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Edited By Rob Gibran

August 18, 2005

Islamic Memo - Saudi Arabia - Original Article (Arabic)

Islamic Memo Exclusive: Eyewitnesses in northwestern Iraq have reported that United States Marines have been using donkeys and mules to travel through the western Iraqi desert for fear of resistance ambushes.

Map of Iraq. Al-Anbar Province is in the West

The area in question lies within Al-Anbar Province, and is known as the Euphrates Highlands. American occupation forces have been targeted in that area by roadside bomb missile attacks, especially in the Qua’im and Hasibi Hills regions, and regions with phosphate mines close to the Syrian Iraqi border.

Our Islam Memo correspondent’s eyewitnesses in Qua’im have reported that U.S. troops are carrying their equipment and provisions on the backs of these mules and donkeys over long distances. The troops are leaving their vehicles in specially-built barracks set up beforehand on the outskirts of the desert.

A number of Iraqi sheep smugglers, who had seen the American soldiers riding the donkeys and mules, had thought that the Americans were conducting some kind of new military operation. One of the Egyptian translators who works as a mercenary for the occupation forces informed them of the real reason for this latest U.S. travel method: The pack-animals can sense danger before it occurs, and they are not easily spotted by attackers.

This eyewitness report confirms what is already known of the damage that the resistance is inflicting on the American occupation. U.S. armored vehicles and Humvees have failed to survive the powerful roadside explosives, even though they are reinforced with extra protection and sensors.

During the second battle of Fallujah, an American official admitted that the explosives used by the resistance are ripping U.S. vehicles to shreds. This can be seen in the many photos of destroyed American vehicles, made public by the resistance every week.

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