GIs won't forget duty at Iraq's `Alamo'

Chicago Tribune ^ | 26 October 2003 | Stephen J. Hedges

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

GIs won't forget duty at Iraq's `Alamo'

By Stephen J. Hedges
Tribune correspondent
Published October 26, 2003

HUSAYBAH, Iraq --

It was the end of another tense night inside the close, neglected walls of this building in a far-off corner of western Iraq. Army Capt. Steve Smith's face betrayed the weariness that comes with his new assignment: guarding this squat symbol of Iraq's uncertain future. But he made a stab at cordiality.

"Welcome to the Alamo," he said one morning last week, extending his hand to a visitor. "It has been unusually quiet."

The quiet did not last. It never does. Within a few hours, Smith and his men were being pummeled by mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and rifle fire.

Of the many violent episodes that ripple each day through the Iraq that America has invaded and is now struggling to remake, the running standoff at the police station in Husaybah, nestled against the Syrian border, is one of the oddest.

The station itself has no strategic value, and there is no question that U.S. forces there, with more than 1,000 reinforcements nearby, can hold it. But in the last two weeks, the complex's 10 rooms, three cells and courtyard the size of a boxing ring have become the most violent place in the country.

The Americans say they are determined to stay to enforce some normalcy for Iraqis.

"I believed that I had to reassert some control over the functions in the town," said Lt. Col. Greg Reilly, the U.S. commander here. "There was a need to stabilize it, in my mind."

Every 24 hours, the station sustains four to six attacks from an unknown but determined enemy. The assaults began after Reilly, who commands the Tiger squadron of the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, decided earlier this month that the Army should occupy the station.

The result was the Alamo.

[EXCERPTED]
(I believe the Trib requires registration - maybe?)

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

During the war, Special Forces had another 'Alamo' - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/987463/posts

COMBAT:How Green Berets Overcame the Odds at an Iraq Alamo

[PokeyJoe]

Ya know, Arab culture seems to value the good rumor.

The communication system (lack of activity on streets prior to an attack) appears to work.

It sounds like we can start a few rumors of our own.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the post and the link!

Ping to RC.