Operation Phantom Fury---Day III---Live thread

CNNFOXMSNBC | Nov 11,2004 | All of us

[Dog]

Todays thread post all comments here...tunnels are being found in the southern part of Fallujah....per CNN's embedded reporter on the scene.

[DollyCali]

Can you imagine us covering Normandy this way?

off to cycle a bit

[No Blue States]

The present media would not have been tolerated in the 1940s.

Bye. sounds fun, I have 2 flat tires on mine. ;o

[TexKat]

Kevin Sites and the Blogging Controversy

[AFPhys]

If you want to get the tactical situation, I suggest:

http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/

They seem to have good insight. I don't know where or how they get it, but it seems to be borne out in practice.

My synopsis:
Our guys appear to have surrounded the city first, then took the bridges and hospital in the west on the river. British troops and others are in a blocking position there. Then we controlled the road east-->west possibly by air while our guys swept down from North-->South, in some type of pattern that seems to have created pockets of isolated terrorists wherever they decided to camp out. Those who ran have been herded Southward and Westward , being pinned against that central road and the River. That killing box is getting smaller and smaller as we advance now, and the terrorists are having a choice of trying to run and get killed on the road by Americans or by the British on the River, or they can themselves become an isolated pocket to be dealt with later.

Our technology has stood us in good stead, as the killing ratio appears to be on the order of 100:1 in our favor despite the great advantage of the terrorists having been dug in and setting bombs and booby traps galore. Mosques that the terrorists fire from have been targeted by our artillery and aircraft. Those that have become hideout/sanctuary are being stormed by the Iraqi forces.

Sounds like not much has been done in the Southwest quarter of the city, but it was not considered a hot spot, I guess... more attention was paid to the Southeast "industrial" part due to potentials but again wasn't the major area of action.

[AFPhys]

oops...

more precisely: "...Then we controlled the CENTRAL road east-->west possibly by air ..."
.

[OXENinFLA]

Whoa, Condi doesn't look like she's in a good mood.

---

Wed Nov 10, 3:24 PM ET
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) (L), National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz listen as President George W. Bush (news - web sites) speaks with NATO (news - web sites) Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in the Oval Office in Washington, November 10, 2004. REUTERS/Jason Reed
Wed Nov 10, 3:24 PM ET
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), left, reads a note from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), center, as President Bush (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites) Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, not shown, meet in the Oval Office, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Wed Nov 10, 3:14 PM ET
President Bush (news - web sites), right, meets with NATO (news - web sites) Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, right, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) PRESIDENT BUSH TO MAKE ANNOUNCMENT @ 3:40!!

[Getsmart64]

Read to me like CNN wants to keep it's lid on the news and have it reported the way it wants too....the good thing about blogs...you can tell the person who is stating the info that they are full of cow dung...as compared to yelling at your TV while watching CNN....

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

I wonder if Mike Blomberg would tell him to put it out if he was in NYC?

[No Blue States]

Letters to the Editor

G.I.: Iraqis Are Worse than Us
Wednesday, November 10, 2004

To the editor:

After typing up keyword "Fallujah" on Google.com I happened upon the article: "Americans Slaughtering Civilians in Fallujah," by Dahr Jamail. I found your article rather disturbing and even more inaccurate.

I’m a 1st Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps on medical leave, and I led a combat company formerly stationed on the outskirts of Fallujah. I have never killed a woman or child, and I have never seen one of my compatriots in arms kill any woman or child. Since the war in Iraq started, I have served two tours and have seen the horrors of war and the atrocities.

Of those war atrocities the greater majority were by Iraqis against Iraqis. More civilians have died since the end of the war by Iraqi insurgents than by any American military effort. I have seen many women and children being stretchered away by my men, crying and bloodied to American military hospitals so that they could receive vital medical care after multitudes of different Iraqi mortar attacks and car bombings. You should report that.

What I can’t understand is how you can slant your view so badly to support the many insurgent groups inside Fallujah who refuse to participate in a free and open election and would rather wage a brutal guerilla war, attack and kill both Americans and Iraqis alike, kidnap foreign aide workers (including women), parade them on TV and then coolly decapitate them… etc.

One thing you must not forget, and I appeal to your logic in this so that you can understand things from a realistic standpoint, the sooner Iraqi insurgents stop hindering the Iraqi national government from carrying out the January election, and stop terrorist action in Iraq, the sooner we -- the US military -- will leave.

About Dahr Jamail: he sounds like the idealistic youth I used to be in my college days or even the months prior to this war which seem so long ago. I believe him to have a very Picasso like grip on reality and a serious political slant, screaming anti-American sentiment within his articles. Dahr Jamail is a fraud because I was there and I saw the truth. God is Great.

-- 1st Lieutenant Christianson, US Marine Corps

(editor responds with a bunch of BS, so I didnt post it)
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_letters&itemid=1214

[Uncle Jaque]

Re:

"We really need to announce TAKE NO PRISONERS!"

After what these savages have been doing to their prisoners / hostages lately, I'd think the "black flag" could be raised on both sides; they've had it up for some time now.

In case anyone is not aware of the ancient military tradition, the "black flag" indicated that no "quarter" would be given, and none was expected in return.

The usual outcome of such engagements were usually referred to as a "massacre" of the losing forces, regardless of which side had put up the grim standard.

As a matter of fact, I think the Muslims started the tradition, didn't they?

Of course, these days such barbarism is expected of Jihaddists, while our Troops are held to a much higher standard.

And that is probably how it should be; but these scoundrels who use a white flag only to lure our Troops into the open to attack them need to be dealt with accordingly, IMHO.

[momf]

Terrorist action in Mosul

IMHO, I think if the photographers and Journalists (term used because of lack of any other that are nice) would not interview/photograph these brave terrorists in the name of their right to do it, the terrorists wouldn't be quite as effective, at least on the public opinion.

[No Blue States]

If it hasnt been mentioned, Al Jizzera has played a tape of the 20 Iraqi Guard hostages.

[wazoo1031]

WHaaa?

[No Blue States]

I agree. No quarter this time.

And if surrendering Iraqis drop their arms they must be shot. Keep those arms UP.

[cgk]

I'll assume it's "20 Iraqi Guard hostages Terrorists Dressing as Iraqi Guards" to make us look back until someone confirms otherwise. ;)

[cgk]

look back= look BAD

[TexKat]

A video grab taken from a video tape released shows Iraqi National Guard troops seized by rebels in Falluja, November,10, 2004. U.S. and Iraqi troops battled through much of Falluja on Wednesday and said they had scattered rebel forces, although fighting was still intense. REUTERS/via Reuters TV

[No Blue States]

Good point, things are not always as they seem especially in the fog of war.

I wonder if the Iraqi Guard can verify missing 20 of their own, and then even if they are where they really "captured".

Time will tell, or not.

[cgk]

Please consider my voice one of the chorus of your FRiends, not the minority:

You are doing more there in Iraq than those at home. I consider you to be a part of those of us who are trying to help lift up the morale of those fighting - and you are doing it THERE in the warzone. Thank you.

[Getsmart64]

"We are an American media organization, and our obligation is thus to focus on abuses of power and authority that our country is responsible for."

You're absolutely right when you said they gave a BS response to the letter....just makes me wish I knew how to hack an internet site...lol