NAJAF JIM LACEY
It may have been the most unusual directive of Gulf War II. "Soldiers of 2nd Battalion," ordered Lieut. Colonel Chris Hughes. "Smile!" With that, infantrymen of the 101st Airborne Division, armed to the teeth, began flashing their choppers at a crowd that had grown restless as the soldiers approached the mosque at the Tomb of Ali in Najaf, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites. The tactic helped win over a crowd that had more questions than answers. Were the soldiers going to storm the mosque, as some agitators were shouting? Were they liberators? Or conquerors? Were they really going to kill Saddam Hussein this time?
Najaf's civilians watched with hope and concern last week as the 101st made repeated incursions into the city, rooting out the remnants of regular and irregular Iraqi forces. After four days of cautiously advancing--sometimes fighting house to house, sometimes guided by civilians who pointed out the positions of Saddam's men--the Division's 1st Brigade gained control of the area on Wednesday. The following day Najaf had the feel of a liberated city. Smiling citizens crowded every street around the American positions. There was a constant stream of people willing to give information and loudly condemn Saddam. American soldiers who a day before had been in close combat were now basking in the cheers and applause, their arms tired from returning friendly waves.
There were women and children in the crowds, but only the men did any talking. They would say the word Saddam and spit. Or run up to U.S. soldiers and shout "George Bush good." Said Sergeant Reuben Rivera: "The American people, particularly the movie stars against us being here, need to see this. These people need us. Look how happy they are." The locals at last seemed convinced that Saddam could not reach back and hurt them, as had happened after Gulf War I. "All they ask is, When will the Americans kill Saddam?" said a Kuwaiti translator traveling with the 101st. "They say it over and over, as if I did not hear them. I tell them that the Americans will kill him and not to worry."
But the euphoria was almost lost over the mosque incident. It began when the local imam, who had spent 20 years under house arrest until the city fell and his captors fled, asked American soldiers to protect him and the mosque. He neglected to explain this, however, to the crowds outside. As the soldiers of Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion, who had formed a tight perimeter on the street, began heading toward the mosque, citizens started shouting and moving forward. With rabble rousers (later identified by Iraqis as Baath Party members) shouting, "The Americans are storming the mosque," the crowd began to chant and shake their fists. That's when Hughes made his move. Grabbing a microphone he calmly announced over a loudspeaker, "Second Battalion soldiers, take a knee and point your weapons at the ground." Seconds later every one of the men was on a knee, and not a single weapon was pointing at the crowd. Then he gave the smile order.