Multinational troops near the ancient city of Babylon

The Plus Ultra Brigade, or Brigada Hispanoamericana, was a military contingent of mixed personnel from Spain (some 1,300 troops) , the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua (about 1,200 troops between the four), which was commissioned to support coalition troops in the Iraq War. The deployment started in July 2003. The brigades name is a reference to Plus Ultra, the national motto of Spain [1] , Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu (bāb-ilû, meaning Gateway of ... Combatants Republic of Iraq (Saddam Hussein regime), Baath Loyalists, Iraqi insurgency Al Qaeda United States, United Kingdom, Multinational force in Iraq, New Iraqi Army, Kurdish forces Commanders Saddam Hussein Abu Musab al-Zarqawi† Moqtada al-Sadr Abu Ayyub al-Masri Mujahideen Shura Council Tommy Franks George Casey Strength 375... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for July, 2003. ... Coat of Arms of Spain Plus Ultra (Latin for further beyond, more beyond or yet beyond) is the national motto of Spain and a number of other institutions including Malden Catholic High School in Massachusetts, Newstead Girls College, the oldest existing public school in Sri Lanka and the Colombian Navy. ...

The battalions of the four Hispanic-American countries were equipped and transported by the U.S. military, and received some specific training in Germany prior to their arrival to the Gulf. In military terminology, a battalion consists of two to six companies typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. ...

The Spaniards were based in Al-Qādisiyyah, and the Hispanic-Americans in Najaf, in South-central Iraq, near Dīwānīyah. Their objective was to relieve U.S. Marines in the area so they could be mobilized to other, more problematic regions in the country. Al-Qādisiyyah is the name of several geographical sites and educational institutions: Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was a decisive engagement between the Sāsānian Empire and the Arab-Muslim invaders in circa 636 CE. Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate is a province in southern Iraq, with a capital... Najaf (Arabic: ) is a city in Iraq, about 160 km south of Baghdad, located at 31. ... France Marines is the name of a commune in the département of Val dOise, France. ...

During their tenure in the region, the troops had few hostile clashes with the insurgents. Some of the camps were harassed with RPG and grenade attacks, but there were few casualties. There was only one serious incident, a skirmish in early April 2004 involving radical Shiites in Najaf, which left 1 dead Salvadorean soldier and at least 18 dead Iraquis [2]. The Rules of Engagement that the units followed were very restrictive and the authorization to use deadly force needed high command clearance, due to a directive seeking to "avoid or minimize at all costs collateral damage to people or property" [3] . RPG is an abbreviation with several different meanings: Role-playing game, in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives Armageddon (MUD), a completely immersive online world with a brutally harsh environment and complex player-run plots Computer role-playing game, a computer or video game that... Grenade may refer to: The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Deaths in April • 18 Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara • 19 Norris McWhirter • 22 Pat Tillman • 24 Estée Lauder Other recent deaths Ongoing events EU Enlargement Exploration of Mars: Rovers Haiti Rebellion Reconstruction of Iraq – Occupation & Resistance Israeli... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... This article describes the military term of the rules of engagement. ... Deadly force or shoot to kill is that level of force which is inherently likely to cause death or great bodily injury. ... Collateral damage refers to unintended damage amidst intended damage. ...

The Plus Ultra Brigade finally dissolved in April 2004, when the recently-elected new Spanish government decided to withdraw its troops (a decision that somewhat tensed U.S.-Spanish relations), as well as lack of public support for the deployment and the war in Iraq in the other four nations, though the Salvadorean military pledged to keep their forces there unitl August of the same year. The involvement of Spain in the Iraq War is generally accepted as Al Qaeda's excuse for the Madrid train bombings, on March 11 of 2004. 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Deaths in April • 18 Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara • 19 Norris McWhirter • 22 Pat Tillman • 24 Estée Lauder Other recent deaths Ongoing events EU Enlargement Exploration of Mars: Rovers Haiti Rebellion Reconstruction of Iraq – Occupation & Resistance Israeli... Al-Qaeda (Arabic: ‎, translit: ; the foundation or the base) is a Sunni Islamist organization with the stated objective of eliminating foreign influence in Muslim countries. ... The scene of one of the Madrid bombings. ... March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ...