Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, January 09, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

KHANAQIN, Iraq — When Staff Sgt. Ronald Veal goes on foot patrols in this city minutes from the Iranian border, he usually ends up carrying his weapon with one hand and using his other to hold the hand of a child. With four daughters of his own at home in Chattanooga, Staff Sgt. Veal, 35, said he keeps an eye out for the little girls who often are bullied by the boys when 278 th Regimental Combat Team soldiers distribute snacks.

"I put the word out on the street for the boys not to take the candy from the girls," said Staff Sgt. Veal, who spends his free time learning phrases from the Arabic and Kurdish language books he carries with him. "I call them (in Arabic) my sisters, my daughters." The Tennessee-based 278th calls Khanaqin, a primarily Kurdish town of about 70,000 people, one of the safest in the regiment’s sector. When platoons with the Third Squadron walk the streets, locals greet the U.S. soldiers with a smile and the words "Khanaqin good."

Children, unable to keep their eyes off the Americans, treat the soldiers like celebrities. As soon as a 278 th platoon left its downtown headquarters for a recent patrol around the city’s streets, children flocked to the soldiers. Some children came on bicycles, one followed along in his wheelchair, but most just walked.

"Hey man, what’s up?" shouted one boy as he bumped fists with a U.S. soldier.

"You want something, my brother?" asked another boy in the pack.

The Iraqi children enjoy proving their loyalty to the U.S. troops by taking money from the soldiers and buying food or gifts for them at the marketplace.

Some children last week beat one boy who tried to pocket the $50 given to him by a 278th soldier for some errands.

The children spoke English easily, including curse words they relished repeating just to watch the reactions from the soldiers.

The platoon members, who often go on these two-hour patrols as many as three times a day, already know many of the children by name. Each soldier has a favorite child or two who always show up to match the soldier stride for stride along the route.

One child calling himself Mohamed said he has "lots of soldier friends," and to prove it he counted off the states they all came from in the United States. "These are the best informants we’ve got," said Lt. Tom Grayson, 31, a police officer from Perryville, Miss.

Lt. Grayson, the platoon leader, said the children like to point out the bad guys in the streets by calling them "Alibaba," a common word for thief.

The children know all about the ranks in the U.S. military, and most greet Lt. Grayson by simply calling him "LT."

Lt. Grayson is careful during this patrol to ask all the children if they made it to school that day. He will admonish those children honest enough to admit they skipped.

"We try to tell them they can’t hang out with us unless they go to school," he said. "Some listen, but others act like they have no place else to go but with us."

One boy in the fan club lost both his parents during the regime of Saddam Hussein and now is on his own.

"You see kids as young as 3 and 4 running around unsupervised," said Pfc. Richard Odom, 36, of Sparta, Tenn., "It is a shame to have to grow up like that."

LESS TRUSTING

Exchanges with the adults of Khanaqin are uneasy by comparison.

As the foot patrol turned into the city’s busy marketplace, several unseen Iraqis in the crowd blew whistles.

"That is to let everyone know we are here so they can put away anything they are not supposed to be doing," said Staff Sgt. Chris Newcomb, of Shelbyville, Tenn.

Along the narrow streets of the market, peddlers sell fruits, vegetables and chickens from the backs of trucks or frail wooden carts.

Shops the soldiers describe as "mom-and-pop stores" occupy tiny storage sheds with beds in the back.

Electric generators lying everywhere on the streets power the commerce, and their incessant humming often drowns out voices bargaining for the best prices.

Sewage runs alongside dirt sidewalks. Back at the headquarters building after a patrol, soldiers will spray disinfectant on their boots.

Ancient commerce sometimes collides with modern technology. A store selling cell phones for $400 sits right beside one offering a variety of nuts sold from open burlap bags.

Historically the area is part of Kurdistan, but Saddam Hussein forcibly removed many Kurds in his effort to bring more Arabs to northern Iraq. Now the Kurds are returning to reclaim their property.

"They are bringing deeds and all sorts of documentation to show they lived here, that this is their home" said Maj. David Kiefer, the executive officer of the Third Squadron.

With many Arabs claiming the same land, this Iraqi melting pot of Arabs and Kurds is not without friction. In the Third Squadron’s sector, which extends beyond Khanaqin, members of one political party recently tossed a hand grenade at a rival’s headquarters. Last week insurgents kidnapped a Kurdish teacher working in an Arab school.

"They’re a bunch of bad neighbors, kind of like the Hatfields and McCoys," said Maj. Kiefer, of Knoxville.

Staff Sgt. Veal said the political parties in Khanaqin act more like the mafia but with less secrecy. Bribes are taken openly, and many party officials walk around brandishing AK-47 machine guns.

On Friday’s patrol Staff Sgt. Newcomb caught one Iraqi wandering outside his party’s building with a weapon.

"If I keep seeing him out on the street, I’m going to take it away from him," Sgt. Newcomb warned the Iraqis gathered outside the party headquarters.

ADJUSTING TO FREEDOM

Lt. Grayson said local political leaders are stressed over the upcoming elections. Many have received death threats, while other leaders are abusing their power.

"In America, people tell political parties what to do, but here political parties tell people what to do," he said. "They think democracy means you can do whatever you want."

But Lt. Grayson said the 278 th soldiers are encouraged by the area’s seasoned Iraqi National Guard, many of whom are former Kurdish freedom fighters experienced in resisting Mr. Hussein’s rule.

The Iraqi guardsmen handed over to Third Squadron 11 insurgents captured at a traffic checkpoint.

Third Squadron commanders called the capture a turning point in the ability of the Iraqi authorities to provide their own security.

After politics, Third Squadron’s biggest challenge is managing fuel, which sells for as much as $8 a gallon on the black market. There is an unending line at Khanaqin’s gas station. Some people spend several nights in their cars to get gas. "It is like the gas lines in ’77 back in the States," Lt. Grayson said.

Iraqi police monitor the pumps but often are accused of letting their friends cut in line.

Such corruption makes it harder for the U.S. forces to teach the Iraqis to depend less on Americans and more on their own government.

Staff Sgt. Newcomb said this lack of trust for authority is one reason many adults are intimidated by the 278 th platoons. Life under the old regime has made Iraqis fearful of authority. The 278 th must help the residents of Khanaqin and other towns understand they have the ability to make decisions for themselves, he said.

"We are changing a whole way of life," Staff Sgt. Newcomb said. "It is not going to be done overnight. They are just getting their feet wet with freedom."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timefreepress.com

Contributed Photo by Capt. Alan Mingledorff - Spc. Farris S. Barnes, of Memphis, walks down the streets of Khanaqin, Iraq, with children running along with him.

Contributed Photo by Capt. Alan Mingledorff - Sgt. Michael J. Owens, of McMinnville, Tenn., walks down the streets of Khanaqin, Iraq, on a daily patrol with his platoon.

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