operations in the poor, restive neighborhoods around the Shiite mega-slum.

But rather than resist with bullets and bombs, residents took a decidedly grass-roots approach, hurling rocks and shouting obscenities.

The movement’s unlikely foot soldiers, a rowdy band of little boys and adolescents, slung insults and rocks with impunity as adult Iraqi soldiers and policemen stood by and watched.

Early Friday afternoon, one group of Strykers was “ambushed” by a group of about 30 rock-throwing boys and teens, who set up an impromptu roadblock to stop the vehicles. No one was seriously hurt in the incident, which occurred at the edge of Sadr City, but soldiers were visibly taken aback by the degree of sophistication. Children in other areas were sighted with slingshots and oil-filled bottles.

The day’s events put a definite strain on relations between American and Iraqi security forces, whose joint participation in the clearing operation is called Operation Together Forward.

“You’ve got rocks being thrown at us and your men aren’t doing a thing about it,” Maj. Michael Fazio, operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, yelled at a shocked Iraqi army captain on Friday morning.

Some Iraqi soldiers sat beneath a makeshift tent they’d set up off the side of their parked tank.

“We’re supposed to be partners in security,” Fazio continued. “You have a job to do here. You’re supposed to be directing traffic and providing security.”

Across the street, battalion commander Lt. Col. Al Kelly admonished local policemen for not intervening...


Advertisements