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Time to once again open my life up a little in order to share the plethora of wealth I'm about to absorb. I'm going to be back in Iraq through September, so hop on board and check back every couple of days, I'll do my best to update as much as possible. Questions? dtate38@cox.net And check out the site I'm working with: http://www.billroggio.com Support independent journalism!
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Saturday, October 30th 2004 (cont)
As we start down the road where, as usual, the Afghans are having a hoot that some random white guy has just jumped into their truck. The drive down has quick and bumpy and like always, dusty.
A couple of km down, we stop, turn around and head the opposite direction. We were out because Bravo was supposedly in contact again and we were going the opposite way.
We pulled up to the beginning of a clusters of buildings and fanned out while moving toward the village. There the Americans told the local police to start questioning the village elders about who it was firing on the coalition.
Which is always the case, the men all said they heard nothing about outsiders or fighters. In fact none of them heard the thud of HE rounds hitting the mountain. We did find one guy that heard the B-1 come over head and he said they were all very scared.
This is the biggest challenge these troops face out here and it's a simple matter of numbers. I truly believe that these people want to give the ACM up, they are just afraid of reprisal, which is always deadly. Because the coalition doesn't have enough troops to properly secure the country, patrols come and go with no consequence for what is left behind. Today there is security, but once Charlie and Bravo move on, it's up to the local police who are incapable of the job right now.
The alternative is giving the terrorists food, shelter or whatever in return for not being killed. Talk about a rock and a hard spot.
We push through the village and head toward a very steep, foothill to the range beyond. It's here that we hear a shepherd is supposed to be, but there is no sign of him and we start up the hill. By this time the agile young Afghans are quickly moving up, while me and the armor-laden Americans are pull up the rear. When the Afghans make it to a depression that looks like a cave, they stop. When they stop, we stop and just look at them.
The cave turns out not to be a cave and the Afghans want to continue to the ridge. Much to my delight, the U.S. advisors wave them down. I have to say, for men that had not trained together, they approached the village together quite well with police spreading out on the flanks keeping proper distance, etc...
On the way back in, we stopped a few more random guys and got the same story over and over. I've heard it a million times since I've been here and will hear it more, I'm sure.
Just as we were loading up to leave, the police came to the Americans and told them they had found someone who wanted to talk, but was afraid. So the soldiers acted like they arrested him and we took him off to be interviewed.
The man claimed that he knew the men who fired on the troops, what they looked like and where they lived. He also said that there were up to six Al Qaida in the hills led by a Pakistani that had come over the border just three days before.
Before long the intel guys showed up. Regular army guys that don't have to shave, don't have to wear uniforms and drive well equipped white SUV's. The Americans decide to split up, one team pushing up to Bravo , leaving one of the "agents" to interrogate the informant. By this point the man was truly scared and was not interested in fingering the bad guys in person. That's when the intel guy steps up, finger out, telling the guy he will cooperate or he'll be "held responsible".
For whatever the technique, it worked because eventually the guy was showing the informant the very darkly tinted windows of the SUV and he seemed assured no one could see in.
By now, I want to get up the hill and get my sleeping gear because if Bravo was going to knock on some Al Qaida doors, I certainly wanted to be there. So the ETT's with the Afghan Army agreed to take me up the hill. On the way up, though, I saw the column pull out without me.
At the top of the hill I let the guys know what was up and that got them excited and a bit pissed. You have to understand, these guys want to do their job badly and knowing there may be Al Qaida down there stokes the fire. Not only that, but they've been here 4 months and Bravo just arrived from Bagram and just like that, Bravo is getting more action in a week then Charlie has had since they got here.
Turns out the cordon and search was not approved. Not sure why, but it was. I also didn't hear all of the conversation of what was going on with HQ and the informant, so who knows what influenced the decision.
So with the sun going down I finished of my sleeping area, which actually looked quite comfortable. I was then invited down with some of the others to have dinner with the Afghans, which I accepted. They have fire afterall, and it was getting cold.
Dinner turned into tea as the soldiers asked me various questions about America and what not, which went on for about a half an hour when all of a sudden, the Afghans got up and started breaking camp telling me we were going to Ghazni.
As we start down the road where, as usual, the Afghans are having a hoot that some random white guy has just jumped into their truck. The drive down has quick and bumpy and like always, dusty.
A couple of km down, we stop, turn around and head the opposite direction. We were out because Bravo was supposedly in contact again and we were going the opposite way.
We pulled up to the beginning of a clusters of buildings and fanned out while moving toward the village. There the Americans told the local police to start questioning the village elders about who it was firing on the coalition.
Which is always the case, the men all said they heard nothing about outsiders or fighters. In fact none of them heard the thud of HE rounds hitting the mountain. We did find one guy that heard the B-1 come over head and he said they were all very scared.
This is the biggest challenge these troops face out here and it's a simple matter of numbers. I truly believe that these people want to give the ACM up, they are just afraid of reprisal, which is always deadly. Because the coalition doesn't have enough troops to properly secure the country, patrols come and go with no consequence for what is left behind. Today there is security, but once Charlie and Bravo move on, it's up to the local police who are incapable of the job right now.
The alternative is giving the terrorists food, shelter or whatever in return for not being killed. Talk about a rock and a hard spot.
We push through the village and head toward a very steep, foothill to the range beyond. It's here that we hear a shepherd is supposed to be, but there is no sign of him and we start up the hill. By this time the agile young Afghans are quickly moving up, while me and the armor-laden Americans are pull up the rear. When the Afghans make it to a depression that looks like a cave, they stop. When they stop, we stop and just look at them.
The cave turns out not to be a cave and the Afghans want to continue to the ridge. Much to my delight, the U.S. advisors wave them down. I have to say, for men that had not trained together, they approached the village together quite well with police spreading out on the flanks keeping proper distance, etc...
On the way back in, we stopped a few more random guys and got the same story over and over. I've heard it a million times since I've been here and will hear it more, I'm sure.
Just as we were loading up to leave, the police came to the Americans and told them they had found someone who wanted to talk, but was afraid. So the soldiers acted like they arrested him and we took him off to be interviewed.
The man claimed that he knew the men who fired on the troops, what they looked like and where they lived. He also said that there were up to six Al Qaida in the hills led by a Pakistani that had come over the border just three days before.
Before long the intel guys showed up. Regular army guys that don't have to shave, don't have to wear uniforms and drive well equipped white SUV's. The Americans decide to split up, one team pushing up to Bravo , leaving one of the "agents" to interrogate the informant. By this point the man was truly scared and was not interested in fingering the bad guys in person. That's when the intel guy steps up, finger out, telling the guy he will cooperate or he'll be "held responsible".
For whatever the technique, it worked because eventually the guy was showing the informant the very darkly tinted windows of the SUV and he seemed assured no one could see in.
By now, I want to get up the hill and get my sleeping gear because if Bravo was going to knock on some Al Qaida doors, I certainly wanted to be there. So the ETT's with the Afghan Army agreed to take me up the hill. On the way up, though, I saw the column pull out without me.
At the top of the hill I let the guys know what was up and that got them excited and a bit pissed. You have to understand, these guys want to do their job badly and knowing there may be Al Qaida down there stokes the fire. Not only that, but they've been here 4 months and Bravo just arrived from Bagram and just like that, Bravo is getting more action in a week then Charlie has had since they got here.
Turns out the cordon and search was not approved. Not sure why, but it was. I also didn't hear all of the conversation of what was going on with HQ and the informant, so who knows what influenced the decision.
So with the sun going down I finished of my sleeping area, which actually looked quite comfortable. I was then invited down with some of the others to have dinner with the Afghans, which I accepted. They have fire afterall, and it was getting cold.
Dinner turned into tea as the soldiers asked me various questions about America and what not, which went on for about a half an hour when all of a sudden, the Afghans got up and started breaking camp telling me we were going to Ghazni.
