Mighty 4th Infantry Finally Enters Iraq
By DAVID RISING
.c The Associated Press
SOUTHERN IRAQ (AP) - The U.S. Army's much-heralded 4th Infantry Division - which all but missed the campaign to oust Saddam
rumbled into southern Iraq on Monday to reinforce the war effort.
About 500 vehicles in two convoys snaked their way along a sandy road, following advance units that had scouted the way under cover of darkness late Sunday up through Kuwait.
Hundreds of men, women and children lined the access road to the main highway inside Iraq, waving Iraqi dinars and running up to the vehicles whenever they would slow, offering the currency to American soldiers, presumably for dollars, though nobody stopped long enough to find out.
AOL ALERTS..One little girl in a blue frock yelled out ``Americans'' and smiled and waved, while another with a white dress and black head scarf alternated between giving ``thumbs up'' signs and blowing kisses.
``Don't you just feel good about being here?'' said Chief Warrant Officer II Tom Fisk, alternating between waving to the people and snapping photographs from the driver's side of a Humvee. ``Did you see the happy people back there?'' said Fisk, a 36-year-old Houston native with the 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment.
With the last vestiges of Iraqi resistance crumbling in the northern city of Tikrit, it was not clear whether the 4th Infantry Division would see any action or take more of a stabilization role.
The 4th Infantry is considered the Army's most lethal heavy division, equipped with a sophisticated computer system linking all vehicles. The division boasts the latest tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Apache attack helicopters.
