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Marines Police Traffic in Iraqi Neighborhoods

by Cpl. Ray Lewis

Since there are no traffic police here, Marines will have to do for now. But they're doing more than writing tickets.

An Iraqi stops at a Marine residential vehicle checkpoint set up in Husayba, Iraq, Dec 13. Marines assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment conducted the checkpoints to halt insurgent traffic through the neighborhood. All the Marines are currently serving a seven-month deployment in the Habbaniyah, Iraq, area under Regimental Combat Team 5.

Infantry Marines assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Regiment are conducting residential vehicle checkpoints to stop insurgent, improvised explosive device and weapons traffic through Iraqi neighborhoods here.

"It's stopping insurgents from bringing IEDs and materials in," said Lance Cpl. Ronald J. Reid, a grenadier assigned to K Company. "I don't think they'll take the chance to get caught."

That's why Marines have only found a few cases of vehicle-born improvised explosive devices or any other weapons for that matter, said Reid, 20, from New Orleans, La.

It's because the Marines can set up these vehicle checkpoints on a moments notice, Reid said.

"It's just to let Iraqis know that they can be stopped at any time," said Lance Cpl. Corey A. Cativera, an automatic rifleman assigned to K Company. "They know that we're looking for things in the car, intelligence or anything that is not allowed to be possessed."

The vehicle checkpoints are not to make Iraqis' life difficult, said 22-year-old Cativera, from Dubois, Pa.

They're just to make life safer for Iraqis in their own neighborhoods, Cativera added.

"We search vehicles to catch insurgents off guard, search for VBIEDs and show presence," said Lance Cpl. Sean P. Harding, a rifleman assigned to K Company.
The residential vehicle checkpoints are not only helping to halt weapons traffic but also helping Iraqis cooperate with the Marines, said Harding, 19, from Plymouth, Mass.

"The people cooperate with us more, and they stop right away and get right out their car," Harding said. "It's helpful because we don't speak Arabic and they don't speak English. Since we got a routine they'll open their door, get out of their cars."

The vehicle checkpoints have also led to even more cooperation when it comes to searching Iraqi households for traces of the insurgency, Harding said.

"If we go into a house, they'll unlock their door, open the cabinets and get out their AK," Harding explained of the one AK-47 assault rifle allowed in each Iraqi household. "It makes things a lot easier and less stressful."

The Marines' presence has also led to useful information that can save Marines' and Iraqi's lives, Reid said.

"Now the Iraqis are adapting and people are telling us where the IEDs are at," Reid said. "They're willing to help."

Iraqis know as well as Marines that insurgents won't dare try anything with the Marines policing the area, Reid added.

"We already 'rolled up' so many," Reid said. "If they get caught with anything, any thing suspicious, they know that they're getting 'rolled up.'"

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