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Taking Control of the City of Kut
At a Marine Checkpoint, a Glimpse into Post-Saddam Iraq
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April 12, 2003 -- U.S. Marines moved into the southern Iraq city of Kut, which fell with little resistance. NPR's Steve Inskeep spent an afternoon at a checkpoint just outside of Kut, where Marines stood guard trying to prevent Iraqi fighters from fleeing the city.
"Today a small corner of Iraq took a step from war, to whatever comes after," Inskeep says. "And part of the victorious army began working out the rules under which it will deal with Iraqi civilians."
Troops of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit stopped every car, looking for weapons, ammunition or soldiers still in uniform. "It's pretty cool," a lance corporal tells Inskeep. "You get to meet all kinds of people."
A passenger in a pickup truck wore a green uniform, with stars on the shoulders -- but it turned out to be a police uniform, so the Marines let him go. "Other men arrived with weapons in their car, and ended up wearing plastic handcuffs by the side of the road," Inskeep says.
These checkpoints can be deadly serious -- Marines have been killed or injured at similar stops by suicide bombers. But deciding who gets through a checkpoint can get complicated. "Some drivers say they waited two hours to get through the checkpoint," Inskeep says. "One man said, 'This is democracy?'"
The Marines had orders said to search everyone -- but many women objected to being touched by male Marines, a serious violation in Islamic cultures. So the Marines decided to let some women through.
At one point, a farm tractor rolled up to the checkpoint at two or three miles an hour. Warned to stop at the point of a gun, the driver signaled that he had no brakes. The Marines let him roll through.
A man riding a donkey was searched, and then escorted through. The Marines even released four men who were carrying Kalashnikov rifles, driving in an armored vehicle belonging to Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party.
They said they were members of an opposition group, searching for food. The men were released, but the Marines kept their weapons. At the end of the day, no one was detained from among the thousands of people who passed through the checkpoint. The Marines had stopped searching every car, deciding instead to search only selected cars -- a concession to sensibilities of a populace they need on their side.
"The other day, a Marine general spoke to his troops in this area," Inskeep says. "The general warned, 'What we can do real fast here is win the war and lose the peace.' In this part of Iraq, U.S. troops are about to shift from wartime operations to winning the public's hearts and minds."
In Depth
 April 10, 2003: In a "liberated" town, welcoming crowds -- and a threat.
April 6, 2003: Inskeep hitches a ride on a Marine Corps helicopter to central Iraq.
April 7, 2003: Marines blow up a portrait of Saddam in a village along U.S. supply routes.
Hear NPR reports by Steve Inskeep.
NPR News Coverage of the War in Iraq
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