9781422285046

U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Kim Campbell flew thousands of feet over Baghdad. Below her, the Iraqi city was at war. It was a mess of shattered windows and abandoned buildings. The streets were littered with rubble from all the shooting and bombing. It was April 2003, during the second Gulf War. As Campbell flew overhead, American troops were locked in a fierce battle with the Republican Guard, a dedicated—and deadly—branch of the Iraqi army. The goal of the American forces was to take over the city of Baghdad and overthrow the country’s leader, the dictator Saddam Hussein. To do that, they had to control a few important places within the city, cutting off the flow of people and supplies that was supporting the Republican Guard. One of those places was a bridge over the Tigris River, in the northern part of the city. A unit of Marines marched to the bridge, hoping to prevent Iraqi soldiers from entering the city. The Iraqis, though, had other ideas. As

Words to Understand call sign the nickname given to a pilot by fellow pilots casualties deaths and injuries caused by war

dictator an extremely powerful ruler who often mistreats his citizens grenades small, short-range bombs that can be thrown by hand hydraulics a way of using liquids to distribute force; this force can help power mechanical systems

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