American, Iraqis work together to create a safe area near Tarmiyah

[Barrett808]

American, Iraqis work together to create a safe area near Tarmiyah
By Tom Lasseter
McClatchy Newspapers

TARMIYAH, Iraq - While much of the area around the town of Taji, Iraq, is racked with sectarian violence and insurgent attacks on American troops, Tarmiyah is one of the successes.

Soldiers used to call the main road in Tarmiyah the racetrack. When patrols came through the Sunni town, north of Baghdad, they gunned their engines and drove as fast as possible, hoping not to be hit by a shower of rocket-propelled grenades. Tarmiyah was controlled by insurgents who roamed the streets with AK-47s. There were only 20 policemen in a town of 45,000 residents.

"Every other night the police station would get shot up, and the IP (Iraqi police) would huddle up and just hope not to die," said Col. Jim Pasquarette, the brigade commander for the 4th Infantry Division in the area.

In March, the U.S. Army held a recruiting drive for the police force. Fifty-seven men promised they would join. When the day came to ride to the police recruiting center in Baghdad, not a single man showed.

Then in a three-day span, five Iraqi soldiers were killed in the town.

(more)

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/14923090.htm

[Redstone]

1. Worked out real well, didn't it?

Redstone

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. In this case, it did work

The US Troops laid down their weapons and everyone calmed down. This is what US Troops need to do everywhere they are. Bombing the shit out of people obviously doesn't work. We are the occupying POWER and we better start treating people like human beings.

Pasquarette decided that he'd had enough. On March 25, hundreds of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers rode into Tarmiyah, backed by tanks and attack helicopters. But instead of the fight that Pasquarette was expecting, the day was relatively quiet.

American soldiers walked through the marketplace and handed out leaflets explaining that they were going to spend $7 million on construction projects, including a major water pipeline and a health clinic.

They also blocked the city off completely with a perimeter of triple-stacked bales of concertina wire and told residents that instead of leaving in a week or two - as is often the case after major U.S. operations in small, troubled Sunni towns - they'd be living in a schoolhouse in the middle of town. The insurgents, they said, wouldn't be coming back next week to punish townspeople who cooperated with the Americans.

And, U.S. officers promised, Iraqi troops soon would be the ones manning the checkpoints.

Within a week, some 2,000 Iraqis signed up to join the police.

[Redstone]

3. That was the Green Berets' initial mission in Viet Nam.

Remember how well THAT worked out?

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I've seen all this before.

Redstone

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Don't get me wrong

but in this instance it looks like they worked out the situation on the ground among themselves and the hell with what the idiots at the Pentagon want.

[Redstone]

5. Well, in that case, good for them. I sure hope the brass lets them

keep doing it. Would be damn nice to see something positive happen over there.

Redstone