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Frustration tempers troops’ success

Sep-28-2006 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

SEAN COCKERHAM; The News Tribune

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The old man in robe and head scarf told the Stryker troops from Fort Lewis they must be lost.

“No, no, suspicious cars ever here,” the Iraqi said through an interpreter. “The whole country has not security, but in this neighborhood is security.”

Just a few minutes later Wednesday morning, the soldiers found a mortar round buried in the mud and dirt field behind the man’s Baghdad house.

The troops, from the 1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, kept looking. They hit the jackpot beneath the rusted skeleton of a bus.

A hole with 260 mortar rounds.

“You could make one hell of a car bomb with these,” said Sgt. Jesse Murray, a 22-year-old who lived on post at Fort Lewis and is originally from Florida.

The discovery and destruction of the large weapons cache represented a good day for the soldiers of Blackhawk Company. Those are explosives that now won’t be available to kill or maim.

But the 12-hour mission also reflected some of the frustration U.S. troops face in Iraq. Residents claimed ignorance of insurgent activity, and the soldiers couldn’t get enough evidence to detain anyone Wednesday.

One man in the neighborhood made it clear that he would be “slaughtered” if he dared to give information to the Americans.

“We were happy to get rid of Saddam, but now things are worse. … You are not helping,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Ogawa of Spanaway knelt down in the dust, locking in at eye level with the man, and tried to change his mind.


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