Laying seige to Auja
Vernon Loeb, Washington Post:
"Frustrated by a persistent insurgency, the U.S. military has surrounded ousted president Saddam Hussein's birthplace with concertina wire, issued identification cards to all male residents and begun controlling access to this wealthy enclave of Hussein relatives on the outskirts of Tikrit.
"The latest attempt to root out those planning and financing attacks on U.S. soldiers began almost three weeks ago, when Lt. Col. Steve Russell and two rifle companies from the Army's 4th Infantry Division showed up here at midnight, cordoned off the town and began uncoiling the razor-sharp wire.
"...Auja is so filled with unrepentant members of Hussein's Baath Party, he (Russell) said, that it would be hard to make its residents, most of whom are relatives of the former president, hate the Americans more than they already do. And there really was no other way, short of raiding houses on a regular basis, he said, to stop Auja's residents from fomenting violence.
"...for about 35 residents of Auja on Russell's "blacklist," the town is closed. They cannot get out until they decide to sit down and have a chat with Russell about what they are up to, where heavy weapons are being hidden and who is attacking his troops.
"...After tea and plates of sweet Iraqi pastries, Needa (a tribal leader in Auja) urged Russell to inform his superiors that the Americans must not leave Iraq anytime soon. "In Tikrit, one alley would be fighting another alley, butchering each other," he said."
Vernon Loeb, Washington Post:
"Frustrated by a persistent insurgency, the U.S. military has surrounded ousted president Saddam Hussein's birthplace with concertina wire, issued identification cards to all male residents and begun controlling access to this wealthy enclave of Hussein relatives on the outskirts of Tikrit.
"The latest attempt to root out those planning and financing attacks on U.S. soldiers began almost three weeks ago, when Lt. Col. Steve Russell and two rifle companies from the Army's 4th Infantry Division showed up here at midnight, cordoned off the town and began uncoiling the razor-sharp wire.
"...Auja is so filled with unrepentant members of Hussein's Baath Party, he (Russell) said, that it would be hard to make its residents, most of whom are relatives of the former president, hate the Americans more than they already do. And there really was no other way, short of raiding houses on a regular basis, he said, to stop Auja's residents from fomenting violence.
"...for about 35 residents of Auja on Russell's "blacklist," the town is closed. They cannot get out until they decide to sit down and have a chat with Russell about what they are up to, where heavy weapons are being hidden and who is attacking his troops.
"...After tea and plates of sweet Iraqi pastries, Needa (a tribal leader in Auja) urged Russell to inform his superiors that the Americans must not leave Iraq anytime soon. "In Tikrit, one alley would be fighting another alley, butchering each other," he said."
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