11 January 2006
Ar Ramadi
We headed out of Al Asad in the morning, heading toward Ar Ramadi. For those who haven’t been following the news closely or who confuse the various cities in Iraq, Ramadi is part of the heart of the Sunni-based portion of the insurgency. Ramadi is located about 80 miles west of Baghdad and is part of the famed Sunni Triangle. There are fire fights, IEDs, and/or mortar attacks every day in Ramadi. As a result, the level of “attentiveness” when driving to or through Ramadi is always high. The day we came rolling down the road to Ramadi was no different.
Traffic was “well behaved” when we drove into Ramadi. Vehicles stood off from our convey at least 100 meters and there were no threatening actions taken by the civilians we encountered. Just as I was about ready to relax as we moved through the entry control point gate at the Ramadi base, a VBIED (vehicle borne IED) rushed the gate just behind us. The gate guards lit them up with crew serve automatic weapons and killed the three passengers in the vehicle.
We found out that just prior to moving into Ramadi, a couple of insurgents (or as some think, Al Qaeda members) blew themselves up at the glass factory in the city of Ramadi (which is outside the base I was on), killing around 70+ Iraqi Sunni police recruits as well as two American soldiers. We saw the smoke from the explosion as we rolled into the city.
Below are a few articles about the incident at the glass factory. If anyone doubts how the agenda or perspective of a reporter or periodical/news agency influences public opinion, compare your feelings after you read about the violence, chaos, blood and gore painted by the typical reports of the event by Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060105/ts_nm/iraq_dc and the Associated Press http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2006/01/06/build/world/40-iraq-bombing_v.inc with your feelings about the event when reading a story that tries to get beyond the sensationalism, over-generalizations and lumping together of various violent events: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ramadi6jan06,1,4360288,print.story?coll=la-headlines-world The stories were written on the same day and represent very different styles and perspectives. You can also notice how the AP author speculates that the only reason the men were there was that they were "desperate" for high paying jobs. Compare that with the on-the-ground quotes taken by the LA Times reporter, who writes of the Sunni's wanting to take control of their own area and situation--a stark contrast to the AP suggestion, and if true, a remarkable positive development over the last year. I’m betting if you heard/read about the bombing before reading these articles, the perspective of the reporter/author was one of the former and not the latter.
The Stars and Stripes did a decent piece on one of the soldiers killed in the attack: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=34193 One of the officers in my unit knew the LTC that was killed.
We only stayed in Ramadi a few hours. As they were cleaning up the aftermath from the explosion, we received an SP time and route for our next location: Camp Al Taqaddum, or as almost everyone calls it, TQ. TQ is located just south of Fallajuh. Along the way to TQ, we encountered a PIED that turned out to be nothing. The weather turned on us though as we traveled in the late afternoon/early evening; the rain and fog rolled in. Inclement weather is both bad and good. It’s bad in the sense that it makes it difficult to see the enemy, but it’s good in that the enemy has a difficult time seeing you.
We arrived at TQ and stayed at the “barn,” which is a single, old factory-type building that houses everyone (transients) in a three-story or so room. I’d guess that there were probably 100+ bunk beds in the building. It’s always dark in there because there is always someone sleeping (and just coming off a mission), regardless of the time of day.
TQ has what I refer to as “moon dust” sand. It’s a 3-6” layer that has the consistency of powdered sugar. The moon dust is above a hard base, which I believe is just made of compacted sand. When one walks, the moon dust creates a little puff of sand that rises up above one’s boot. When it rains, the moon dust sand turns to a clay-like substance. Here’s a little more background on TQ for those who are interested: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/al-taqaddum.htm
After getting some sleep, addressing some maintenance issues, and having the trucks we were escorting reloaded, we left TQ a day or so later at about 2100. Our route was very circuitous, considering our destination. The route is typically dictated by the risk assessment conducted at the time (who is reporting what enemy activity and where, the current medevac situation, weather conditions, etc.). We were on the road for more than 8 hours after leaving TQ. We had to drive through parts of Ramadi, Falujah and Baghdad. Along the way, we saw a few IED explosions hitting the convoy in front of ours (no injuries), but we weren’t hit. Must have been because of singing the song, Greatest American Hero.
Traffic was “well behaved” when we drove into Ramadi. Vehicles stood off from our convey at least 100 meters and there were no threatening actions taken by the civilians we encountered. Just as I was about ready to relax as we moved through the entry control point gate at the Ramadi base, a VBIED (vehicle borne IED) rushed the gate just behind us. The gate guards lit them up with crew serve automatic weapons and killed the three passengers in the vehicle.
We found out that just prior to moving into Ramadi, a couple of insurgents (or as some think, Al Qaeda members) blew themselves up at the glass factory in the city of Ramadi (which is outside the base I was on), killing around 70+ Iraqi Sunni police recruits as well as two American soldiers. We saw the smoke from the explosion as we rolled into the city.
Below are a few articles about the incident at the glass factory. If anyone doubts how the agenda or perspective of a reporter or periodical/news agency influences public opinion, compare your feelings after you read about the violence, chaos, blood and gore painted by the typical reports of the event by Reuters http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060105/ts_nm/iraq_dc and the Associated Press http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2006/01/06/build/world/40-iraq-bombing_v.inc with your feelings about the event when reading a story that tries to get beyond the sensationalism, over-generalizations and lumping together of various violent events: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ramadi6jan06,1,4360288,print.story?coll=la-headlines-world The stories were written on the same day and represent very different styles and perspectives. You can also notice how the AP author speculates that the only reason the men were there was that they were "desperate" for high paying jobs. Compare that with the on-the-ground quotes taken by the LA Times reporter, who writes of the Sunni's wanting to take control of their own area and situation--a stark contrast to the AP suggestion, and if true, a remarkable positive development over the last year. I’m betting if you heard/read about the bombing before reading these articles, the perspective of the reporter/author was one of the former and not the latter.
The Stars and Stripes did a decent piece on one of the soldiers killed in the attack: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=34193 One of the officers in my unit knew the LTC that was killed.
We only stayed in Ramadi a few hours. As they were cleaning up the aftermath from the explosion, we received an SP time and route for our next location: Camp Al Taqaddum, or as almost everyone calls it, TQ. TQ is located just south of Fallajuh. Along the way to TQ, we encountered a PIED that turned out to be nothing. The weather turned on us though as we traveled in the late afternoon/early evening; the rain and fog rolled in. Inclement weather is both bad and good. It’s bad in the sense that it makes it difficult to see the enemy, but it’s good in that the enemy has a difficult time seeing you.
We arrived at TQ and stayed at the “barn,” which is a single, old factory-type building that houses everyone (transients) in a three-story or so room. I’d guess that there were probably 100+ bunk beds in the building. It’s always dark in there because there is always someone sleeping (and just coming off a mission), regardless of the time of day.
TQ has what I refer to as “moon dust” sand. It’s a 3-6” layer that has the consistency of powdered sugar. The moon dust is above a hard base, which I believe is just made of compacted sand. When one walks, the moon dust creates a little puff of sand that rises up above one’s boot. When it rains, the moon dust sand turns to a clay-like substance. Here’s a little more background on TQ for those who are interested: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/al-taqaddum.htm
After getting some sleep, addressing some maintenance issues, and having the trucks we were escorting reloaded, we left TQ a day or so later at about 2100. Our route was very circuitous, considering our destination. The route is typically dictated by the risk assessment conducted at the time (who is reporting what enemy activity and where, the current medevac situation, weather conditions, etc.). We were on the road for more than 8 hours after leaving TQ. We had to drive through parts of Ramadi, Falujah and Baghdad. Along the way, we saw a few IED explosions hitting the convoy in front of ours (no injuries), but we weren’t hit. Must have been because of singing the song, Greatest American Hero.
# posted by themobilized : 09:30
