US troops kill 46 Iraqis trying to ambush them in central Iraq

Nov. 30, 2003

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

FN Alert:

 

Banner: US forces kill 46 Iraqis trying to ambush them in central Iraq.

 

Steve Centanni: 46 Iraqis were killed and 8 others were taken captive.

 

 

 

Across wire:

4th Infantry Division repelled multiple ambush attacks, at least 18 Iraqi attackers, 5 US soldiers were wounded. No reported deaths.

[mark502inf]

Uh-oh, so much for basic math--make that 414 to go!

[steveegg]

I could either make some crack about the troops saying what they really feel about Hiliary, or agree with Ex-Dem. What the hey; I'll do both.

[Dog]

This is the passage...

"(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions: (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. "They are not wearing a reconized militay uniform. Wearing a Pair of Black PJ's with mama's head scarf........doesn't count.

[nicmarlo]

This HAD to be a setup. Sounds to me like they let a few "insiders" know about this convoy to see if anybody tipped off the bad guys.

That's what I was thinking...especially as this comes on the heals of the new Iraqi police being a part of attacks against allied forces.

[SAMWolf]

[steveegg]

What's 46 times 72?

A heap of Madeline Albright clones :-)

[FairOpinion]

"The media runs both sets of numbers with the worst possible spin because they don't want us to win."

===

BINGO. You should add: "the media AND the Democrats".

[mystery-ak]

..ok...but the US knows that they consider their black pj's as uniforms....one poster says that we have captured these guys before and consider them irregulars, I hope he's right.......OOOOOh..Rita is on now with her scoop!

[Dog]

Someone on the other side gambled....and lost big time. I wonder who is calling the shots..

This was a dumb military move on their part.....they took us on in a frontal assault while we had overwhelming firepower on hand.

We had M1A1's.... Bradleys.......and 100 men......with air support overhead.

This was a Saddam move.

[nicmarlo]

FOFL!

[SuziQ]

That's what I'm talkin' about!

LOL! You took the words right out of my mouth!!

[mystery-ak]

Rita just said they were dressed in military uniforms..???

[Peach]

The terrorists are no longer called terrorists by anyone but Freepers and occasionally FNC.

[FairOpinion]

Here is a fairly detailed description:

I think we have to excerpt this, so I won't post the full article, but it goes into a lot of detail.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/334/world/Rebel_attack_turns_into_massiv:.shtml

Lt. Col. William MacDonald of the 4th Infantry Division said attackers, many wearing uniforms of Saddam's Fedayeen militia, opened fire simultaneously on two U.S. supply convoys on opposite sides of Samarra.

After barricading a road, the attackers opened fire from rooftops and alleyways with bombs, small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, he said. U.S. troops responded with rifles, 120mm tank rounds and 25mm cannon fire from Bradley fighting vehicles.

U.S. fire destroyed three buildings the attackers were using, MacDonald said.

''It sounds like the attack had some coordination to it, but the soldiers responded, used their firepower, used tank and Bradley fire and other weapons available to them, to stop this attack and take the fight to the enemy,'' he said.

When the smoke cleared, 46 Iraqis were dead, 18 were wounded and eight were captured, MacDonald said. Five American soldiers and a civilian were wounded, he said, adding that none of the injuries were life-threatening.

''We have been very aggressive in our convoy operations to ensure the maximum force protection is with each convoy,'' MacDonald said. ''But it does send a clear message that if you attempt to attack one of our convoys, we're going to use our firepower to stop that attack.''

Shortly after the firefight, four men in a BMW attacked another U.S. convoy in Samarra with automatic rifles, MacDonald said. The soldiers wounded all four men, and found Kalashnikov rifles and grenade launchers in their car.

MacDonald said the attack was the largest faced by his Task Force Ironhorse whose mission includes the hunt for Saddam. Military officials in Baghdad said they haven't reported a deadlier attack since May 1, when President Bush declared major combat over.

U.S. officials have only sporadically released figures on Iraqi casualties, and wouldn't say whether there has been a deadlier firefight that went unreported.

[Peach]

Just got home and heard about this.

I think we stopped something incredibly big here.

The press and Daschle et al are so sad, too bad.

[Dog]

You believe Rita..... she blew Bush v Gore while reading the opinion wrong.

[prairiebreeze]

you have mail

[Ex-Dem]

I wonder who is calling the shots.

Someone who spent too much time watching movies like "Blackhawk Down", I would surmise.

[jimbo123]

Hitlery and her fellow democrats call terrorists "Brothers in arms."

[BillM]

Thank you. Even Fox news was spouting garbage about the Fedayeen being emeny combatants. They have never read the Geneva Convention and couldn't care less about accuracy in reporting.