Iraq: The Iraqis Will Be Our Eyes And Ears. This Is Their Country

It's 2:30 on a Thursday morning when four humvees, five Bradleys and a couple of minivans pull up in front of a two-story building in the Ghazalia district of western Baghdad. Bravo Company of the 91st Engineering Battalion is making a house call. The address is a suspected hideout of foreign fighters allied with Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, thought to be the mastermind of the recent wave of insurgent violence. Bravo has been joined by some special-forces soldiers, and together they come barreling out of their vehicles, clamber over a metal gate and charge into the house.

They quickly realize this is...

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