The Foreign Service Journal, June 2004

28 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 4 arch 5, 2004. We were south- bound on the main highway from Baghdad to the Coalition Provisional Authority provincial headquarters in Najaf late on a Friday afternoon. Our three-car convoy carried six American personnel and a six-man Salvadoran personal security detachment from a Spanish/Salvadoran base in the city. By agreement with the Salvadoran commander, his U.S.- trained personal security team was assigned full-time to protect us. The Cuscatlan Battalion, based in Najaf, is the best in the Salvadoran army, as we were soon to learn. Contract admin officer Lionel, a recently-retired 82nd Airborne NCO, was driving the lead car, an unarmored Chevy Suburban. He had his own AK-47 next to the seat and (along with everyone in the convoy save one) a Glock 9mm sidearm. Beside him was the “shotgun seat” shoot- er, our USAF staff sergeant Arabic linguist Sam, armed with an MP-5 machine pistol. In the right rear seat was our civilian contractor information technology officer Mike, armed with a folding-stock AK-47, designed to be easy to maneuver inside a vehicle. In the left rear seat was a Salvadoran sergeant nicknamed “Tauro,” armed with an M-4 — the short-stock carbine version of the M-16, also good for use inside vehicles. The second vehicle was a fully armored Ford Excursion, with Private “German” driving and the detach- ment commander, Sergeant First Class “Gato,” in the right hand seat. Both were armed with M-4s. I was in the middle seat. In the rear seat were Rick, then the gover- norate coordinator (the senior CPA official in the province; I was his deputy) and our development program manager Grace, a DOD civilian (the only unarmed pas- senger). Like everyone in the convoy, we wore ballistic vests and Kevlar helmets. In the trail car, another unar- mored Suburban, were Corporal “Zorro” and Sergeants “Alcon” and “Cuervo,” armed with Glocks, M-4s … and a surprise. Afternoon Ambush Ahead of us, “non-compliant elements” or “NCEs” — a goofy new military acronym meaning “people still shoot- ing at us in Iraq” — had attacked and disabled a truck, leading to a frenzy of looting by motorists who had stopped along the road, filling the highway with pedestri- ans. As we approached the scene, Lionel radioed the trailing vehicles to stay close and stay sharp. We had to slow down from our usual 100 mph to negotiate the crowd, whereupon shooters popped up on both sides of the road, from at least two cars a hundred meters apart on our left, and from behind a berm farther up on the right. They opened fire with AK-47s on full auto, shooting wild- ly (“spray and pray”). Lionel increased speed to lead us through the ambush. Of the three shooters in the lead car, Mike was the first to return fire. He drew a bead on the guys behind the berm on the right and unloaded a full 30-round magazine, effec- tively suppressing their fire (i.e., they dove for cover). Mike then suffered our only injury — in his haste he had steadied the AK against the wrong shoulder, his left, and the brass cartridge casings consequently hit him in the chin, producing a little blood. Only later did he figure out why he was bleeding. In the “hard car,” I was looking the wrong way and saw nothing when the shooting started, but Rick saw the first F OREIGN S ERVICE F IREFIGHT A N FSO DESCRIBES A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH I RAQI INSURGENTS ON THE ROAD FROM B AGHDAD TO N AJAF . B Y P HILIP S. K OSNETT M