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4-4-2003 The Sun Scots fighting to win trust;Gulf War II By Gethin Chamberlain THE war has moved on. The guns still pound away every night, the thump and bang rousing all around from their slumber to curse the artillery men, the shells whistling overhead, the distant thud of 90lbs of high explosive landing on some other poor soul. The fires still colour the night sky orange, smoke still drifts across the horizon, the sounds of gunfire somewhere far away still punctuate the silences, but for now it's not our war any more. On the radio, the Americans are marching on Baghdad, their soldiers routing the Iraqi divisions they said they had routed yesterday and the day before, the bridges they said were already taken, taken again. Around Basra, the Fusiliers have a toe-hold to the north, the Irish Guards are still fighting beyond the bridge over the canal by the shattered transport yard, the Royal Marines pushing up from the south. But there is more news from other places now, a new bug closing Hong Kong to visitors, a tour operator shedding 2,000 jobs, fears of a downturn in the economy back home. Penalty David Beckham has scored a penalty, Scotland have lost, again. If Baghdad falls, then Basra must follow, but today they must wait. Waiting for their orders to march on to Basra, the Black Watch must content themselves with cleaning up the town of Az Zubayr, the town that has caused them so much trouble and cost them so dearly. In the lull before the final push, they busy themselves with foot patrols and distributing aid, trying to win over the people of the town, trying to make them forget the Ba'ath party that dominated their lives for so long. People are beginning to trust them, they say, and the hiding places the militia thought secure are falling one by one. In a former military compound on the east of the town, Lieutenant Chris Broadbent and his platoon are resting up, recovering after days of fighting, trying to acclimatise to the new role of peace-keepers, conscious that they will soon be asked to fight again. Before the war started, Chris had admitted he was nervous of what to expect, not sure how he would react or how the young men in his platoon would deal with their first taste of action. It is nearly two weeks since they crossed the border into this country from Kuwait. In that time they have been attacked with RPGs and mortars and harried by militia at every turn. The turret of his Warrior has taken a direct hit from an RPG. Had he not followed the advice of his gunner and retreated inside a moment or two earlier, he would have been killed. But at least he now has the answers to some of his questions. "It is different from how we thought it would be," he says.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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