Day 314

Three days ago there was a protest at the government center involving all the Concerned Local Citizens (CLC's) and much of the youth from Baqubah. The crowd numbered around 500 and there was a drum circle that played along to the chants of the people. We drove our Strykers through the mass on Route Venessa. The company commander had a meeting with Abu Matheina, leader of the CLC's. I spotted Metheina smiling at us as we passed.

The problem now is that after documenting all of the CLC members, they refuse to join the ranks of the IP's and are now protesting their treatment. It is hard to say whether the problem will be resolved in a satisfactory manner. A lot of the violence going on these days is between the locals, rather than attacks on our forces. They're suggesting we should leave the conflict and the decision making to their people regardless of how ready the local police and the Iraqi Army are. Besides training their security forces there isn't much else to do. We have given them the framework they need to take control and now we are sitting tight letting the glue dry so to speak.

Third platoon ran into some trouble on a night mission last week while working with a team of Navy Seals, who do special operations here in Baqubah. The first incident resulted in two of our men injured. After clearing a building and finding a weapons cache, the Navy Seals came out and decided to frag (throw a grenade in) the building. Before they could do so, either a sniper shot into the house or someone with a remote detonation device destroyed the weapons cache with high explosives. A few of the Navy Seals had to be med evac'd and one of our guys took shrapnel in the leg. After the explosion the two third platoon squads were separated and lost radio contact. Some men were pinned to their locations, afraid to move and become a target. After a few hours radio contact was restored and the reunited platoon returned safely to the JCOP. This incident led the leadership to put out a message that a rally point should be set up before all patrols in case there are any complications.