Home » Archives » "Knowing the enemy is difficult in Baghdad"

Knowing the enemy is difficult in Baghdad

Oct-18-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

The following article also contains a video segment.

By Richard Engel, NBC News

BAGHDAD - The 172nd Cavalry preps for a journey into the unknown — a patrol on Baghdad's dangerous Haifa Street.

"The enemy threat is high from the high-rises, dropping grenades on us," says one soldier.

Today is the Alpha platoon's 476th patrol after 14 months in Mosul, Anbar, and now Baghdad, the most complex of all.

"You don't know where the bad guy is at any given moment," says 1st Sgt. Donald Kane of the 172nd Cavalry's Stryker Brigade.

And you don't know when they'll attack.

As the soldiers collect pieces of a mortar fired last night, this morning there are gunshots.

Snipers have just apparently started firing in this area. U.S. troops are now spreading out to determine where the shooting is coming from.

The soldiers scan the buildings, load into the Strykers, and go right back on patrol. But in the alleys, as on Haifa Street, they are watched.

Locals in overwatching positions signal their location to insurgents by waving flags, and releasing homing pigeons. [...]


Advertisements