Iraqi SWAT Air Assault Nets 6

Iraqi SWAT members smile and cheer after a successful air assault mission where six suspected insurgents were apprehended in addition to locating and destroying two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. (Photo by Sgt. Richard Rzepka, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs.)

Dispatches from the Front:

SALAH AD DIN PROVINCE, Iraq, July 19, 2008 -- Whooping and whistling like children on a roller coaster ride, Iraqi Police soared through the sun-soaked July sky on their way home from a successful mission. Their enthusiasm was not borne of the high-speed helicopter ride, but of the hard day’s work, which helped save the lives of countless Iraqi citizens.

In the predawn hours of July 12, Iraqi Police, along with Soldiers from the 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, conducted an air assault into the arid farmlands north of Balad. Throughout the burning July morning, the Iraqi SWAT teams moved with speed and discipline to clear a suspected enemy hideout in the area.

The combined air assault mission resulted in the capture of six men with ties to the local insurgency, three of whom were known to be members of al Qaida in Iraq. A thorough search of the area resulted in the discovery of two vehicles wired with explosives and a substantial amount of ammonium-nitrate; a chemical compound used to make homemade bombs.

The vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, which have been used with devastating results in the past, were destroyed by Coalition forces, along with the explosives. The operation aimed to deny enemy extremists the ability to carry out future terror operations against innocent Iraqis and Coalition forces in the Salah ad Din province.

“Countless lives were saved today as a result of seizing and destroying these [explosives] before al Qaida could use them,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Hauerwas, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division executive officer. “There is no way of knowing how many innocent people would have been killed or injured by these cold-blooded killers.”

Increasingly, Coalition forces are seeing Iraqis take the lead in the fight against extremists in the province of Salah ad Din.

“If we don’t work with the [Iraqi Security Forces] there is no mission success,” said Maj. Phillip Borders, 1st STB operations officer. “You can catch all of the bad guys in the world but until we get the Iraqis to do it, the old standard is still there.”

With every combined mission, the ISF are honing their ability to plan for and execute these types of missions autonomously. Their experience is extensive, considering that a fair number of the ISF have been battling the insurgency for a number of years, alongside their Coalition allies.

“Their sense of duty and their sense of patriotism are undeniable,” said Hauerwas. “What they lack in equipment, such as communications and mobility, they make up for in sheer will,” he said.

(Story by Sgt. Rick Rzepka, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.)

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