Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Monday, January 31, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

KHANAQIN, Iraq — When Iraqi Col. Hesham Ismael spoke about the heroes behind Sunday’s historic elections, it did not take him long to produce a tattered army identification card belonging to Haider Al Arkawazi.

The Iraqi man joined the army in order to help his country win its freedom, but he died in a suicide bombing less than 24 hours before he was to vote in the nation’s first democratic elections in 50 years.

"Freedom is not free," Col. Ismael, an Iraqi commander who lost two soldiers including Mr. Arkawazi in the suicide bombing here, said through a translator.

"Freedom needs a lot of blood," the colonel said Sunday. "We have to give something to get some, and those people who died are the blood. They are building freedom for the next generation."

One day after eight Iraqis died in Saturday’s suicide bombing outside the Joint Command Center operated by both Iraqi security forces and the 278th Regimental Combat Team, citizens of this largely Kurdish town responded to the carnage by turning out in large numbers for the country’s elections.

Lt. Col. Ali Kakee of the Iraqi army said the deaths hardened his resolve to exercise his new right.

"We saw a lot of those tragedies in the time of Saddam," he said, referring to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. "They don’t want this country to stand on its feet. But this is our chance to make voting successful so we won’t go back."

According to Col. Ismael and other witnesses, Mr. Arkawazi saved the lives of about 60 Iraqi soldiers and 30 members of the Tennessee-based 278th by preventing a suicide bomber Saturday from getting past the Joint Command Center’s main gate and into a two-story building where soldiers from the two armies prepared for Sunday’s election.

Even though Mr. Arkawazi forced the suicide bomber to detonate his explosives early, the blast still blew out windows and knocked to the floor many of the U.S. and Iraqi soldiers inside the building 35 yards away.

Mr. Arkawazi died just two months after joining the army to honor the memory of a brother assassinated by insurgents for serving in the Iraqi National Guard.

Investigators discovered Mr. Arkawazi’s body beside the remains of the suicide bomber. On the soldier’s body, they found the military photo ID belonging to his murdered brother.

Now Col. Ismael said he would keep both badges as a constant reminder of the sacrifices others made so Iraqis can pick their own leaders.

Col. Ismael said his losses from the blast stopped at two soldiers because every one of his 65 men at the center showed up for work on election day despite witnessing the slaughter and its aftermath. About 170 Iraqi police officers and 206 additional Iraqi army soldiers also spent Sunday patrolling the streets of Khanaqin.

"The terrorists don’t like democracy," Col. Ismael said. "We are going to stand and fight. If God wills it, we will win and have freedom in Iraq." DAY ‘VERY NORMAL’ As Col. Ismael spoke, Raatid Ali, an Iraqi border policeman, entered the colonel’s office and gave the thumbs up sign when asked about the election’s first few hours.

"Things are very normal, and we are moving a lot of people through," he said with the help of a translator.

By 10 a.m., three hours after the polls had opened, reports came into the center that 500 people were standing in line at one voting site.

Soon the phone on Col. Ismael’s desk rang. It was the chief of police from the nearby town of Qara Tapa, who reported high turnout but one explosion with causalities unknown.

Outside a polling site down the street from the center, hundreds of Khanaqin residents lined up to vote.

With private cars barred from the roads, white and blue vans ferried men and women back and forth from area voting centers. When the vans became too full, many citizens walked. By early afternoon, large numbers of Iraqis, alone or in groups and often dressed up for the occasion, were trekking a mile or more to vote.

The soldiers used metal detector wands to scan the civilians before allowing them to disappear behind the 10-foot concrete barricades covering the building’s entrance.

Ahamed Mohammed, 27, said he had no problems during his early morning trip to the polls.

"It was the first time in my entire life it felt like I really voted for someone I really wanted to represent me," he said while showing off his index finger with a purple ink mark voting officials used to prevent people from voting more than once. "Nobody forced me to do something or forced me to write something."

Back inside the center, Iraqi soldiers and police officers monitored the elections just like volunteers staffing a political party’s headquarters during a typical U.S. election. The men sat around two tables loaded with phones, laptops and printers. A television in one corner of the room broadcasted live footage of Iraqis outside polling sites across the region.

Lt. Col. Kakee said election day did not mark the end of the country’s efforts to unite peacefully. The new interim general assembly will include different tribes and ethnic groups who have a history of not getting along, he said.

"The next challenge is for the new Iraqi government to trust each other," said Lt. Col. Kakee, a Kurd who learned English by watching American movies. "They need to make this brotherhood go forward."

Col. Ismael, an Iraqi of Turkish descent, said he is doing his part by employing a diversified work force at the center, the origination point of street patrols conducted daily by 278th and Iraqi soldiers.

"I am a democratic guy," he said with a smile. "I hire Arabs, Kurds and Turks."

Soldiers with the Coalition Forces were not permitted to give interviews with members of the American media on Jan. 30 and 31, according to 278th officials.

BLOODSHED FOR FREEDOM

Despite the significance of Sunday’s vote, most conversation here eventually drifted back to Saturday’s bombing.

Lt. Col. Kakee shook his head while asking why some people want to blow themselves up. He said the idea often planted in a suicide bomber’s brain that death will bring a paradise full of virgins is only "mad Muslim thoughts."

He said Khanaqin, population 70,000, is one of the safer cities in the 278th’s sector in northeastern Iraq near the Iranian border. The Kurdish majority endured persecution under Mr. Hussein’s regime and favors the United States’ involvement in Iraq.

This is the reason Lt. Col. Kakee, 36, said he blamed Saturday’s attack on Iraq’s al-Qaida terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Mr. al-Zarqawi’s terrorist network claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing Saturday outside the U.S.-Iraqi military centre in Khanaqin, according to news reports.

Khanaqin had been a quiet town after the regime fell, but Lt. Col. Kakee said Mr. al-Zarqawi warned the people of northern Iraq they would be punished for their pride and security "I think he made his point yesterday," Lt. Col. Kakee said.

But Col. Ismael said the selfless actions of those such as Mr. Arkawazi prove the people of Khanaqin are brave and will not back down.

When officials paid their respects after the death of his brother six months ago, Mr. Arkawazi turned down an offer to take a safer job with the border police because he wanted to be involved in the establishment of the Joint Command Center in his hometown, the colonel said. Alwar Pouryan, a translator for the 278th, said this region near the Iranian border is full of families who have endured similar losses.

"I have a story of five brothers who died for freedom," he said. "I have a story of two brothers who died for freedom. Everywhere you go in Kurdish towns, you have stories of people dying for freedom."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - A vehicle and foot patrol of 278th Regimental Combat Team soldiers moves through Jalula, Iraq, Sunday during the country’s elections.

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