Fighting in the East

The door gunner in a Huey helicopter keeps watch as Marines scan the terrain near Al Kut in Eastern Iraq.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Cpl. Kenneth Bass walks over a berm near landing spot of Huey helicopter.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Lt. Col. John Mayer, center, looks over a map on the battlefield south of Al Kut.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

A Huey helicopter flies ahead while a Marine on the ground keeps watch for Iraqi troops operating near Al Kut.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

A Marine keeps his weapon trained on the distance as smoke rises from artillery strikes.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Iraqi RPG launchers, hand grenades and the boots of Iraqi soldiers that have been sucked off by the deep mud remain at the scene after a fight with U.S. Marines. The Iraqis fled after Marines returned fire.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Iraqi women flee the roadside as American forces roll through a small village in near Al Kut.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

The boot of an Iraqi soldier sits stuck in the mud near adandoned RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades) after U.S. forces fired on soldiers trying to engage them.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)

Members of a U.S. disposal team place mortar rounds in a pit. The ordnance was seized from an Iraqi supply truck in southern Iraq.  (Rick Loomis / LAT)