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Prison Life Agrees With Captured Foes
By JONATHAN FOREMAN, on the Euphrates, 12 miles from Baghdad
The New York Post, April 5, 2003
Life would appear to be pretty good for the Iraqis captured this week in
the fierce battle for control of a key four-lane bridge over the Euphrates
River.
The prisoners were moved from a shadeless pen to the
spacious garden of a villa on the west bank of the river yesterday. While
the palm trees and river offer some relief from the intense heat, it's hardly
the Garden of Eden. There's barbed wire. And there are soldiers from the
Army's 54th Engineers, automatic weapons at the ready, guarding them.
But the EPWs - enemy prisoners of war - are being fed regularly and the
wounded among them are being attended to by the unit's three female medics.
The adobe villa had been commandeered by the Iraqi army at the start of
the war because of its strategic location.
"The family probably fled the area," said Sgt. Douglas Bulski, 21, of
Portland, Ore.
One of its five bedrooms still contains toys and pictures belonging to a
little girl - along with military-style metal lockers with Iraqi uniforms
inside.
While Bulski was pulling guard duty, some of his brother Engineers led by
Lt. Luke Bohanon of Jersey City, found a bus - used to transport
paramilitary Fedayeen to the area - that was packed with rifles,
rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammo and mortar shells.
They dumped all the munitions into an Iraqi foxhole and blew them up with
charges of C-4 plastic explosives.
They also found crates of soft drinks, including Pepsi, on the bus and a
large box of cigarettes - mostly local brands like Sumer, which advertises
"Verginia tobacco" on its packaging.
The G.I.s eagerly eyed the butts, but were ordered to turn them over to
the prisoners by Capt. Braden Lemaster, their CO. "You've got to remember
what the end point of this war is - about winning hearts and minds," he told
them.
Then Bohanon blew up the bus, which put him in good spirits.
"We've got to clear some bunkers and demo some enemy equipment. Blowing
up stuff is always fun," he said.
"And we're at least seeing some dead bodies - it makes it feel more
real," he said.