Ramadi, Iraq – On an eerie, battle-scarred street in this blown-out urban war zone, a mannequin with painted black hair stares silently at U.S. Marines hunkered down in sandbagged observation posts atop buildings a few blocks away.
It’s the latest insurgent ruse in an evolving war pitting the world’s most powerful military against guerrilla fighters using their most effective weapon: ingenuity.
Insurgents in Ramadi recently have flown kites over U.S. troops to align mortar fire, released pigeons to give away U.S. troop movements and staged attacks at fake funeral processions complete with rocket-stuffed coffins, U.S. forces say.
“They’re crafty, I’ll give ’em that,” said Marine Cpl. John Strobridge, 20, of Orlando, Fla., as his Humvee passed the mannequin along one of the most bomb-infested roads in town, a street Americans call Route Michigan.
“Gun it! Gun it!” he screamed to the driver as the vehicle crossed a frequently targeted intersection.
The mannequin first popped up a few weeks ago in the courtyard of a school near a collapsed building. The simple figure appears to be made of wood, with a white shirt and blue pants painted on.
“We kind of laugh at it. We don’t know why they do it,” Strobridge said. “But I think the idea is, we get used to looking at the mannequin and then one day there’s a real person standing there” – with an AK-47 or a rocket launcher.
Marines said there’s no point stopping to take it down. The road is too dangerous, and such sites often are booby-trapped.
