Free Republic

RUTBAH, Iraq (AP) - U.S. Marines used to patrol the streets of this city near the volatile Syrian border. Now they've penned it in with a wall of sand, leaving only three ways in or out. While causing discomfort to the townspeople, the military says it is an effective barrier to insurgents and frees up troops for use in other parts of restive Anbar province in western Iraq. The Marines ringed Rutbah with a 10.5-mile-long berm, seven feet high and 20 feet wide, in mid-January and reduced their presence to checkpoints at the three entrances that also are manned by...

TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 6, 2006 – In a combined effort to reduce insurgent violence in the village of Siniyah in the northern part of Iraq's Salah Ad Din province, community leaders, Iraqi security forces and coalition soldiers began construction yesterday on a berm around the village. Following the recent spike in insurgent roadside and car bombs, leaders of this small village near Bayji discussed what measures could be taken to improve the security situation. Local police, city council members, sheiks and religious leaders met with leaders from the 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), to discuss...

TIKRIT, Iraq, Dec. 29, 2003 — An Iraqi citizen provided information to U.S. Air Force airmen concerning a large weapons cache that he said consisted of close to 600 rockets, according to U.S. Central Command officials. The Air Force in turn asked the U.S. Army for assistance. Air Force personnel and a patrol from 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment went to the identified site in the evening of Dec. 27 to investigate. Officials said the intelligence acquired suggested the rockets could be found hidden in some undergrowth along the river next to a tree line. After a short search, the...