Lancer destroys torture compound

Published March 11, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Joel Langton
Air Forces Central Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A B-1B Lancer destroyed an Al Qaeda torture compound and prison with six GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (500 pound class GPS guided bombs) at 2:07 p.m. March 10 in Zenbaraniyah, Iraq a former Al Qaeda hotbed south of Baghdad in a deliberate planned event, in coordinated efforts with MND-C and Iraqi forces.

The bombing marked a change of fortunes for the village, where local villagers began standing up to the terrorists a little more than a month ago.

"This (air strike) removes the last remnants of Al Qaeda from this area," said Army Lt. Col. Mark Solomon, 6th Squadron, 8th United States Cavalry Squadron commander.

The compound consisted of three buildings along with several small shelters near the back of the compound. It was obvious the facilities had been used for torture, with handcuffs hooked to the walls with bare wires plugged into outlets nearby. Several of the walls were blood splattered. There were also several interrogation manuals Soldiers found when they captured the compound.

One community member, who escaped from the facility, said it was a new day for the village as he looked into the bomb's craters. "We all feel good," Aubid Abdalla said. "It's a dark past that is gone."

Mr. Abdalla, a former Iraqi Army intelligence officer, was encouraging local citizens to give coalition efforts a chance, when he was kidnapped. He spent 15 days in the facility and saw a young boy and an old man killed while he was held prisoner.

Less than an hour afterward, after the B-1's precision deliveries destroyed the Al Qaeda torture facilities, Mr. Abdalla said the event had changed him.

"I'm a lot happier now," he said. "It was like my mother gave birth to me again."
Senior Amn. Joseph Aton, a joint terminal attack controller assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, directed the final clearance in the B-1's deliberate JDAM weapons delivery process.

"It was great to be part of this," Airman Aton said. "You can tell the people were happy to have this place gone and it was awesome to make a difference for them."

The effort was a joint effort between Multi-National Division-Center, the Combined Forces Air Component Commander's Combined Air and Space Operations Center, the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Forces Air Expeditionary Wing, which flies the B-1B in the area of responsibility and Sons of Iraq, who helped provide security.

As coalition forces left the area, villagers stood on the side of the road cheering
and clapping, for the effect provided by the CFACC's airpower capabilities and the precise nature that rid the area of this remnant of Al Qaeda.