Posted on 03/02/2007 9:56:46 AM PST by jmc1969
The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (1-3ID)is currently engaged in street to street fighting in central Ramadi. The much anticipated attack follows months of hands off policy as troops were routinely sniped and attacked with orders not to retaliate.
After much planning U.S. forces along with a collection of hired local tribesmen from nearby Sofia (a suburb of Ramadi) and other groups are attacking and clearing the are house by house. The tribes have been formed into paramilitary units called "Emergency Response Units" and are linked with U.S. troops.
The 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment (1-9), 2nd Infantry Division has been given the dirty job of house to house combat in Ramadi's center. Many of the houses have been booby trapped in anticipation of the attack. The U.S. Military estimates that there are around 60 insurgents remaining in the area of 15,000 people. Initial estimates put the insurgent numbers at between 100 and 200.
(Excerpt) Read more at iraqslogger.com ...
Two words Collateral Damage. The idea is to get the bad guys without killing noncombatants and destroying their city.
With pride!
I'll bump that!
Thank you. Our policy on collateral damage stinks. If it's not important enough of an objective to destroy it, it's not important enough for us to be there. Sometimes it is necessary to destroy the ville in order to save it. We aren't supposed to be using our troops as cannon fodder any more.
"Our policy on collateral damage stinks"
Short term...you could say that. Long term it's what will win this war.
"If it's not important enough of an objective to destroy it, it's not important enough for us to be there"
The objective (of Iraq and the GWOT) is not to destroy things, and kill people. If that was we could've done that with one Trident missle. The objective is to drain the swamp. I know a lot of preple don't like to hear this but "Nation Building" & "Hearts and Minds" is a large part and you could say the most important part of the GWOT which Iraq is but one battle.
"We aren't supposed to be using our troops as cannon fodder any more."
Cannon fodder? When you look at the casualty rate in this war the term cannon fodder is...well silly
America's Wars: U.S. Casualties and Veterans
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html
It's tough arguing with the "nuke em all" crowd....
Give em hell MANCHU ROCKS
Not to pick a fight, but I would not want to tell some MANCHUs that they were not going to be allowed to kick ass. They would be highly pissed.
I see what you're saying, but it seems like about the worst duty a warrior could face would be kicking doors and creeping through deserted houses all day, knowing that 95% of them were going to be empty but at some point in the day you're going to find booby traps or hidden rags waiting to ambush you. Talk about mentally exhausting... That's why I have such a problem with door-to-door. There's just no good way to do it.
I believe we did something along the lines of what you'd like to do in WW2 Italy- blew some fortress or castle to bits. It was a mistake for which we paid dearly... essentially we gave that bad guys the best hiding places and ambush points they could ask for.
You got that right.
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