OUTSIDE BASRA, 25 March 2003 — The US Marine stared at the Iraqi goat herder before him, searching for the right words to say to a man whose country he had just invaded. “How are you doing?,” asked Pfc. Angel Betances, as the man grinned back, unable to understand a word of what he was saying.
“You want cigarettes?,” said Betances, 23, rummaging in the pockets of his camouflage chemical warfare trousers. “I think I got one,” he muttered, handing him a Newport menthol. The man smiled and took it, but it was not what he was looking for.
US forces see themselves as liberators of a people oppressed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but they are unlikely to have much face-to-face contact with the families watching their armored columns rumble past.
Apart from the language barrier between English-speaking troops and Arabic-speaking Iraqis, US soldiers view civilians with some suspicion, fearful of “terrorist” attack.
“I don’t trust anyone,” said one US Marine, cradling an M-16 rifle as he guarded an ammunition truck pulled up on waste ground outside the southern city of Basra. “As long as they keep their distance away, we’ll be fine,” he said, peering suspiciously at a civilian lorry parked near the goat herder’s stone-walled home.
Outside the house, some 20 other huge US transporters formed a wide defensive circle — known as a “wagon wheel”. Belt-fed machine guns mounted on their cabs pointed across the plain surrounding Basra — and over the corrugated iron roof of their new neighbor. The man appeared unfazed, shepherding a flock of goats and sheep between monster-sized trucks laden with artillery charges and guided missiles as if they had always been there.
So far, the supply convoy — known as Second Platoon — has encountered only a handful of civilians on its drive past Basra, an area dotted with scattered homes and the occasional line of trees that break the desert monotony. The handful of Iraqi civilians that have approached the convoy following US Marines spearheading the invasion have mostly offered smiles and handshakes.
The US troops, who have a few Arabic translators in mobile intelligence units, have been briefed to expect a warm reception from the majority Shiites living in southern Iraq, where opposition to Saddam has traditionally been strong. But the Americans know they cannot expect smiles from all those they meet. Hundreds of militia men loyal to the Iraqi president are roaming the area around Basra with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, ready to ambush invading forces, Marine sources say.
So far, the young American troops on the convoy have not fired a shot — preferring simply to stop and stare at the people in the first foreign country some have ever visited. “Those little kids are cool,” said Lance Cpl. Donnie Graap, 18, staring down from the roof of his truck cab as the goat herder’s wild-haired children scampered through the dust. “I figured they’d walk by and they’d be scared by this thing,” he said, tapping his machine gun. “But they walk by and they’re friendly.”
Near the Iraqi town of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, the mood was similarly amicable. “If I see any Iraqis on the side of the road I’m more than happy to give them one of my MREs (meal ready to eat) and other soldiers have been doing the same thing,” said Col. Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group. “I wish these people no ill will, really. I just wish they would surrender and we could get this all over with”.
Meanwhile, roaming bands of Iraqi soldiers were preying on invasion troops in southern Iraq yesterday while the bulk of the US force pushed north toward Baghdad. British troops deployed outside Basra have come under fire from small groups of Iraqi soldiers still hiding out in areas which were supposed to have already been brought under control.
A British military police checkpoint around 20 km south of Basra was hastily dismantled yesterday after an explosion some 200 meters away. A sweep of the area identified three “hot contact points” nearby.
“A hot contact point is where our soldiers are getting shot at,” said a British sergeant, one of several manning the checkpoint since the early morning. “This area has become less secure and we’re going to move.” Iraqi militia armed with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), hand grenades and AK-47 rifles were on the prowl further up the road to Basra, around an oil refinery a few kilometers east of the checkpoint and on waste ground to the west, soldiers said. Two columns of gray smoke rose over Basra. The city has been under attack by mainly British forces for three days, prompting civilians to flee in battered cars crammed full of belongings.
