A rchive Date
[ 21-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/iraq/1829284
Advancing U.S. troops get a mixed welcome in southern Iraq
Associated Press
March 21, 2003, 4:10AM
IN SOUTHERN IRAQ - American troops got a mixed reception on their first forays into Iraq, ranging from intense artillery fire to mass surrenders by Iraqi troops who marched in formation toward awaiting Marines.
U.S. forces moved on a broad front today, with Army infantry racing across the desert in thousands of tanks and trucks, plumes of dust in their wake, and Marines edging cautiously toward strategic oil towns and military outposts, calling in air support to take out snipers.
Shortly after crossing the border from Kuwait, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit encountered 200 or more Iraqi soldiers seeking to surrender. One group of 40 Iraqis marched down a two-lane road, gave up, then lay face down on the ground while Marines searched them.
Two Marines came out from a bunker, leading two Iraqis whose hands were bound behind them. One was barefoot.
In contrast, one convoy from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was targeted by Iraqi rockets and small-arms fire just after it entered Iraq, while the 7th Marine Infantry's 3rd Battalion took small-arms and artillery fire.
Marines of the 1st Division, backed by 155 howitzers, were at a police post in the demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq, ready to take the Iraqi town of Safwan. Occasional mortar fire came from Iraq.
"Every now and then they pop off to let us know they're still there," said Lt. Col. Steve Holmes.
Marines were in a sandbagged watchtower at the police post, with forward observers just in front of them, crouching down behind sandbags on the roof.
"If that white car is armed, fire them up!" shouted one Marine, directing mortar fire toward a car on the Iraqi side.
Holmes said he had been watching for days while Iraqis across the border dug holes - either fortifying themselves or laying mines.
"We'll find out soon enough," he said. "We hope to get a lot of them to surrender."
A loudspeaker from the watchtower broadcast recorded messages to the Iraqis.
"Safety, safety," it said to civilians, telling them to stay in their homes and off the streets. A message to Iraqi soldiers said, "We are your friends. If you want to surrender to us, come."
Marines said many regular Iraqi forces facing them had pulled out in recent days, replaced by younger soldiers.
Still awaiting orders to move into Iraq was the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade.
Pfc. Terry Coffindaffer, 34, of Brighton, Mo., smoked a cigarette next to a 5-ton truck used to haul infantrymen, while soldiers around him shaved and brushed their teeth in the Kuwaiti desert. The soldiers had slept for a few hours in shallow ditches they dug next to the truck to protect them in case of a missile attack.
Sgt. Jose Rivera, 24, of Hartford, Conn., slept in the bed of his truck with one other person. He said driving in the convoy of hundreds of vehicles was difficult because of the dust it stirred up; he navigated by watching the roof of the truck ahead of him.
Rivera said he hoped the war proceeded swiftly, so he can get home to see his 3-year-old daughter.
"I came out here focused, real focused. With all the training in the rear, I feel prepared," he said. "I'm nervous, but not scared."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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