Operation Steel Curtain Update

According to this account, Ubaydi has been largely cleared, but pockets of resistance remain as Steel Curtain continues.

U.S. Marines with 1st Platoon, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, conduct a security patrol through the streets of Husaybah, Iraq, during Operation Steel Curtain, Nov. 8, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael R. McMaugh

Meanwhile, military commanders report Iraqi soldiers and U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors have cleared most of Ubaydi in Operation Steel Curtain, but pockets of resistance and improvised bombs still pose "a considerable risk to both military personnel and civilians," according to a Multinational Force Iraq statement. Searches continue to ensure that the last of the terrorist fighters are captured or killed and their improvised bombs are located and rendered safe, the statement added.

Five car bombs were located and destroyed in New Ubaydi. One car contained about 20 large-caliber artillery shells. These car bombs can either be detonated remotely or used to launch suicide attacks, officials said, though suicide car-bomb attacks are rare in western Anbar province. They more commonly are used in the crowded streets of Baghdad, Ramadi or Mosul, officials said.

The Air Force has been doing its part in Steel Curtain.

After ground forces with the Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines swept into Ubaydi, a town near Karabilah, and came in contact with anti-Iraqi forces, F-15s were called in and delivered precision-guided bombs against enemy forces in a grove of trees.

A Predator fired a Hellfire missile at a building from where enemy forces were shooting and successfully drove them from their location.

Later Monday, F-16s and a Predator responded to provide ground support in the same area. The Predator successfully launched a Hellfire missile against insurgents entrenched in a tree line.

Over 80 terrorists have been killed, and about 150 have been detained.

Also, more evidence of the tremendous courage and fighting spirit exhibited by the noble terrorists. Yesterday, sheep. Today, Dame al-Edna.

This afternoon in a New Ubaydi hospital, Iraqi Soldiers from the Desert Protectors, Iraqi scouts recruited from the al Qaim region positively identified and detained an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist. The terrorist was attempting to evade identification by wearing women’s clothing.

In an interview with FOX News tonight, Col. Davis said one reason the terrorists are fighting so hard is that they are penned in. As Bill Roggio pointed out in his map, Ubaydi sits on a peninsula of sorts, at a bend in the Euphrates River. That may be a fine defensible position if you're facing a 12th century army. But when you're facing today's US military, it means you are surrounded, trapped by the river instead of defended by it, and you have nowhere to go.

On Monday I mentioned I had indications there at least one amphibious assault unit taking part in Steel Curtain. I can confirm that. The Pentagon today released news that three Marines assigned to the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit were killed Monday in New Ubaydi.

The 13th MEU is an amphibious unit, and was brought to the region aboard the USS Cleveland, the same ship that went on to take earthquake relief supplies to Pakistan.

(You may recall 14 Marines were killed in early August when their amphibious Amtrac vehicle was attacked by a roadside bomb. Those Marines were assigned to a different units, not the 13th MEU.)

As indicated by their home website, the 13th MEU has been at Al Asad air base in western Iraq, which is not all that far to the east of where Steel Curtain is taking place.

The fighting is intense. Five Marines were killed today. 16 terrorists were killed in the engagement. But even as the fighting rages, in Husaybah, the initial target of Steel Curtain, efforts are already underway to plan the rebuilding process.

Even as Steel Curtain goes on, Iraqi soldiers and Marines with Regimental Combat Team 2 have established the Husaybah Civil-Military Operations Center, where meetings have begun between Iraqi and coalition forces and local and regional leaders to coordinate the rebuilding of the city and the reconstitution of the city council.

The CMOC also will serve as the primary meeting place for city leaders who are seeking assistance with regard to basic necessities such as food, water, electricity, phone services, waste management and security, officials said.

"The CMOC in Husaybah is a tangible sign of the committed presence of the Iraqi military and U.S. forces," said Lt. Col. Todd Ryder, operations officer, 6th Civil Affairs Group. "It also establishes a location for local government officials to meet with military and national government officials to plan and chart a path for the city's economic and political rejuvenation."

This is why good men are fighting and dying in Iraq, so a people once terrorized by murderers can be free to live in peace and safety, and to exterminate the killers that would like to see us all dead. As foreign fighters and other terrorists continue to come to Iraq, they are going to run into the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen. Godspeed to our military.

Coalition forces attached to U.S. Marine Corps Regimental Combat Team 2 prepare for a major assault during Operation Steel Curtain in Al Qa'im, Iraq, Nov. 4, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Jason D. Becksted