The Airborne units rule!

The paratroopers descended because Turkey, a longtime U.S. ally, has refused to allow some 60,000 U.S. ground troops to cross into Iraq. That left coalition troops with no northern front.

That changed Thursday. American troops began the day wearing muddy uniforms tinged with frost. They fanned a valley nestling the airstrip, surrounded by snowcapped mountains.

By midday, an Iraqi hilltop position had fallen. From that site, Iraqi troops had fired on Kurdish civilians since the 1990s.

In the checkpoint town of Chamchamal, villagers rejoiced when Kurdish military commanders confirmed Iraqis had fled.

Kurdish militiamen gathered mines from along the road as cheering people walked, drove or pedaled to the site.

"They saw a chance to go up there and they took it," said Rostam Hamid Rahim, a high-level Kurdish military commander.

Rejoicing people, haven't heard that on the war coverage very often.