events 2009

Czech Journalist Embedded in Iraq Reports to U.S. Embassy Prague

March 8th, Kuwait City

While our journey to the Iraqi battlefields took us five full days, our return set a new record. From FOB Warhorse via Helipad Liberty in Baghdad, via Baghdad International Airport all the way down to Ali Al Salem in Kuwait all in one night only. A sheer luck, I should say.

What of the whole embedded experience? As one seasoned journalist colleague whom we met at Warhorse put it, I am cynically optimistic when it comes to Iraqi future. Huge challenges such as sectarian grudge, Al Qaeda, foreign meddling and political infighting lay ahead. Yet, Iraqis seem to look forward for the future in their own hands. While not being happy with foreign influence and the presence of foreign troops they will have to let go of relying on external tutelage. A proud people they are, they will have to find some degree of national unity to be able to govern their own everyday life.

I am deeply grateful to the soldiers and officers of the US whose professionalism as well as personal courtesy greatly contributed assisted our task. Without a slightest blink of an eye, even less a pejorative remark have all the troops taken care of us in situations of danger, always looking after our security.

Furthermore, I owe our thanks to the employees of the Press Dpt. of US Embassy in Prague without whose assistance this assignment would never have taken place.

Base Khan Beni Saad, Diyala Province, March 4, 2009

The 1st Platoon of 124 Infantry has just been tipped off by one of its sources about a possible arms cache hidden at the outskirts of the town of Khan Beni Saad. A quick early morning briefing by the commander, 1st Lt Jordan Weigle, is followed by a quick burst of APC Strykers's loud engines. Four of the eight wheeled heavily armored Stryker vehicles leave the heavily fortified compound.

 With other soldiers, we are cramped in the packed interior of the quickly yet pretty smoothly moving vehicle. Twenty minutes and a quick sealing off the suspected house, we are escorted by the soldiers to its surroundings. GIs and Iraqi police control the area. Iraqi interpreters in US uniforms and under code names (as to conceal their true identity due to danger to their lives) translate the owner's vehement denial of any weapon possession. However, posters in the interior of his house give him away as the follower of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada as-Sadr. His wife and four children are cowering in the kitchen. Soldiers follow their commander's order to be as intrusive as possible, nevertheless, a handful of foreign soldiers in full gear is traumatizing.

 In the end, neither metal detectors employed in the whole area not the indoor search find any weapons but one assault rifle AK-47. Nevertheless, both 1st Lt Weigle and the Iraqi detective at the stage believe that they only got their info too late and the arms cache had been moved away. Most of the tip-offs in the latest weeks proved to be true.

 The column of the Strykers moved back to the base. Today's mission is over.

Base Khan Beni Saad, Diyala Province, March 3, 2009

An hour's drive from FOB Warhorse at the outskirts of the town of Khan Beni Saad, there is the small Iraqi-American military camp KBS. It's the seat of Platoons 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Bravo Company, 124 Infantry from Alaska. The 'Arctic Wolfs' seem to do well in this hot and dusty environment. They share it's heavily fortified base with Iraqi Armys's soldiers under the command of Colonel Ali. Soldiers called their Iraqi counterpart as one of the best trained and most disciplined Iraqi unit they've seen so far.

As for the Iraqi police, that's a different story. We set out for the town’s police station in four armored Stryker vehicles of the 2nd Platoon under the command of 1st Lt Barry Troy. Later on, we meet the newly appointed Iraqi Police commander Col Azeez Salman Dalaynee. Only under his command have the police started manning its defensive turrets, patrolling streets. This former officer in Saddam Hussein's army, later a member of the Sunni militia, the "Sahwa," only lately joined government’s forces. Yet, things start to move one.

1st Lt Troy is satisfied with the situation at the next police station we visit. They also started patrolling a couple weeks ago. However, there is a lot the Iraqi police need to learn. Their movement in the street provides an excellent target for insurgents, as much as their lack of shooting skills. Yet, these are areas American Forces can teach. Every week's shooting practice, part of the American program "Train the [future] trainers" bears witness to this.

On a Mission with Combat Engineers, February 28,2009

Before dawn, Peter, the cameraman and I hope (in fact crawl very uncomfortably up) in the huge truck called DC33 Lima. The huge armor-plated beast is one of the best armored personnel carriers in the world. Its main task: travel in mined areas. The danger of IED (improvised explosive device) is lurking around every corner in Iraq.

The crew of three battle-seasoned troops has us put mission earphones on. Hence, we can listen to the radio chatter, and add something up if asked. Fortunately, we are only allowed to talk to our crew not outside. Means that the rest of the trucks will be spared our talk about Czech Republics contribution to the world: contact lenses, beautiful women and, of course, beer.

Later on, after meeting with Iraqi counterparts, the heavy machinery gets unloaded from the trailers: the huge armor/plated bulldozers to clear the way. We change for yet another truck, that of SGT Jame Haffa, the fourth-time Iraq veteran.

Soon, we move very slowly into dry alleys of palm groves. The primary area for Al Qaeda s arms caches, heavily booby trapped. Al Qaeda doesnt give its arms easily up. The huge DC33 is slowly, painstakingly rolling through narrow alleys. Soon, the first IED is found. With the help of Bomb Disposal Unit, the Combat Engineers quickly blow it up after all vehicles move to a safe distance.

In next 15 hours, SGT Haffa and his colleagues find 6 IEDs and a large arms cache. The light and sound of safe explosion wake up the night. Today s mission s over. Time to get back.

Warhorse, Iraq, February 25, 2009

So here we are after five days of waiting and traveling. Forward base Warhorse is a mid-size military camp near the capital of Dijala province, Bakubah, which has a half-million inhabitants. Desert is everywhere around, fine-grained sand in eyes, teeth, the wrinkles of our clothes. Huge rectangular silhouettes of armored vehicles, receivers and transmitters are everywhere and also something new – signal jammers as the last resort against remote-controlled bombs along paths.

A local unit lost three soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter on Monday during an attack on an AQI (Al Qaeda, Islamists) insurgent shelter, as they call them here. Weapons and insurgents pour into the country across a 250-kilometer border with Iran. Local mixture of Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Turkmen represents Iraq’s ethnic groups as well as a simmering pressure cooker.

Warhorse does not provide the same comforts as the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait does, but the generosity of U.S. command toward its forces is plenty evident even here. Green Bean Coffee, Pizza Hut, a lavishly stocked cafeteria with four different meals a day, a hairdresser, a shop with leather and carpet items, and a PX corner with everything from non-alcoholic beer, iPods and DVDs to tactical equipment for special forces.      

We are waiting for the commander of the 1/25 Stryker Combat Team from Alaska, whose members call themselves “Arctic Wolves”.  We hope we can assess their motto “The strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack” in action.     

Al Salem AFB, Kuwait, February 22, 2009

The airport was reopened and we have all our documents and baggage. Our next destination is Baghdad, but troops have the right of way. We have to wait until it’s our turn. 
 
Al Salem AFB, Kuwait, February 21, 2009

A raging desert storm has kept aircraft grounded for several hours. People are advised to go outside only with goggles and scarves. Unfortunately, my equipment is in my baggage which is stuck somewhere at Frankfurt Airport. I hope it arrives tomorrow with my clothes!  

Al Salem AFB, Kuwait, February 20, 2009

With much delay, my cameraman Petr Svidensky and I arrived in Kuwait. U.S. Army Press Officer McDufford picked us up at the airport shortly before midnight and drove us to the American section of Al Salem AFB. We are staying in a 14-bed tent. The base serves as a transfer station for troops bound for Iraq and Afghanistan, but right now air traffic is suspended due to a desert storm. We are waiting for visa clearance and other documents.