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In Ramadi, the Battle is Ever Changing
LA Times ^ | 8/6/2006 | juliet barnes

Posted on 08/06/2006 10:06:42 AM PDT by World_Events

Insurgents in Ramadi, the capital of restive Al Anbar province, are using increasingly sophisticated tactics against U.S. and Iraqi forces. As in the rest of Iraq, the improvised explosive device, which the military calls the IED, is the most common and deadliest weapon. But after three years of fighting, insurgents here are combining roadside bombs with small-arms fire or rocket-propelled grenades to lethal effect.

"Darwin works every day for the insurgency," said a Marine intelligence officer, whose work with classified information prohibits him from speaking publicly. "The guys who are left know their business. The dumb ones are weeded out very quickly."

Here, fighters are increasingly operating in small units, with two men serving as spotters and others firing weapons or setting off bombs.

Marine officers say some of the insurgent teams coordinate their attacks with other groups of fighters, sometimes signaling to each other with pigeons.

When insurgents or their supporters spot an American patrol moving through the streets or a squad holed up in a house watching over a street, they release pigeons from rooftop coops. A flock of birds rising in the sky is a sign that Americans have been spotted.

In Ramadi, such coordinated attacks occur many times a day.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; oif; ramadi
Looks like the insurgents have been watching too much "Training Day"
1 posted on 08/06/2006 10:06:44 AM PDT by World_Events
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To: World_Events

"said a Marine intelligence officer, whose work with classified information prohibits him from speaking publicly"

That's working out well then...


2 posted on 08/06/2006 10:18:53 AM PDT by Canard
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To: World_Events

Well, time to release bird flu and wipe out the pigeons.


3 posted on 08/06/2006 10:30:16 AM PDT by GSlob
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To: World_Events

That's what happens when you take a defensive position against a determined enemy; they develope more ways to attack you with more sophisticated tactics. If we take the war to them all day, every day, they remain off balance. Always better to be the hunter.


4 posted on 08/06/2006 10:53:11 AM PDT by giobruno
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To: World_Events
Two Words to LIVE BY

Carpet Bomb!

Nuff Said!

5 posted on 08/06/2006 11:06:30 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist (I'd rather be carrying a shotgun with Dick, than riding shotgun with a Kennedyl! *-0(:~{>)
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To: giobruno

That's what I think too. The La Times is just another lefty paper encouraging defeatism, but that defeatism probably hits our forces in their weakest spot: the political leadership.


6 posted on 08/06/2006 11:24:52 AM PDT by dr_who_2
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