SOUTHWEST ASIA -- An Air Force B-1B Lancer from the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group destroyed three al-Qaida detainment and torture facilities south of Baghdad Monday, March 10.
"The precise targeting, synchronized employment and focused effects that eliminated these facilities demonstrate the outstanding capability our integrated ground and air team brings to this fight every day," said Col. Robert Gass 379th EOG commander. "Al-Qaida in Iraq has no place to hide."
The objective of this mission was two-fold. First, was the physical destruction of facilities used to illegally detain, falsely convict, and torture innocent Iraqi civilians.
Second, it was an attempt to bring some form of closure to the many friends and families who may have lost loved ones as a result of those facilities, said Lt. Col. John Nichols, 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron director of operations and B-1 mission lead for this sortie.
"Words can never replace the loss many Iraqi families suffered, but we're honored to have been part of a mission to help rid Iraq of al-Qaida operatives," said the colonel.
In addition to the physical destruction of the torture facility itself, this mission serves as a reminder to all al-Qaida terrorists that the Coalition will continue to find, target, and eliminate AQI facilities, equipment, and personnel, said Colonel Nichols.
"The results of this B-1 mission strengthens and reminds the local leadership and Iraqi people that we are dedicated to the elimination of al-Qaida in Iraq," said Colonel Nichols.
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."
Tech. Sgt. Joel Langston contributed to this story.