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U.S. Battalion Shifted Out of Baghdad
 BAQOUBA, Iraq (AP) - Some 700 American soldiers rolled into Baqouba on Tuesday, shifted out of Baghdad to help carry the security campaign against sectarian violence to a nearby volatile province where Sunni Arab insurgents fled ahead of the crackdown in the capital.The fresh troops from the Army's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment - equipped with Stryker armored vehicles - joined 3,500 U.S. and 20,000 Iraqi soldiers already in Diyala, where insurgents have stepped up attacks as violence appears to be ebbing in Baghdad. U.S. commanders said they had been planning to fan out from Baghdad into communities around the capital, such as Baqouba 35 miles to the northeast, to go after insurgents and clandestine workshops that rig car bombs used in attacks in the capital. "This is not a haphazard fire drill to save the house from burning," Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told The Associated Press. "We began looking at this several months ago in support of the Baghdad plan. We knew the surrounding provinces would be in play." For the soldiers of the 5th Battalion, the journey to Baqouba was another stage in a series of missions away from their home at Fort Lewis, Wash. "We embark on another journey, boys!" Sgt. William Rose told his platoon as their Stryker combat vehicle rumbled out of Baghdad at sunrise, one of about 100 vehicles making the journey. The battalion will be based in Baqouba and focus on counterinsurgency measures and training Iraqi forces, said Col. David W. Sutherland, the U.S. commander in Diyala. "We'll have more soldiers to interact with the population," he said. "It's about making the Iraqi people feel secure, and we can do that with additional forces they have confidence in." Posted by: Steve White 2007-03-14 |
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