Posted on 10/29/2004 9:07:32 PM PDT by TexKat
Edited on 10/29/2004 10:04:00 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Oct. 29 -- U.S. Marines are preparing for a decisive battle in the Sunni Triangle area west of Baghdad, where rebels are using violence and intimidation to extend their influence out from the city of Fallujah, senior commanders said Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Cpl. Christopher J. Lapka, of Peoria, Ariz., is shown here in this 2002 family handout photo. Lapka, 22, had only been in Iraq for two weeks when he was among eight killed Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, in a car bombing attack. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Lapka Family)
Fallujah residents stock up on food supplies at a government ration store in Fallujah, Iraq Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. U.S. forces are massed around the restive insurgent stronghold and an offensive could begin within days.(AP Photo/Mohammed Khodor)
A Fallujah, Iraq resident packs up family belongings before leaving the city Monday, Nov. 1, 2004. Many fear that an attack by American forces massed around the city is imminent.(AP Photo/Mohammed Khodor)
An armoured U.S. transport truck drives the body of slain Japanese man Shosei Koda, 24, from a morgue in Baghdad November 1, 2004. Koda was beheaded in Iraq, Japanese officials said on Sunday, but Tokyo vowed it would keep its troops in the country on their reconstruction mission. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudan
USMC 2/5 BUMP
By Alistair Lyon
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces battled rebels in Ramadi and pounded Falluja on Monday, but there was no sign that an all-out American-led offensive to retake the insurgent-held cities had begun on the eve of the U.S. presidential election.
Kidnappers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades seized an American, a Nepali and two Arabs from their Saudi company's office in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said.
A spokesman said the attackers killed a guard when they stormed the company villa in the affluent Mansour district.
The U.S. military said it had begun to increase its troop strength in Iraq ahead of nationwide elections due in January.
"The Second Brigade Combat Team has been informed that its departure has been delayed for 30 to 60 days to provide a secure environment for this election," a military spokesman said.
While the 1st Cavalry's Second Brigade will stay longer than planned, new troops have begun arriving, he said. The United States already has about 138,000 troops in Iraq.
Three people were killed in the Ramadi fighting, including an Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters, apparently killed by a sniper after fierce clashes had died down.
Dhia Najim was near his house in the Sunni Muslim city's Andalus district when he was shot in the back of the neck. A video taken from a nearby building shows him appearing from behind a wall when a single shot cracks out and he falls dead.
Footage he took earlier shows U.S. Humvees racing across a junction and flashes from gunfire and explosions, but there was no sound of fighting on the tape recording his death.
Najim's colleagues and family said they believed he had been shot by a U.S. sniper. U.S. Marine snipers are posted in Ramadi. There was no immediate response from the U.S. military to questions about the incident from Reuters.
FALLUJA AIR STRIKES
U.S. forces hit the eastern part of the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja with on-off artillery barrages through the day and air strikes in the evening, but there were no reports of casualties.
The Marines are preparing to attack Ramadi and Falluja in a drive to pacify Iraq before the Iraqi national assembly polls.
It is not clear if the assault will begin before Tuesday's American presidential poll. Iraq has been a divisive campaign theme, President Bush defending the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and his handling of its aftermath against fierce criticism from Democratic challenger John Kerry.
Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar criticized the planned offensive in remarks published in the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas.
"The coalition's handling of this crisis is wrong. It's like someone who fired bullets at his horse's head just because a fly landed on it; the horse died and the fly went away," Yawar said.
"What's needed is that the coalition forces continue dialogue so that the Iraqi armed forces will come, which will prompt those on the sidelines not to join the rebels ..."
Gunmen assassinated the deputy governor of Baghdad, Hatem Karim, and wounded two of his bodyguards in a drive-by shooting in the southern Dora district of the capital.
The Islamic militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement on its Web site.
Rebels have assassinated many officials seen as cooperating with U.S.-led forces in Iraq, while revenge killings against former Saddam loyalists are also common.
Gunmen killed retired Republican Guard Lieutenant-Colonel Athir al-Khazraji and a passerby in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. A morgue official there said he had also received the body of an Iraqi contractor working for U.S. forces.
A loud explosion was heard in central Baghdad on Monday night, but there no reports of damage or casualties.
GUERRILLA BASTIONS
The government says former Saddam loyalists and militants led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi operate in Falluja and Ramadi, which have long been hotbeds of anti-U.S. resistance.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday the government, which has demanded that Falluja people hand over Zarqawi's men, was losing patience and would soon "free this town from the grip of terrorists who came from abroad."
The Ramadi clashes broke out in the east of the city around 7 a.m. (2300 GMT). Black smoke rose from buildings as gunmen fired grenades and mortar rounds amid heavy U.S. return fire.
Families began to flee their homes as fighting intensified and witnesses said they saw a U.S. military vehicle ablaze.
(Additional reporting by Michael Georgy near Falluja, Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra and Faris al-Mahdawi in Baquba)
smonk wrote:
three times is the charm, right?
Smonk, What the *&@% do you mean? Remember what the Marine Colonel said a couple of weeks ago? "We have been playing paddy cake with these insurgents, they haven't seen an all out offensive yet!!"
OOOAAHH!! Semper Fi, Do or die. Go get 'em boys.
ping to post #126
Wow.
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - An Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters was shot dead during clashes in rebel-held Ramadi, while a US war plane bombed nearby Fallujah overnight, the military and news agency said.
Dhia Najim, a 57-year-old freelance video camerman, was apparently shot dead by a sniper while on assignment for the London-based Reuters news agency, a Reuters correspondent in Baghdad said.
It was unclear whether the sniper had been an insurgent or a US soldier.
The US military is known to have stationed marksmen in Ramadi as it fights to restore order to the lawless city, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad.
For its part, the US military confirmed that a cameraman working for a "major news agency" had been caught in clashes between US troops and rebel fighters.
"Marines from the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force engaged several insurgents in a brief small-arms firefight that killed an individual who was carrying a video camera earlier Monday morning," it said in a statement.
The video camera found on Najim showed pictures of previous attacks on US-led troops, the military added.
Reuters had hired the Ramadi local on a freelance basis and the father of four had been working for the news agency at the time of his death.
The media company will ensure Najim's wife, son and three daughters are looked after, the correposndent said.
In another flashpoint city east of Ramadi, the US military unleashed an air raid on the rebel hotspot of Fallujah, in what has become a near daily bombardment of the Sunni Muslim bastion, west of Baghdad.
"A US Air Force plane engaged a pre-planned target using precision ordnance, which destroyed a known enemy cache site on the southeast side of the city," the miitary said in a separate statement.
Expectations of a two-pronged assault on the twin cities of Fallujah and Ramadi -- believed to be the nerve centre of Iraq's violent insurgency -- are rising as the interim government vows to crush pockets of insurgency ahead of elections promised by January.
Since mid-October, US troops have encircled Fallujah, where the military has repeatedly launched air strikes and limited ground incursions. They are currently doubling their troop strength to 2,000 in Ramadi.
Najim's death brings to at least 46 the number of journalists and other media workers killed in Iraq since the beginning of the US-led invasion in 2003, according to a tally by Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders.
Four days ago, a car bomb ripped through the Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya television, killing seven people and wounding 19.
Media personnel have also been targeted in the plague of kidnappings and assassinations which has scarred the country.
There has been no word of French journalists Christian Chesnot of Radio France International and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper since they were abducted south of Baghdad on August 20.
US marines battle insurgents as they protect a convoy driving through the center of the city of Ramadi. An Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters was shot dead during clashes in the rebel-held townm while a US war plane bombed nearby Fallujah(AFP/Patrick Baz)
A prayer and a OOOOHHHRRRAAA! to all of them.
US Marines of the 1st Division take cover in Abu Ghraib, Baghdad, Iraq, following an explosion and gunfire, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division arrest Iraqi council chairman Taha Rasheed following a raid in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004. The Marines arrested the city council chairman of Nasar Wa Sulaan and other council members following the raid. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A US Marine of the 1st Division take scarfs away after arresting a city council chairman in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004. The Marines arrested the city council chairman of Nasar Wa Sulaan, Baghdad, Taha Rasheed, and other council members following a raid. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
U.S. Army soldiers drive their Humvee vehicle past the burning wreckage of a car bomb in the west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, November 2, 2004. A suspected car bomb, parked outside Abu-Ghraib prison, was blown up by U.S. Army explosive ordinance experts on early Tuesday causing no casualties, residents of the area said. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
An Iraqi youth stands near the burning wreckage of a car bomb after it was blown up by U.S. troops, in the west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, November 2, 2004. There were no casualties reported. REUTERS/Ali Jasim
US marines with 2/5 Marines watch the results of the US presidential elections in Ramadi, 100 kms west of Baghdad.(AFP/Patrick Baz)
U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Bodisch from Charlie Company, second tank battalion, watches television news on the tight U.S. presidential race, at a base near Iraq's rebel-held western city of Falluja, November 2, 2004 where U.S.-led forces are expected to launch an offensive to crush foreign militants and Iraqi insurgents. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte
U.S. Marine Pfc. John Lukac, 19, of Las Vegas, in this undated photo, was among nine Marines killed Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, when a car bomb went off next to a truck outside Fallujah in the Anbar province of Iraq. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps)
Lance Cpl. Jeremy D. Bow of Lemoore, Calif., is shown in this undated photo. Bow, 20, was one of eight Marines killed Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, by enemy action in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps)
Pfc. Andrew G. Riedel of Northglenn, Colo., is shown in this undated photo. Riedel, 19, was one of eight Marines killed Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004, by enemy action in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps)
By Scott Peterson Christian Science Monitor
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq — Holding back tears, and at times letting them flow, U.S. Marines held a memorial service yesterday for eight comrades who were killed in a suicide bombing over the weekend.
The Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines of the 1st Expeditionary Force gathered in a rudimentary dining hall to remember fallen colleagues.
Mixing the sacred and profane, Marines told heartwarming and heartbreaking stories about young grunts and husbands, sons and fathers, men whose lives were stopped short while they were still being built.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces gear up for an expected invasion of Fallujah that they hope will stop a spreading insurgency, survivors vowed to leave their grief behind and get back to the battlefield.
"I want to get back out — they all want to go," said Staff Sgt. Jason Benedict of West Milford, N.J., whose wounded left hand is bandaged. He was in the troop carrier hit by the bomber. "They don't want their brothers going out without them.
"It was an eye-opener, a tough lesson learned," Benedict said, holding his injured hand. "The day after, I was full of rage at the Iraqi people. I got that out of there. (These Marines) know that fighting with revenge in mind will cause more problems. We've talked a lot about that."
While some of the 150 Marines sat silently, trying to keep their emotions in check, one officer said that "hate consumes, and hate will not let us focus — focus like a laser on our enemy."
Those who knew the eight Marines best in their squads and platoons remembered them individually — often as fun-loving, family-loving, God-fearing, model Marines.
The service is part of process aimed at dealing with the Marines' grief while controlling the reaction and drawing focus back to the battlefield, said U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Nash, a psychiatrist from Cardiff, Calif.
"They are supporting each other, healing each other and trying to figure out how in the world (they will) go back out there and take the same risks, knowing that this can happen," Nash said.
Nash has been counseling Marines from Bravo Company in small groups.
"One of several tools that warriors use to do the work they do, is denial — that's the No. 1 primary defense," he said. "But once that denial is blown away — literally — by something like this, it's harder to get back out."
Coping with trauma, or even recognizing it as a problem, has historically been stigmatized in militaries around the world as a sign of weakness. But U.S. military officials increasingly recognize that post-traumatic stress must be dealt with early on.
In Iraq, more than 1,100 U.S. troops have died since the war began in March 2003. The growing death toll weighs heavily on the Marines.
"The nature of the conflict over here is such that it increases their stress load enormously," Nash said.
U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting an elusive enemy and at the same time trying to win over the population. This kind of counterinsurgency is frustrating and stressful: "To be in a passive, defensive position; to not know who the enemy is; to know that the people you are shaking hands with during the day, and giving candy to their children, are going to be the same one who mortar you at night," Nash said.
Man I love that image. It says it all.... we as americans when Pushed just so far, find a small corner and start filing. Nothing will change our minds at that point. We will finish it.
US Marines of the 1st Division get first aid lessons at their base outside Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004. US forces are prepairing for a possible attack on the rebel stronghold of Fallujah. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division carry mattresses as they move into a base outside Fallujah, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004. Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said on Wednesday that whatever the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections will be, his country will remain a friend to the United States and appreciate its support. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
A U.S. Marine from Charlie Company, second tank battalion, cuts the hair of a comrade at base near city of Falluja, in western Iraq, November 3, 2004. U.S. warplanes bombed targets in Falluja overnight, destroying an arms cache and an insurgent command post, the military said on Wednesday. The Marines are preparing for an expected full-scale assault on Falluja and Ramadi, another rebel-held Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad. The offensive is part of a drive by Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government to pacify the country and enable nationwide elections to take place on schedule in January. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Michael R. Hibbard, a 19 year old fire team leader with from Louisville, Texas with 3rd Platoon, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, peers over the shoulder of his team leader during advanced urban combat tactics training at Falluja's Camp Baharia November 1, 2004. U.S. artillery shelled Falluja on Thursday after overnight air and tank attacks killed five people in Iraq's most rebellious city, braced for an all-out offensive now the U.S. presidential election is over. Picture taken November 1, 2004. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Sgt. Luis R. Agostini-USMC
US Marines of the 1st Division leave for a mission outside Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004. U.S. forces are preparing for a major offensive in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, and other Sunni militant strongholds in hopes of curbing the insurgency ahead of January's election. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division train in a former Iraqi army barrack outside Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
US Marines of the 1st Division train next to a wall painting of an Iraqi Army soldier in a former Iraqi army barrack outside Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004. American forces are preparing for a major assault on Fallujah in an effort to restore control to a swath of Sunni Muslim towns north and west of the capital ahead of crucial national elections due by Jan. 31. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
The election battle is won.
Now it's time to move onto the next battle for civilians: supporting the miltary, praying,
getting those holiday packages in the mail to the "boots on the ground"...etc....
Military Christmas Bump
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