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Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc (who didn't write the article)
El Salvador is the only Latin American country with troops in Iraq following the withdrawal of Honduran, Nicaraguan and Dominican soldiers who had served under the Ultra-Plus Brigade formerly led by Spain.
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"Ne Plus Ultra" not "Ultra Plus"
Technically, the Nicaraguans didn't withdraw. After their first contingent returned, they made a lot of noise about the costs of deployment and their second contingent stood idle in Nicaragua awaiting a resolution of the money issue. After the Spanish announcement and follow-on Honduran and DomRep pullouts, which led to the brigade being abolished, they cancelled the deployment.
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Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc (who didn't write the article)
Despite the peaceful nature of their work, Salvadorans have been drawn involuntarily into combat situations. One soldier died and 12 others were wounded during an attack by Iraqi insurgents in April 2004.
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This paragraph is rather insulting to the valor displayed by these soldiers.
In April 2004, Spain accelerated the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq, breaking an earlier promise by Zapatero. Muqtada al-Sadr decided to capitalize on the power vacuum by trying to seize power in Najaf and other Shi'ite cities where Spanish and other Ne Plus Ultra Brigade soldiers were deployed.
On April 4, as the attacks on coalition bases began, a 17-man element of the Batallón Cuscatlán was sent to a nearby Iraqi Civil Defense Corps base, where they found the Iraqis had abandoned their posts.
They were quickly surrounded by Sadr's "Mahdi Army" militiamen. They held their fire for a half-hour for fear of inflicting civilian casualties and in hopes of relief from nearby Spanish troops. Ten soldiers were wounded and Private Natividad Méndez Ramos was killed.
When fighting began in earnest, they held their own, even though each had only a basic load of ammo. They held off the Sadrists for several hours, and two more were wounded. Out of ammo, they loaded Méndez's body and the wounded on a truck and the four unwounded soldiers moved out on foot to protect the truck and their comrades as they tried to make their way back to base.
They were again confronted by Sadrists, and 10 of them surrounded one of the Salvadorans. Corporal Samuel Toloza, having run out of ammo, attacked the Sadrists with his combat knife, stabbing several and saving his comrade. His act stunned the Sadrists, who backed off, buying a little time when a relief force arrived.
Just like a Salvadoran, bringing a knife to a gunfight.
