Marines in Ramadi sweep to see and be seen

[unhappycamper]

Cpl. Benjamin Riddle digs at a spot where the mine detector held by Lance Cpl. Erik Santos indicated there was metal. He found a crushed Pepsi can under the dirt, but no weapons. The Marines found no weapons during their cache sweep in Ramadi, but said their presence would deter insurgents from hiding weapons in the area.


Marines in Ramadi sweep to see and be seen
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, March 2, 2009

RAMADI, Iraq — Cpl. Benjamin Riddle pulled a rusted tube of metal about the size and shape of a cardboard toilet paper roll from the ground. He put down his shovel, brushed the dirt off the tube and turned it over in his hands.

"Here’s your hit," he told minesweeper Lance Cpl. Erik Santos, and held up their find: an old machine part.

For an hour, they and about a dozen other Marines swept a dirt road alongside a dried-up canal near the Euphrates River, looking for stockpiles of buried weapons. They found crumpled soft drink cans, scraps of metal, even an old orange fuel filter that looked suspiciously like a large mine.

They didn’t find any weapons, but it didn’t mean the insurgents were gone.

"We were being watched today. We were definitely being watched," Lt. Jason Deane said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61064