Insurgent Iraqis kill six Marines

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 04/17/2004 | Ron Harris

[Helvan]

HUSAYBAH, Iraq

[Iscool]

nonsense. way too many freepers want to see a body count, whether they be civilians or those of the insurgents. the insurgents and the terrorists want mass civilian casualties, why should we give it to them?

I'm not suggesting we start with a Hydrogen bomb, although I wouldn't discount it if need be...I've always been a scrapper...One of the first things I found out is you don't lead with your chin...The second thing I realized is that if you get smacked, even if you're the victor, it still hurts...In conclusion I realized you're not in a televised boxing match, you're there to win, at all costs...And that goes for a brawl in an alley or a war in Iraq...I don't give a flip about the muslims or their feelings...We're there to win, without pain...And we need to do what ever it takes to be succesful...

[Jeff Head]

Semper Fi, Marine!

[Soaring Feather]

Prayers for all our Military.

[Rokke]

"We're there to win"

In a fight in a alley, you are fighting for survival. In Iraq, we are not fighting for survival. We are fighting to stabilize a country that might be the potential anchor for democracy in the region. You are not going to "win" in Iraq by kicking over the hornets nest. You're going to win by providing a secure environment, and throwing enough smoke into the mix to keep the inhabitants quiet.

[kms61]

40 is pretty young for a full Colonel isn't it?

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

HUSAYBAH, Iraq — Six Marines were killed and scores of insurgent Iraqis slain in a fierce 14-hour battle Saturday between Marines and mujahedeen fighters who slipped into this town near the Syrian border.

According to Marines, an estimated 300 Iraqis from Fallujah and Ramadi launched an assault against the Americans in Husaybah around 8 a.m., beginning with a roadside bombing and a flurry of 24 mortars.

Fighting continued late into the night as Marine Cobra helicopter gunships strafed enemy positions near a downtown soccer stadium and Marine helicopters continued to take wounded to their main base 22 miles away at Camp Al-Qaim.

...All of the Marines were killed in the first hour of the fighting, four of them when they went to clear out a house where Iraqi fighters were hiding.

---

 

 

 

 

      

 

                                                                                       

REGIMENTAL PRAYER

Almighty, merciful, and loving Father,
you are the one who hears all our prayers and grants our petitions.

We ask you to remember, as we do,
the tremendous sacrifice made by those who went before us.
They have given their lives so that we might live and breathe freely.
We ask you to receive them into your hands.

Father, give us the strength and wisdom to learn from their example,
to uphold freedom and life at home and around the world.

Keep us vigilant as we guard the frontiers of freedom.

Give our leaders the wisdom and the strength to lead well.

Grant all of us courage and confidence.

Be, for all of us, troopers, a wise counsel in keeping peace
 and a strong shield for us against our enemies.

Oh heavenly Father, give us the determination
that the peace and freedom won at such a high price be lasting!

Father, hold all of the troopers in the palm of your almighty hand
 and protect them in the shadow of your wings.

Amen.

Adopted from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment,

Regimental Prayer.

~  ~ 

[archy]

So you worked for the Globe back when St. Louis was still a two-newspaper town? Interesting! (The Weatherbird used to creep me out in the sixties when I was a kid. Do you remember that?)

Nope, though St Louie was a short-lived two-rag town in the early 1990s for almost a year, with the advent and sundown of the short-lived St Louis Sun, for which I was a downstate Illinois stringer.

I have no knowledge of Harris, but it seems as if he is doing a brave and magnanimous job in this situation.

He has the advantage of having been there during the initial move into Baghdad, so will at least be taken more seriously by those Marines than a fresh-faced rookie with more preconceived notions than experience. And really old hands from the Desert Shield/Storm/Sabre days of 1991 have it even easier, especially if they have a little language facility.

St. Louis used to take journalism very seriously.

They still have the St Louis Journalism Review, I believe, and the state's university prides itself on a prestigious journalism department. And Joe Pulitzer's name is forever linked with St Louis, though the first newspaper he owned and operated was inIndiana...and I worked for that one for some four years, though long after he'd left for the greener pastures of St Louis. After all, the Griesedieck brothers had begun their Budweser brewing operations around that time too, and it was an important transportation hub for both railroad and river traffic.

[MEG33]

May God be with the loved ones of these brave warriors.

[boycott]

I wouldn't trade one American life for 1,000,000 Iraqis. I would blow a town off the face of the earth if the Iraqis want to continue this fight.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank God for our heroes and their loved ones!

[af_vet_1981]

God bless those brave Marines. Prayers up for their families.

On the wings of eagles ...

[af_vet_1981]

Sure we can, we did it in WWII, and its going to take the same thing to win over here. We nuked the Japs, and they love us. We bombed civilian populations in Germany as well.

As in WWII, there is no substitute for complete victory. Unconditional surrender or death to all the terrorists.

[CatOwner]

I absolutely agree, but every time I state that on FR, I get chastised for not understanding how war works. Somehow, handcuffing our troops does not sound like a way to fight a tactical war. It sounds like a political war and history has shown that they are losing wars.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

People who say violence begets violence…blah, blah, blah, Cup of coffee Anan United Nations rhetoric …don’t know what the hell they are talking about. After the bombing of Germany and Japan, one never saw two countries surrender faster.

When will you Americans stop pandering to those leftists and those Hollywood Sean Penn drug addicted actors/actresses and let your military take care of those Arab murderers. 1 American military life is worth a hundred times more than the scum on the anther side or a thousand times more than a leftist. If you do not win this war, I am afraid you will never win another. Long live the power of America.

[Frank_2001]

I agree with you!

[Eagle Eye]

It's close, but the camp is still closer. It's pretty desolate there. And that pipeline road is nasty.

Been there...yada yada yada.

[Happy2BMe]

They (the mujahadeen) will start pouring into Iraq for jihad from Syria now that Rantisi was killed by the IDF.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

As I posted earlier:

You want to see your future? Look at what happened to Israel when they left Lebanon (like you, when you left Somalia) a few years ago, the suicide bombings started and hasn’t ended, and know they are trying to do what they should have done a few years ago (that is, eliminate the heads of the snakes, only now there are many snakes). The left/socialists (Hollywood drug addicted, sex addicted, divorce here, divorce there…) would rather see 3000 of their own Americans die and think that appeasement will work. Well it didn’t work for the Israelis, it won’ work for the Spaniards and if you vote for 'Hanoi John' Kerry, it won’t work for America. Long live a strong America.

[Kathy in Alaska]

RIP US Marines

Jeff, excellent plan!

[paddles]

The bars that the reporters hang out at are actually in the "Red Zone", such as The Sheraton and The Palestine. There are no "bars" in the "Green Zone" except the bar at the Al Rasheed Hotel (closed at the moment) and "The Green Zone Cafe", a semi-outdoor beer garden that is frequented by those troops allowed to drink and a fair amount of Brits. Reporters aren't in the habit of hanging out there.