'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush

McClatchy ^ | 9/8/2009 | Jonathan S. Landay

[Saije]

We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.

"We will do to you what we did to the Russians," the insurgent's leader boasted over the radio, referring to the failure of Soviet troops to capture Ganjgal during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation.

Dashing from boulder to boulder, diving into trenches and ducking behind stone walls as the insurgents maneuvered to outflank us, we waited more than an hour for U.S. helicopters to arrive, despite earlier assurances that air cover would be five minutes away.

U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.

"We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today," Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter's repeated demands for helicopters.

[gaijin]

This is cuz of that German thing the other day with the destruction of those 2 fuel trucks —Germans called in the airstrike, and it killed 90 people.

Hey, in war...? PEOPLE DIE...!!

[ansel12]

The “damn” army? Don’t know what that means but U. S. Army was there too.

[stylin19a]

let 'em fight and give them support, or pull 'em all out now.

Freema... pissed off ping...

Several U.S. officers said they suspected that the insurgents had been tipped off by sympathizers in the local Afghan security forces or by the village elders, who announced over the weekend that they were accepting the authority of the local government.

"Whatever we do always leaks," said Marine Lt. Ademola Fabayo, 28, a New Yorker who was born in Nigeria and is the operations officer for the trainers from the 3rd Marine Division. "You can't trust even some of their soldiers or officers."

[Bulldawg Fan]

Obama would slaughter our young military men and the media is dead silent, its a good war now. In fact, Jay Bookman writing in the Atlanta paper today talks about giving it more time, hanging in there. Jay Bookman is a hard core liberal, who hated the war when Bush was President. Now he can excuse this because The Chosen One is President.

Time to get out NOW.

[gaijin]

Remember the Black Hawk Down thing —the father of one of those dead Rangers would not shake Clinton’s hand, and that was because they couldn’t air evac the boy out while he was bleeding to death.

Bubba wouldn’t authorize tanks or AC-130’s to the Mog “cuz it looked bad”.

[Roklok]

You got army controlling the artillary and air, that seem to be more worried about making rank than supporting the grunts. We had these same types in Vietnam. We used to call them purfumed princes.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I like the way you think. God Bless Texas! I wish you were the Secretary of Defense.

It irritates me that the author of this article uses the term “Afghan insurgents.” Call them the enemy, call them the Taliban, call them Muslim terrorists, but don’t sugarcoat these scumbags.

As for civilian casualities, if our current rules of engagement were the rules of engagement during World War II, we would all be speaking German now....or Japanese. If civilians die in Afghanistan, it’s because the cowardly Muslim enemy is hiding behind the skirts of women and children.

The hands of our brave military should be untied!

[Bulldawg Fan]

“Damn Army”

You are out of line. We dont damn our military here. Our soldiers, Marines, and the rest answer to King Hussien and if the Army did withold fire, it was on direct orders from Washington. Damn Barrack Obama, not our Army.

[bd476]

From the excerpt above:

"...U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.

"We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today," Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter's repeated demands for helicopters... "

God Bless these brave Marines and please comfort their families.

God please help our country.

[BradyLS]

Prayers for the fallen. Hope this administration and the higher reaches haven’t forgotten we’re still in a shooting war.

[Alamo-Girl]

I join in prayer for these, our heroes, and their loved ones!

[ansel12]

You got army controlling the artillary and air, that seem to be more worried about making rank than supporting the grunts.

That is a scum bag thing to say, and stupid to boot, sounds like troll scum to me.

[Bulldawg Fan]

Some here, including you are quick to turn on the Army when you have no information whatsoever that the Army was even involved in the artillery support or decision making. I believe the Marine Corps has its own artillery. Its your retired MARINE General Jim Jones who betrayed every military person by taking a high position in Obama’s administration. Throw that silver his way, he is earning it.

[dennisw]

a must read.....

[little jeremiah]

0bama is an enemy of the United States.

He is directly killing these fighting men.

[SoCalPol]

Having lived through the Vietnam war yrs, this is typical of trying to wear down the general public to the war.

Those who want America to pull out are those in hopes of another IslamOfascists attack on the streets of America.

Three times the amount of Americans who have been killed in the war are killed by drunk drivers a year in the U.S.

[nathanbedford]

The significance of the story might go well beyond the tragic death of four Marines who were betrayed into an ambush by their Afghan colleagues and whose deaths might have been averted if rules of engagement had been less restrictive. The broader significance might be that we are witnessing the initial stampings out from a new template being put in place by the mainstream media which will be followed by a series of stories designed to illustrate the futility of the war in Afghanistan.

Please note that the succeeding article about IED losses in Afghanistan is in much the same vein.

It does not much matter whether these stories are essentially true or not what really matters is the perception created by what is produced from this template. We saw the media relentlessly undermine support for the Iraq war and we have every reason to believe they might be trying to repeat in Afghanistan.

Whether one supports or opposes Barak Obama's presumed intensification of the war in Afghanistan, there can be no doubt that the media will play a role.

Perception is policy

[Saije]

If you mean that the current ROE in Afghanistan are designed so that we can’t win and will lose Marines and soldiers needlessly so eventually we back here at home will just give up, then I agree with you.

[HospiceNurse]

McClatchy screwed up,we aren’t allowed to mention enemy casualties due to an Obama administration guideline.

[celtic gal]

This kind of smacks of the way the Viet Nam war was conducted..from DC..and the ROE in place then” don’t shoot at the enemy until they shoot at you first...”