General: Marines Not Hampered by Rules of Engagement

DoD-AFPS ^ | April 16, 2004 | Kathleen T. Rhem

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

General: Marines Not Hampered by Rules of Engagement

By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2004 – Marines surrounding the volatile Iraqi town of Fallujah may be in an offensive operational pause, but that doesn't affect their ability to defend themselves, a top U.S. Central Command officer said today in Doha, Qatar.

Marines moved into the city west of Baghdad in force after four U.S. contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated there March 31. Iraqi government officials since have brokered a cease-fire.

A pause in offensive operations doesn't mean Marines can't act proactively to deal with immediate threats, Marine Maj. Gen. John Sattler, CENTCOM's operations director, said in a telephone briefing from CENTCOM's forward headquarters in Doha with reporters in the Pentagon.

He said the Marines in the area have not been "hamstrung or hampered in any way, shape or form" by their rules of engagement and don't have to wait until fired upon to take action, as has been reported in some media outlets.

"If someone's setting up down the street and preparing to take you under fire or set up a mortar position somewhere where you don't have direct fire upon them, the Marines are able to go ahead and take some limited – as they see fit – offensive action to prevent that," Sattler explained.

The general also said that coalition forces in the area are comfortable with the level of intelligence information they're getting in the area and are content to let the Iraqi Governing Council work to negotiate an end to the tense situation in Fallujah.

He noted that he feels it's important to give the negotiations a chance to succeed. "Keep in mind, our goal is not to capture the town of Fallujah," Sattler said. "Our goal is to go and free the town of Fallujah, to go in and eliminate those fighters, foreign fighters, those extremists that are in the town that have taken it away from those who reside there."

Garnering far less publicity than operations around Fallujah, Marines have stepped up efforts to shut down Iraq's border region with Syria as a throughway for foreign fighters and smugglers.

Sattler said efforts are particularly focused in an area known as "the rat line," where foreign fighters were traveling through the countryside around Qaim, near where the Euphrates River passes from Syria into Iraq.

"We had an extreme amount of success on the front side, meaning that we did find, fix, and ultimately finish a number of cells that were out there, that were facilitating this type of movement," he said.

He acknowledged the Marines suffered some casualties in the area, but said it is much calmer in the past two weeks.

Part of the Marines' success in tightening the border region can be attributed to their forethought in upping the number of troops they brought when they replaced the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in the region.

"When (the Marines) went out and did their reconnaissance (before assuming control of the region), they made a conscious decision to bring more so they could, in fact, work that border region very hard," Sattler said.

He declined to disclose specific numbers, but estimated that the Marines had a third again the number of troops the Army had covering the same region.

Biography:
Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler

Related Articles:
Military Force May Be Next Option In Fallujah, Myers Says
Fallujah Standoff Can't Continue, CPA Official Says

Related Sites:
U.S. Central Command
Combined Joint Task Force 7
1st Marine Expeditionary Force

---

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Related:

8 Military Force May Be Next Option In Fallujah, Myers Says ~ + "Fallujah Standoff Can't Continue, CPA Official Says" ~ Dan Senor, Gen. Kimmitt  ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/16/04 | Sgt. Doug Sample, Gerry J. Gilmore

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

We did take losses that, in our hearts, we will always live with. We can never replace these Marines and Sailors but they will fight on with us in spirit. We are not feeling sorry for ourselves nor do we fear what tomorrow will bring. The battalion has lived up to its reputation as Magnificent Bastards.

Yesterday made everyone here stronger and wiser;

it will be a cold day in Hell before we are taken for granted again. 

 

~ LTC Paul Kennedy and Jim Booker, Fallujah, 4/8/04

 

~~

Eternal Father

 

  ~ Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.

          ~ J. E. Seim (alt verses, 1966)
 ~  ~

[blackie]

Marines ~ Bump!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[Blood of Tyrants]

I am worried that the terrorists and murderers are using the "cease fire" to set up booby traps for our brave warriors.

[SAMWolf]

"Wars are not won by defensive tactics. Digging is primarily defensive. The psychological effect on the soldier is bad, because if he thinks he has to dig he must think the enemy is dangerous, which he usually is not."

General George S. Patton.

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose.

What I wouldn't give for the political will to let our soldiers do their job.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[Icemanstever]

Have you read the Marine Corps Small Wars Manual? The manual covers such things as this. Also unless I am mistaken not everyone in the $#%hole of a city is an enemy. Remember that the Marines Know how to fight bad guys and keep also win hearts and minds. In Vietnam (I know this is not Vietnam but my point is still valid) The USMC did not have nearly the problems the army had in Creating Friendly Villages. in conclusion they know What they are doing and there is a reason besides being PC and hindered by R.O.E. that they are not flattening that city.

[PhilDragoo]

Sattler said efforts are particularly focused in an area known as "the rat line," where foreign fighters were traveling through the countryside around Qaim, near where the Euphrates River passes from Syria into Iraq.

Find, fix, and finish all rats foreign and domestic.

[Grampa Dave]

Months ago Travis McGee talked about the big bug lights lit up all over Iraq.

Now we have some more bug lights attracting the Islamokazis. When they make the mistake of going for the light, they get zapped.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

"Yesterday in Al Kharma, near Fallujah, a significant number of anti-Iraqi forces assaulted defensive Marine positions close to a residential neighborhood. Marines repelled the assault, with lethal, accurate fire. When the fighting ended, residents came outside and told the Marines that the fighters had moved into their homes recently, virtually holding them hostage. The residents were able to then move about freely in their own neighborhood and beyond." ~ CJTF-7, April 15, 2004 

 

[longjack]

US Drops a 1000 Kilo bomb on Falluja

"Spiegel-Online", a German News site that I have found to be pretty reliable, has had this article up all afternoon. The article says the bomb was dropped on a building in the Northern part of the city into which insurgents had retreated. Smoke and dust covered blocks after the explosion. "Spiegel" says the US Armed Forces released this information this afternoon.

The article text says a bomb was dropped on Najaf (Nadschaf), but I think it is a typo since it doesn't really seem to fit in with the text of the rest of the paragraph, whereas Fallujah does, and the headline says Falluja.

The artcle also says there has been heavy fighting against Sadr's militiamen around Najaf, though,. The Americans engaged militiamen in the village of al-Abbassiat while Sadr held a bellicose sermon 7 kilometers away in the mosque at Kufa.

"Spiegel" says further that an American citizen has been kidnapped near Basra by persons dressed as Iraqi policeman.

The article offers other information as well, but I thought these were the most interesting.

I have searched FR and haven't seen this info, and other German news sites aren't reporting it. "Spiegel" is generally pretty reliable with their stories, IMHO, though. The link to the article in German is here:

"Spiegel-Online"....USA werfen 1000-Kilo-Bombe auf Falludscha

longjack