[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.

[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.

[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.

[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...."

[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.

[okie01]

Battle Reveals New Iraqi Tactics
Troops Startled by Fighters' Unprecedented Coordination and Resolve

Not so startled, however, that they couldn't beat the crap out of "unprecedented coordination and resolve".

Why do I get the feeling that the Washington Post was more impressed by these "new tactics" than the 4 ID was?

[MattAMiller]

I hope they start using these "new tactics" a lot.

[McGavin999]

This isn't a change of tactics, it's a change of enemy. These are infiltrated foreign warriors. I know we don't want to admit it but I'd be willing to bet these are Hisbullah imported from Lebonon through Syria. Toss in a few of the locals and you get what happened.

Our boys need to hold onto their hats, it's going to be a messy ride the next couple of weeks. And then it's going to be over.

[stlnative]

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.


Iraqi men comfort each other after a battle between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents in the city of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The man on the left owned a passenger bus destroyed in the clash; the other man's child was killed during the fighting. (Ahmad Al-rubaye -- AFP)

It looks like we missed a couple of them - what a shame (and what poor actors they are - what do you want to bet these 2 are guerrillas that were trying to kill our men)

[First_Salute]

Bump.