Iraq

Insurgents hunt goes digital

TIKRIT, Iraq - On mud-spattered computer screens in their Humvees, American soldiers scan digital street maps, monitor enemy positions, zoom in on buildings through satellite imagery and download instructions from commanders.

Back on base, senior officers watch raids unfold on large screens showing real-time footage from aerial drones and displaying maps with moving icons for ground and air forces. Their locations are tracked by global positioning satellites.

The two dozen components making up this high-tech digital warfare system are known as Army Battle Command Systems. The technologies, originally designed for battlefield combat involving tanks and helicopters, are being adapted for hunting rebel leaders and trailing street fighters.

The technology has allowed commanders to plan complicated raids and organize battle gear and hundreds of soldiers within two hours. That speed, they say, played an important part in capturing Saddam Hussein and other fugitives.

The Army's 4th Infantry Division, headquartered in one of Hussein's palace complexes in his hometown beside the muddy Tigris River, is the only unit outfitted with the system, and it is being used in combat for the first time.

"No longer do you have guys on a map putting little stickers where things are at," said Capt. Lou Morales, a division training officer. "It's digitally done. . . . It allows commanders to move more rapidly, more decisively, more violently."

In Iraq, where the battle is an intelligence-driven hunt for underground street fighters and their leadership, the system has proven effective in helping planners visualize forces' movements, Morales said.

Each military vehicle is tracked by satellite and appears as a moving blue icon on computer screens inside Humvees, tanks and other craft, and on monitors at command headquarters.

Red icons represent known enemy positions - insurgents laying an ambush, fugitives' hideouts or the locations of known roadside bombs.

A soldier using the touch-screen monitor can place an icon on the map and have it appear on screens throughout the system.

With that battlefield view, a commander can watch his forces surround the home of a suspect and know when they are in place. The system also has reduced friendly fire incidents.

However, some ground forces complain the vehicle consoles are too complicated to use and frequently break down under desert wear and tear. Links between pieces of the network sometimes crash and, because the system is unique, replacement parts are slow to arrive.

"They're waterproof and heat-resistant, but when you boil it down it's a computer. You're driving it in dust, sand and rain, 130-degree heat. It's going to break down," said Capt. Nathan Saul, communications officer for the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment.

Although the traditional method of gathering intelligence - using tips from Iraqi informants, seized documents and interrogations of detainees - still plays a central role, commanders say the computer system has been a crucial tool for orchestrating raids that often change course in midoperation.

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