Up to 12 Marines Reported Killed in Ramadi (CNN)

CNN

[victoryatallcosts]

It sounds like there's quite the fight going on. Let's crush the bastards/

[GraniteStateConservative]

He said major combat was over. Do you think it is?

[verity]

you won't have to cough and say, "I shoveled shit FRgal4U in Louisiana."

[sinkspur]

What a disappointment you two are!

Curled up in the fetal position, when we need to be standing firm.

[victoryatallcosts]

Major combat operations against the Iraqi Army are clearly over. These are different forces.

No, get to your Drano.

[sinkspur]

He said major combat was over. Do you think it is?

Yes. These are firefights, not major battles. This is one small element of the Shia population.

It WILL be put down!

[b4its2late]

I wonder where that scumbag got those binocs from? He sure a heck didn't get them at Radio Shack.

[trick question]

He said that major combat was over. Do you think it's over?

Maybe he was mistaken.

You say on your profile that you are a big Bush supporter. Does anyone who reads your posts think you are?

[Dane]

What a disappointment you two are!

Curled up in the fetal position, when we need to be standing firm

You are sorta of correct there, but granite and frgal are not in a fetal position, but a pounicing position.

They are just echoing Terry MaCauliife's(DNC Chairman) words and trying to make political hey over Marines dying over killing dictatorial thugs.

I was channel surfing earlier and in the 6:30 PM EDT hour there was MacAuliffe on CNN basically saying the Marines deaths were good for the Kerry campaign.

[GraniteStateConservative]

And tell me with a straight face that the banner wasn't put there-- as background for all pictures-- without a purpose. The White House had a vendor produce the banner. They knew exactly what it said. They knew the nonverbal communication being made by it. It was Deaver-esque. He knew that people see pictures on TV, and don't hear the words. Rove knows that, too. He'd be a bad strategist if he didn't. They wanted to send a subliminal message like all strategists do when they can. Did the banner have the words "crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln" on it? I don't think it did-- by design. Don't be naive.

[batter]

I believe company A of the 29th Infantry Division lost a whole Higgins boat(32) of men as they came in right in front of a German strongpoint on Omaha beach. The bodies' proximity to/in the boat indicated that they were killed withing 30-45 seconds.

I agree that some folks are overreacting to the casualties. No one likes to hear of US servicemen casualties, but we need to keep this in perspective. Admittedly, no this isn't Omaha beach but I'm guessing they are in urban combat zones which are always a higher danger for both infantrymen and armor (WWII to the present). At least in WWII the German's didn't wear the same stuff the civilians did.
Additionally, we were tougher in WWII street fighting. The Germans didn't like it, but rather than have troops go into the street (streets make a nice kill zone) to get into the next house/structure, US forces would use a 105mm shell or some TNT to blow a whole into the wall of the place they wanted to clear (if the enemy was behind the wall, it made for one less room to clear). Who knows, maybe modern tacticians have found a better way.

I think these uprisings could be a turning point for the good. Although we're in urban areas, the fighters seem to be concentrating themselves (both sunni and extremist shi'ite) to become closer to a conventional force which we are far better at hammering than the small hit and run groups. These uprisings and operations could allow us to clear the evil folks (by death or capture) and bring in greater stability to the area. Finally, I assume some of the Jordanian, Saudi, Syrian etc. al Queda types are also fighting and being killed through these events. Kind of like flies to fly paper...

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I like to think that President Bush chooses the timing of events based on need rather than polls...

[sinkspur]

It figures that Lou Dobbs would have Terry McAuliffe on his show.

I've grown to despise Lou Dobbs. He represents everything that is wrong with America, orange hair and all.

[sinkspur]

Your web page says you are a Bush supporter.

That's a lie, isn't it?

[Dane]

And tell me with a straight face that the banner wasn't put there-- as background for all pictures-- without a purpose. The White House had a vendor produce the banner. They knew exactly what it said. They knew the nonverbal communication being made by it. It was Deaver-esque. He knew that people see pictures on TV, and don't hear the words. Rove knows that, too. He'd be a bad strategist if he didn't. They wanted to send a subliminal message like all strategists do when they can. Did the banner have the words "crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln" on it? I don't think it did-- by design. Don't be naive

Whew doing double time for Democartic Party Chairman MACauliffe today aren't you.

[Joy Angela]

Bump for Freedom!

It's amazing that all these attacks on our military
aren't being connected to the Rabid Anti-American
factions that are residing in the Democrat Party.

It's like when Mafia Bosses say "Take Care of it"
and the peons know what that means...

When the Democrats and their Phony Commission start tearing down our efforts and drag our officials in
front of their panels for interrogation (ie. Condi and
Bush) don't people realize the Radicals in Iraq "know
what that means" and they know what they need to do?

Kill a few more dead bodies, and America is supposed to
crumble like France.

That's the Plan.

That's the War

There can be no Peace with this Treachery.

[Dane]

And tell me with a straight face that the banner wasn't put there-- as background for all pictures-- without a purpose. The White House had a vendor produce the banner. They knew exactly what it said. They knew the nonverbal communication being made by it. It was Deaver-esque. He knew that people see pictures on TV, and don't hear the words. Rove knows that, too. He'd be a bad strategist if he didn't. They wanted to send a subliminal message like all strategists do when they can. Did the banner have the words "crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln" on it? I don't think it did-- by design. Don't be naive

Whew doing double time for Democratic Party Chairman MACauliffe today aren't you.

[WOSG]

"I agree with you but problem is that U.S. administration does not seem to recognize that this is a religious/cultural war. I think deep/down Bush knows it is but he has to tow the P.C. line. Islam has declared war against the West."

This problem creeps up a lot. My take:
1) It is true there are serious inbred cultural problems wrt Islam and many Arab govts today are antiJewish and anti-West. Islam's 1500 year history is one full of bigotry, violence and intolerance towards other religions.
2) It is wrong to call the war on terror a cultural war, because that doesnt help to define what actions are possible let alone necessary to win it.

Even if it was a cultural war, there is little different we would be doing. We cannot attack all of Islam at one front, each day in the war on terror, we've been using friendly muslim people and nations - from the country of Kuwait, the govt of yemen, pakistan and morroco, etc.; the people of IRaq, etc.

Far better to explain it like this - Bin Laden is to Islam like the KKK is to Christianity. And if you think I am a friend to Islam, check my posts from yesterday, I understand the attitude ... like you say, Bush may know that Islam is more dangerous than he publicly is saying, but is saying 'islam is peace' simply because he cannot afford to lose the 'friends' in the muslim world. The haters already think we are zionist stooges. For us to have a 'crusader' mentality and attack the muslim faith is to spite millions of well-meaning people who are not violent like bin laden.

Divide and conquer. Divide the violent from the devout and conquer the minority who are violent.

It's like with the fight against Soviet Communism: US v USSR was ideological, but we got ourselves in trouble wrt 'mccarthyism' against leftists in the US and it didnt help defeat communism. Had we made it about socialism=communism, we would never have had china on our side wrt USSR or gotten help from european nations.

Our enemy in Islam is the violence of jihadism. A Jihadist that doesnt strap on a suicide belt and kill westerners is just a nutty guy. It's like the difference between Ted Kasynski and your average DUer. Words can never hurt us if they arent acted upon.

[armymarinemom]

He said major combat was over. Do you think it is?

Our President said that Major Combat Operations were over. What is going on now is an insurgency of the occupation phase. During WWII we had troops beheaded by insurgents placing wire across roads after major combat operations. Please try not to split hairs and knock our President during a time of war it makes you sound like you have no spleen and belong over at DU.

[FReepaholic]

>>... I doubt the war in Iraq will stop these guys coming to fight in our streets....<<

Yes it will.

Don't let fear drive your life.

[Ingtar]

The major combat was over. That is, it was over until we followed the code of the PC and allowed the Fascists to keep their guns and gave them hope of winning. We made mosques off limits to the soldiers, even after finding a huge weapon cache in one. We limited what our soldiers can do to protect themselves. We only seem to win in combat actions when we take the gloves off. We need a U. S. Grant, or Sherman, or Patton running this show. Not a McClellan.