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In Baghdad, a Flimsy Outpost
U.S. troops sleep after setting up a combat outpost, one of 100 slated for the capital, in an abandoned gym in western Baghdad.
(By Ernesto Londono -- The Washington Post)
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"Mister!" an anguished Abu Ameer pleaded.
Another kick.
"Mister," the caretaker tried again.
The fourth kick ripped out the lock, and the door swung open.
Abu Ameer paced around aimlessly. Lacking an interpreter on their first night at the gym, the soldiers had no way of communicating with him.
"Go to sleep," one ordered.
"Sleep?" Abu Ameer asked, looking puzzled.
"Sleep," the soldier repeated. "Go to bed."
Deterrent -- or Target?
Two months ago, a barrage of mortar shells landed in the gym's courtyard, Abu Ameer said in an interview later. The attack caused his 18-year-old daughter to lose part of her hearing. And 23 of his roosters were killed. He was happy the Americans were moving in, he said, but he worried that their presence could be as much of a target as it was a deterrent.
"The insurgents don't like the Americans being here," he said.
The gym has a weight room with mirrors and fading posters of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. A large, high-ceilinged room across the hall was decorated with photographs from the gym's heyday, featuring Iraqi bodybuilders displaying trophies and medals. But soldiers promptly ripped those off the walls.
Pigeon droppings dotted the floor. One soldier said the pigeons would have to be shot, because their waste was sure to cause respiratory problems.
