Rolling with Delta Company: High-Tech House Hunting in a Suburb Turned Al Qaeda Killing Ground
Our Bradley vehicle sits outside Joint Security Station Thrasher
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GHAZALIYA, Iraq, July 17 — I’m squeezed into the gunner hatch in the lead Bradley of a four-vehicle convoy heading north out of Camp Victory with Delta Company, 2-12 Cavalry. Our driver uses thermal-sight detection to seek out IEDs buried in the road as we head for Joint Security Station Thrasher, named after one of the first soldiers to die in this once wealthy Baghdad suburb turned Al Qaeda killing ground turned Army post.
The neighborhood is filled with huge homes—and trash. Once full of affluent and professional Sunnis, including members of the former Iraqi army, Ghazaliya is devastated in places and well maintained in others. The company chose its base house—mansion, really—because it was one of several body drop sites, an Al Qaeda hallmark through this part of Iraq where entire families were tortured, murdered and left to rot. Delta Company shares this post with officers of the Iraqi Army, who are being trained by the 114th Military Transition Team (MiTT). The American soldiers train, advise and coach an Iraqi battalion staff in conducting counter-insurgency operations.
Around 1900 the next night, we roll out in a Humvee convoy on a census patrol. Soldiers start knocking on the gates leading up long driveways to these huge, mostly elegant houses. The sound of gunfire to the west seems close to me but doesn’t alarm these seasoned line troops as they use retinal scans, fingerprints and ID verification to register Iraqi men. Soldiers enter data into handheld computers using the new HIIDE (Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment) system, then load the info onto a BATS (Biometric Automated Tool Set) computer.
The women talk quietly in another room as the soldiers spread out throughout the house and set up a perimeter outside. I’m a little surprised at the mostly calm reaction—resignation, maybe—to armed soldiers entering their homes at night. “They’ve always been welcoming,” patrol leader Sgt. First Class Patrick Ciferri says. “Some are sincere, but a lot of them just [act welcoming] because they think that’s what we want to hear.”
While Ciferri says his team has learned to identify Iraqis who do and don’t approve of American military presence in the neighborhood, there’s also a hotline set up to call the company in for any suspicious situation. Most area civilians have to cellphone number to call when the notice, say, a car driving down the street full of masked men or a possible IED installation. Ciferri says locals have increasingly used the tip line, though calls aren’t always based on valid information. —Leslie Sabbagh](P17_files/image004.gif)
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