Pendleton Marines stand by during historic vote

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer | Saturday, January 29, 2005 10:42 PM PST ∞

NAJAF ---- One by one, quietly and with a proud calm that marked the day as special, residents of the Shiite holy city of Najaf filed into polling places early this morning to cast their votes in the national parliamentary election that could harken a new dawn in Iraq.

In a cold haze just after sunrise, residents of the ancient district of Kufa emerged from their homes and walked to local schools such as the Al Buwaib Primary School, near the al Salah mosque, where polls opened at 7 a.m.

Dressed up as if going somewhere special, they greeted each other with "salam ilikem" ---- peace be with you ---- as Iraqi police searched them for weapons or bombs.

The Kufa district, known for its historical and religious sites and loyalty to radical Shiite clerics such as avowed America-hater Moqtada al-sadr, was quiet this morning as voters trickled in. Only the cackle of roosters, honking donkeys and the occasional pop of distant gunfire broke the morning air.

Once inside, voters, some of them seeming confused and a bit timid, were routed to their designated polling stations, checked against the list of registered voters, and handed a large paper ballot.

Some looked back, quietly asking questions of the election volunteers ---- most of whom were young women cloaked in black ---- as they marked their picks for the 275-seat national assembly that will draft a constitution and choose the executive leadership over the next year.

The sound of one of the first folded ballots hitting bottom of a plastic ballot box brought a smile to one young election worker in a lantern-lit classroom at the Al Buwaid school.

Voters emerged with confident grins, some flashing their thumbs still stained with purple ink after having their fingerprint stamped on the election roles.

"Very good! Very Good" one elderly man said to two western observers of the vote as he left the school. Police cheered him on, all showing their own purple thumbs.

U.S. Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in the area steered clear of polling places. Most stayed out of the city altogether after their commander, Col. Anthony Haslam ordered them to stand down late Saturday night.

"We're not going to be in the city," said Lt. Chris Schickling, as his anti-armor patrol prepared for a day of sitting at their base waiting in case something happens and they are called to react. "It was so peaceful last night that the colonel said it (Marine patrols) wasn't necessary."

On a quick run through Kufa as the sun rose, Iraqi police and army troops manned check points, stood guard on rook tops and drove slowly in marked cars. They seemed to be everywhere.

"It's looking good," Schickling said, as his Humvee rolled through one of the police barricades.

Occasional sounds of gunfire, the Marines said, were just Iraqi police firing into the air to warn drivers to stay off the roads.

The Marines said they did not expect any trouble in Najaf, but had heard reports of possible suicide bombers trying to infiltrate.

Their concern was nowhere near what it had been on Saturday, however.

Preparing for the day

Marines helped Iraqi security forces shut down much of the city of Najaf and launched their own roving patrols Saturday in an attempt to protect the city from violence during the country's historic vote.

Marines from Camp Pendleton's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit have spent weeks training Iraqi forces and securing polling places for today's election in the area of Najaf, about 100 miles southwest of Baghdad.

But when the voting started, the Marines planned to step back, patrolling from a distance and leaving the election in the hands of Iraqi security forces.

The new Iraqi Army mobilized about 950 soldiers at a temporary base at a university campus, sending lorry after lorry of soldiers out into the streets to man the outermost cordon of checkpoints on the main roads into and out of town.

Throughout the city, driving was restricted to a minimum by Iraqi police, and military check points were set up to limit traffic in neighborhoods hosting Najaf's approximately 240 polling sites.

Police and security guards watched from rooftops and manned posts in front of the public schools, which have become voting centers.

Even with the heavy Iraqi security presence, however, the Marines patrolling the streets throughout the weekend were still on edge, expecting violence to erupt at any moment.

"It should be very interesting," said Lt. Chris Schickling, the leader one of the Marines' teams as an eight Humvee convoy rolled through the first Iraqi police checkpoint at first light Saturday.

"Gonna be interesting," said Lance Cpl. Christopher Smith, "Those are words you don't want to hear."

The Marines explained that improvised bombs, brutal close-in fighting in Najaf's massive cemetery and deadly-accurate mortar fire from Iraqi militia have all been deemed "interesting" in the course of their eight months in Iraq.

The election weekend started off as if it would give them more interesting stories.

Over their radios Saturday came warnings about green tanker trucks that could be used as massive fuel bombs, and of gasoline cans filled with ball bearings and hand grenades set to explode by remote detonation.

The streets were nearly abandoned the day before the election, except for herds of scraggly sheep that fed on heaps of trash. A few men stood like statues in muddy medians and dusty sidewalks watching the Marines drive by.

"This is really f------ eerie," said Cpl. Chris Abner, a Humvee driver in the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment's anti-armor team.

"This is just like it was in August," he added, referring to a month of heavy fighting and bloody battles for the Marines in Najaf.

The Marines' chief concern was car bombs, or what they refer to as VBIEDs ---- vehicle borne improvised explosive devices.

Later Saturday, there were about 10,000 Iraqi police and security guards patrolling the streets of Najaf and in the nearby ancient suburb of Kufa, according to Marine officers.

As they patrolled, the Marines rolled through checkpoint after checkpoint, finding motivated Iraqi police and soldiers steadfast behind machine-gun stands and standing in groups with AK-47 assault weapons slung from their shoulders.

Close call in Kufa

Threats to the security of the election were especially high in the suburb of Kufa, where recent intelligence reports pointed to at least one bomb-making factory.

"Kufa don't like us as much," Lance Cpl. Smith said as the Marines rolled through the town.

"Sadr loyalists," he added, referring to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "They don't like us here."

"Shaw!" yelled Schickling, the lieutenant, to machine gunner Lance Cpl. Brandon Shaw, 19, of Tucson, Az., who was in the turret above the heavily armored Humvee as the Marines were preparing to do security inspections. "If they don't stop, it's pop-ups (flares), then warning shots, then engage. Got that?"

Shaw was pretty clear on the instructions. He proved it when he fired off the first flare by 8 a.m. Saturday, when the platoon stopped to search a bus outside the Imam Salah mosque ---- a notorious pulpit for radical clerics and a hideout for Shiite militia.

When some of the Marines searched the bus, two black sedans slowly turned the corner heading for the Marines.

Shaw waved them off. They kept coming.

Without warning the other Marines, Shaw fired a flare at the vehicles.

Shwoosh went the flare, as sparks danced off the roof top and across the hazy morning air at the vehicles, bouncing off a hood, then off the mosque. It burned itself out next to the arched doorway of the holy site.

The first vehicle, stung by the flare, backed into the second. A man walking a bicycle broke into a sprint. Dogs shot out of the way as if they had been slapped on the rear end.

Marines shouted and ran towards their vehicles, mistaking the flare's swoosh and sparks for the familiar sound of an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.

It was over in a second, but the tension lingered until they made it back to the Iraqi base.

"God," said Schickling. "I thought we were getting hit."

The Marines piled back in their Humvees charged with adrenaline. The sudden confrontation had transported them into combat mode, and it was clear they loved something about it.

"It's going to be an interesting day," Abner said, again.

Anticipation, hope present in cities

Despite the anxiety surrounding the election, there was some hope and cheer in this part of Iraq as residents prepared to vote for the first time.

As the patrols returned to base in the evening, families had pulled patio chairs out to grass lots along the Euphrates River as if lining a parade route.

Men at outdoor cafes, smoking hookah pipes and drinking chai, raised their cups or hands and cheered as the Marines passed.

"That's amazing in this freakin' town," Smith said of a toothy greeting from one Kufa cafe. "I wish the rest of the country could see how Najaf is turning out."

"It's funny that America doesn't get to see this side," Schickling said.

"I think they're so excited because we've been telling them about the election and telling them about the election, and now it's finally here," said Abner in a rare serious moment between wisecracks. "They probably thought we were blowing smoke ... but here it is."

Schickling chimed in with a serious tone that sometimes means he's serious, and other times is a trap for a gaff. This time he was serious.

"This is a pretty big deal," he said.

"I mean THE IRAQI ELECTIONS!" Schickling said, elongating each word for emphasis. "We'll talk about this when we're old men."

Smith, the lance corporal who shuddered at the word "interesting" while on patrol, said he worried some about the future and the Marines' legacy in Najaf.

"I hope it doesn't turn into a civil war," he said, while waving at a group of children just before dark Saturday.

"Hopefully with a new government, people will feel like they've got something to belong to, something to fight for," Smith said.

"Hopefully the Army can keep Najaf like it is," he said of the Army National Guard soldiers who'll replace the 11th Marine Expeditionary Force within about a week. "We've worked too hard and lost too many Marines."

"All this just to vote," said Schickling over the growling of the Humvee engine. "I really hope these people make the best of it."

Contact staff writer Darrin Mortenson at dmortenson@nctimes.com.

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