BAGHDAD, Iraq (April 17) - The radio call was urgent: bank robbery in progress, gunmen still in the building, immediate backup needed.
Only this is Baghdad, and backup came in five armored vehicles filled with soldiers who have become reluctant policemen in a city wracked with tensions.
Residents are furious that fellow Iraqis loot and rob, angry that U.S. troops rarely assume the role of police and resentful when they do - and all that raged at full boil.
In the end, a potentially disastrous encounter was peacefully defused: No lives lost, one more burst of lawlessness reined in, another lesson in negotiating the troubled city of 5 million.
Still, police duties are something U.S. troops are reluctant to take on. Forces here are trained and armed to kill, and experienced soldiers are wary that good-intentioned efforts to stop civilian looting could lead to violence.
On Thursday, when the soldiers roared up, crowds and chaos clogged the narrow streets around a branch of the al-Rashid Bank.
A dozen special operations troops and scouts struggled to hold back hundreds of angry civilians. The thieves - men and teenagers - hid inside and by the rear door as troops arrived in desert camouflage and flak jackets, assault rifles in hand.
The civilians surged forward; the soldiers pushed back. At one point, soldiers cocked their weapons and charged the civilians, screaming at them when they refused to move.
''This has the potential to be a bad situation,'' was the dry assessment from Army Sgt. Chris Darden, an infantry team leader with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.
The standoff ended with only shots fired in the air, and with 12 suspected robbers detained, several of them teenagers. As the Americans brought out the suspects, most of the crowd cheered, chanting, ''Good, good, mister!'' while the parents of the teenagers wept and begged the soldiers to release them.
Still, the two ringleaders escaped, armed with assault rifles and explosives. Millions of dollars in U.S. and Iraqi currency were taken to a military base for safekeeping.
Witnesses gave this account: A group of thieves entered the bank offices and began trying to break into the two main vaults. They blew a hole in the roof of one vault, but too small for an adult - so they began lowering children inside to pass out money in fistfuls.
Word soon hit Baghdad's streets, however, and people poured in, demanding the thieves hand over the money. The crowd, many of whom had accounts at the bank, caught the attention of a special operations patrol.
A Company was called in with their armored vehicles to provide security while the special forces troops blew a larger hole to get the money out. They picked up bricks of consecutively numbered $100 bills, still in their Federal Reserve bundles and each worth $100,000, and filled five burlap sandbags - some $4 million.
The crowds continued to grow and more soldiers were called in. More than 100 infantrymen, accustomed to being shot at and quickly returning fire, were expected to show the utmost restraint.
''These people want the money and they believe it is rightfully their money, but they don't understand that the proper distribution is not first-come, first-served,'' said Army Col. Philip DeCamp, a battalion commander.
Some civilians cheered the soldiers, but others, who blamed the U.S. troops for the looting that has ravaged the city, taunted them.
''So are we still shooting people?'' asked Spc. Michael Tonjes of San Ramone, Calif., before answering the question himself. ''No? So we're peacekeeping.''
Tonjes and some of the older soldiers served with A Company during a rotation through Kosovo, and know about peacekeeping. And they know that's how they will likely spend their last weeks in Iraq.
''This is the most dangerous part,'' Staff Sgt. Thomas Slago of Los Angeles said. ''This is when they start sniping at you. Before, you knew who the enemy was, now it could be anybody.''
Senior soldiers in the company have listened in horror to reports of U.S. troops shooting at civilians elsewhere. They fear their edgy troops could end up in a similar situation because they aren't trained or equipped to be policemen, they are trained and armed to kill.
''Trying to ramp these men down is impossible,'' said 1st Sgt. Cedric Burns of Sylvania, Ga. ''After they've seen all of this combat, they are not ready for peacekeeping. They need to get some troops in here who are trained for this kind of operation and let us go home.''
AP-NY-04-17-03 1727EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.BAGHDAD, Iraq (April 17) - The radio call was urgent: bank robbery in progress, gunmen still in the building, immediate backup needed.
Only this is Baghdad, and backup came in five armored vehicles filled with soldiers who have become reluctant policemen in a city wracked with tensions.
Residents are furious that fellow Iraqis loot and rob, angry that U.S. troops rarely assume the role of police and resentful when they do - and all that raged at full boil.
In the end, a potentially disastrous encounter was peacefully defused: No lives lost, one more burst of lawlessness reined in, another lesson in negotiating the troubled city of 5 million.
Still, police duties are something U.S. troops are reluctant to take on. Forces here are trained and armed to kill, and experienced soldiers are wary that good-intentioned efforts to stop civilian looting could lead to violence.
On Thursday, when the soldiers roared up, crowds and chaos clogged the narrow streets around a branch of the al-Rashid Bank.
A dozen special operations troops and scouts struggled to hold back hundreds of angry civilians. The thieves - men and teenagers - hid inside and by the rear door as troops arrived in desert camouflage and flak jackets, assault rifles in hand.
The civilians surged forward; the soldiers pushed back. At one point, soldiers cocked their weapons and charged the civilians, screaming at them when they refused to move.
''This has the potential to be a bad situation,'' was the dry assessment from Army Sgt. Chris Darden, an infantry team leader with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.
The standoff ended with only shots fired in the air, and with 12 suspected robbers detained, several of them teenagers. As the Americans brought out the suspects, most of the crowd cheered, chanting, ''Good, good, mister!'' while the parents of the teenagers wept and begged the soldiers to release them.
Still, the two ringleaders escaped, armed with assault rifles and explosives. Millions of dollars in U.S. and Iraqi currency were taken to a military base for safekeeping.
Witnesses gave this account: A group of thieves entered the bank offices and began trying to break into the two main vaults. They blew a hole in the roof of one vault, but too small for an adult - so they began lowering children inside to pass out money in fistfuls.
Word soon hit Baghdad's streets, however, and people poured in, demanding the thieves hand over the money. The crowd, many of whom had accounts at the bank, caught the attention of a special operations patrol.
A Company was called in with their armored vehicles to provide security while the special forces troops blew a larger hole to get the money out. They picked up bricks of consecutively numbered $100 bills, still in their Federal Reserve bundles and each worth $100,000, and filled five burlap sandbags - some $4 million.
The crowds continued to grow and more soldiers were called in. More than 100 infantrymen, accustomed to being shot at and quickly returning fire, were expected to show the utmost restraint.
''These people want the money and they believe it is rightfully their money, but they don't understand that the proper distribution is not first-come, first-served,'' said Army Col. Philip DeCamp, a battalion commander.
Some civilians cheered the soldiers, but others, who blamed the U.S. troops for the looting that has ravaged the city, taunted them.
''So are we still shooting people?'' asked Spc. Michael Tonjes of San Ramone, Calif., before answering the question himself. ''No? So we're peacekeeping.''
Tonjes and some of the older soldiers served with A Company during a rotation through Kosovo, and know about peacekeeping. And they know that's how they will likely spend their last weeks in Iraq.
''This is the most dangerous part,'' Staff Sgt. Thomas Slago of Los Angeles said. ''This is when they start sniping at you. Before, you knew who the enemy was, now it could be anybody.''
Senior soldiers in the company have listened in horror to reports of U.S. troops shooting at civilians elsewhere. They fear their edgy troops could end up in a similar situation because they aren't trained or equipped to be policemen, they are trained and armed to kill.
''Trying to ramp these men down is impossible,'' said 1st Sgt. Cedric Burns of Sylvania, Ga. ''After they've seen all of this combat, they are not ready for peacekeeping. They need to get some troops in here who are trained for this kind of operation and let us go home.''
AP-NY-04-17-03 1727EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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