Stars and Stripes: "The whole city, from every side, was fighting"

[Fred Feldman <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Even without the editorial comments in brackets of GI Special, this
article from the official army newspaper Stars and Stripes reflects the
experiences, observations, and thinking, that are turning more Gis
against the war.
Fred Feldman

GI Special 2#C65
ThomasFBarton@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Combat Up Close And Personal:"The Whole City, From Every Side, Was
Fighting"
November 29, 2004 By Steve Liewer, Stars and Stripes

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, Iraq - Guerrillas hiding in "gasoline
alley," a fuel and maintenance district on the city's south edge, opened
fire on Staff Sgt. James Tucker's platoon with grenades and AK-47s as it
left Bayji around midday Nov. 9 after a quiet, three-hour patrol.

Tucker's men - from Task Force 1-7, based at nearby FOB Summerall -
jumped out and flanked the insurgents while gunners laid down cover fire
with .50-caliber machine guns.  When they'd killed or driven off the
gunmen, they discovered nine homemade bombs and some rocket-propelled
grenades.

"They were setting up for an attack," said Tucker, 30, of Tulare, Calif.
"It could have been a lot worse."

Within a few minutes of that encounter U.S. and Iraqi troops in several
parts of the city came under fire. U.S. patrols and convoys dodged heavy
gunfire all the way down Highway 1, the main north-south thoroughfare in
Bayji, a city of 125,000 people.

"There was so much gunfire, we couldn't get through," said Staff Sgt.
Kelvin Manning, 29, of Valdosta, Ga., a platoon sergeant in the unit's
Battery C. "Pretty much the whole city, from every side, was fighting."

For most Task Force 1-7 troops who were there, it was the longest,
fiercest gunbattle they'd seen during nine months in Iraq.

"[Nov. 9] was the first time in a long time we've had a straight-up
fight," said Sgt. Melvin Davis of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry
Regiment, currently assigned to Task Force 1-7.

"Usually (the rebels) just take off running," said Spc. Greg McMeekan,
23, of Kalamazoo, Mich., one of Davis' soldiers. "This time, hell no,
they stood their ground."

Task Force 1-7 combat platoons ran a gauntlet of rifle fire to take up
positions at the police station and city hall, both on Highway 1.  Tanks
and Bradleys headed down "Market Street," the city's chief shopping area
and the insurgents' favorite spot for mounting attacks.



The armored vehicles blasted away at nests of rebels, inflicting heavy
damage on the neighborhood.



"We destroyed a lot of the buildings, the places where they fight," said
Capt. Michael Byard, 30, of Trenton, N.J., the Battery C commander

At one point, insurgents were firing at U.S. and Iraqi positions from
behind a fuel truck on Highway 1.  After getting permission from his
commander, Tucker fired an AT4 rocket at the tanker.

It exploded in an enormous fireball that was visible for miles.

"It was like a nuclear bomb," said Davis, 32, of Houston.

McMeekan, on the police department rooftop 500 meters away, said he had
to turn his head away from the intense heat.

"I don't know what happened to those [insurgents]," Tucker said, "but
they weren't there anymore."

Late in the day, the opposition vanished into the city.  Task Force 1-7
counted at least 20 enemy dead and left the downtown in ruins.

Soldiers can't figure out why the people in Bayji side with the
terrorists when the Americans have built new buildings for them and
given out toys and school supplies to many of the city's children.
[Well, let's try it this way.  How many toys and school supplies would
your kids have to get to stop you from taking up arms against an Iraqi
army occupying your home town?  Would you be a traitor to your country
for a couple soccer balls and a yo-yo?]

"You hope they'll become frustrated with the [insurgents], but they're
intimidated, too," Byard said. "Why do they always attack the people who
are trying to help them?"  [Well, let's try it this way.  The British
said they were only trying to help peaceful Americans when George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson and those other terrorist scum were
killing decent people and British soldiers.  Why did those Americans
always attack the people who said they were just trying to help them?]

"We tried to start out as humanitarians," said Tucker, who has been
nominated for a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions Nov. 9.  "We tell
these people, 'we want to help but you have to help us.'"  [And every
Empire since time began comes out with the same lame, lying bullshit.]