Operation New Market has commenced in the city of Haditha. The city is strategically located on the Euphrates River; it sits at the midpoint between Baghdad and Qaim on the Syrian border, as well as at the crossroads to a major highway to Mosul in the north. Wretchard’s prediction and explanation of The River War still holds true to this day.
American Marines currently garrison the Haditha Dam, but do not maintain a presence in the city itself. Over 1,000 Marines are involved in New Market, and while the force size is similar to that of Operation Matador, initial reports indicate New Market is not similar in scope. It appears New Market is a designed as cordon-and-search operation, where a region the city is surrounded and methodically searched for enemy fighters, weapons and support structures.
In Haditha, helicopters swept down near palm tree groves dropping off Marines who blocked off one side of the town, while other troops on foot and in armored vehicles established checkpoints and moved toward the center of this city, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. U.S. warplanes circled overhead.
No significant arrests or casualties have been reported. Iraqi security force participation is minimal, as “a small reconnaissance unit of Iraqi soldiers is participating in the attack.” A good estimate for the size of the Iraqi unit would be a platoon or company. The Chicago Sun-Times states “Haditha has no functioning police force, and U.S. military officials acknowledge that their presence has been light in the city but say Iraqi troops are expected to arrive soon.”
Haditha is more closely situated to the American and Iraqi concentration of forces in the Sunni Triangle, and the real question will be is if this a a “search and destroy” or a “clear and hold” mission. The question will be answered if Iraqi security forces do indeed arrive and garrison the city.
UPDATE: Chester has more
This dude is at Haditha dam.
Great pictures! Thanks praktike!
Bill, I think your recent observation that Tall Afar is likely to be on a short list for future corrective action will probably prove true.
"Meanwhile, two back-to-back bombings Monday in the northern city of Tall Afar unleashed vigilante violence and retaliatory killings. Witness and police accounts said at least 14 people had been killed in retaliatory attacks Tuesday after Monday's bombings killed 30.
An AP special correspondent reported seeing civilians with assault rifles manning checkpoints in Shiite neighborhoods of the city on Tuesday, and residents and authorities spoke of Sunni checkpoints elsewhere in the city.
"Shiites' armed men are walking around looking for Sunnis to kill," police Col. Salih Jameel Sultan said.
However, Moqtada Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric based in the southern city of Najaf, said that the fighting in Tall Afar involved two tribes and that news media were exaggerating its sectarian nature. Sadr said he would send aides to the city."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400105.html
Marlin, I am keeping my eyes open up there. I think some more shaking out may be in order along the Euphrates before Mosul - Tal Afar is addressed.
Perhaps someone could help the militarily ignorant like myself understand what this report and the NYTimes mean when they so carefully repeat that there are American "sailors" involved in the operation. Are they talking about corpsmen? Are the Seals involved?
Somewhat off topic but there is an interesting UPI article about training for the Marines, what it is vs. what it could be, in the Washington Times today.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050525-041254-9946r.htm
There's also a surprisingly upbeat article at Knight-Ridder about how the troops in Iraq believe in what they're doing.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11736940.htm
Regarding post #5 from Jay Dean. Unfortunately reporters do not research enough into their articles to be able to relay to the American public why "sailors are assigned to Marine units". I have even read articles where reporters have stated "they are unsure why a sailor was assigned to the Marine unit." Let me take a moment and help to clarify this. The Marine Corps does not have its own medical group like other military services. So the Navy Corpsman is assigned to a Marine unit to take care of their medical needs. My husband, who has been in the military for 15 years, is one of the corpsmen presently assigned to the 3/25 Marines and is stationed at Haditha Dam, Iraq. These are an awesome group of medics who have gone through extensive training and testing to be assigned to this Marine unit. Not only is this a great group of Marines but they have a great group of Corpsmen to take care of them.