we stayed to add one baghdad international airport for four or five days. then we went to an iraqi air force base occupied by the u.s. army. and. we started talking to people and they told us they approved of the invasion. and they were happy to be free from the oppression of saddam hussein but at the same time they wanted to regain control of their country. they didn't want an extended occupation. the. first real confrontation happened at the town hall and. that's where we had our first combat experience and there was a demonstration in support of that and against george bush. on. one of the. first there was no violence the demonstrators were shouting their slogans nothing more than seeing. after forty five minutes of protest. they started throwing grenades and it all became very violent. and the my unit was ordered to take defensive positions on the roof of the town hall. we were told to open fire if anyone threw grenades at us. the. one point silence of complete silence all of the demonstrators about two hundred people started moving from one place to th