A Soldiers Blog

From: Patti Bader

Not Brandon's unit.

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U.S. Soldiers Patrol Iraq-Jordan Frontier
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By SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press Writer

May 10, 2003, 4:14 AM EDT

ON THE JORDAN-IRAQ BORDER, Iraq -- Standing in the shimmering heat beside a long line of waiting cars, pickups and trucks, U.S. Army Sgt. Jeffrey Parker scrutinized the vehicles' occupants, matching their faces with passport photos, and reflected on his unexpected assignment.

"I never thought I'd be doing Border Patrol work on the Iraq-Jordan border," Parker, 29, of Kalkaska, Mich., said Friday as he waved through a van packed with an Iraqi family returning home from Jordan.

Dozens of soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment milled around the dusty crossing point 360 miles west of Baghdad. Nearby, several parked Bradley fighting vehicles aimed their turrets at hundreds of cars and trucks waiting to cross.

As their peacemaking mission expands, American soldiers are gradually being deployed to most of Iraq's major border crossings, which were abandoned by Iraqi frontier guards and customs agents immediately after U.S. forces took Baghdad on April 9.

The collapse of Saddam's regime sparked an orgy of looting, including at border facilities. These were stripped of furniture, air conditioning units, generators and files by inhabitants of nearby villages. The buildings were not burned and were quickly put into use again, officers said.

The lack of controls enabled thousands of Iraqi civilians to buy secondhand cars in Jordan and bring them into the country without having to get government permits or pay the steep customs duties that used to make imports prohibitively expensive.

Jordanian customs officers several hundred yards away said they had confiscated dozens of AK-47 automatic rifles and numerous artifacts from the passing motorists. These appeared to have been looted from Iraqi armories and Baghdad's museums during the free-for-all that followed the government's demise.

The arrival of U.S. troops last week has reduced that sort of smuggling. American soldiers said they found and seized three assault rifles during their first day on the job as impromptu immigration agents.

"I would rather have spearheaded the attack on Iraq," Parker said. "We'll do anything our bosses tell us to and we'll do it well, but I wasn't really expecting this when I joined the Army."

Several soldiers manning the checkpoint and regulating traffic said the experience had made them interested in joining the U.S. Border Patrol.

Staff Sgt. Derek Czapnik said the troops had quickly settled into the new routine but were surprised to be dealing with so much traffic.

"The main problem we have here is road rage," said the 30-year-old Boston, Mass., native.

Losing patience with the long wait, frustrated drivers regularly engage in shouting and shoving matches as they try to cut into the chaotic and densely packed traffic wedge leading to the American checkpoints. To maintain order, troops have engaged a group of Iraqi civilian volunteers to break up disputes before they turn ugly.

"They could quickly develop into full-scale riots," said an officer who wouldn't identify himself.

Several Iraqi and Jordanian drivers waiting in the midday heat complained that the arrival of the Americans had made the crossing much more complicated than during Saddam's reign.

"In the past, you could slip a customs official $10 and you would be through in five minutes," said Haitam Abu Anuus, a Jordanian who regularly drives the 560-mile route between Amman and Baghdad, "Now it takes about three hours."

Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-border-patrol,0,1264053.story

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