Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH IRAQ

Voter turnout a stance against Iraqi insurgents


By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq — An estimated 78 percent of registered voters participated in elections in this section of northeastern Iraq, and 278th Regimental Combat Team soldiers hailed the turnout as a defiant stance against insurgents by Iraqis ready to start the democratic process.

Officials with the regiment said only eight attacks occurred throughout the 278th’s sector, which runs along nearly 150 miles of Iraq’s border with Iran. Four of the attacks targeted polling sites. None of the regiment’s worst fears came true Sunday. No suicide bombers walked into any of the regiment’s 74 polling sites. No car bombs exploded on streets filled with voters. No insurgent groups attacked a convoy carrying ballots.

"It wasn’t anything I thought it would be," said Capt. Mark Smeltzer, of Chattanooga. "I thought it would be a bad, bad day."

The regiment provided extra security on election day, including emergency reaction stations near the polling sites. But some soldiers serving on quickresponse teams played handheld video games while waiting for an emergency call that never came.

DISARMING INSURGENTS

Regimental commander Col. Dennis Adams said 278th soldiers, aided by Iraqi security forces, used a surge of raids in the days leading to the elections to shut down the insurgents. The regiment put the potential attackers on the defensive and disposed of their weapons.

Soldiers conducted 240 patrols in four days. They discovered 16 homemade bombs, captured 35 terrorists and confiscated 15 weapons caches, Col. Adams said.

"We took away their ability to do offensive operations against the Iraqis," he said. "Now they are going back and trying to figure out how to rearm themselves for the next round."

Only a handful of election day incidents occurred in the regiment’s largest and most volatile cities, according to Col. Adams. In Balad Ruz, soldiers disarmed two improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, and responded without incident to direct fire. Two mortar attacks on polling sites occurred in and around the city of Tuz.

In As Sa’diyah, Arab and Kurdish political parties fired shots at each other near a school used as a voting center. One Iraqi was killed Sunday in the 278th’s sector from a mortar attack in Qara Tapa. Maj . Eddie Robbins, who was in charge of elections for the 278th, said the often-criticized Iraqi security forces did an exceptional job and were the primary reason not a single 278th quick-reaction team had to be called for help.

"Hopefully, that will build up some trust in the Iraqi people towards their security forces, which did protect them during the election," said Maj. Robbins, 48, of Memphis. "The Iraqi army and Iraqi police withstood this challenge. They did not falter."

Col. Adams said the scariest moment of the election process for him occurred last week during a meeting with sheiks and imams from the Sunni Arab minority who enjoyed power under former dictator Saddam Hussein.

During the gathering at a sheik’s house about 8 miles from Camp Caldwell, regimental officers tried to talk the Sunni leaders into voting, while religious leaders in a mosque across the street blasted anti-American messages over loudspeakers.

"We told them if they don’t vote they are letting someone else make the decisions for them," Col. Adams said.

"TASTE OF FREEDOM"

Instead of election-day violence, jubilation ruled the streets on Sunday, according to many 278th soldiers. Maj. Martin Basham, executive officer of the regiment’s 1st Squadron, said many Iraqis held up their hands whenever a 278th convoy passed to show off the purple mark on their fingers that proved they had voted.

Iraqis came to vote by foot and bicycle, over roads and through mud fields, Maj. Basham said.

"Sunday was their first taste of freedom," he said. "A lot of times, we Americans don’t vote. We don’t see it as a very big thing. But Sunday it was a very big thing to the Iraqis."

More than 140,000 Iraqis voted at the 278th’s 74 election sites, representing about 78 percent of all eligible voters in the area, according to initial estimates.

Lt. Mark Ogilvy, 32, of Cumming, Ga., said he saw about 500 Iraqis lined up outside a school used as a voting center in Balad Ruz.

"The people were ready," he said. "They were so curious of what voting actually is that they came out to try it. They want to see what it can do for them."

The Iraqis voted to fill seats in a general assembly whose members will spend the next several months drafting a constitution. In August, Iraqis return to the polls to vote on their new constitution.

"This was them electing their Thomas Jeffersons and their Ben Franklins," said Lt. Ogilvy, with 1st Squadron’s Apache Troop.

Sgt. Richard Stooksbury, 48, sat on a rooftop near a polling site Sunday in Mandila and watched entire families going to vote. He said men brought their sons and women their daughters. He said he had never seen that many women out in the streets here. The women, many voting for the first time, giggled while being checked for weapons with metal detector wands.

"To them it was a new and exciting experience to be important enough to be searched," he said.

With voting over and all ballots safely transferred to a counting site in Baqubah, Col. Adams said the regiment now will direct its attention to the local economy in hopes that an improving job market will offer potential insurgents a better way of life.

"Now if a guy can set off (a roadside bomb) and get $200, he feeds his family for a year," Col. Adams said. "We need to stop that cycle of violence."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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