Iraqi, American forces working together in Samarra

Photo By Staff Sgt. Anthony White | C Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Soldiers comb through reeds along the banks of the Tigris River during a cordon and search mission Saturday in Al Sukhaira, near Samarra, Iraq. The Iraqi Police along with Soldiers from C Co., 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, conducted an air assault mission into the town after receiving a tip from a local.  

SAMARRA, IRAQ

04.18.2007

Story by Staff Sgt. Anthony White 

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

By Sgt. Tony White
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

SAMARRA, Iraq — Running at nearly a sprint under the full moon's light, Iraqi police officers move towards the first house with U.S. Soldiers bringing up the rear. Quickly, they secure the home, clearing the rooms with the U.S. Soldiers moving in right behind them.

Samarra police officers and Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Soldiers air assaulted together into the open fields in Al Sukaira looking for suspected members of an insurgent cell responsible for firing mortar rounds at coalition forces and Iraqi security forces the past few months.

Although the combined forces were not able to locate any of the targets, the success of the mission was centered on the intelligence the police officers were able to gather through their questioning of the local population, said 1st Lt. Matthew Aubrey, acting as a liaison for the police and Company C.

"None of the targets were there," Aubrey said, "but we did get intelligence on other individuals who work for (anti-Iraqi Forces). It is a success because intelligence drives operations. When we get something like that, it leads to future operations."

Outside the second home, a team of Iraqi police officers secure the home with the Company C Soldiers watching over their positions from the house's rooftop. Inside, conversations continue as the police officers question a woman about some pictures they found.

In the Samarra area, where making enemy contact translates to almost daily fire fights, the Iraqi Security Forces continually participate in air assaults and regular patrols along with coalition forces.
ISF have become an increasingly common sight for the Soldiers of Patrol Base Razor.

"We always do joint raids and patrols with them," Aubrey said. "They still need to work on their discipline, but the improved discipline has gone a long way. They actually go on patrols now by themselves, plan their own targets and develop their own intelligence."

Reports of an individual in the reeds along the banks of the Tigris River have the combined forces moving. After 30 minutes of walking through waist-high water and around reeds 10 feet high, the individual is surrounded by the forces.

Although Iraqi security forces have come under criticism in the past, the progress they have made provides obvious advantages to the American troops working with them.

"If they weren't there with us last night, we wouldn't have had the combat power we did," Aubrey said. "We wouldn't have had the efficiency clearing the objective and questioning the people that we did. It is good for the locals to see an Iraqi face in their house rather than a lot of foreigners that can't speak their language. There is a difference."

The police officers and Soldiers sit down for an early breakfast, eagerly awaiting the mission debriefing, signaling the end of the mission. They need to get home; later that afternoon they will be meeting up again to patrol Samarra.

• Date Taken: 04.18.2007
• Date Posted: 04.18.2007 08:22
• Story ID: 9980
• Location: SAMARRA, IQ