Battle Reveals New Iraqi Tactics (Yet more details of Samarra ambush)

Washington Post ^ | 12/02/03 | Anthony Shadid

[saquin]

SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 1 -- Sgt. 1st Class Robert Hollis knew there was trouble even before the shooting started. As he stood guard in his M1-A1 Abrams tank outside a bank in this Sunni Muslim town, the usually busy streets suddenly emptied Sunday. Men hurried down back alleys, some running. Women dragged their children away from the positions of U.S. troops.

Then, through his scope, Hollis said he saw a man lift a rocket-propelled grenade launcher to his shoulder, aiming at him and his crew of three. What followed was perhaps the bloodiest engagement since the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in April.

A day later, questions persisted over essential facts of the fighting, which ebbed and flowed through much of Sunday and ended with a devastating defeat of the Iraqi guerrillas who had massed in numbers against the overwhelming power of U.S. forces. The U.S. military said Monday that as many as 54 fighters were killed. No American soldiers died. The city's hospital reported only eight dead, all of them civilians, although officials there acknowledged that the bodies of fighters might not have been brought there.

To many involved -- both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers -- the confrontation stood out as an exceptionally fierce battle after months of hit-and-run attacks. Witnesses described dozens of guerrillas in checkered head scarves brazenly roaming the streets in the heat of battle, U.S. soldiers firing randomly in crowded neighborhoods and civilian bystanders taking up arms against U.S. forces once the fight got underway.

[XtreMarine]

Let them change tactics. Now I ask my commander in chief to let us change tactics. Kill them all let God sort them out.....

[Billthedrill]

Both sides were sending a message.

Yep. But only one side was doing the dying.

[justa-hairyape]

Looks like the Thanksgiving visit by Bush has forced the guerillas to be more brazen. A strategy that obviously makes them more visible.

[saquin]

I'm convinced most of the townspeople quoted are just upset that they were denied the opportunity to dance on burning Humvees. That's what they expected when they heard about this planned ambush (and there's no doubt the townspeople knew it was about to happen).

They thought they'd have a great victory and they'd all be stars on Al Jazeera for a day. It didn't turn out that way. Their beloved ambushers got b*tch-slapped and now they're embarrased so they've switched tactics and decided to play victim for the cameras. "It was a massacre, I tell ya, a MASSACRE!"

[Billthedrill]

Well, some in the press tend to forget that there was a well-defined little social layer of Iraqis who were perfectly happy seeing their countrymen tortured and murdered. "It is good to be king." Especially if it's your family who profits and the ones who pay being those Kurds or those Shi'ites down the road who you hate anyway. It's that layer of formerly happy little fascists who are the ones who need to fear us, because they're never going to love us.

[cookcounty]

It's time to cut the Sunnis out of the new govt. Isolate the triangle, let it become a colony for the Kurds and Shiites. The Sunnis are not serious (except about brainless bloodshed).

[Chummy]

"...civilian bystanders taking up arms against U.S. forces once the fight got underway...."

Let's see, they took up arms against US forces?

Civilian? Not any more.

Bystanders? Not any more.

Fighting? Not any more.

[expatpat]

I understand that heavier punishment is termed "pimp-slapped" now, in the 'hoods.

[hc87]

Sounds like they were trying a Mogadishu. The difference being a whole bunch of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicle.

[tinamina]

Were these fighters trying to steal the money or were they perhaps trying to protect a "guest" in the town? Sounds like a great hideout for Saddam. Probably a dungeon underneath that mosque.

[ChinaThreat]

The Iraqis are the most incapable, uncoordinated and stupid enemy this country has ever faced in battle. We ran over this country with a population in the tens of millions and have lost less than 500 brave Americans. This country, like most in this region, has a fighting population made up of cowards, nuts and idiots.

[dr_lew]

"It was a massacre, I tell ya, a MASSACRE!"

Compare and contrast the massacre of the populace of Henna by the Roman Garrison, who were about to be betrayed,

"Thus Henna was held - by a criminal act or a necessary one, call it which you will."- Livy, The War with Hannibal, Book XXIV.37

[an amused spectator]

Well, some in the press tend to forget that there was a well-defined little social layer of Iraqis who were perfectly happy seeing their countrymen tortured and murdered.

New Math

...During the 30-odd years he was in power, Saddam Hussein murdered at least 300,000 of his own people. These are the ones we are finding in mass graves in Iraq. Another 300,000 – at least – were killed in his war with Iran and his two conflicts with the US. Those are bare-bones, undeniable, non-speculative, minimums.

That darling arithmetic works out to no less than 20,000 people a year killed by that lunatic, or about 1,700 people a month.

So how many innocent people have not died as a result of the Iraq war?

I get about 13,000 so far...

[an amused spectator]

The difference being a whole bunch of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicle.

Guess they didn't get the memo about the difference between the Sinkmaster and the Sledgehammer... ;-)

[vbmoneyspender]

these guys are pirates. The motivation here wasn't 'resistance', it was robbery.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

One more time (the last time I plan to post this idea): This problem can be solved. The town of Samarra should be immediately surrounded. The announcement should be made loud and clear that the townspeople have two (2) hours to hand over the individuals repsonsible for this attack (the surviving ones). If not, then the entire town should be annihilated.

We are NOT going to win the support of the individuals in that town nor in any of the others where our troops are being attacked. Anyone on here who thinks that we are going to win their support is totally mistaken. It is not going to happen. The Sunnis (and the Baathists they support)are not going to allow the groups they suppressed rule over them and be alive to watch it happen.

Some on here are slow learners. I am patient...it will take you a little while.

[WackyKat]

As he stood guard in his M1-A1 Abrams tank outside a bank in this Sunni Muslim town, the usually busy streets suddenly emptied Sunday. Men hurried down back alleys, some running. Women dragged their children away from the positions of U.S. troops.

That sounds like an old Western: "All of a sudden it got real quiet...."

[blam]

"(and there's no doubt the townspeople knew it was about to happen)."

Yup, I think you are correct.

[El Gato]

the fighting, which ebbed and flowed through much of Sunday and ended with a devastating defeat of the Iraqi guerrillas who had massed in numbers against the overwhelming power of U.S. forces. The U.S. military said Monday that as many as 54 fighters were killed. No American soldiers died

Sounds like they finally got the Sudanese Muslim advisors in country and tried to pull a Mogadishu, but it didn't work. The ROE under Bush/Rumsfeld are not the same as those under the Clintonistas. Try again. We'll kill another batch of you.