U.S. troops have set up a base on Baghdad's notorious Haifa Street hoping to pacify insurgency in one of the capital's most dangerous central districts, the military said Friday. Paratroopers from Company B of the 82nd Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion and soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Battalion seized and secured one of the street's vacant buildings last month during an operation dubbed "Field of Dreams," the military said. "The purpose of the operation was to fortify the palace so it can be used as a base from which to conduct aggressive operations against the insurgents," said Sgt. Michael Cooper. The Haifa Street, one of Baghdad's main thoroughfares, was for months a no-go area for Iraqi and U.S. troops. The U.S. military move appears to be an attempt to pacify the dangerous area.
