Word: patrolled
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It looks a little spooky out here," Captain Jon Stubbs shouts above the roar of his humvee as he leads two platoons of the 3rd Battalion of the 153rd Infantry Regiment on a patrol through the heart of Adhamiya, Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhood. The cause of Stubbs' concern: it's only 7:30 p.m., and the streets around Abu Hanifa Mosque are empty and dark. "This place is usually buzzing like downtown Manhattan late into the night," says Stubbs, 32, a native of Searcy, Ark. "If people have gone home this early, they must know something nasty...
...proceed down the next dark alley, some dogs begin to howl. The soldiers stiffen and point their gun-mounted flashlights in all directions. "The dogs are the Iraqi early-warning system," alerting insurgents to the approach of strangers, Stubbs says. "They're very effective." Half an hour later, the patrol ends without event. The platoons get back on their humvees and return to their forward operating base, known as Gunslinger. Stubbs is relieved to have completed the mission but can't shake his suspicion--one that is heightened when, a few blocks from the mosque, Adhamiya suddenly springs back...
...fact, TIME later learned from sources in the insurgency that a rebel group had planned an attack on the night of the patrol. The intended targets: U.S. snipers who were perched on rooftops close to Abu Hanifa Mosque, watching for suspicious activity. The insurgents' plan was to hit the snipers' positions with rocket-propelled grenades and then ambush the platoons that would ride to the snipers' rescue. It's unclear why the attack was called off, but the unexpected arrival of Stubbs' patrol and its show of force in the streets may have been factors...
Crimson coach Tim Murphy, architect of two undefeated campaigns in four years, confirmed yesterday that he will likely patrol the Harvard sidelines again next season, contrary to published reports that list him among the frontrunners to take the reins of Indiana University’s program...
...Observers believe that far more troops are needed to avert a further tragedy than have so far been pledged. The African Union has been authorized to deploy 3,320 peacekeeping troops by February, but even that deployment is running behind schedule - less than a third of that number now patrol Darfur, an area the size of Texas - and the soldiers' rules of engagement may be too narrow to make their intervention meaningful. Privately, officers predict that the number of peacekeepers will grow significantly, possibly to as high as 20,000. International aid organizations also complain of a shortage of personnel...