U.S. Military Role Far From 'Invisible'

[Rose Siding]

By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 16, 2005; Page A20

BALAD, Iraq, Oct. 15 -- The two American commanders, armed with black assault rifles and flanked by their security details, dropped in on the mayor of Balad on Saturday to offer congratulations and thanks for his efforts during Iraq's constitutional referendum.

Setting down the phones he held to each ear, the mayor, Fawzi Khalif, wouldn't hear of it. It was the Americans, he insisted, who should be thanked for giving the Iraqis everything they needed.

"No, we're invisible," responded Lt. Col. Jody L. Petery, smiling. "We're invisible."

Commanders had sought to play down the role of the U.S. military in the referendum, portraying the vote as a critical step in the transfer of authority to Iraqi forces. But when the day finally arrived in Balad, an agricultural city about 50 miles north of Baghdad, it showed precisely the reverse: how the U.S. military remains an all-encompassing presence in Iraq's political process.
...
Far from invisible, on the eve of the referendum Petery's forces fired nearly 40 artillery and illumination rounds into Balad's unpopulated outskirts to preempt mortar and rocket attacks. F-16 fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters were overhead throughout the day, and U.S. troops traveling in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and armored Humvees provided round-the-clock support.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501241.html