Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Saturday, May 28, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq — In response to a recent rise in roadside bombings, 278 th Regimental Combat Team soldiers here stepped up efforts this month to root out the bomb makers.

Through May 19, a total of 35 improvised explosive devices either were detonated or discovered and destroyed by 278 th soldiers. During the entire month of April, insurgents placed 30 such roadside bombs in the regiment’s area.

Lt. Col. Darrell Darnbush, the regiment’s operations officer, said there has been a steady increase in roadside bombings since the regiment arrived in December. He said, though, that insurgent small-arms attacks and mortar attacks have not increased.

"(Bombs) are the insurgent weapon of choice," said Lt. Col. Darnbush, 42, of Powell, Tenn. He said the insurgents are not going to defeat American or Iraqi Army forces in a gunfight.

"It is safer for them when they can plant explosives and have two guys stand two kilometers off and detonate it," he said.

Capt. Ben Smith, with the regiment’s military intelligence unit, said car bombs also pose a high threat risk for U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces. He said the increase in bombs might be a sign the 278th has backed the insurgents into a corner and they are fighting to survive.

"When you trap something it doesn’t have much recourse, so it has to strike back or submit," said Capt. Smith, of Knoxville. "A big explosion gets a lot of press coverage. Using (bombs) is a way to make a statement."

Sgt. 1 st Class Jeff Landrum said populations of entire villages in the area never had seen American soldiers before the 278th arrived and kicked off aggressive operations in the weeks leading to January’s Iraqi elections. He said the U.S. military unit the 278 th replaced did not have as much trouble with roadside bombs.

"We started doing something in the area, and the insurgents didn’t like it so they started setting (bombs) out," said Sgt. 1st Class Landrum, 54, of Decatur, Tenn.

Records show the 278th already has exceeded the number of combat patrols of its predecessor unit.

Many of the roadside bombs are being placed on a central supply route for the regiment and other U.S. forces. Military studies show fewer than 20 percent of roadside bombs actually injure or kill someone, according to 278th spokesman Capt. Alan Mingledorff.

To protect the heavily traveled road, a 278 th unit led by Sgt. 1 st Class Landrum is setting up all-night observation posts along the route. Using night-vision devices and sniper rifles, this platoon-sized bombhunting unit apparently has the insurgents’ attention.

"I think they are watching us," Sgt. 1 st Class Landrum said. Since the counter-bombing patrols began no insurgents have been captured, but bombplanting activity along the road has all but stopped, he said.

Soldiers in the 278 th said they have noticed an increase in the sophistication of the bombs found during the last five months. At one time insurgents had to detonate the bombs, jury-rigged from any available explosives, using connecting wires that kept them close to the road. Now insurgents are using prefabricated bombs triggered by remote controls that allow them to detonate the devices from as far as one to two miles away, according to Sgt. 1 st Class Landrum. "That makes it hard to find the trigger man," he said.

Staff Sgt. Richard Spencer, who is on the bomb-hunting team, said insurgents have perfected the art of placing the bombs on the road in a manner of minutes under cover of darkness and hiding them in such common roadside obstacles as tires.

"If we didn’t have to worry about these booby traps we could focus more on the Iraqi government and humanitarian missions," said Staff Sgt. Spencer, 38, of Knoxville.

Morning route-clearing teams assigned to sweep the roads for these bombs have vehicles equipped with a device that jams radio frequencies used to set off the explosives, officials said.

Lt. Col. Mark Hart, 1 st Squadron commander, has spent some of his afternoons politicking with local Iraqi leaders to get their help in uncovering those behind the bombs.

During a recent unannounced visit to a local sheik living beside the supply road now targeted by insurgents, Lt. Col. Hart, who caught the sheik napping, made it clear the tribal leader should hand over any information about the identities of those placing the bombs. "I meet people every day who look me in the eye and lie to me," Lt. Col. Hart said after the sheik claimed not to know who was behind the rash of bombings.

"I cannot lie to you or do anything behind your back," said the sheik, known as Gazi, through a translator. "You ask me a lot of questions, and I always give the right answers. If anyone is a criminal, I will let you know."

The sheik led border patrol efforts in the region under Saddam Hussein and spent about four months in Abu Ghraib prison after the regime fell.

After sharing some hot tea, Lt. Col. Hart asked him to keep his eyes and ears open.

Lt. Steven Mosher, 36, of Pleasant View, Tenn., said the high unemployment rates here are the biggest reason for the seemingly endless number of roadside bomb makers.

"They are paid $200 to $300 to set one off, and the (bomb) doesn’t even have to kill anybody," he said.

While up overall, the bombings have occurred with less frequency in certain 278 th sectors.

Capt. Brad Bowlin, 36, of Greeneville, Tenn., said the frequency of bombings is dropping in the area around 2 nd Squadron’s Forward Operating Base Bernstein. The first 45 days the 278 th spent in Iraq insurgents planted four or five roadside bombs a week around Bernstein, but now the 2 nd Squadron recently had its first roadside bomb in 45 days, said Capt. Bowlin, the squadron’s operations officer.

Capt. Dan Smith, commander of 2 nd Squadron’s H company, said bombings have decreased as his men have rounded up about 32 mid-level bomb makers in the last five months.

Those remaining at large include insurgent cell leaders who provide the money but never get involved in the actual bomb placement and new insurgent recruits who are not as adept at planting the bombs, Capt. Smith said. His men maintain a heavy patrol of Humvees up and down the roads while Capt. Smith develops Iraqi sources by attending meetings with local leaders.

Capt. Smith said that if a bomb goes off in his area of operations "I’d like to think I can usually find out in about two days the couple of people who could have been involved."

His area of about 992 square miles hasn’t had a roadside bomb in more than a month, he said.

But 278 th officers said they do not expect roadside bombings overall to drop anytime soon, because explosives are cheap and easily found littered among battlefield remains from Iraq’s many wars. Capt. Tyler Rentz, 37, of Johnson City, Tenn., 2 nd squadron’s intelligence officer, said that despite being outnumbered in weapons and technology, the insurgents use the bombs to spread their message of Iraq’s instability to media worldwide.

"We win engagement after engagement, but all they have to do is blow up a car and it is on the news," Capt. Rentz said. "It generates its own information victory."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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