Compare and Contrast
By U.S., Iraqi Forces Find Huge Bunker Network
U.S. and Iraqi forces searching Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Saturday uncovered a network of bunkers hidden in a vast underground quarry and equipped with air conditioning, food and a wide assortment of weapons, a Marine spokesman said.
The quarry, near the town of Karmah, was as long as three football fields and had been divided into rooms that apparently had housed insurgents, the spokesman, Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, said in a statement.
“Within the various rooms making up the facility, Iraqi security and coalition forces discovered four fully furnished living spaces, a kitchen with fresh food, two shower facilities and a working air conditioner,” Pool said.
The weapons stored in the facility included mortars, artillery shells and rockets, according to Pool, who said night-vision goggles and cell phones were also found.
Over three days, Pool said, combined American and Iraqi forces assigned to the 2nd Marine Division discovered about 50 caches of arms and ammunition in Anbar.
The restive province has long been a stronghold of the Iraqi insurgency and a conduit for foreign guerrillas heading for the heart of the country. One month ago, the Marines mounted a seven-day assault in far western Anbar aimed at wiping out foreign insurgents there and their means of support.
Bunkers reveal well-equipped, sophisticated insurgency
Marines in Iraq discovered a series of underground bunkers used by insurgents in western Iraq that show a sophisticated organization with a vast supply of weapons and enough confidence to operate near a major Marine base.
The well-equipped, air-conditioned bunkers, found Thursday, were just 16 miles from the city of Fallujah where hundreds of Marines are stationed. Measuring 558 feet by 902 feet, the underground system of rooms featured four fully furnished living spaces, showers and a kitchen with fresh food – suggesting insurgents had been present recently, according to the U.S. military.
The weapons and high-tech equipment found inside the bunker was impressive: mortars, rockets, machine guns, night-vision goggles, compasses, ski masks and cell phones. Marines also found at least 59 surface-to-air missiles, some 29,000 AK-47 rounds, more than 350 pounds of plastic explosives and an unspecified amount of TNT in a five-mile area around the bunkers.
“There isn’t any historical data here detailing whether this is the most elaborate facility ever found in Iraq or even (the) province,” Marine spokesperson 1st Lt. Kate S. VandenBossche said via e-mail from a base in nearby Ramadi. “I can tell you that it is the largest underground system discovered in at least the last year.”
After retaking Fallujah from insurgents last November, Marine officials called the town the safest place in Iraq. Last month Marines staged two large-scale offensives in the region aimed at rooting out insurgents from their safe haven in Anbar province, thought to be home to the core Sunni Muslim-led insurgency.
VandenBossche said the find was another indication of American success in the area.
“A find like this says more about the average Iraqi citizen than the insurgents,” she said. “It’s their willingness to give us information about insurgent activity in their cities that lead us to these finds.”
A tip line in nearby Ramadi went from getting 30 to 40 tips in March and April to 120 last month, VandenBossche said.
But an Islamic mufti, or spiritual leader, living near Fallujah offered a different take: He said the bunkers were proof that the insurgency is unbowed.
“This shows the failure of the Marines. It was close to their base and they could not see it,” said the mufti, who formerly sat on the council that directed insurgents in Fallujah. He spoke by phone Saturday evening on the condition of anonymity. “The Americans think they know everything. But when they came to Iraq they thought the people would receive them with flowers. Instead of flowers they found these bunkers.”
Haitham al-Dulaimi, who works at a garage in Ramadi, had a similar reaction.
“Are you sure they found it near Fallujah?” he asked, laughing. “It shows you how much the Iraqi resistance has insulted the Americans.”
No wonder Knight Ridder was the only one who questioned the run-up to war.