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The compound on the Iraqi side is approximately 2 square miles. There are two bridges along the north side, one into and one out of Turkey. The compound is surrounded by a 6-8' tall masonry wall. The guard force is comprised of Pashmeres and Kurds. I am not sure what the requirements are to get into the compound, but it didnt appear to be too hard. Besides the THOUSANDS of trucks running in and out each day there were pedestrians every where. As well as the main customs building there is also a police station, an ICDC barracks, some shops, and four restaurants on the compound. Way too many people walking around in civilian clothing with AK's. Every now and then a couple technicals ride through the compound with 3-6 guys aboard armed with AKs and a PKM on a pintle. Some times they are in ICDC uniform or Pashmere. Some times the truck has writing on the side identifying the occupants. Mostly not. The US forces are living and working out of a four story marble building that was built to hold a shopping center. A restaurant and the ICDC building are directly across the street, west, from the front of the building. The head of the local mafia owns the restaurant. On the north side of the building is a 2 story conference hall. South side is another 2 story building. Out back are a barber shop, a storage building and a small parking area. Double wide glass sliding doors provide access to the east and west of the building. There isn’t a single foot of concertina wire, not a single sand bag to be seen anywhere. A single pashmere stands out front and smiles as folks come and go in the building. The top floor of the building sits back 10 feet from the rest of the building, providing a sun deck on the North, west and south sides. Approximately 200 meters to our south is a very steep ridge that is approximately 600 feet above us and extends miles to the east and west. This ridge blocks any attempt at FM commo. It also provides a great location for anyone with binos to overwatch or a rifle or mortar or RPG. The top floor is entirely glass and that’s the floor the TOC is currently on. There isn’t any DSN or DNVT lines available. All voice is handled by a single Turkish civilian cell phone and a single TACSAT. There is no SIPRNET access and NIPR is being provided via a single cat-5 cable that runs right into the Iraqi customs building. So all email traffic is flowing through who knows whose hands. We ate dinner across the street. Afterwards the CO walked us around the compound. As we were looking around a very large crowd gathered between us and the store. Easily 200+ people. Suddenly a couple technicals drive up, plain clothes no markings on the vehicles escorting a couple blacked out SUVs and a Mercedes. The crowd parts somewhat and a couple well dressed local gentleman appear acompanied by 20 guys armed mostly with AKs but we also saw a couple HK MP-5s. Everyone started groveling and bowing to the lead man and they walked into the ICDC building. Someone said that the guy was the "cafe owner".

This is the view north into Turkey. Click on the image to open up a larger version.

The vehicle marshelling yards in the east end of Iraqi customs compound and the ridgeline to the south.

The Turkish side of the border crossing

Looking north.

Looking south

Looking southwest.

Looking east.

SFC Hope, MAJ Jansen, SSG Coryell on the sun deck. Turkey in the background.

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