[Paperdoll]

I just pray no Marines are hit by "friendly fire", or any other fire. May God help them all.

[harpu]

BUMP for all to read....

[stylin19a]

"If I could have an Iraqi security force guy who's honest, reliable and dependable, it's worth five Marines," he added.

um...Colonel Ron Johnson, are you looking to be relieved of command ?

[bayourod]

So, is this who's killing off the Shiite Holy men?

[MindBender26]

Where does anyone think all those German speaking, well-trained soldiers that made up 7th SFG came from in the late 40s and early 50s.

Likewise, entire intact battalions of Whermacht and Waffen SS joined the French Foreign Legion

[Pilsner]

If you can find a (safe, efficient) way to use a former enemy to do your fighting I see no reason not to. The French Foreign Legion relied heavily on former Wehrmacht and SS troops after WWII.

When the US occupied Japan in 1945 the waters around Japan were filled with mines, ours, theirs, Russian, and drifting mines from who knows where. The US Navy was not anxious to put our ships and men in danger to help out Japan, so Japanese Imperial Navy warships that could sweep mines were transferred to the Japanese Depatment of Commerce (or its equivilant), complete with crews, who went on doing their old jobs with new civilain titles instead of military ranks.

Great for Japan. They got their sea lanes cleared of mines. Great for the US Navy, they didn't have to waste ships and men on a task as mundane and dangerous as minesweeping.

Then the Korean war broke out. Gen. MacArthur sailed to Inchon in a US Navy ship, as did the soldiers and Marines who landed at Inchon. But the US Navy suddenly found that it could not sweep mines when it needed too. So the task force that landed at Inchon was led by former Imperial Navy ships officered by former Imperial Navy officers, clearing the mines out of the way.

[Flavius]

How do you say get some in arabic..

[Dan Middleton]

"Of Johnson's 5,000-strong force in the region, which was once the heart of Saddam's arms industry and base of the Medina armored division of the elite Republican Guard, more than 2,000 are Marines, 850 British soldiers and the rest Iraqi."

Taking off down a rabbit trail for a second here - if I hear the Republican Guard referred to as "elite" one more time, I'm going to puke.