YUSUFIYAH. IRAQ: One more time a US Army Blackhawk helicopter
lifts off from BIAP (Baghdad Int. Airport).
On board, among others, is Col. Michael Kershaw, Commanding Officer of
the 2nd Combat Brigade, 10th Mountain Div. Camp Striker,
Iraq. He’s made this trip a dozen times
in the last week. It’s now eight days since four of his men were killed and
three captured in an attack on their battle position near the town of
Mahmudiyah, a prosperous Sunni farming area 15 miles SW of Baghdad.
 |
| Col. Kershaw and Courtney Kealy of Fox news scouring the countryside of the Shakariyah Triangle. |
“I’m not giving up on those
men” he had said earlier in the office of his PAO, Maj. Webster M. Wright
III. “We’ve heard from fairly reliable
sources that at least 2 of them are still alive and possibly all three.” Col. Kershaw was leaving momentarily to fly
over the area between Mumahdiyah and the Euphraites River with a Fox news
team. Representatives from nearly every
news agency in the world has been through Web Wright’s office in the last
week. His assistant, Spc. Chris McCann
has spent some nights sleeping on the floor as calls come in from all of the
worlds time zones.
The big bird settles in for a
landing on the pad at Yusufiyah. The
compound is bustling with activity. As
the rotors spool down and the passengers step to the concrete, the Col. is met
by Courtney Kealy of Fox News. He says
that he’s got business inside with Lt. Col. Michael Infanti, the commander of
the 4th Battalion, 31st
Infantry here at Yusufiyah, and will get with her later. The group hesitates for a moment as the ground
shakes from the roar of 120 MM Mortars.
H and I fire (harassment and interdiction) as in Viet Nam is becoming
more commonplace in this corner of Iraq.
 |
| The gunners view of the farm country along the Euphraites River. |
Inside headquarters, members
of the news media work and visit around a large table. Reporter Courtney Kealy, and her producer
Marcus Dare and photographer Tom Streithorst, both London residents discuss
their pending trip over this troubled area with Col. Kershaw. Reporter Arwa Damon of CNN has also been
holding forth here at the compound for a few days. The general censuses among news people in
Iraq that this reporter has met, is that the Surge in Baghdad is no more than a
band aid.
Arwa Daman has lived in Iraq
for nearly four years. She is young,
educated, beautiful; and speaks Arabic.
Her mother is middle eastern, and Arwa lived in Turkey for a number of
years while growing up. She knows this
part of the world and she intends to stay in Iraq for the duration. This seems to be the attitude of media people
in general. One might add also that this
story is still front page news worldwide.
Col Kershaw called a small
news conference for the Fox contingent and the one print reporter in the
Yusufiyah compound. This was a live
satellite feed for the FOX network. Announcer Courtney Kealy quickly recapped
the weeks news regarding the three captives from the 2nd Combat
Brigade and questioned the Colonel on reports of new evidence.
 |
| Arwa Damon of CNN with myself. |
“All of the pertinent forensic evidence was
gathered on the first day” said Col
Kershaw as he was being interviewed. “We’re
receiving feedback on that evidence now, and are going to have verification on
everything gathered very soon. We‘ve had
information from two detainees that‘s questionable but possibly useable; and a
number of local people claim to have information on other participants of that
operation.“
“One question Colonel
Kershaw,” from the print man. “Do you
feel that this search operation which involves looking through nearly every
home in this sector; at times kicking in doors in the middle of the night and
pawing through possessions, searching
bedrooms of resident females, etc. has had an averse affect on counter
insurgency efforts that you and your unit have so patiently been implementing
since taking over command of this area”
“That’s a tough call” said Kershaw,
“but I can tell you that we are being as careful as we can, and still get the
job done. We’re going to find our soldiers however.”
“In the Viet Nam War it wasn’t
uncommon for the VC to attack, then quickly withdraw to a safe distance. When the fighter bombers arrived and dropped
their ordinance, the only targets left were civilian. The end result was that we won the battle for
’hearts and minds’ for the enemy. Could
that be the thinking of the perpetuators of this captive incident?”
“We’ve considered that
possibility,” said the Colonel, “we really have; and certainly that might be
the end result.” He thought for a
moment. “However the big problem here is
security, and whoever delivers on that issue is going to be the winner in this
conflict. Right now we aren’t, and they
aren’t…but in the end we are going to deliver security to the people of
Iraq. We’re also going to find our men.”
 |
| A Blackhawk coming in for a landing after a long day. |
The roar from a pair of
Blackhawks landing, signals the end of the press conference. The group quickly leaves the building and
loads into the chopper. Colonel Kershaw
is conducting a low level tour of the search area and the site of the
incident. Both side doors are left open
as the machine climbs up to less than a hundred feet and begins it’s sweep
through the beautiful farmland in this area of Iraq.
The aircraft banks in one
direction, then the other, then drops a bit lower as the croplands and villages
of this pass below. It’s Viet Nam all
over again. Kershaw has the chopper
circle the Battle Position that was overrun, where the men were captured; then
out to the Euphrates River. One theory
was the possibility that the three soldiers were quickly taken to the river,
then crossed to the wide open desert to the west that stretches as far as the
eye can see. Maj. Web Wright believes
that if that happened they’d have shown up on Al Jazeera, or some Web Site or
Blog by this time.
Turning back towards
Yusufiyah, Col. Kershaw points out a location where a piece of uniform from one
of the captured men was found. This
morning actually. It gave the men of the
2nd Combat Brigade one glimmer of hope that their comrads would
eventually be rescued and returned to their billets here in Yusufiya, Iraq.
*This article appeared in the Press Republican on May 23, 2007.
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