Posted on 03/28/2003 11:04:35 PM PST by SlickWillard
March 29, 2003, 12:21AM
WITH V CORPS HEADQUARTERS NEAR THE KUWAIT BORDER -- The bodies of four American soldiers were found by Marines on Friday in a shallow grave in the battle-worn town of Nasiriyah, near the Euphrates River.
U.S. Military officials said they believe the four were executed by Iraqi paramilitary forces after being seized in an ambush on Sunday.
Military officials declined to speculate as to whether the four were among those who were shown alive by the Arab television network last weekend. The military had heard reports that the soldiers were executed after they were shown on the Arab network, but there was no confirmation.
On Friday, a Marine unit found the four bodies in a freshly dug grave near a house in the northeast corner of the town of al-Jazeera. An Army official said the four bodies were clothed in U.S. military uniforms.
Today, the military were flying in a forensic team, military investigators and a member of the V Corps Staff Judge Advocate's office to the site. Officers said that the military was tentatively treating the deaths as a war crime.
The soldiers seized in the ambush have been listed as missing in action. The 507th Maintenance Co. is attached to the 3rd Infantry Division.
Officers of V Corps said the names of the dead would be released after their families were notified.
The ambush occurred in Nasiriyah, in southeastern Iraq.
According to Army officers, soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Unit were traveling on Highway 1, a main north-south artery, in darkness in a convoy of six vehicles. The unit was en route to supply an antiaircraft battery.
The convoy made a wrong turn, mistakenly leaving Highway 1. Officials said they believed that as the Americans realized their mistake, they turned around and quickly encountered two Iraqi T-55 tanks and an advancing Iraqi military unit. The soldiers came under rocket and small-arms fire.
In the fight that followed, the first of the two cars, a Humvee, the standard Army vehicle and a tool truck, were separated from the other four. An Army captain in the Humvee -- the senior officer -- drove the vehicle carrying wounded soldiers through the gunfire. According to one account, the officer drove nearly four miles before being forced to stop because his tires had been crippled by gunshots.
The officer sought to change the tires of the Humvee, when an American Marine unit on patrol saw him and the soldiers in his vehicle, officers said. The Marines called in a helicopter, which evacuated the officer and his wounded soldiers. Some were seriously wounded, one of them shot in the jaw.
The Marines resumed their patrol in search of the Fedayeen, the paramilitary force. Within minutes, they came upon two American vehicles, damaged by bullets. Two other vehicles were burning. No Americans were in sight.
Hours later, grim photos of American soldiers were shown on the Arab network al-Jazeera. Some appeared to have been executed, with bullet wounds to the head. The uniforms of others were stained with blood.
Within 24 hours, the Army was hearing reports that some of the soldiers had been executed.
The size of the uniform might give a clue as to who wore it.
The sizing starts at "extra small, extra short". If a small uniform was found, say "small, short", it would indicate it was most likely worn by a woman.
Then that would show a lack of discipline on their part and a loss of all military bearing. I hope that was not the case.
Bless his heart...
LOL! I love the South, but I don't think we need to go there, again!
Thank you. Your support is much appreciated.
BTW, I make a mean sweet potato pie...it's my favorite!
LOL! I'll do my best...
;o)
No, not on camo, only dress uniforms. (By "dress" I mean the "suit" type, not a women's dress). Not unless something has changed recently which I very much doubt because it wouldn't be cost effective for the military and makes no sense anyway.
Agreed... it seems to be the only way of dealing with them. As Rumsfeld said, if they are intent upon dying for the regime, we will accomodate them. Baghdad should be loads of fun... sure wish we still had flamethrowers in the military inventory. Seems like just the thing for eradicating the vermin that we'll find there. Peace... the old-fashioned way.
Might make a good poster. Particularly for those that might want to Freep the UN.
I would agree that most of the extensive uses of female soldiers as regulars has generally been in exceptional situations: Siege and other desperate times, revolutions (like the estimated 8,000 women on the front lines of the French Revolution), as camp followers or replacements for husbands (for example, Jemima Warner, who took her husband's spot after he died and, in turn died in combat, during the Canadian campaign of the American Revolution) or incidents where the men were absent (Prudence Wright and friends who defended a bridge and captured a British officer, during the American Revolution).
However, there is a rather extensive history of individual women who served, disguised as men. Considering almost all the cases were discovered after the woman in question was either wounded (Deborah Samson wasn't discovered, during the American Revolution (Can you tell the American Revolution is a specific area of interest for me? 8>)), until she had been wounded twice) or, sentenced to flogging, in the case of many British female tars, the historical/folkloric record probably underestimates the number of women who served in disguise.
we can never be in agreement unless you awaken to the fundamentals of biology.
This is an area where I split the difference between conservatism and P.C. views (in many areas). I believe that there are baseline fundamentals of biology that mean women, in general, are unsuited for combat. However, the variability and randomness of biology is such that there are exceptions -- individuals, who defy the baseline. I seriously doubt that women would (or should) be anything more 10% (and likely not that high), but those few women who are capable and willing should be given the chance.
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