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3ID takes Baghdad palaces, begins civil aid

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, April 9, 2003) -- The 3rd Infantry Division (Mech.) captured the Presidential Palace and other government buildings in Baghdad April 7-8, establishing what leaders called "a strong foothold" in the Iraqi capital.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team left Baghdad International Airport in the early morning hours of April 7, heading straight for the Presidential Palace. The soldiers left so early that they got to the palace before the enemy knew what they were doing, according to 2nd BCT Battle Captain Capt. Matt Morgan.

The 2nd BCT soldiers killed an estimated 600 Iraqi troops in battle April 6 - 8, Morgan said. He added that the brigade also destroyed 70 vehicles that had been modified for military use, along with enemy artillery and mortar equipment.

The 3rd Infantry Division got its first supply and refuel trains into Baghdad April 7. On the same day, the 2nd BCT sent a civil affairs team and the brigade surgeon into a town outside of Baghdad to deliver medical supplies and get drinking water flowing.

Brigade surgeon Capt. Robert Meadows and the 422nd Civil Affairs Team drove into Al Mahmudiyah, near Objective Spartans, to help an Iraqi hospital and the Ministry of Sanitation.

They visited the hospital in the first town to have a face-to-face meeting between an Iraqi and an American doctor - to build trust and to deliver medical supplies. They visited the Department of Sanitation to help the town turn its water back on.

Capt. Major Bowen, the 422nd Civil Affairs team leader wrote passes for Iraqi doctors to get past checkpoints to treat their dead and wounded.

"We want to let them know they can use their ambulances, because they were getting stopped at check points."

The soldiers were soon told to leave the hospital. "There's still a lot of Baath party control - they don't want us helping," Bowen said. Contact between doctors was made, though, and medical supplies were dropped off, so Bowen said he considered the hospital mission successful.

They had turned the town's water on the day before, but it was turned off again, so they went to the Ministry of Sanitation after the hospital to talk to the director and write him passes to drive through checkpoints to fix the water system, Bowen said.

While the soldiers were at the Ministry of Sanitation, a grenade was thrown at them from someone in a crowd across the street, near a Baath Party headquarters building. The grenade went off in the air. It sounded like a gunshot, the soldiers said - it was a duid.

Two men from the building crossed the street and joined the crowd.

"We're sending our guy in to grid (get a grid location of the building). It's now a point of concern," Bowen said.

The team continued to try to help the civilians, even after the grenade was thrown.

"The people are good to go, but the Baath Party has such a tight hold over them that they're caught between a rock and a hard place," Bowen said. "Everybody we've talked to is extremely happy we're here, but they know the Baath Party still has control over them. They can't wait for this to be over. Once the fight is over, you'll see more open support."

(Editor's note: Spc. Mason T. Lowery is a member of the 50th PAD traveling with the 2nd BCT, 3rd Infantry Division.)