Story, photos by Sgt. Matthew Acosta
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
FORWARD OPERATING BASE CALDWELL, Iraq- Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Iranian civilians have been illegally crossing into Iraq.
The border crossing along well-hidden trade routes is used to visit holy lands, trade goods on the black market and by insurgents to enter and leave the country undetected.
This illegal "invasion" of people can be hazardous to the security of Iraq, Coalition Forces and to the safety of the civilians entering the country due to hidden dangers.
"Many of the people coming through here don't know the dangers they are facing," said Sgt. Phillip Montgomery, machine gunner, 1st Squadron, 278th Regimental Combat Team, Task Force Liberty. "They come through here to sell products, like whiskey, on the black market. Some people make the trip to see holy sites that were off-limits to them when Saddam was still in power."
"This border where Iraq and Iran meet is an extremely dangerous place for anybody," said Tennessee National Guardsman Capt. James Hite, Company A commander. "Since the war between Iraq and Iran ended, there have been thousands of landmines and other ordinance just abandoned here; scattered all over the cliffs, ravines and along river beds."
Hite said, the area is littered with unmarked mine fields left over from occupying border forces years ago.
He added that these trade routes have been used by foreign and domestic insurgents for a source of explosives for IED's, transportation over the border and hiding from Coalition Forces and the Iraqi border patrol.
"The terrain is so rough here, not many vehicles can pass through. There are tight paths running between sheer cliffs, winding for miles." Montgomery said. "This area can easily conceal people transporting goods and weapons."
He added that they work closely with the Iraqi border patrol. Because of the vast unforgiving terrain and limited human resources, the border patrol cannot cover the entire area.
"Besides lack of manpower, part of the problem is there are no definitive borders," Hite said. "There are many maps with differences in the locations of the borders which also add to the already difficult situation."
Hite said they have not come across any people crossing the border while on patrol yet, but they have found many cashes of stockpiled weapons which are usually destroyed in place.
Some of the intelligence about stockpiled weapons comes from area reconnaissance missions from other units and other times the locals lead the Soldiers to the locations.
Hite said, "Many times villagers would lead us right to piles of munitions for us to destroy because trying to give directions in that terrain is just asking for trouble."
They can spend days picking up individual munitions, said Hite, but their focus is concentrating on destroying the larger cashes they find.
"We have quite a big job ahead of us, but that's OK, we have the time to do it," Hite said.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2005 08:10 |
| Story ID: | 1661 |
| Location: | KIRKUSH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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