Long an Iraqi target, no U.S. help in sight

Base: Complaints by soldiers under daily fire contrast sharply with White House and Pentagon statements.

By Tom Bowman

Sun Foreign Staff

Originally published October 11, 2004

LSA ANACONDA, Iraq - This sprawling supply base on a dusty stretch about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad is officially known as a "logistical support area." But some of the thousands of soldiers and contractors who suffer daily mortar and rocket attacks have another name for it: "Mortaritaville."

At least a half-dozen soldiers and contractors have been killed and nearly 100 wounded here since April. There have been about two attacks a day since July. Three weeks ago, a young airman lost both legs and his right hand when a mortar shell slammed into the base.

Officers say Anaconda, the largest support base in the country, with 22,500 U.S. troops and 2,500 contractors spread over 15 square miles, is also the most frequently attacked. But there is no indication the soldiers will get the help they want to deal with their nagging and deadly problem.

Requests and questions

Since May, Brig. Gen. Oscar B. Hilman, commander of the 81st Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard unit from Washington state that operates the base, has requested 500 to 700 more soldiers. But he said the request has been denied.

"Because the enemy is persistent, we need additional forces. We asked twice," said Hilman, who arrived here in April for a yearlong stint. But Hilman said he was told that "there are no additional forces," and that U.S. soldiers are needed elsewhere, particularly to battle insurgents and cover a large area to the north that includes the rebellious cities of Tikrit and Samarra.

The 81st Brigade's top enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. Robert Barr, said the soldiers here are frustrated, and that he often hears the same question: "Why aren't we stopping it or killing their guys who are doing it?"

Their complaints contrast sharply with statements by President Bush and top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who say U.S. troop strength is sufficient but that more soldiers will be sent if senior commanders ask.

While the 81st provides security inside the fence that surrounds the base, the task of protection outside the concertina wire falls to the 2nd Brigade, part of the 1st Infantry Division, based in Tikrit. During the past week, the division has participated in the effort to take back Samarra from insurgents. Those units, too, are stretched thin.

"They have other operational concerns," said Lt. Col. Harry Gonzalez, a spokesman for the 81st. "There's a lot of real estate."

Hilman said he requested additional forces in the spring and again in the summer from 13th Corps Support Command, which is responsible for LSA Anaconda and all other multinational supply and transportation facilities in Iraq.

Maj. Richard W. Spiegel, a spokesman for the 13th Corps, confirmed that Hilman put in the request and that it was endorsed by the command's top officer, Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers.

The request was forwarded to Multi-National Corps Iraq headquarters, which assesses troop requirements and makes the final decision, Spiegel said. The request was denied, he said, declining to provide details.

Sharon Walker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, said officials had no comment on why the request was not approved.

Planes won't stay

Meanwhile, the Air Force will not base its big cargo planes here because it is considered unsafe, said an officer at Anaconda, who requested anonymity. Instead, pilots keep their engines running as they drop off cargo, then quickly take off. Officers say the attacks are not interfering with the flow of the thousands of tons per month of spare parts, fuel, clothing and food needed to keep an army running.

Hilman calls Anaconda "the life support" of the theater of operations.

Over the past month, tall concrete slabs have been installed at Anaconda to protect sleeping areas from the Soviet-era 82 mm mortar shells and 57 mm rockets that hit daily. Shells and rockets have landed near the operations center, the mess hall, a mosque and a chaplain's car. A sort of gallows humor has infected some of the soldiers. The base store sells T-shirts picturing a soldier looking skyward and the words: "Mom, I'll call when the mortars stop."

On Thursday morning, two mortar shells landed near the south gate. No injuries were reported. Just before dinner, there was another explosion outside the fence. A siren warned those inside to take shelter in the bunkers. Contractors in the mess hall stopped serving food and hunkered down.

A blast and a shrug

"You can never tell where they're coming from," said Sgt. Charles Rhoade of Havre de Grace, part of a five-member team from the Maryland Army National Guard that helps bring supplies into Anaconda.

Sgt. Richard Trucks, a guardsman from California, was finishing his dinner nearby and simply shrugged. "You accept it," he said. Still, he added, "We would appreciate a little more direct action" from U.S. forces.

The next morning, Sgt. Mark Long of Hilman's security detail said U.S. forces must better control the expanse of rolling hills, heavy vegetation and small villages outside the base. The attackers change tactics often and cleverly conceal their firing positions. A mortar tube was so carefully hidden that only 4 inches rose above the ground.

Long, who served with the 1st Infantry Division in the Persian Gulf War, said senior officers are not being aggressive enough in trying to stop the attacks. An abandoned house near the south gate has been the source of two recent mortar attacks and is still standing, Long said. Attacks also come from boats in the Tigris River, which skirts the base, and from its far side.

'Lots of politics'

Officers say about two dozen local men have been arrested in the attacks; some have been released for lack of evidence.

"Lots of politics," Long said, pausing near one of the concrete barriers that protect the soldiers' housing trailers.

One officer who requested anonymity said some Air Force pilots and mechanics have volunteered to patrol outside the fence to stop the attacks.

"They're fed up," he said. But it would take about three weeks to teach them basic infantry tactics and weaponry, and they can't spare the time. "They've got other jobs."

Soldiers and officers say the mortar attacks predate the arrival of U.S. troops. Saddam Hussein seized the land from local sheiks and built the base, further annoying residents with the constant roar of low-flying aircraft. Now and then a mortar shell would arc into Hussein's base as a message of local anger.

U.S. officers say the attacks worsened in April as the insurgency intensified. Local residents taken into custody said insurgents from Baghdad and Fallujah paid them to attack Americans.

A psy-ops campaign

A senior U.S. officer, requesting anonymity, said that besides more troops, what is needed here is a "psychological operations" campaign. Soldiers should meet with villagers and convince them that they risk losing their homes if they fail to turn in insurgents. Bulldozers could clear a large swath that could be more easily patrolled and offer less cover for attackers, the officer said.

There were 61 mortar or rocket attacks on the base in April, 61 in May and 40 in June. July and August saw 58 attacks each. There were 27 attacks on the base in the first 16 days of September, the most recent period for which figures were available.

In the past month, Hilman, the 81st's commander, has set up an operations center manned round the clock to combat the attacks. Soldiers watch huge television monitors that show live video from flying drones and from cameras perched on the guard towers. They can pinpoint attackers' locations and quickly dispatch helicopters and troops. Still, mortar rounds and rockets continue to strike at all hours.

Last week, the explosion closing the mess hall came as the top officer of the National Guard, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, a former Baltimore teacher, was visiting from the Pentagon.

"It was very clear to me that force protection is priority one here and they will deal with this," Blum said. "The commanders see this is a problem that must be solved."

A call for more patrols

But that will not come in time to help Senior Airman Brian Kolfage, a 22-year-old military policeman from Dearborn Heights, Mich. A mortar round exploded several feet behind him on Sept. 11 as he was walking near the airfield in search of a soda. He recalled being swept into the air on a brownish cloud and slammed to the hot gravel. He lost both legs and his right hand. Shrapnel also pierced his left hand, leaving a deep, jagged wound.

Kolfage had served in Iraq during the drive to Baghdad last year. This summer, he was back in the region, this time in Kuwait, where he volunteered to return to Iraq. He was at Anaconda barely two weeks before being wounded, and recalled that he and fellow airmen would dash for shelter "at least once a day" when there was an explosion and the piercing wail of the base alarm.

"People talked about what they should do to stop it," Kolfage said in a halting voice during a bedside interview at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda. "Increased patrols, I think more patrols.

"No one ever thought they'd get hit."

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