Troops on standby during provincial vote

Troops on standby during provincial vote
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Photos by Ben Bloker, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, February 1, 2009

Things were quiet in Babil province, south of Baghdad, where more than 1,400 candidates vied for 30 provincial council seats in Saturday’s election.

U.S. troops with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment out of Schweinfurt, Germany, were staged in about nine locations throughout the northern portion of Babil province, ready to respond if Iraqi forces called for help.

"Things are going very well out there," said Maj. John Best, executive officer for Task Force 1-2, which is the battalion’s designation during this deployment. "Our troops have been working very closely with the Iraqis. They’ve spent these past couple of days — weeks actually — doing assessments in the area."

As of Saturday afternoon, U.S. troops in the area had not been called on for assistance.

The 172nd Infantry Brigade, which also operates on Forward Operating Base Kalsu, coordinated a medical response plan with provincial reconstruction teams and Iraqi health officials in Babil province and Karbala in case of any election day violence.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60385