Railroad Station

The clickable picture above consists of the following - background is overview of Fallujah with a blow up inset of the rail road station much in the news. It is located on the Northern border of the city. Additional insets show a troop guarding the location and others taking prisoners into same. This is all taken from public information. Below are texts and links relevant to the Rail Road Station fighting. "Recent Post" links on right have additional images and maps. More to be posted in conjunction with Chester.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - Dodging bullets from the fighting in Fallujah's neighborhoods, U.S. troops laid cables, built toilets and settled in at the city's train station Tuesday, transforming it into a new forward base hours after U.S. and Iraqi forces captured it from insurgents.

"It feels good to be here. I feel like we've really done something," said Corp. Keith Sharp, of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

Engineers put down wires and surveyed rooms where Iraqi National Guard troops had slept the night before. Other troops built privies. Humvees mounted with guns and carrying U.S. soldiers and Marines drove through the parking lot.

Marines offered themselves qualified kudos Tuesday for taking one of the first targets in the Fallujah assault - a battle that officers say could take days.

"I'd rather be fighting the terrorists here than in the U.S.," said Sgt. Jack Pierce, a 30-year-old from Houston, sitting in a collapsible chair and drinking coffee.

"We're not screwing around," he said of the rapid transformation of Fallujah's train station into a military base. "This is one of the best maintenance teams anywhere. Just sit back and watch them work."

Comments

[Cons]

The US is taking more casualties than are being reported. But that is typical of the Pentagon to hide the truth. Of course, what do you expect when you bomb neighborhoods? Of course the Iraqis are going to be mad. Let's be fair.