Bravo Battery soldiers during down time. Photo: David Botti

Their role is not as infantryman per se, but each day they conduct patrols on foot or in humvees.  With their Howitzers miles away in storage, Bravo Battery's mission is to protect the citizens of their neighborhood.  The reality here, however, is far more complex than that single mission statement seems to dictate.

The battery's area of operations is Baghdad's Karadah neighborhood, a peninsula whose three sides are bordered by the Tigris River.  To the west sits the International Zone, or Green Zone.  To the north are the still restive streets of Sadr City where commanders here say militia leaders often left for the quiet streets of Karadah during periods of intense fighting with the Americans.

Karadah itself is normally considered one of the safer areas of Baghdad.  Since March, when Bravo Battery moved into Karadah (they arrived in Iraq this past December), the unit has managed to escape much of the intense fighting that often comes to mind when Baghdad is mentioned.  

"If Karadah ever goes to hell, then something's definitely wrong in Baghdad," said Sergeant Nicholas Otto, a Third Platoon team leader, on the area's reputation for stability.

With my first embed complete and my second about to begin in earnest, I’ve begun to notice similarities in the way people here view the situation in Baghdad.  Everyone, from privates to captains, from journalists to civilians, seems to be experiencing a collective sigh of relief. 

You’ll often hear mention of the fighting from mid-March through May.  Soldiers I’ve talked to shake their heads and tell countless stories from that period, as if it were another time and another war.  The field artillerymen of Bravo Battery 5-25 spoke of standing on the roof of their headquarters and watching rockets stream toward the Green Zone.  They recounted rocket attacks on their own battalion headquarters that became so frequent, they would shrug their shoulders and continue with conversations when the alarm for “incoming” sounded. 

Today I met my new unit: Charlie Company 2-30, an infantry company based out of Fort Polk, Louisiana.  Their area of operations is a roughly 10-square-kilometer chunk of eastern Baghdad, whose western limits border the tamed, but still dangerous, neighborhood of Sadr City.  The company is clearly used to intensive combat operations.  It was infantrymen from this unit who headed to the area when attacks became so fierce that combat engineers refused to continue with construction of the wall built to isolate Sadr City.  I was told of main supply routes so densely populated with roadside bombs that simply bringing basic supplies to combat outposts required considerable planning. The company first sergeant plans on nominating nearly an entire rifle squad for the Army commendation medal based their actions during a single incident. 

But today these events are the stuff of war stories told around the table.  The mood is hopeful and thankful.  Many soldiers seem to hold a great sense of pride that through the thickest of fighting they held on, and have now broken through to the other side: relative peace. 

They refer to the various militias historically operating around Baghdad as now being unorganized groups of thugs.  The formidable enemy tactics they once encountered are no more.   

Still, threats remain.  There are constant patrols to discover firing positions of rockets, or the facilities that manufacture them.  There is the rush to build-up various neighborhoods so disenfranchised residents don’t turn to criminal activities.  And, there is the belief some hold that the militias are simply laying low for the time being. 

No matter what the future holds, or what the present reality truly is, the fact remains that for soldiers operating in Baghdad the worst seems to be over.  A few stable months have allowed infantry units such as Charlie Company to move from (to use military-speak) “kinetic” to “non-kinetic” operations. 

Offensive missions still occur, especially depending on the neighborhood, though they’ve become the exception rather than the norm. 

Despite these promising developments, few here seem at all ready to begin letting their guard down.

When word came down the chain of command that Third Platoon was taking an evening patrol to Salam's house, a handful of soldiers knew they'd be skipping the Army dinner about to be served.

I'd seen Salam once before, during my first few minutes with Bravo Battery as I was introduced around the headquarters' main office. Salam sat in front of a computer wearing a collared shirt and khakis.   He turned halfway around to wave, gave a genuine smile, then turned back to his business.

The business, it turned out, was getting paid by the U.S. Army.

Salam is the founder and leader of his neighborhood's Sons of Iraq, a type of local policing force usually organized by prominent members of a community. Rank-and-file members generally receive $300-per-month directly from the U.S. military.  Sons of Iraq units are showing up all over country, which the American commanders say has lead to a significant reduction in violence throughout areas of conflict. 

Despite these success stories, there are critics at all levels who doubt the long-term effectiveness of such units.  Speaking to a Los Angeles Times reporter in May, a U.S. Army platoon leader characterized the Sons of Iraq leader in his own area of operations:

"Most of them kind of operate like dons in their areas," said 2nd Lt. Forrest Pierce, a platoon leader with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment. They shake down local businessmen for protection money, seize rivals for links to the insurgency and are always angling for more men, more territory and more power.

Soldiers in Bravo Battery's third platoon, however, seem to trust their own local Sons of Iraq head.  

"I think he's a pretty good guy with good intentions," said Private First Class Anthony Spears.  "He's just trying to help out his neighborhood."

As the sun began to set over Baghdad, Third Platoon mounted their armored humvees and set out for the 10 minute drive to Salam 's house, a nondescript white-faced building in the Riyadh section of Karadah. 

That night, as during other recent nights all over the city, the mood was quiet and relaxed as residents mingled outside their homes and businesses.  The humvees arrived at a small Sons of Iraq checkpoint, and to the left stood Salam in front of his home ready to great the soldiers.  He motioned us inside.

"They know the way already," he said, pointing to one of the soldiers.  

We passed through an entranceway which, I'd learn later, bore the marks of an unsuccessful bomb attack against Salam carried out earlier this year.

A Sons of Iraq checkpoint in Karadah. Photo: David Botti

As a visitor to this near-weekly meeting of Salam and Third Platoon's soldiers, it was difficult to gage the dynamic among them.  Four soldiers, along with their Iraqi interpreter, settled into the room as if it were their own.  They pulled off flak jackets and helmets and flopped onto the empty couches.  They treated Salam as they might a favorite uncle, and he in turn offered cigarettes, Pepsi, and Jordanian energy drinks.

Yesterday's Third Platoon patrol took us to the same National Police headquarters in the Kamshara area as the day before.  Later in the morning a joint patrol was planned to clear the main road of rocks and debris.  The purpose here is to remove any type of concealment for explosives planted along the route.

Along with Third Platoon came Bravo Battery's commander Captain Christopher Kliewer, a red-haired Oklahoman who watched as the acting-platoon leader, Staff Sergeant Eddie Ruiz, sat down with the National Police captain.

The meeting between leaders was amicable enough. Ruiz ran down the usual checklist of supplies the Army could provide and, just as the day before, discussed the morale of his colleague's men. 

As the meeting came to a close the room's door swung open and a policeman entered somewhat excited.  There had been a carjacking on a highway nearby.  There was no other information.  The policeman left.

The National Police captain sighed and seemed disinterested considering the violence that occurred less than 500 yards away.  It wasn't in his district, he told the Americans through their military translator.  He would need a direct order from his commanding officer to send men those few hundred yards to assist in the necessary police work.  Otherwise, if one of these policemen were hurt doing so, he'd be in considerable trouble.

At that moment the same national policeman entered the room and reported a civilian was killed in the attack.  A minor commotion ensued as both the National Police captain and the Army translator both tried to question the bearer of news, who seemed uniformed on anything but the most general of details.  

He eventually left and the room settled once more.

The National Police captain continued, saying the Iraqi Police were responsible for that area, and that they do nothing but checkpoints without patrolling their area. The captain recounted one incident where Iraqi Police simply stood by as gunman opened fire on a group of civilians.

Some background: The National Police and the Iraqi Police constitute two of the six armed security forces operating in the Kadarah neighborhood, the other four being the U.S. Army, the Iraqi Army, the neighborhood-based Sons of Iraq, and the Kurdish security detail for Iraq's president Jalal Talibani, who lives in western Karadah.

Soldiers here explained the difference between the Iraqi Police and the National Police as being akin to local and state police in the United States.  While the Iraqi Police are strictly assigned to neighborhood, the National Police are assigned throughout the country.

Checkpoints manned by these various groups can be as close as a few blocks away. There is little or no communication between these checkpoints directly, Captain Kliewer said, but so far this hasn't presented any significant problems.

If you could go on Iraqi television and tell the country one thing what would it be?

I'd try to emphasize that we're trying to help them.  I think it's mixed: some people know we're here to help them, others don't.  I'd ask for their cooperation, since it seems like half cooperate and half don't.  It's just like in the U.S. where it's how your parents raise you.  If their parents don't like us they won't.  And if their parents like us they will.

-PFC Scott Glover, 22, Stockbridge, GA

SGT Otto. Photo: David Botti

Can't we all just get along?  That's the easiest way to sum it up.

-SGT Nicholas Otto, 23, Milwaukee, WI

That's a hard one.  I'd say, hey, if you want to make your country better, you've got to get involved in the whole thing.  I can't tell 'em that they're all going to start trusting each other.  All I can say is just for them to get involved.  That's the whole reason we're here.

-PFC Brandin Delion, 19, Riverside, CA

A Tuesday morning patrol for Third Platoon brought them to what's considered one of the less friendly sections of Karadah.   The buildings are thought to house members of the Jaysh al-Mahdi, or JAM, Muqtada al-Sadr's militia unit.  There haven't been any overt problems in the area recently, Staff Sergeant Eddie Ruiz, the acting-platoon leader said—it's the countless repair shops, warehouses, and metal shops that cause concern.  

As Sergeant Jeffery Breen put it after we dismounted the humvees and began to hop-step over large puddles of oily water: "they can build anything they want here."  The worry is that what could be built here is some sort of explosive device that would eventually be used against U.S. soldiers.

On the previous night's patrol through another of Karadah's districts, the soldiers freely shook hands and joked with neighborhood residents.  Tuesday morning in the JAM area, however, the soldiers were largely greeted without emotion, or with what seemed to be a carefully feigned disinterest in their presence.  

Sitting in chairs outside their shops, or walking alongside the patrol as they go about their daily business, the people watched Third Platoon's humvees rumble by.  Overhead electrical wires sagged.  The soldiers explained these low-hanging wires are one of the reasons they can't use the much touted MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles, which are considered the military's new line of defense against roadside bombs and explosives.  Here the MRAP's are too tall and would easily catch onto the wires and pull the electrical polls down.

Despite the weary looks of the neighborhood residents, Third Platoon remained in good spirits.  Squad leader Sergeant Jeffery Breen even managed to elicit a tight smile from a shop owner when he borrowed the man's hose and pretended to wash the shop's driveway.

Third Platoon soldiers on patrol. Photo: David Botti

A white Kia sedan screeched to a stop, as one of the humvees turned onto a main street full of early morning traffic.  The driver continued to stare straight ahead, as a soldier lifted his hand to stop the rest of the traffic.  

McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped on the grenade. The grenade, which was lodged near the vehicle's radio, blew up and killed him.

Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told the landmark hearing of "lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis."  He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.  Goldsmith said he had "self-medicated" for several months to treat the wounds of the war...Another soldier told AFP he had to boost his medication to treat anxiety and social agoraphobia -- two of many lingering mental wounds he carries since his deployments in Iraq -- before testifying.  A group of veterans in the packed hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades' testimonies shattered the official version that the U.S. effort in Iraq is succeeding.  Almost to a man, the testifiers denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.

"We are talking about people who are making over $1 million to pay a small sacrifice for this war where our military families are paying a huge sacrifice," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

The White House weighed in with an official veto promise Thursday that also attacked the Democratic plan for increasing taxes.

"The president has been clear that tax increases are unacceptable," the White House statement said.

In the simplest terms, the Webb bill would effectively pay for tuition and housing at a four-year public college for those serving at least three years of active duty. The McCain measure isn't as generous, as it increases existing education benefits by $400 a month for the same time served: from $1,100 to $1,500.

“My job is to get people to stay in the military, not only to join, but to stay as well,” McCain said, although he added that he will be sitting down with Webb to try to work out a compromise. He wants to make sure to include a component of his bill which is not in Webb bill that would allow for transferability of benefits to family members.

I have great respect for John McCain's service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it's too generous. I couldn't disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.