"US sailors patrol waterways, aiming to fill security gap"
"by Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times | March 2, 2008
LAKE QADISIYAH, Iraq - As their craft glides at high speed over the chilly waters behind the Haditha Dam, the US sailors aboard Riverine Patrol Boat 13 spot a slow-moving rowboat that seems out of place.
Navy Lieutenant Jeffrey Werby cannot immediately be sure whether the rowboat spells danger.
"They could be just scrawny guys trying to make a living or fishing," says Werby, officer in charge of a four-boat squad based at the dam. "Or they could be something."
Werby and the other sailors, 10 per patrol boat, will find out which it is in due time.
President Bush, in his State of the Union address in January, said insurgents in Iraq were on the run. If so, it is the Navy's job to see that they do not run toward the Euphrates River in an effort to avoid capture.
"It's our job to close the seam that insurgents and other irreconcilables have been using to get men, supplies, and weapons to Baghdad," said Commander Glen Leverette, who oversees a boat squad based at Haditha Dam and squads that go to the Euphrates from bases at Qaim and Taqaddum.
"We want them to know that the water is no longer a safe haven."
Nowhere in Iraq is a "safe haven" anymore thanks to this god-damned invasion!!!!
In a throwback to the days of Swift boats in Vietnam, the Navy has a dozen patrol boats prowling the Euphrates and this immense reservoir dotted with small islands and fishing villages along the shore. Lake Qadisiyah is 20 miles wide at some points.
The patrol boat sailors honor their predecessors in numerous ways. Boats carry the names of Medal of Honor recipients from Vietnam. Radio call signs are the same ones that river units used for that war.
The boat that spotted the two fishermen carries the name of James E. Williams, the most decorated sailor of the Vietnam War, who was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, and two Silver Stars for his service aboard patrol boats.
A Vietnam-era organization, the Mobile Riverine Force Association, has welcomed the new sailors into its fraternity. The group sent 22 boxes of food and other gifts to the 200-plus sailors in Iraq at Christmas.
The Navy, despite widespread use of patrol boats of various designs for coastal and waterway duty, largely abandoned the command after Vietnam. Initially, the river patrol job in Iraq was assigned to the Marine Corps.
But the Marines decided that they could use their troops better elsewhere. The Navy, hoping to expand its role in Iraq and future inland conflicts through its Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, jumped at the chance to reactivate its riverine program.
WAR = GOOD!
A call went out in 2006 for enlisted personnel and officers eager to try something different. Dozens applied for what turned out to be months of arduous training, including a stint at the Marines' School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
For many sailors who had spent years in various billets at sea, the chance to start a new command was irresistible.
What was the attraction? "The fast boats and the guns," said Pat Gehrke, lead chief petty officer for Werby's squad.
Great! Look out, fisherman!!
Have we murdered any yet, and would the Zionist press tell us if we had?
"It's different than anything in the Navy," said Lieutenant j.g. Christopher Polnaszek.
The first group of Navy river squads arrived in Iraq in early 2007.
Leverette's is the second batch, arriving last fall for a seven-month hitch.
Numerous caches of weapons have been discovered along the banks of the Euphrates and Lake Qadisiyah, pronounced by the sailors as "Lake Quesadilla."
Oh, let's insult Iraqis by mispronouncing there cities and towns.
Imagine if someone ever said "Jew York" instead of "New York."
Can't you just hear the howls?!
More than 70 boats have been seized since Leverette's squads arrived. Many fishermen in boats and on the shore have been stopped, questioned, and photographed.
And GENERALLY HARASSED by our OCCUPATION, 'eh?
For the most part, residents seem to accept the questioning by sailors and the seizure of boats.
Pffffft!!!
Yeah, sure they do!
Iraqi law calls for the seizure of unregistered boats, and many villagers and fishermen appear to prefer sailors who provide some measure of safety over insurgents with a history of slayings, extortion, or other problems.
Although none of the boats has fired a shot in anger, they are armed with machine guns and each sailor has an M-4 rifle, a handgun, or both.
Why would they?
That's a very strange statement about our heroic fighting men right there.
The 39-foot boats, with a cruising speed of 30 knots, also have access to the best of American technology that allows them to see for miles. With a shallow draft, the boats can be used to take Marines or Navy SEALs to the shore.
This ain't about patrolling the waters for insurgents and safety of Iraqis: this is about FACILITATING U.S. MILITARY OPERATIONS!!!
Oh, the lying....
On this day, the patrol crew figures that the two fishermen in a rusty, precarious-looking metal boat present no danger. The patrol boat glides alongside as the crew uses a grappling hook to pull the Iraqi boat closer.
Sailors search their boat. They learn that the fishermen's other boat had been seized by Americans and had not yet been returned.
Sigh!
The fishermen receive permission to return to pulling up nets loaded with fat carp. Riverine Patrol Boat 13 continues on its way.
This is disgusting, this occupation that is disrupting Iraqi lives.
And what is even more disgusting is the MSM 's portrayal of this as our great fighting men on the rivers.
Yaaaaayyyyy!!
Insurgents, Werby says, try to blend in with the public "and hide among normal citizens by threatening them. . . . It's our job to find them."
I'm appalled at the behavior of my country in this world right now, readers!
Fucking SHAMEFUL!!!!
