Word: faw
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...rotting wooden boats on the garbage-strewn beach at Al-Faw represent the last frontier at the far corner of southeastern Iraq. Barely 55 yards (50 m) across a narrow stretch of water known as the Shatt al-Arab - close enough to swim over - lies Iran, an elusive but increasingly intimate ally to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, and the principal country the U.S. accuses of fueling violence and illegal militias in Iraq...
Nearly everyone at U.S. central command agreed that the sprawling Faw oil-refining and -shipping facility on Iraq's southeastern coast was a must-seize first-night target in the war on Baghdad--almost as important as killing Saddam Hussein. Capture it early, went the thinking, and the next Iraqi government at least had a chance of getting back on its feet. Ignore it, and Saddam might blow up the facility, flooding the nearby Persian Gulf with crude, compromising Iraq's economy and shutting down critical water-desalination plants all along the Arabian Peninsula...
...veined and dotted with pipes and pumps and meters, Faw was also a delicate target, easily damaged by wayward ordnance or sabotage. So, on the first night of the war, when others were trying to destroy Iraqi targets, the men of the Naval Special Warfare Task Group were trying to save one. Large, specially equipped Pave Low helicopters flew dark, low and fast toward the refinery from just over the Kuwait border. Dispersing on arrival, the choppers simultaneously dropped five separate teams of 20 Navy SEAL commandos each at five "key nodes" around the huge complex. Their orders: hold each...
...first time in U.S. history that a top commando has been tapped to lead the entire Army and is yet another indication of the Administration's growing reliance on America's secret soldiers. "God love him," said Air Force Colonel Randy O'Boyle, who directed part of the Faw operation. "[Rumsfeld] had the confidence to unleash us on the target...
Lithgow avoids reducing Ellard to a Georgian stereotype. His wide chewy expressions and drawly English lessons--"Bah-urd" for board, "Faw-Werk" for fork--are hilarious. But Lithgow also convinces the audience of Ellard's softness and struggle to learn the language he teaches...