Tampa Highway I E D

BAGHDAD:  It’s the fifth day of Operation Commando Razor and thus far no word on the three captured GI s from the 2^nd Combat Brigade, Tenth Mountain Div. who are stationed here at Camp Striker, Iraq.   Phone service from Camp Striker on the outskirts of Baghdad is still blacked out and will be, according to Maj. Web Wright, PAO of the Brigade, until positive ID s from DNA testing are made on the four GI s who were killed on the raid last Saturday morning near Mahmudiyah.  Until then there can be no positive ID s on the three soldiers who are presumed to still be captives of a fringe Al Qaida group that is known to be operating in the area SW of Baghdad known as the ‘Triangle of Death’.

 

Tenth Mountain GIs on Tampa Highway.

This Sunni dominated area between Baghdad and the Euphrates is within the AO (Area of Operations) that totals more than 300 sq. miles that is secured by the 2^nd Combat Brigade under the command of Col. Mike Kershaw.  Col Kershaw is known to be on the ground in the Mahmudiyah area, near the town of Yusafyah, leading his troops on a house to house search of that area.  This reporter, after being bumped from a flight to that town by a team from the NY Times late yesterday afternoon, hopes to be with Col Kershaw later on today, weather permitting.

All highways SW of Baghdad have come under heavy scrutiny in the search for the missing GI s.  Lt. Jim Taft, Commanding officer of B troop, 189^th Cavalry, 10^th Mt. Div. and his convoy of four Humvees narrowly missed being blown by an IED along Tampa highway (the main N - S route through Iraq) 12 miles south of Baghdad around 4:00 PM yesterday afternoon while patrolling that stretch of highway which is their responsibility. 

The lead Humvee abruptly stopped on the return trip north.  Lt. Taft’s pulled up alongside to speak with the driver who had been warned via radio of a possible IED near the overpass a hundred yards ahead.  He was accompanied by his driver, interpreter (who was a female from Baghdad named Anne), the turret gunner and this reporter.  Before verbal contact was made there was a huge explosion at the suspicious location on the shoulder of the highway.

 

Tenth Mountain GIs following IED trip wire.

“F--- me” yelled Lt. Taft.  “If we hadn’t stopped when we did they’d have nailed us.”  Quickly surveying the occupants of the lead Humvees to be sure there were no casualties from flying shrapnel, Lt. Taft ordered the men out to survey the area and stop all traffic that was still moving on the highway.  A cloud of black smoke drifted off to the right as the men surveyed the area.  “See if you can find a wire leading from the blast and we’ll follow it.” said Lt. Taft to one of his men.

A wire was quickly located leading down below the underpass, along the bottom of a draw and toward a farmhouse; perhaps a quarter mile east of Tampa Highway.  Lt. Taft quickly organized a small patrol to explore that area.  Beyond the house in the distance a white car was slowly backing away and then disappeared down a narrow back road.  The troops followed the wire along the draw, which deepened before gradually leveling off on the terrain leading to the seemingly abandoned farm house.  Lt. Taft took the lead and entered the barn yard compound.  He fired a couple of warning shots to let it be known that armed men were nearby..

A thorough search of the area turned up an empty wire spool, an old light switch along with a half empty water bottle. Further east of the abandoned house was a deep canal with very high reeds along each bank which made a thorough search nearly impossible with the number of men that Lt. Taft had under his command.

 

Tenth Mountain GIs searching buildings at the end of tripwire.

“It looks like he may have panicked when he saw us stop, then he blew it off and ran.  That’s common procedure for insurgents.  They don’t want to leave any material behind that can be traced, “said Lt. Taft, who then ordered two teams of two men each to reconnoiter this side of the canal.  After finding nothing but a trail through bent reeds the men returned to the farm house and rolled up the trip wire. 

Lt. Taft radioed his men who had remained on the highway to thoroughly search the area of the explosion and if it looked safe to let the traffic start flowing.  Tampa highway was returning to normalcy after one more close call.  Actually this kind of day is normalcy for the people of Iraq, and the American military men who travel up and down this highway on a regular basis.

“Well, it turned out to not be as boring as it looked for a while,” said Lt. Jim Taft to this embedded reporter  “Perhaps you made out better than those NY Times dudes who got you bounced from the flight to Yusafyah.”  Perhaps he was right.

*A version of this article appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on May 18, 2007.