The War in Iraq

The amount of people that we've lost -- Solomon, Sanders, Rincon, Williams, Creighton, Curtin -- OK, that's made us even stronger.

I first met them on a firing range, three months before they helped lead the invasion of Iraq. It was a balmy, mid-January morning in southern Georgia.

In practice it was not that restricted. The Journal's Randall Richard reported from the aircraft carrier Roosevelt and was allowed a great deal of freedom on that ship. Still it was not until Kuwait fell and he was free to roam at will that, he told me, he was able to report truly meaningful information.

On March 11, Corkery joined with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (mechanized) in Kuwait. He has reported the unit's advance into Iraq and, finally, into Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The medics started out the war warning of spider bites, handing out aspirin, and treating athlete's foot.

Next to Padien's Bradley, an Iraqi man sits cross-legged in the mud. His hands are tied behind his back, and he's wearing just one shoe. A few minutes ago, he tried to punch a soldier in Padien's platoon.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A few miles north, the Iraqis were throwing flowers at the American tanks. In the east, the Marines advanced on the city without firing a shot.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The passport was stuffed in the shirt pocket of a green army uniform. An American soldier found it in a military bunker along Highway 8. He considered it a cool keepsake from the battlefield. The other soldiers were jealous.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- It was hot in the back of the Bradley. About 110 degrees. Sweat poured down the soldiers' faces. Their glasses fogged and their helmets rattled as the 62-ton fighting vehicle rumbled along Highway 8.

BAGHDAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Iraq -- The Republican Guard complex adjacent to the airport seemed the ideal place for a prison: high stone walls surrounding a grassy courtyard. There was a guard tower, high enough so the American soldiers could monitor their Iraqi prisoners of war.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A 3rd Infantry brigade came under coordinated attack yesterday as they were heading into southern Baghdad. Two soldiers and two journalists were reportedly killed.

Rutter's unit, the 2-7 Infantry, held orders to block all movement between the city and the airport, territory then a stronghold of the Special Republican Guard.

Soldiers, shaking off sleep in the early dawn, ran to the fronts of their trucks to return fire and provide cover so Cooney, the 2-7 Infantry's executive officer, from Whitehall, Ark., could scramble back to safety.

AL MUSSAYIB, IRAQ -- When Quincy Russell heard the call over the Alpha Company radio network, he knew there was trouble.

As the soldiers of the 2-7 Infantry sealed the road on the northeast side of the airport, the 3-7 Infantry and the 369 Armored Battalion cleared runways and terminals.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A U.S. tactical operations center north of Saddam International Airport was ambushed by Iraqi Republican Guard troops at dawn today.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Troops in the 2-7 Infantry arrived at Saddam International Airport on the outskirts of Baghad about 2 a.m. Friday, but found very little Iraqi resistance after heavy airstrikes pounded the Baghdad area.

NEAR AL MUSSAYIB, Iraq -- Forces of the 2-7 Infantry killed at least 30 Iraqi soldiers and destroyed several Iraqi tanks yesterday in securing the Karbala Gap, a critical gateway to Baghdad.

Providence Journal staff writer Michael Corkery filed this audio report on Wednesday, April 2, from his assignment in Iraq with the 800 soldiers of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, 2nd Battalion 7th Infantry Regiment.

WITH THE 2-7 INFANTRY, Central Iraq -- They drew lines in the sand showing bridges and choke points. They laid cardboard placards to show the mechanized force of the 2-7 Infantry and the maneuvering brigades of the Republican Guard.