Posted on 12/21/2004 5:31:14 AM PST by ChefKeith
Six Iraqi civilians.
"My son just returned home from there."
Glad he's home for the Holidays. Bless him.
If they would have replaced those soldier who went home with others and sent additional ones, maybe this tragedy would not have happened.
Merry Christmas.
"The equipment is wearing out....need more, need some improvements."
My aunt, through the church, has been busy sending food to the soldiers. So, I don't think they have a shortage on good and healthy American food. Mostly nonperishable food like crackers, candy bars, and canned meals like raviolis and soups. So, at least we know we're keeping our soldiers well-fed. More, though, should be done on equipment. I wonder if there is something we can do with equipment?
Don't know where you've been or where you are going. But there is a rotation in progress. The troops are being replaced plus.
Thanks for the update Do not dub me shapka broham.
-G.J.P.(Jr.)
Thanks for the link.
I heard a little while ago that the 276th is headquartered in Richmond with 3 companies in outlying communities, Powhatan, Cedar Bluff and West Point.
14 soldiers killed, 20 people in all.
It will be 24 hours before the DOD confirms the casualties.
Info came from WRVA news.
Damn. May God be with the families and survivors.
"But there is a rotation in progress."
OK. So, those lucky one that came home have been replaced by others. I thought they were not being replaced. I'm of the belief that the more of us In Iraq, the easier to put an end to the insurgency.
I, too, if I had a son in Iraq would be happy to see him home for Christmas and New Year, just like Graybeard's son.
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.
19 US soldiers killed.
Press Conference
OMG....this reminds me of the Chinook(Mike's Co) attack on Nov 2003... GI's heading to Baghdad, then home for R&R....22 dead....these poor families.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
A mess tent crowded with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers at lunchtime. A CNN photographer who recently spent time at Camp Marez near Mosul says the G.I.'s there felt vulnerable and one even said it was only a matter of time before the attack took place.
Well, as you know if you've been watching CNN, the time was today. And more than 20 U.S. and Iraqi troops and contractors are dead.
Joining me on the phone from Camp Marez is U.S. Army Colonel Paul Hastings.
Colonel, not a good time to talk, but, sir, I appreciate your time. Can you describe the scene for us now and how you've been responding to this?
COL. PAUL HASTINGS, U.S. ARMY: Well, as you know, it was a pretty difficult day, a terrible day here in Mosul in Camp Marez. And we lost 24 soldiers -- or actually, 24 people were killed. That included soldiers and contractors and Iraqi security force personnel.
And, you know, I think it's certainly a difficult time, but we're responding well. And we've taken all the -- all the wounded. And they're being taken care of. And we're doing the best I can.
PHILLIPS: Sir, I was reading in one of the newsletters that you put together, and this was a few months ago, you said that -- this was referring to another attack just days ago when a car bomb detonated outside the Mosul airfield. "Our quick response was noticed at secretary of Army level in the Pentagon."
Has this become standard operating procedure, this thought process of expecting the unexpectable, and knowing how to respond? And what is the mindset and how do you respond?
HASTINGS: I think in that newsletter, in the response, what we were talking about was trying to get the most accurate and credible information back to the American people through public affairs channels and through our technology and satellite network systems.
And our response there was the same as we did today, where we got General Ham out and was able to explain to the people in America what exactly happened and how we're responding to that.
PHILLIPS: Sir, a number of soldiers told one of our photographers there that they felt vulnerable. Do you feel vulnerable where you are? And how are soldiers dealing with the mixed feelings that they have about being there right now?
HASTINGS: I think when soldiers are talking about vulnerabilities, it's -- they're probably talking about the dining facilities, where it's not in a hard span. There's -- in the dining facility here that was hit, it was a -- a large tent area.
And so there is a level of vulnerability when you go in there and you don't feel like there's a hard -- hard roof over your head. And when there's mortar attacks and explosions that happen, there is a level of vulnerability.
And interestingly enough, a new dining facility is under construction now at Camp Marez. And it just hasn't been completed yet. And so the vulnerability there is the unexpected relating to indirect fire.
Vulnerability to attacks, when you're on a forward operating base, you have good protection. It's -- we have security forces on towers and gates. And so the vulnerability is not -- you don't really consider ourselves too vulnerable there.
Certainly, when you're moving between operating bases and when you're going on operations, there's a level of vulnerability. But all our vehicles are up armored, and we -- we take all appropriate actions to try to strengthen our positions wherever we are.
PHILLIPS: Sir, that's interesting that you bring up the issue of armored vehicles. Let me ask you this question. If you had the chance to go before Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, if you were able to be in an open former -- forum, rather, with your fellow soldiers, what would you tell the secretary what you need right now in Mosul, where you are? What is the biggest need for you and the men and women that are there?
HASTINGS: Well, you know, I think we've got what we need here. I mean, we constantly work hard to improve our positions, whether it's armoring our vehicles or hardening where we live in our -- whether it's in trailers or hard stands, in the dining facilities. And you can't do everything at once. And there's always priorities and tradeoffs.
And so we're -- I mean, everybody's on the same sheet of music. It just doesn't happen overnight. And we're working each and every day to, you know, get our position to be a little bit stronger.
In the military, we always say -- we always talk about, you know, we want to always, every day improve our fighting position, and that's what we do here. It's just not going to happen overnight.
PHILLIPS: Colonel, I've got to ask you one final question. Just days before Christmas, how do you rebound? How do you prepare for the holidays?
HASTINGS: Well, I'd say that -- you know, it's never easy to lose soldiers. It never is. And certainly, during this Christmas period time of peace and joy, it's that much more tragic.
But that's what soldiering is about. And that's what we signed up for. We knew the risks. We know the risks. And the best way that we honor our fallen is to pick up the mission and to continue it and to do it the best that we possibly can each and every day.
And the soldiers demonstrated that here today, in the dining facility. And they helped the fellow wounded, no matter if they were Iraqi or not, and -- or race, religion or color. We take care of each other. And we did that today, and we'll do that tomorrow. And we'll be able to -- we'll rebound. I have no -- no doubt about that.
PHILLIPS: Sir, that mindset is incredible. It inspires a number of us. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, U.S. Army, right from Mosul there. Sir, thank you for your time today.
HASTINGS: No problem. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: The Mosul attack would seem to be a part of a surge in pre-election violence that U.S. and Iraqi officials long said they expected. An Islamist group calling itself Jaish (ph) Ansar al-Sunnah is claiming responsibility.
Our coverage continues now with CNN's Karl Penhaul, live from Baghdad -- Karl.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Earlier on in the evening, we heard from Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. forces up in the region in and around Mosul. He described this as a single explosion. It was midday, local time.
This was the chow hall, the dining facility, several hundred soldiers packed in there. And we've seen now the dramatic photographs taken by a photographer from the "Richmond Times-Dispatch." He was one of the group of embedded reporters up there. He was up there with a print reporter from that same publication.
And what they describe, these horrendous scenes, as this impact from the mortar or rocket came into the chow hall, soldiers were sent reeling, were sent flying across the dining room. And at one stage, these reporters say that their buddies even picked up the dead and wounded and loaded them on to dining tables, using those as impromptu stretchers to get them out and get them some kind of medical attention.
We see in also that photo a big yawning hole in the -- in the canvas roof of the dining facility, and that was engulfed in a fireball, according to the photographer who took that picture.
We've heard there from U.S. military commanders on the scene there, that the death toll, they're putting that now at 24 people killed, in excess of 60 people wounded.
We've still not got a specific breakdown of how many of the dead are U.S. soldiers, how many may be U.S. and Iraqi civilian contractors and how many may be members of the Iraqi security forces.
We do know, though, Camp Marez, they all shared this facility and all had different functions at that base. What we know for sure is that that dining facility was packed at that time.
As I say, we don't yet know whether this was a rocket or mortar attack. But obviously, the size and the caliber of the artillery that was used in this attack would also determine how close the insurgents were to that base at the time of the attack.
If it were 105-millimeter artillery shell, for example, those things can fly in excess of 15 miles. If it was a smaller caliber mortar, the insurgents could have been as close as four to six miles.
What we've also seen in the past, though, is insurgents staging these random attacks on U.S. military bases around the country, and very hastily packing up their mortar equipment and going away again. So this could have been just a lucky strike at a very busy time in that dining hall -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Karl, there had been some concern expressed by some of the soldiers about this particular facility and whether it was hardened enough, in other words, provided enough defense against precisely what we just saw. What are you hearing about that? PENHAUL: That is correct. One of our CNN photographers, Gabe Ramirez, was actually up in Camp Marez about three weeks ago now. That was the height of the U.S. offensive there against insurgent groups who were operating in and around Mosul, in particular, attacking police bases there.
Gabe Ramirez did have occasion to eat in this dining hall that was hit today. And he says some of the soldiers there said to him that they didn't feel that this facility was sufficiently protected and, in their words, that it was an accident waiting to happen.
As we've seen from those photos and as Gabe Ramirez has described to us, this dining facility was in part a canvas tent. There was some -- a thin metal structure around there that also formed part of the dining facility, but nothing that could withstand the blast from a mortar or from a rocket. And that's the same on most of the U.S. bases around Iraq -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Kyra.
Thanks for the link Ligeia.
Thanks for the news updates TexKat.
Bump
I think the bastards we should be burning figuratively and literally are the "insurgents" (AKA "terrorists") in Iraq who oppose liberation. Forget the PC nonsense and go after them-tell the UN to take a hike. Ours is a military family, and if there is one thing we hate, it is seeing diplomats and hand wringing liberals keeping our military from doing their job-namely fighting to win now so they can come home.
Like everyone else we are praying and waiting for word from our guys at Marez.
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