Iraq's 'Death Valley' is Hell on Earth (2007)

Iraq's Death Valley: This September 2007 report from SBS Dateline follows American soldiers in their attempts to find insurgents in Diyala, and the difficulties they face every day.

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"We're gonna kill the people that need to be killed and be frickin' decent to the rest of them," states Sgt. Maj. Edgar. "There's no in between." The plan is simple. Airborne troops go in at midnight, followed by a heavily armed convoy. But the roads are littered with IEDs and progress is painfully slow. It takes 15 hours to travel 30 km. The soldiers arrive exhausted but there's no time for rest. "We know the insurgents are here." They search every house, checking residents against a blacklist of known insurgents. Then they mark villagers' hands with their house numbers. "He cannot wash it off and needs to stay around this house for the next 24 hours," orders one soldier. "If he goes to a different part of the neighbourhood, I'll arrest him." The 50°C heat is taking its toll on the soldiers. One starts throwing up from heat exhaustion and two others are given a drip of saline solution. "The heat's pretty crazy. Sometimes you just can't drink enough." All the men have had their tours of duty extended by at least three months. They're exhausted and being stretched to their limits.

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SBS Australia – Ref. 3601