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| Hunting for militants: Spc. Nicholas Woodard of Sylva, N.C. stands guard near a destroyed Shiite house in Hussein al-Hamadi,
Iraq. Scott Peterson/Getty IMages |
US-Iraqi troops sweep Al Qaeda village haven
Soldiers find major weapons caches, a bunker, and an insurgent expense report in Diyala Province.
from the January 18, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
Later, a Predator drone is called in to destroy the white car with Hellfire missiles – so it won't be used again by the insurgents. They also take out another car without license plates that had excited the US Army's explosives-sniffing dog. Other sites yield more lists, including one with some names crossed out – perhaps individuals already assassinated, or militants killed.
"There are many bad guys here," says the senior Iraqi Army officer, 1st Lt. Ahmad Ashab Ahmad, as his 25 soldiers lead the search, going door to door with the Americans and working from two lists of potential suspects. "The US 'Most Wanted,' the first, second, third, fourth and fifth on the lists, they are all here."
The village of Hussein al-Hamadi is largely cut off from US or Iraqi military support by roads seeded with bombs, and masked men of Al Qaeda in Iraq often transit the village, using the overgrown areas between the village and the river as a haven.
Once half Sunni and half Shiite, the village a year ago witnessed Sunni militants systematically "cleanse" the area of all Shiites, blowing up their houses to discourage any from returning. The dramatic results are mounds of rubble similar to villages ethnically cleansed in the 1990s throughout the Balkans.
"Up until yesterday, Al Qaeda were here," says one fearful man, as his children raced to gather documents from the family truck to prove ownership. "Then they heard that coalition forces were coming, and they left."
US soldiers asked him to call if he sees anything suspicious, but he refuses, initially, to accept the phone numbers of a help line. Others in the village refuse point blank, saying that Al Qaeda in Iraq had swept through in the past, checking every mobile phone for known coalition numbers.
"If you be our eyes, we will be your guns," Captain Heumphreus tells the farmer.
This man finally relents, agreeing to help. But he is shaking with fear. His family has been whisked into a back room so as not to hear the exchange. "Before coalition forces came, I was too afraid to speak," he explains in hushed tones. "But now I will talk."
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