Associated Press

July 9, 2003 Wednesday

HEADLINE: U.S. Army Baits Ambushers With Own Troops

BYLINE: BORZOU DARAGAHI; Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: NEAR BAQUBA, Iraq

BODY:
The sweat dripped from Lt. Kurt Chapman's face. The 4th Infantry Division platoon commander had just set a trap for a group of Iraqi ambushers - and he was the bait.

It was now a matter of watching and waiting.

"They want to shoot at us. We'll see if they have the guts," said Sgt. Samuel Bailey, of Cedar Falls, Iowa. "When they started aggressively attacking us, we decided to take the fight to them. We own the night."

When Chapman's men first ventured out of the base onto the road toward "RPG Alley," a strip of road 45 miles northeast of Baghdad where American forces have come under attacks by rocket-propelled grenades, the two-Humvee convoy kept its lights on - to lure in attackers.

Using slow-moving convoys to bait attacks on ambush-prone roads is a common U.S. tactic in Iraq , where hit-and-run fighters are impossible to discern until they open fire. Once they do, the U.S. forces, protected by their armor and aided by their night scopes, do their best to cut the irregulars down.

"Are you scared?" Chapman, of Portland , Maine , asked his driver.

"No, not scared," Pfc. Clayton Randall responded.

As the convoy rolled into RPG Alley, rebel sentries opened fire with flare guns and small arms. Chapman said the fire was meant to warn ambushers to take position.

Just to make sure everyone knew they were out and about, Chapman stopped by a local gas station and began aggressively questioning the men hanging out there.

"These shady characters are connected to the attackers somehow," Chapman said.

Confident the assailants were riled up, the Lieutenant faded back to a spot where he could spy on the ambush location. A sliver of moon hung above the Iraqi desert.

"The whole place is a little spooky," said Bailey, as he peered through the powerful night-vision scope mounted atop his armored Humvee. "There are usually people moving around. Tonight there's no one. It's like the freaking 'Twilight Zone."'

Just then two of the battalion's M-1 tanks drove past the ambush spot in an attempt to draw fire. Randall spotted two men carrying weapons suddenly standing up on a roof. They crouched down when they saw the American vehicles were near-impenetrable tanks.

The tanks moved into spots where they could observe the ambush site. One of the men reappeared.

"I saw a head pop up and look around," said Bailey, Chapman's gunner. "Whoa! Whoa! Someone's bursting off rounds there."

The commander at Chapman's 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment headquarters radioed the final go-ahead.

"You have permission to engage," said Lt. Col. Mark Young.

One of the tanks opened fire with its 7.62mm gun. Orange tracer rounds disrupted the night.

By early morning, Chapman and his men raided two homes and a gas station suspected of being outposts for the militants, detaining three men who were later released after interrogation.

The suspected assailant on the roof was cut in half, Bailey said.

"He ain't there no more," he said.