Marines wave goodbye to parts of Iraq

By: DARRIN MORTENSON - Staff Writer | Friday, February 11, 2005 11:28 PM PST ∞

NAJAF, Iraq ---- With the word "finally" on the tips of their tongues, hundreds of Marines of the Camp Pendleton-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit serviced Humvees, packed sea bags, and drove some of their final patrols Friday as they prepared to travel home after more than seven months in Iraq and nine months away from San Diego County.

Next week, they will turn responsibility for security in Najaf, about 100 miles southwest of Baghdad, over to the Mississippi-based 155th Brigade of the Army National Guard, which will also take control of the surrounding region.

Marines left one of their bases to the "Dixie Thunder" soldiers Thursday.

"It's gone pretty good," said Marine Lt. Col. Jay Stuart of the transfer to the Army on Friday after conducting the change of command in Karbala, which is about 40 miles north of Najaf. "They've spent about two weeks getting their feet on the ground and now they're on their own."

Ground shifting

The changing of the guard in the region has coincided with signs of renewed support for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia the Marines defeated in a bloody battle in Najaf in August.

It also comes at the same time as the release of preliminary results from the recent national and provincial elections that are expected to upset the fragile political order of the region.

In the national election, the Najaf-centered Shiite slate appears to have won a majority of votes, in all likelihood leaving the Shiites a majority of seats in a national assembly that will write a new constitution guided by Islamic law.

Recent local elections are also expected to result in the ouster of the U.S.-appointed governor of Najaf, Adnan Zurfi.

Cracks in Zurfi's government are already visible. His top security chiefs have carried on a highly public turf dispute, and residents have increasingly taken to the streets to demand better services and to protest abuses of power by local security forces.

The political and military shift takes place as the Shiite Muslim residents of the region prepare for the largest annual celebration in Shiite Islam, known as Ashura.

The celebration is expected to draw millions of pilgrims from across Iraq and the Middle East to Karbala and to present a monumental security challenge for the newly arrived soldiers and newly trained Iraqi security forces.

Most Marines leaving the region said, however, that they are confident the Army can keep the peace and build on good relations they feel they've created with locals in the months since the heavy fighting in August.

"I think they'll do all right," said Staff Sgt. Ryan Evans on Friday as his Marine detachment prepared to follow Army soldiers into Kufa, which was a stronghold for Shiite militia during the fighting in August.

"They'll do fine as long as they stay aggressive and stay out there every day."

It was the soldiers' first time leading a patrol to Kufa, an ancient holy city along the Euphrates River adjacent to Najaf where Marines say they are sometimes unwelcome.

Killing them with kindness

Marine Capt. Steve Kintzley, 33, of Phoenix, cautioned the soldiers to not get defensive at the few residents who scowl or protest their presence.

"Don't let your feelings get hurt if you see some ugly faces," he said as the soldiers huddled around a map of Najaf and Kufa spread atop a warm Humvee hood. "Just smile and wave at them."

Kintzley's men recounted a recent patrol near Najaf's old city where they encountered a shop owner selling a poster that included both a picture of Sadr and an image of a burning American Humvee.

When they stopped to talk to the shop owner, he told the Marines he didn't like them.

"Well I like you and everyone else around you," Kintzley said, recounting what he had said to the shopkeeper through an interpreter.

The other Marines agreed that Kintzley's quick thinking calmed the man and even seemed to win over some of the bystanders.

"Kill 'em with kindness," Kintzley told the soldiers Friday. "Just keep on being nice to them and 90 percent of them will start coming around."

Waving is winning

The Marines practiced what they preached and the soldiers followed their example, waving and yelling "salam ilikem" ---- meaning "peace be upon you" ---- throughout the two-hour patrol through Kufa.

On Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, thousands of people filled the open-air markets and crowded the streets around the many mosques to rehearse the rituals of the Ashura holiday.

Ashura commemorates the A.D. 680 battle in which the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein was ambushed and killed in Karbala on his way to Kufa to defend fellow Shiites ---- or "partisans" ---- during a bloody dispute over the succession of the leadership of Islam.

As the Marines and soldiers cruised down trash-strewn streets Friday, huge Shiite flags in green, black and bright pink billowed in front of normally drab, beige, brick homes and shops.

A colorful and noisy parade including camels and horsemen dressed for battle filed past the Kufa Mosque, as an angry-looking man ran down the route chastising children for waving to the Marines.

In a field near a mosque, a formation of young men and boys practiced whipping their backs with chains ---- a ritual that draws blood, for the day of Ashura, which this year falls on Feb. 19.

Signs of Sadr

As the troops drove through the streets, almost all the children and many adults along the road waved back enthusiastically.

But numerous posters of Moqtada al-Sadr, rarely seen for months until now, gave the Marines the eerie sense that trouble could be coming in Kufa on the eve of their journey home.

"Those Sadr posters are going up like wildfire," Kintzley blurted as he passed a busy market.

In another Humvee, Cpl. Josh Schmidt, 23, of Rice Lake, Wis., marked down the Global Positioning System coordinates of each Sadr poster-sighting to give to his battalion's intelligence officer when he returned to base.

After marking the locations, he waved "like a politician," he said.

For this reconnaissance detachment, Friday's patrol was one of the last of more than 250 since they arrived in Najaf in late July, a Marine leader said.

Information on the renewed signs of support for Sadr will be turned over to the Army, whose soldiers will be the ones to deal with any re-emergence of Sadr's supporters after the Marines leave next week, he said.

Bittersweet departure

For Marines who completed their last patrols and were packing up to leave Friday, the end of the deployment brought mixed emotions.

"I can't wait," said Cpl. Rey Crisostomo, 21, of the prospect of returning to see his family in Miami by the end of next week.

While he said he was "pumped" about going home, however, he said he would miss his buddies in Communications Platoon, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.

"It sucked, but it was a good experience," Crisostomo said, having a quick smoke as some of his fellow Marines swept out what they called "The House," a barracks building where they have lived on bunk beds since August.

"We all got close ---- like glue," he said.

Inside, Lance Cpl. Marshall Medrano, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., said he, too, would miss his friends but probably won't miss Iraq much.

"We got really close out here ---- like brothers," he said, leaning on a broom in the dusty 10-foot by 20-foot room.

"We were like family. This is all we had for the last nine months," he said. "It's gonna be weird to be without your boys."

Crisostomo said that despite any troubles still lurking out there in Najaf and Kufa, the Marines did their best.

"I never thought I'd ever go to war," he said. "But here I am, for the second time.

"We made history here," he continued. "I know we made a big difference."

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

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