Iraq Mortar Attack Injures 11 U.S. Troops

Yahoo News ^ | 30 june 2004

[F14 Pilot]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents fired at least 10 mortar rounds at a U.S. base on the outskirts of Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, wounding 11 soldiers, two of them seriously, and starting a fire that burned for well over an hour.

[F14 Pilot]

Didnt see any one posting this, So I picked it

[jmstein7]

[xzins]

It bothers me when they get off 10 rounds UNLESS they had 10 mortars fire at once. (And it troubles me that people are capable of hiding mortars.)

Radar should have been able to pinpoint the firing positions immediately and ready aircraft should have been able to attack far more quickly.

[r9etb]

It bothers me when they get off 10 rounds UNLESS they had 10 mortars fire at once. (And it troubles me that people are capable of hiding mortars.) Radar should have been able to pinpoint the firing positions immediately and ready aircraft should have been able to attack far more quickly.

IIRC, the usual approach is to plant these things and set them off with timers. Mortars are simple enough to make and use, so they were probably just left in place. There was probably nobody around at the time they fired.

Pretty good shooting, though -- the folks who set these things up knew something about using them.

[xzins]

If it was by a timing device, then let's hope we located and confiscated the mortars.

[TexKat]

An Iraqi policeman climbs into the back of a damaged police truck in central Baghdad, Iraq after an explosion Wednesday June 30, 2004. No injuries were reported in the blast. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraqi police forces arrive at the scene of a bomb blast in the city of Samawa, southern Iraq June 30, 2004. The bomb exploded in the southern town of Samawa, where Japanese and Dutch troops are deployed, but no one was badly hurt, witnesses said. The blast was not near the Japanese camp. REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

A U.S. Army firefighter pulls a hose through the scene of a mortar attack which wounded 11 U.S. Army soldiers at Log Base Seitz, an Army logistics compound near Abu Ghraib, on the outskirts of Baghdad Iraq, Wednesday, June 30, 2004. Two of the injured were evacuated by helicopter, but all were expected to survive. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

Firefighters survey the damage after a mortar attack wounded 11 U.S. Army soldiers at Log Base Seitz, a U.S. Army logistics compound near Abu Ghraib, on the outskirts of Baghdad Iraq, Wednesday, June 30, 2004. Two of the injured were evacuated by helicopter, but all were expected to survive. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

A firefighter surveys the damage after a mortar attack wounded 11 U.S. Army soldiers at Log Base Seitz, a U.S. Army logistics compound near Abu Ghraib, on the outskirts of Baghdad Iraq, Wednesday, June 30, 2004. Two of the injured were evacuated by helicopter, but all were expected to survive. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

[MCRD]

My next door neighbor just got back from Iraq and told me that the terrorists were taking mortar rounds and packing them in ice so that they had a ring of ice around them. they then set up the mortar tubes and place the enlarged rounds on the mouth of the mortar tube when the ice melts they drop into the tube and fire down range, giving the bad guys plenty of time to beat feet. It makes sense why they seem to get away and why their accuracy is usually not that good.

[nuffsenuff]

That is AWESOME!

[draoi]

I doubt that the handover makes much difference to these guys, they're not likely to stop until the last infidel has left Iraq.

[MikefromOhio]

They are also firing the things out of moving cars too now....at least they were as recently as a week ago...

I could see the fire burning from where I am at on Camp Victory....big clouds of smoke....

[Hatefulltoast]

I am a solder stationed at LOG Base Seitz. and I know some of the people who were injured in that attack. It happens constantly. Unfortunately It is a lot harder to catch these people than you may think. First off Radar doesn't work well for ground searches. second they are firing the mortars from the back of moving vehicles. this plays in our favor though because they cant aim them. But they are also firing from a town that is close by our base. The first cav armored infantry is doing the best they can to stop these attacks but its hard to keep watch over an entire city.

[xzins]

Your explanation makes perfect sense. Thanks for all you do for our country.

They killed 3000 of us on 9/11. If it weren't for you guys taking the fight to them over here, they'd be still killing us here in the USA...and they'd eventually try to use gas or bacteriological.

My point is that you are there for a good reason. You are saving lives here by fighting them there.


Also, you are in my prayers and that of many, many churches. Keep your armor on and your head down.

Xzins
Chaplain (Retired) US Army