U.S. Troops Fight Insurgents on No-Man's Highway

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040409/wl_nm/iraq_guerrillas_raids_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (Reuters) - Cocksure teenagers stand at the edge of Abu Ghraib, waiting to dart out and fire rocket-propelled grenades at an American convoy and then melt back into the town's gritty alleyways.


It's a cat-and-mouse game that often leaves U.S. soldiers dead and their vehicles in flames along the highway leading to Baghdad, a key trade route that's now a no-man's land.


Abu Ghraib, a hard-bitten town surrounded by lush farmland, is one of the trouble spots for American soldiers facing fierce challenges from both Sunni Muslim insurgents and radical Shi'ite militiamen.


On Friday plumes of black smoke rose over the highway were visible for kilometers (miles) away at a Baghdad mosque where worshippers spoke of a holy war that involved many ordinary Iraqis taking up arms against U.S. occupation troops.


It seemed that may already have happened in Abu Ghraib, where guerrillas and civilians seem to have a bond on the few streets that are active.

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[yltlatl]

1. Didn't the Army & Marines learn this lesson

in Korea? Wasn't General Ridgway extremely exasperated at the way American troops couldn't move anywhere there wasn't a road? Why don't they just bypass this city?

[bemildred]

2. These are logistics columns being attacked.

Not many all terrain fuel tankers.