Word: sandstorms
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Charlie Rock Company's patch of desert has been quiet for 24 hours when First Sergeant William Mitchell hears something on the radio. His face stiffens with the information. He leans out of the wind into his half-track, wincing at the sandstorm whipping around his face from the rear. He grabs his M-4 assault rifle and halfway out of the track's back door yells at his master gunner, Sergeant Robert Jones, "You need to call HQ right now and tell them we have 10 men, 200 meters to the north, with AKs and RPGs." Jones jumps...
...tents were miserable, and the weather even worse. One day, the shamal winds stirred up a huge sandstorm. With gusts to 60 m.p.h., we could hear Marines pounding the loosening tent stakes back into the ground. Despite their efforts, one tent was blown over, scattering all the medical equipment...
...sandstorm that stopped the U.S. march on Baghdad is ebbing, but Iraqi resistance remains fierce along the approaches to the capital. As both sides maneuvered Wednesday for advantage in what will be the decisive contest of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," U.S. officials warn that the battle for Baghdad may be a clash of brutal intensity, in light of the tenacious Iraqi resistance that has greeted coalition forces in southern and central Iraq...
...Even during Tuesday's sandstorm, the U.S. 7th Cavalry fought off an attack by Iraqi guerrilla forces near Najaf, and fierce fighting continued Wednesday. U.S. Marines had earlier fought their way through Nasiriyah and across the Euphrates, but in that city too, fighting continues as Iraqi forces try to reinforce their defenses. Even as they prepare to tackle the Republican Guard units on the outer ring of Baghdad's defenses, coalition forces are also reportedly planning to deploy more of their resources to quell ongoing Iraqi resistance in the south, which has exceeded expectations and raised problems of harassment...
...overwhelming odds despite the coalition's exhaustive efforts to facilitate their surrender. That underscores the depth of the challenge that may lie ahead in pacifying Iraq. Many Iraqi forces are no longer in conventional military formation, but have adopted guerrilla tactics to face a more powerful enemy. Tuesday's sandstorm attack on the 7th Cavalry, for example, was carried out by members of the Fedayeen Saddam, a youth militia run by Uday Hussein, firing AK-47s and RPGs from SUVs and other non-military vehicles. And Saddam is certainly hoping the survival of his regime for the first week...