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War reminiscent of Vietnam

Tension, misunderstangings rife as troops confront Iraqi citizens

WASHINGTON POST, North Of Nasiriyah
As about 40 Marines walk toward a mud and stone house in a frontline village here, a bearded man in a long white robe emerges, his arms raised to show he is unarmed. He seems relaxed. Behind him, a woman in a black shawl holds a young girl close to her dress. The Marines maneuver toward positions on either side of the house, their rifles trained on surrounding fields.
Maj. Frank Simone, a Marine reservist, turns to an Iraqi who serves as his interpreter. "Ask him if he minds if we search the house."
The man in the robe begins a long answer in Arabic, and the interpreter starts to translate: "He says that the area is outside of Iraqi government control and there is nothing to worry about here."
But Simone, who has the street smarts of a drug enforcement agent, which is what he is in his home town of Hermosa, Calif., cuts him off. "Tell him we need to search the house," he says. "Especially because of those two white pickup trucks out front." White pickup trucks have been used by Iraqi fighters in the area.
Plagued by nightly ambushes as
they make their way north through Iraq, the Marines are conducting regular foot patrols in villages such as this one, located just off a major road. The war they find here is not the one they came to fight. There are no enemy tanks or infantry formations, just houses -- most of them with no electricity or running water -- and people in civilian clothes, some looking on with open hostility, others with friendliness that may be feigned.
It is a Vietnam-style environment with high tensions on both sides -- and, often, ambiguous results. U.S. troops walk through with weapons poised, unable to understand words spoken to them, detaining people they think might be shooting at them the next night, but often unsure if they get the right ones.
"We are here to show a presence, to let people know we're here, and to make sure everything here is safe," said Lt. Seneca Todd, who today led the platoon from the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment's Bravo Company on their first patrol since arriving in Iraq. "We're not trying to frighten anyone who isn't doing anything wrong, but even a harmless-looking home can be a hornet's nest."
To begin the search of the farmer's house, a dozen Marines leave their positions and approach the two main doorways. As they are about to enter, the black-bearded man, who looks to be in his late thirties, explains to the interpreter that he has a weapon inside, an AK-47 assault rifle. He says that he has it to defend his family and livestock, including some chickens and ducks that are wandering around in the yard.
"How many weapons are inside?" Simone asks.
"One."
"And how many other people?"
"One more woman, and two other children."
"Hold up!" Simone screams to the Marines, who are inches from the door, poised to enter as soon as the order is given. And then, to the Iraqi man: "Clear out all of the women and children before we go in."
A second woman emerges from the building with a child on either side. She is crying. Through the interpreter, Simone tells her not to worry, that everything will be fine.
The Marines enter the home, in two-man teams. Soon one emerges with the AK-47 that the Iraqi man
had mentioned, and leans it against a wall. "You'll get this back when we go," Simone tells the man. It's common for ordinary Iraqis to have such a rifle. "Have you seen Iraqi troops near here? How recently?"
And then, from inside the house, an excited Marine shouts: "Hey, we have a machine gun in here!"
The farmer turns nervous, and begins speaking quickly. r."
Platoon Sgt. Eric Strause walks out carrying a light RPK machine gun, which the Marines found wrapped in blankets in a bedroom.
"Ask him where he got the machine gun," Simone says. The man says that he bought it.The Marines prepare to move to the next set of houses.
In the end, they aren't sure whether they've found a fighter or merely upended the house and frightened the family of a man who intended no harm to them. They found a lot of weapons, but it's conceivable that the Iraqi army stopped by days earlier and distributed guns that people couldn't refuse. All the Marines are sure of is that there's another house to check, and another one after that.