January 8, 2005

Something Else You Might Not Know About Abu Ghraib

WIth Abu Ghraib back in the headlines, I recalled the other night this story about that town, which I blogged about back on April 29, 2003, but which most people likely have forgotten: Abu Ghraib, also spelled Abu Ghurayb, was the site of the first free election in Iraq's post-Saddam history.

U.S. Special Forces soldiers worked secretly with Iraqis in a Baghdad suburb for months before the war began, military officials disclosed on Monday.

Soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group entered Abu Ghurayb, on the western outskirts of the Iraqi capital, and developed a rapport with the town's elders before the war, U.S. Central Command said.

Abu Ghurayb is just north of the airport once called Saddam International, the first objective in the Baghdad area seized by U.S. troops April 4. From there Army forces drove into the heart of Baghdad on April 6, marking the beginning of the end of Saddam Hussein's rule.

It is well known that Special Forces soldiers, sometimes called the Green Berets, are called on to operate behind enemy lines. But it is unusual for the military to announce details such as the fact that the soldiers were operating in a specific town long before the war.

In a news release from Baghdad, Central Command officials described the role of the 5th Special Forces Group in helping the people of Abu Ghurayb elect a city council last week, which Central Command said was the first free election in recent Iraqi history.

"Soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group who have been working with the townspeople for over eight months helped them with the elections," the statement said without elaborating on the timeline.

That statement suggested that Special Forces soldiers have been in Abu Ghurayb since at least August or September. That was long before President Bush announced his decision to go to war.