Penhaul: Fallujah scene of intense gunbattles (It *WAS* a Mosque - Stupid)

CNN ^

[Happy2BMe]

Penhaul: Fallujah scene of intense gunbattles

FALLUJAH, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines, backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets, engaged in a raging firefight Monday with insurgents in Fallujah, a stronghold of resistance to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

CNN's Karl Penhaul described the scene Monday for the U.S. networks pool.

PENHAUL: Sporadic gunfire can still be heard echoing across this northwest corner of the city of Fallujah.

It was a very different picture though this morning and early afternoon because the area just behind me was the scene of some very intense gunbattles.

The Marines say [it was] one of the most intense gunbattles that they have had in the two or three weeks that the supposed cease-fire has been in place here in Fallujah.

Before dawn, the U.S. networks pool headed out with a Marine platoon. ...

The Marines went and occupied two buildings. They were occupying those so that they could look out for suspected Iraqi insurgents.

Snipers posed some positions on the other side and deeper into the city. They holed up in those buildings for about four or five hours. Then in the words of one Marine, "All hell broke loose."

Iraqi insurgents had massed around the two buildings occupied by Marines, and they opened fire with mortars, with rockets, with automatic weapons fire.

While we were inside that building, we saw rockets smashing into the sides of the buildings, rockets smashing through the windows.

We heard mortar rounds landing nearby, exploding and setting neighboring buildings on fire.

After about an hour and a half, the Marine commander gave the order for his troops to pull back, and that they did with the help of two U.S. tanks that were also called in to assist.

The Marines withdrew from two alleys and returned to one section of their base.

The firefight, though, continued for a good two hours after that. [There were] very heavy exchanges of gunfire; U.S. Marine Cobra attack helicopters were called in.

They were firing off missiles, and also we're told a mortar platoon from further back in the rear was firing off 8-millimeter mortars, and those impacted in a number of buildings behind us, setting them on fire and sending plumes of black smoke into the air.

Also, there was a mosque ... here; it had a minaret 50 to 60 feet high. Marine commanders say they were taking sniper fire from that minaret.

That minaret has now been leveled by U.S. military ordnance, missiles and mortars. There's nothing left at all of that minaret. ...

[Happy2BMe]

Yes!

[Mr. Mojo]

Also, there was a mosque ... here; it had a minaret 50 to 60 feet high. Marine commanders say they were taking sniper fire from that minaret. That minaret has now been leveled by U.S. military ordnance, missiles and mortars. There's nothing left at all of that minaret.

Now THAT'S what I like to hear!

[Happy2BMe]

Is it a mosque?

Or is it a minaret?

Was he a Muslim?

Or was he a sniper?

"Also, there was a mosque ... here; it had a minaret 50 to 60 feet high. Marine commanders say they were taking sniper fire from that minaret."

"That minaret has now been leveled by U.S. military ordnance, missiles and mortars. There's nothing left at all of that minaret. ...

[Sender]

It's really very simple. If they want us to spare a building, don't fill it with weapons and then shoot out of it.

If they want to use mosques and schools, then I guess they will have to build new mosques and schools after we're done.

[FreeReign]

There's nothing left at all of that minaret. ..

Yet no mention in this article about the eight "insurgents" who died.

[isthisnickcool]

Wouldn't it be interesting if several Mosques were turned into craters and one morning the calls to prayer were not heard. And all the puppet masters were silent. And all the puppets slept in. And liked it. And figured out that they had the freedom NOT to be told what to do, or when and how to do every little thing in their lives by Imams.

Islam is a cult of bullies. It's time it got punched in the nose.

[Happy2BMe]

An old friend of mine keeps saying this:

"Take them out . . take them ALL out . . DOWN TO THE VERY LAST ONE OF THE SUM BICHE$"

[SICSEMPERTYRANNUS]

That 8mm mortar packs a hell of a punch. LOL

[FreeReign]

Is it a mosque? Or is it a minaret?

The minaret is the tall tower attached to the mosque.

[Happy2BMe]

Was it an immam or a goat firing from the top of the minaret?

[Bob]

...further back in the rear was firing off 8-millimeter mortars,...

OMG, BE CAREFUL, guys!!! They're using those new ultraminiaturized .315 caliber mortars

[Happy2BMe]

Gunships Level Minaret As US Cancels Assault
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 4-27-2004 | David Rennie

Posted on 04/26/2004 6:17:40 PM PDT by blam

Gunships level minaret as US cancels assault

By David Rennie in Washington and Toby Harnden in Baghdad
(Filed: 27/04/2004)

An American assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah was postponed yesterday after local commanders said bloody urban warfare could provoke retaliation across the country and protests throughout the Muslim world.

The commanders, citing progress in political negotiations on Saturday night, agreed to extend the threadbare "ceasefire" for at least two more days despite residents' failure to surrender heavy weapons as demanded.

US army vehicles wrecked by an explosion in Baghdad

But yesterday morning a fierce battle left marines "fighting like lions" for their lives.

In a potential propaganda disaster, the marines called in helicopter gunships to level a 60-ft mosque minaret allegedly being used as a firing platform by insurgents.

The decision to step back from an immediate assault was taken after President George W Bush and senior aides held a video conference with Paul Bremer, the Coalition Provisional Authority chief, and Gen John Abizaid, the senior US commander in the region.

One senior official told the New York Times Mr Bush and his aides decided that even if an invasion of Fallujah later became inevitable the delay would allow them to say they had given talks every chance. "No one is eager for the alternatives. There's not much risk in giving this more time, except that the humanitarian situation worsens every day," the official said.

Brig-Gen Mark Kimmitt, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, accused insurgents of provoking marines to open fire when they knew cameras were present, as part of a propaganda war.

A plume of smoke rises over Fallujah as fighting continues

He said: "Many times it would appear that these provocative actions on the part of the enemy are intentionally inspired for the purposes of trying to get a tank into the camera lens, an airplane in the camera lens."

Brig Gen Kimmitt said the latest fighting in Fallujah began when marines were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire from the mosque.

A search of the minaret found "a significant amount of expended shell casings".

Two hours later, marines were pinned down by more firing from the mosque and called in a quick-reaction force of air support and tanks. These "directed suppressing fire on the mosque, killing eight enemy fighters and damaging the infrastructure". One American was killed.

In Baghdad, cheering Iraqis looted burnt Humvee vehicles and carried away guns and radios yesterday after two American soldiers were killed and five wounded when a house exploded as they searched it for "chemical munitions". A woman soldier with severe burns to the face and chest was seen being taken away on a stretcher and dozens of people, mainly youths, smashed four Humvees which had been set ablaze, stripping them of weapons and equipment.

A boy climbed on top of one of the vehicles and beat it with a stick. Another youth, wielding an American rifle, denounced Mr Bush and Mr Bremer. "This is for the madman Bush, for the madman Bremer," he shouted.

Eight Iraqi civilians were injured in the blast.

Brig-Gen Kimmitt said the house was surrounded after intelligence that its owner was "suspected of producing and supplying chemical agents to insurgents". He would not specify what type of "chemical munitions" were thought to have been there.

About 200 soldiers and military policemen entered the flashpoint city of Najaf - the Shia holy site where the radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is holed up with armed militia fighters - moving into a base due to be vacated by Spanish and Latin American forces soon.

Loud explosions echoed through the city last night as fighting erupted between US forces and Sadr's militia between Najaf and nearby Kufa.

Mr Bremer said an "explosive situation" was developing. Militants were stockpiling weapons in mosques, schools and shrines.

[plain talk]

They should be blasting out of loud speakers "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash. There's even a line about a minaret.

[antaresequity]

and one morning the calls to prayer were not heard

Hey you got an idea here....lets level all of these so called mosques, and pump that BS call to prayer out of some loudspeakers in a prison that only looks like a mosque. Once all the zombies file in, we just lock the gates and throw away the key.

[Iberian]

So I take it that the minaret is attached to the mosque. You all think we found the mosque? :-)

Shame to put such a fine tuned machine through this crap. There is nothing like what should be a 2 day job, turned into a 2 month job. Shame on the job supervisor.

[ChinaThreat]

This "hearts and minds" crap has to go. How do you win blackened hearts and evil minds?

[Flavius]

... well the purpose of ambulances and minarets is so that al Jiz can post evil infidels hurting children minarets and ambulances...

its all propaganda...

so bottom line level it all... please

[isthisnickcool]

This "hearts and minds" crap has to go. How do you win blackened hearts and evil minds?

My main point is that the Mosques should not be off limits. To me nothing about Islam is sacred. It's a cult and a farce and not worth one more American life.

Hit'em so hard they don't get back up. That's exactly what they have planned for all that is not Islam.

[First Conservative]

Does anyone else note the similarities in Bush's Irag strategy and MacNamara/LBJohnson's "gradual escalation" strategy of Vietnam?

To me it is scary. Now we are afraid in Irag of offending the Barbarians that are killing Americans. In Vietnam, we would not try to win that war because we were afraid we might offend the Chinese or Russian supporters of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

I believe since we are there we should use what ever force is required to subdue the "Barbarians" (who like to kill women and children as well as soldiers). They are NOT "insurgents!"

[TomasUSMC]

There's nothing left at all of that minaret. ...


We should be hearing this everyday in many languages on every channel, again and again.

Urraah