GIs use strategic town as base in search for missing soldiers

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A 23-year-old woman from Owesat, about 15 miles southwest of Baghdad, shows U.S. soldiers where she claims she saw her brother dump the remains of two soldiers abducted May 12 near Yusufiyah. The soldiers, from the 101st Airborne Division, detained the man to investigate his role in the abduction, and three of his brothers for insurgent-related activities.


GIs use strategic town as base in search for missing soldiers
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, November 20, 2007

OWESAT, Iraq — The village across the Euphrates River from Patrol Base Dragon isn’t large, but its location between two volatile centers in Iraq has put it on the map in the eyes of coalition forces.

Owesat and its surrounding farms comprise about 3-by-2 square miles, but the town lies 15 miles from Baghdad and about the same distance to Fallujah.

The town’s outlying desert is now the focus of the search for two 10th Mountain Division soldiers missing since May 12, after a local woman who identified several high-value insurgent targets pointed U.S. soldiers there.

But military planners from the 101st Airborne Division had targeted the town for tactical reasons as well.

It lies on the western flank of Patrol Base Dragon, with an abandoned power plant serving as the home of Task Force 3-187 and the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment.

Coalition forces have raided the town regularly for three years, but never left a permanent presence. Meanwhile, the town’s al-Qaida in Iraq connections grew, said 3-187 commander Lt. Col. Andrew Rohling.

Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50386