Troops tighten noose on Fallujah:
Wednesday, December 08, 2004:
After a brief "rest and refit," Marine Sgt. Isaac Weix's (24th Regiment, Golf Company) platoon was sent to Lutayfiyah, a town outside the beleaguered city of Fallujah, to continue its mission of clearing insurgents from the area. He describes the action and shares his insights about Iraqi attitudes and troop morale: Picking up where I left off: After a few days rest and refit, my platoon was ordered to secure a forward operating base in the town of Lutayfiyah. Before I continue, I will give you a broad sense of what is going on. The American military pulled out of many Sunni areas after the last attack on Fallujah. The military pulled out for political reasons and a wait-and-see situation developed. The areas were unable to police themselves and the insurgency cropped up. Currently, the Marines have been taking back towns, one at a time, and tightening the noose on Fallujah. It will be old news when you read this, but Fallujah will be attacked soon. The towns that I am going into is part of that noose tightening. This next town, Lutayfiyah, is so controlled by the insurgents that the Iraqi National Guard (ING) and the Iraqi Police (IP) are afraid to go there. The end state of our mission is to re-establish Iraqi civil authority to the area. After an all-night movement, we arrived at our destination. The spot was picked out previously, using satellite pictures. The largest initial threat is car bombs. We had barriers up to stop this kind of attack within the first 20 minutes. It only takes the insurgents 40 minutes, from the time of your arrival, to get a car bomb to your position. The buildings we would use were secured in 30 minutes. The town woke up to a company of Marines dug into their front yard. After the car bomb threat was minimized, we turned to our next threat -- mortars. We started filling sand bags, hardening our position. The ING and IP arrived shortly after dawn. We secured buildings for each of these units also. As the ING and IP were dismounting their vehicles, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded in a group of INGs and personnel from my platoon. One of the INGs was cut in half and died within 10 minutes. Seven others were wounded. We called in a helicopter for the fifth time since I've been here. All the injured were Iraqi. My squad leader had a small cut on his lip. For the next few days, we took mortar and rocket fire but due to our ability to create good, hardened positions, no one was injured. I came close: An RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) missed me by three feet. It is very interested going into these towns. When you first arrive, the people seem to hate you. When they realize that you are staying, they start to warm up to you and give you information about the bad guys. They live under the threat of death for even talking to the Americans. Here, where the fighting is the worst, the people deep down want the security the Marines provide. I am reassured every day that we are doing the right thing. It may seem messy on television but we are winning here and providing these people with a future that is worth the cost. I am headed back out to the field again for an undetermined amount of time. Motivation is high, morale is high. Morale went way up when we learned Bush got re-elected. I will write back when I can. Sgt. Isaac Weix, USMC
http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2004/12/08/news/news03.txt