Security Firm Says Its Workers Were Lured Into Iraqi Ambush

New York Times ^ | 4/9/04 | David Barstow

[avant_garde]

Very interesting article. Surprising a story of this caliber came from the NYT.

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[Travis McGee]

Last weekend, eight Blackwater contractors assigned to protect a building in Najaf fought alongside four marines and three Salvadoran soldiers to defeat a determined attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members. The men fired thousands of rounds, yet were very nearly overrun, Mr. Toohey said. "They were down to single digits of ammo, less than 10 rounds a man."

Major pucker factor.

[savedbygrace]

In a letter to the Pentagon yesterday, Democratic leaders requested information about the methods and activities of private security companies in Iraq, expressing concern that they could "contribute to Iraqi resentment."

Dims love to blame the victims.

[First_Salute]

Combat power is not patrol, nor especially martial power.

[river rat]

No problem...

15 men, 9 rounds each....135 rounds...
With disciplined fire ...that's enough for at least another 100 ragheads..

Now then, it takes a lot of courage for a raghead to charge an objective that ALREADY has a hundred or more corpses strewn and splashed about the runup to the target..

(However -- the anus does strain when the last magazine is loaded and there are still Indians in the bush)

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

Thanks for the ping.....
When we were on our own per se we packed Beretta 70/71S .22 autos with a can made for us by Dr Phil Dater and a brick of sub sonic 40 grainers in our rucks. Figured we could hold a choke point till the cavalry arrived.........never needed it but we planned for just such an event. To this day I carry the little beretta 71S with a spare mag and a small 50 round box in an ankle rig as a backup to my 1911A1. Albeit Uncle Sugar kept my supressor for it..........:o)

These men did well........doom on all Iraq !.......Stay safe !

[ladyinred]

At first, their gruesome deaths seemed the work of yet another random ambush in Iraq,

But after careful investigative reporting, we have concluded that the murdering animals had just finished watching CNN's televised edition of the 911 commission, and felt it was safe to murder American civilians since we had no basis to be there in the first place.

[Travis McGee]

Good points!

[Squantos]

Fix Bayonets !..........agree on the pucker factor.

Stay safe !

[SZonian]

My thoughts exactly, looking for another negative aspect to pin on somebody instead of looking for solutions.

Stupid Dumbocrats!

Cheers!

[Travis McGee]

I would not want to be captured by those ragheads. "Last ten rounds" time must make one ponder the alternatives to capture.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Interesting article. It was such a horrible travesty. Prayers going up again for the men who were killed.

[archy]

To this day I carry the little beretta 71S with a spare mag and a small 50 round box in an ankle rig as a backup to my 1911A1. Albeit Uncle Sugar kept my supressor for it..........:o)

The good Doctor would be pleased to build you one of your own for it. My own tool for that sort of thing was an Astra .22 Model 2000 *Cub* in .22 short. Long ago I had a Walther PP Sport in .22 that was particularly sweet, but with the can removed [easy with the Astra's quick-removable barrel] the little Astra fit very neatly into a handcuff case.

BTW: 150 rounds of .22 Long Rifle fits real neatly into a GI canvas first aid case, two boxes side-bu-side vertically, with one across the top horizontally. I generally carried 100 of .22 standard velocity for use with the can, and 50 .22 Stingers or mini-mag hollowpoints. With the .22 short, I carried the most reliable solids that fed best in the particular gun, which varied.

[McGavin999]

This explains why the Minister of Security was asked to resign.

[Squantos]

Kewl Tewls Archy.......Hers A pic of the "finest" E&E rigs ever devised short of a AC-130 ! My choice as described above. Albeit it ain't Phils can on the tube !

Ya'll Stay safe ..........:o)

[river rat]

You know---- the article makes a big deal about the 15 men having fired more than a thousand rounds at "hundreds of attackers"...

Hell -- that's not many! With that many attackers, and that large a group of defenders (15) -- they could have fired a thousand rounds before the first man realized his mouth was cotton dry... The old grunts will know what I mean.

Common practice for Marine crossing the wire to go out on patrol is to carry at LEAST 200 rounds of 7.62. Some for him, some for the M60. The same 15 men should have had 3000 rounds MINIMUM before they come under fire...

Now - with the .223 they were likely using - they could have been carrying the equal weight but close to 5000 rounds.

Sounds to me like the "contractors" and Salvadorans came to the fight under equipped and would have died if those 4 Marines had not been PROPERLY armed and equipped....

Just kidding.....you've got to laugh, or you'll cry over shit like this..

We should have been able to get to those kids a lot quicker than we did --- and killing ragheads all the way to their rescue..

Semper Fi

[Squantos]

But they were wearing Oakley's ! They were deadly and fashionable ! Eagle Eye was telling me about the hollywood shooters running about over there. High speed low drag and did I say they were wearing Oakley's ......?:o)

Stay safe !

[river rat]

"I would not want to be captured by those ragheads. "Last ten rounds" time must make one ponder the alternatives to capture."

I can still hear the Gunny..

"That ammo is Government owned and Government issued for a specific purpose... You are to kill the enemy... You are NOT authorized to use it to kill yourself... If you feel the need to kill yourself - after expending all your Government issued ammo killing the enemy -- then use your freaking Government issued Ka-Bar and slit your yellow wrists..."

"Otherwise, I and the United States Marine Corps expects you to stay alive under ANY circumstances --- manage somehow to return to your Marine Corps and get your ass rearmed and back into the freaking fight we brought you here to fight.."

We laughed -- but he MEANT it.... He was serious....
A very very very spooky man.... but the crazy bastard kept most of us alive.

Semper Fi