Marines Build Berm Around Troubled City [Image 4 of 4]

AR RUTBAH, IRAQ

03.22.2006

Courtesy Photo

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Marine engineers use a D9 bulldozer to shear through sheetrock lying just below the loose soil while constructing an 8-foot high dirt berm around Ar Rutbah, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2006. The Marines spent nearly three weeks building the 12-kilometer berm -- a tool Marines and Iraqi Security Forces are using to curb insurgent and criminal activity that has gripped this remote western Iraqi city of 25,000. Now, insurgents can't freely travel in and out of the city, which has been a breeding ground for smugglers and foreign fighters making their way into Iraq for years, according to Col. Stephen Davis, commander for Regimental Combat Team-2. 'We now have an exclusive walled compound down there (Rutbah), with three entry control checkpoints, that's been getting rave reviews from the population down there,' Davis told reporters during a Pentagon press briefing Feb. 11 at the Marines' camp at Fallujah. '(It's) one more step in making western Al Anbar a prohibitive environment for the insurgents and terrorists to operate in.'

• Date Taken: 03.22.2006
• Date Posted: 03.22.2006 11:35
• Photo ID: 17192
• Resolution: 800x533
• Size: 110.81 KB
• Location: AR RUTBAH, IQ