Iraqi soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, rush into a courtyard to search for weapons and ammunition caches and insurgent activity during a counterinsurgency operation in Khaffajiah, Iraq, March 14, 2006. The Iraqi-led operation, which is part of a larger, on-going, Coalition-led counterinsurgency operation dubbed Operation Raging Bull, was the first, fully-independent Iraqi Army-led mission in the "Triad" region of Haditha, Haqliniyah, and Barwanah off the Euphrates River in western Al Anbar Province, Iraq. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael R. McMaugh

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Ralph E. Arzate, a squad leader with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, takes a knee while on patrol during Operation Raging Bull in Albu Hayatt, Iraq, March 12, 2006. The Marines and Iraqi Army soldiers cleared Albu Hayatt, a village just south of Haqlaniyah, Iraq, along the Euphrates River, and maintained a four-day presence in the area to disrupt insurgent activity. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell


Two U.S. Marine combat engineers with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion attached to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, unearth a massive bag of propellants during Operation Raging Bull in Albu Hayatt, Iraq, March 12, 2006. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell


An Iraqi army soldier with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division mans his machine gun as fellow soldiers participate in the region's first Iraqi-led mission to clear Khaffajiah, Iraq, of insurgents and weapons caches during Operation Raging Bull, March 14, 2006. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell


Iraqi soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division patrol a street in Khaffajiah, Iraq, March 14, 2006. More than 100 soldiers from the Iraqi Army’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division conducted their first independently-executed mission to disrupt insurgent operations during Operation Raging Bull. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell


Two Iraqi soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division sweep the palm groves on the river bank of Khaffajiah, Iraq, while searching for buried weapons caches during Operation Raging Bull, March 14, 2006. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Michael R. McMaugh


A Marine with Company L, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, provides security on a hilltop for fellow Marines as the sun rises in Albu Hayatt, Iraq, March 12, 2006. The Marines unearthed nine weapons and munitions caches and caught three insurgents during Operation Raging Bull. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adam C. Schnell