U.S. Marines Say Kill 30 Insurgents Near Falluja

Yahoo News ^ | 4/24/04 | Reuters

[kattracks]

CAMP FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines killed around 30 Iraqi insurgents overnight in a firefight near the flashpoint town of Falluja, Colonel John Coleman said on Saturday.

Marines spotted a small group of armed men, one with a mortar, and shot at them near a small village on the banks of the Euphrates, he said at the U.S. base of Camp Falluja, just outside the town.

The insurgents were joined by about 30 others and the Marines called in air support, Coleman, the chief of staff of the Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters.

He said all the insurgents were killed in the action, but gave no other details.

Local doctors say about 600 people were killed earlier this month in a Marine crackdown on Falluja following the killing and mutilation of four American contractors.

Marines have been ordered to suspend offensive operations for nearly two weeks to allow talks with Falluja civic leaders aimed at restoring peace to the town, but are allowed to shoot back if fired on.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

From the very beginning the plan of campaign was never strictly military.

[Right_in_Virginia]

BTTT

[DannyTN]

And the moral of this story is, "Agreeing with US Marines to turn over your heavy weapons and then walking around with a mortar is not very wise."

[Jeff Gordon]

What if General Mattis knows what he is doing and is being allowed to do it?

Good thought. I hope it is true.

[luvbach1]

Good going marines. Thity deaths probably don't discourage the terrorists (darned if I'll call them insurgents). However, once dead, they do stay discouraged.

[gandalftb]

Gen. Conway is running the tactical end, his main problem is getting key assets in-country. 1MEF was not fully aware of the extent of the problem in Fallujah and no Marine Air Wing was deployed. A MAW is now in place, we are still way short on Armor and no Arty yet. The Air Force has upgraded Spectre AC-130's, AKA Puff, Him, He, God, patrolling the kill zone around the Falon section 24/7. This machine is serious military madness. Get some!

Fallujah was allowed to be an enemy attenuator, what was surprising was the number that showed up, at least 3,000, probably closer to 4,000.

There were 13 tactical plans developed before deployment that are now being refined by the company commanders and their staff.

Killing all 30 indicates the Marines have all the intel they need and are done taking prisoners. Falon/Fallujah is about to meet Mother Green and her killing machine.

[McGavin999]

He said all the insurgents were killed in the action, but gave no other details.

Uh....what other details do they want? Dead means dead.

[piasa]

30x72= a lot of raisins to hand out

Where these "martyrs" are going, they'll be rewarded with a very non-halal scoop of 72 Bush's Best Pork n' Beans instead. (Plus their choice of any French weenies who end up there as a consequence of siding with Saddam Hussein.)

[txhurl]

Good hunting to our boys there. Blackwater's revenge.

[Travis McGee]

Mess with the best, die like the rest.

[river rat]

30 KIA per single small patrol firefight...
Now, the numbers are moving in the right direction...
(It must be wonderful, to be able to call in air support - in an INSTANT!)

I would love to know the country of origin of the dead jihadists...

No mention is made in either firefight, if the grunts had the opportunity to scavenge the bodies for intel or pedigree...

Semper Fi

[Travis McGee]

A low light digital camera should also be part of the combat loadout, to photo the faces of the dead for intell purposes. Even if it's just for ethnogrophers to say "This one looks Morrocan" or "This one is a Chechyn." That's assuming they are not carrying ID or papers or letters which would indicate their origin.

[river rat]

I don't know how informative a photo of the dead lunatic could be... unless perhaps if he were blond and blue eyed!

We learned early on, that the papers, letters, watches, dental work, physical condition, weapons and "uniform" -- told us a lot more about the corpse in front of us -- than would a photo of his face...

Semper Fi

[Dog]

Travis I wouldn't be surprised to learn that we are even fingerprinting each dead jihadist. The Iraqis kept extensive records on their people and we now control those records.....so each dead body gets fingerprinted.....to compare against the database of known fedeyeen fighters and Saddam secret police.

[Travis McGee]

All of your enemies were basically varieties of VN, but in this war you get folks from half the globe, and the nationality of origin can tell a lot, even if they're fighing "sterile" with no ID. Fingerprints would be a help too. Or even thumprints, for speed. They have those print scanners now where you just stick the digit in, and it takes a digital pic and saves it.

[river rat]

"All of your enemies were basically varieties of VN..."

There were a few
-- much taller that the average Vietnamese..
-- dental work too fine or extensive to be Vietnamese..
-- watches that were uncommon to the VC or NVA.
-- map notations written in the finest Chinese characters...

One would think that perhaps these corpses were CHINESE!

Semper Fi

[Travis McGee]

I'm sure of it. But nothing like piecing together a global jihad picture with fighters coming from everywhere from Morocco to the Philippines.

[river rat]

"But nothing like piecing together a global jihad picture..."

Agreed....and proving that the fly paper "strategery" is working..

NOW - if we would only get serious about destroying the bastards in LARGE numbers wherever they have congregated...

We will LOSE- if we continue this insane exchange of Marines for Jihadist.....at any ration less than 1:10,000.
There are too many willing lunatic Jihadists.

We have invested in weapons of mass destruction for a reason.....to destroy MASSIVE COLLECTIONS of enemy.

We don't need to go to nukes -- but I believe we need to demonstrate our WILLINGNESS to destroy an entire city if the bastards need that to realize our determination and our willingness to kill them in large numbers...

Semper Fi

[Travis McGee]

I think that this week we'll begin to reduce Fallujah, one way or another.