May 31, 2007
Michael Yon reports from Iraq
No one -- and I do mean no one covers the war in Iraq like Michael Yon.
Funded with donations from readers, this ex-special forces soldier puts the networks and newspapers to shame.
His latest dispatch is amazing.
Although I’ve been in many Iraqi police stations, this was the first time I can recall entering a station and having the distinct impression that for some reason a firefight might be imminent with the police. There are always concerns that one, or a few, police might do something, but I have always seen the police stations as semi-safe havens, except for how al Qaeda and other groups like to mortar IP stations or level them with truck bombs. Our guys seemed ready to fight the police, something I’d also never before seen.
Importantly, none of this was overt. Nobody was pointing weapons at each other or shouting; nothing like that. Nobody was threatening anyone. Unlike the loud ruckus earlier where men had cocked their weapons, and our guys on the roof were aiming just over my head at machine guns I had not seen (making me think one of our guys was aiming at me), I did not sense that a shootout was forthcoming that time. Yet this time there was no posturing whatsoever, but I could smell the danger as clearly as high voltage.
We were outnumbered—at least two to one, but probably closer to three to one. There were police on the roof with machine guns and AK-47s. Based on other information that I had no knowledge of at the time, LTC Crissman believed that General Hamid was taking his posse out to confront those who were gathering to confront him. Right before our very eyes was evidence in support of that theory: seven truckloads of armed Iraqi police and more armed officers on the rooftops to back them up.
When Crissman met Hamid on the ground outside of their vehicles he calmly exchanged the cultural greetings, hugs, and handshakes and attempted to vent the pressure. He smiled and asked where everyone was going. The general’s response was that they were heading into Hit to have lunch and invited LTC Crissman to join them. Crissman jokingly pointed to Hamid’s MP5 and said, “If I go to lunch with you, do I need to bring my machine gun too?” Crissman’s interpreter translated and there were smiles and laughter, until Crissman asked if he could talk with Hamid inside his office.
And then things got really tense.
The rest of the account is a nail-biting example of superb military leadership in a situation right out of a Tom Clancy thriller.
Read the whole thing, then make a contribution to keep Yon in the field.
Posted by Mike Lief at May 31, 2007 11:03 AM
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