Free Republic

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - When members of the Army's 4th Infantry Division were called out on extra duty that night in December 2003, they thought it was just another routine mission. By the next day, they had bragging rights as part of the team that caught Saddam Hussein. As Saddam faces a scheduled verdict and sentencing Sunday in his first crimes-against-humanity trial, many of the soldiers who helped seal off his small riverside compound are back in Iraq on another tour of duty.The memory of that fateful mission is fading among the new threats they face."I wouldn't take it back...

"We lose more of them [Iraqi Army members] on leave than we do in combat... these guys are bleeding for a greater voice than we are." -- Army First Sergeant John "Top" MacFarlane on the risk of being a member of the Iraqi Army (many are assasinated while they take their seven days off a month) "I think this is Bob's [ABC's Woodruff] blood right here." -- MacFarlane to me, pointing at a blood stain on his flak jacket "... they're all nuts." -- Army Major Mike Jason on insurgent groups all within a 10-mile radius of here "Go ahead...

Soldiers expect experience and battle-tested teachers to make the difference FORT HOOD - Just days after the nation reached the 2,000 fatality mark in the Iraq war, the Army's largest fighting force is bracing to return to the battlefield to face an enemy their commander describes as "a band of thugs." About 500 troops of the 4th Infantry Division are in the combat zone to prepare the way for more than 20,000 other soldiers who, beginning next week, will depart Central Texas to serve from 12 to 14 months in that insurgent-terrorized nation. The massive deployment of the "Ironhorse" division,...

Study ties Hussein, guerrilla strategy US may have played into plans, report says By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff  |  October 11, 2004 WASHINGTON -- The ''shock and awe" attack that toppled Saddam Hussein in three weeks is often touted as a brilliant strategy that defeated Iraq with relatively few US casualties. But new information suggests that the United States may have played into Hussein's plans for a quick war followed by a long guerrilla insurgency. The report last week of the Iraq Survey Group, based partly on interviews with captured leaders of the secretive Iraqi regime, said Hussein planned to...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 June 19, 2003Release Number: 03-06-67 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4ID SOLDIERS SEIZE CASH, VALUABLES IN TIKRIT FARM HOUSES TIKRIT, Iraq – Fourth Infantry Division soldiers conducted two raids June 18 at separate farm houses outside of Tikrit, seizing $8 million (U.S.), millions of Iraqi dinar, a large sum of British pounds, British Sterling and Euro still waiting to be counted by Coalition Forces. Other items seized in the raid were expensive jewels and gems with an estimated value...

CENTCOM:   June 10, 2003Release Number: 03-06-39 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TASK FORCE "IRONHORSE" LAUNCHES OPERATION PENINSULA STRIKE CAMP DOHA, Kuwait -- During the early morning hours of June 9th, Task Force Ironhorse soldiers conducted a series of raids to eradicate Ba’ath Party loyalists, paramilitary groups and other subversive elements located on a peninsula along the Tigris River, northeast of Balad, Iraq. The raids signaled the start of Operation Peninsula Strike. The operation took place in two major stages. The first stage of the operation involved moving soldiers and equipment into strike positions, intelligence gathering, and coordination with local police. During...

<p>CAMP WOLF, Kuwait — The Army's 4th Infantry Division has begun to arrive here, where its 30,000 troops with Task Force Iron Horse meet up with tanks, Humvees, attack helicopters and other heavy equipment arriving daily on ships in the Persian Gulf.</p>