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| Iraq |
| U.S. Marines Wall in Iraqi City With Sand |
| 2006-03-05 |
| By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago Consider yourselves surrounded.. RUTBAH, Iraq - U.S. Marines used to patrol the streets of this city near the volatile Syrian border. Now they've penned it in with a wall of sand, leaving only three ways in or out. While causing discomfort to the townspeople, the military says it is an effective barrier to insurgents and frees up troops for use in other parts of restive Anbar province in western Iraq. The Marines ringed Rutbah with a 10.5-mile-long berm, seven feet high and 20 feet wide, in mid-January and reduced their presence to checkpoints at the three entrances that also are manned by a few dozen Iraqi soldiers. The move was forced by a major U.S. effort to make the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah a showplace of American-Iraqi cooperation. That leaves fewer Marines to patrol a region with close tribal and economic ties to neighboring Syria, which Washington has accused of letting militants slip over the border. The sand wall is only "an intermediate solution," said Marine Lt. Col. Robert Kosid, whose 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is responsible for Rutbah and several thousand square miles of desert around it. "I think the long-term success of Rutbah involves a permanent presence in the city," said Kosid, who was also based here on his previous tour in Iraq. But there aren't any Iraqi forces available now. Rutbah's corrupt police force was disbanded last year, and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers that had been in the area were moved north in November for a joint U.S.-Iraqi operation around Qaim. Sitting 230 miles west of Baghdad, Rutbah joins Tal Afar, Mosul and Samarra as cities where the U.S. military has tried to block outsiders and impede insurgent mobility by erecting large sand walls with bulldozers. So far, the berm has been a tactical success, helped by rainstorms that have turned the surrounding territory into impassable mud. Roadside bombings sharply dropped from 29 a month to just five since the wall was built, Marines say. Military supply trucks using a nearby highway have been relatively unmolested lately. Rutbah's streets are lined with impressive villas even though the town is devoid of natural resources and arable farmland. Its 20,000 people have thrived by taking a cut from smugglers moving goods along ancient routes that snake through Iraq from Jordan and Syria. nobody works, everybody is rich. What do you think is up?. Though attacks in the city have been relatively low by comparison to other parts of western Iraq, the Marines suspect some of its smuggling income is being used to finance insurgent operations throughout Anbar. ya donÂ’t say. Some Marines say the checkpoints are effective at weeding out insurgents without resorting to force. "It's a more methodical way to use (checkpoints) to clear towns instead of going right in to sweep it," Sgt. Spencer Biegel of Albany, Ore., said as he helped inspect cars at a checkpoint. More than a dozen wanted suspects have been caught at Rutbah's checkpoints, he said. IÂ’ll bet. See whoÂ’s coming into town to pick up a cheque. "In the long term it cuts down on Marine and civilian casualties," Biegel said. But residents face big headaches getting in and out of town, routinely having to wait one to three hours because of bottlenecks at the checkpoints. About 500 vehicles pass through the busiest checkpoint each day, and Marines cut traffic from two lanes to one whenever there is a roadside bombing. "As insurgent activity rises, we have to put on stringent controls," said Capt. Phil Laing of Seligman, Ariz., who commands the Marines manning the checkpoints. "The intent is not to punish Rutbah." But it certainly is an attempt to crack down on them.. In response to civilian complaints, the Marines moved the berm to put a local gas station within the wall. They also regularly usher water trucks and medical vehicles to the front of inspection lines. A U.S.-funded hospital for the city is just weeks from completion. Marines survey people entering town to find out about their needs, and to ask for tips on local insurgents. As for the town's suspected role in financing insurgent operations, Kosid said there is little the Marines can do until Iraq's government establishes a security presence. "If Rutbah is the financial center that we think it is, it's going to be hard to peel the onion on that one," he said. "To be really effective with the smuggling aspect, you need more of an investigatory capacity where you can peel the layers back." Meanwhile, youÂ’re under lockdown.. |
| Posted by:Hupomoger Clans9827 |
| #11 Well then Frank, the soulution is simple: Let's make the place another Las Vegas. Moose is dead on. |
| Posted by: Angineth Glaviper9578 2006-03-05 22:30 |
| #10 true but "these people" haven't been doing legit trade for eons - they've been smuggling fighters, weapons, and cash to kill our troops and Iraq's fledgling try at democracy. They ned to pay and pay hard for this. Someday, their great grandchildren will say...."wow! they fucked up!" trade is an easy profession to learn. Traitor is a hard label to lose |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-05 21:12 |
| #9 Think ahead, Frank. Not just 5 years, but 25 years. Does anyone here think that Assad is still going to be around? What if instead of just another thug dictatorship, Syria gets turned into something reasonable? If that happens, then this town will again become a trade gateway, from Syria into Iraq. These people are not going to voluntarily give up what they have been doing for a millenium. So the best bet is to get them doing the legal version of what they do so well. Sure, the Iraqi army can occupy them for a long time, but sooner or later, it's just not worth it to police people who don't want to be policed. I mentioned the US East Coast, that was both a smuggler's dream, and had British law after law passed to try and stop it, with little effect because the people wanted to smuggle. What *did* kill it was when legal trade became such big money that it just nudged the smuggling out of the way. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-05 20:41 |
| #8 They've been doing that smuggling thing a lot longer than the current crop of jihad. Longer than the profit Mo. Just sayin' |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-05 20:10 |
| #7 take away their payments as a way-station to Jihad and they have nothing? Cry me a river. Consequences are a bitch |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-05 19:40 |
| #6 'moose does have a good point. There is no industry, little agriculture and few grazing lands in that part of Iraq. Unless you intend to implement Saddam-style selective welfare programs, there needs to be SOME way for these people to make a legitimate living. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-05 19:27 |
| #5 trade, huh, Moose? Are you thinking Semis full of Walmart toys...jeebus... give it a rest or I'll call .com on ya |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-05 18:43 |
| #4 leaving only three ways in or out. Hummmmm.... You got the easy way, You got the old way and You got the Marine way.... Adapt and we'll all get along just fine. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-05 17:54 |
| #3 I think what happens is that you get enough law enforcement personnel that you can make them an offer they can't refuse. This seems like a good stopgap until they can get some Kurdish Revenuers in place. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-03-05 17:36 |
| #2 Unfortunately, there seems to be only one effective way of stopping smuggling in an area: trade. That is, smuggling routes have long adapted to trade, and trade is trade. So unless you give them a better deal, something more valuable to trade, they will continue to smuggle. The early East Coast of America was like that, too. It only finally stopped when the commercial trade became so great that the smugglers were just in the way to bigger profits. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-05 16:55 |
| #1 How about covering? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-03-05 16:52 |