canyon walls on the water helping make a motion picture with the soundtrack provided by the rushing water. Birds continued to serenade me. Geese and ducks took advantage of the grassy patches and slower moving sections of water. Goose Pasture Draw no doubt takes its name from these waterfowl.

After five miles of criss-crossing Rapid Creek on beautiful wooden bridges I came to the confluence of Castle Creek and Slate Creek where they become Rapid Creek. I followed the muddy horse trail up Slate Creek. Here the foot bridges were washed out or overgrown so I was mainly following the horse tracks. This section would be difficult to mountain bike.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was running up to Flanagan’s Cabin. This old wooden structure is miles fromfighting. The paramilitary units are the Emergency Response Units – battalions of tribal fighters formed by the Anbar Salvation Council.

Omar Fahdila reports that 11 tribal fighters and six police were killed in the battle, and the U.S. troops “found and securely detonated a tanker filled with chlorine gas the terrorists were planning to use in chemical attacks on the area.” The tribe fighting al Qaeda were members of the Albu Issa tribe, which al Qaeda targeted with a chlorine attack in Fallujah last weekend.

Amiriya was the scene of a major battle on March 2, when several hundred al Qaeda fighters massed and attacked the convoy of a senior leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, the grouping of tribes and former insurgents that now back the government and fight