US Marines in decoy mission as POW rescued in Iraq

Reuters | Tuesday, April 1, 2003 | By Adrian Croft

[JohnHuang2]

US Marines in decoy mission as POW rescued in Iraq

By Adrian Croft

NEAR NASSIRIYA, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines staged a decoy attack on targets in the city of Nassiriya, including a Baath party building, to allow special forces to rescue a prisoner of war held there, military sources said on Wednesday.

The Marine attack helped special forces rescue Private First Class Jessica Lynch, 19, from an Iraqi hospital in the southern city where she had been held since her maintenance convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces on March 23.

"U.S. Marines sent a large force led by tanks and armoured personnel carriers to hit targets in the centre of the city and to seize a key bridge over the Euphrates while the hospital raid was under way," a military source said.

"The operation was timed so that U.S. forces rolled over the highway...bridge 15 minutes before the raid."

The source told a Reuters reporter travelling with the Marines that the hospital where Lynch was being held was called the Saddam Hospital and was two km (one mile) north of the Euphrates river which runs through the city.

The Marines' decoy attack involved a number of targets, including an artillery and air attack on a Baath party headquarters, which the source said was destroyed.

They also hit the home of a local Baath party official, a telecommunications cable repeater station and a headquarters of the Fedayeen paramilitary organisation.

"These were all destroyed," the source said, adding that there were no injuries on the Marine side, which met little or no resistance from Iraqi forces.

U.S. Marines fought their way across the bridges of Nassiriya, which lies some 375 km (235 miles) southeast of the capital, last Tuesday but did not take control of the city from mainly paramilitary fighters. Since then, Iraqi forces have carried out several ambushes in the area.

Nassiriya residents told reporters on Tuesday that a small number of Fedayeen militia and loyalists to Saddam's Baath Party continued to put up sporadic resistance to U.S. forces who have pummelled targets in the city for the past week.

In a message read by an Iraqi television announcer early on Wednesday, President Saddam Hussein was quoted urging his men in Nassiriya to resist U.S.-led forces, saying their fighting spirit set an example for all Iraqis to follow.

"Fight them with the same passion and spirit, and let every one of you and the people of Nassiriya and Dhiqar remember his faith, character and sense of duty. Then the enemy will be defeated in other cities as they were outside your city," said the message the announcer said was dated April 1.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Quote of the Day by The Wizard

[Bogey78O]

Great move.

The sad thing is the Iraqis are getting broadcasts from the Us that we're losing the war so they're hesitant to help us.

[The Toad]

Iraqi dictators have had a poor day. Coalition forces rescued a POW, the big attack against Baghdad has started and Saddam didn't show up for his own speech.

Smells like the "Will of Allah" to me....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

get the media out.

[knak]

I thought I read the Nevy Seals got her out?

[knak]

I meant Navy.

[cardinal4]

To hear the NYT tell it, we are bogged down. I was off today and watched FOX allday. The flap in the media is typical Hate Bush and everything he stands for. The fact that Myers had to detour from a normal briefing to explain that there was no flap was sickening. I made a mental note of all the reporters who kept persisting in the line of anti rumsfeld questioning...

[Bogey78O]

The retaking of POWs is a priority in the PR war.

Every day they have even one POW they have an ace. Now if we can't take them all at once where do we start?

[jbstrick]

She was "there" serving her country. Reports are saying there were 9 (i think ) bodies found on site.

[mickie]

Don't all the loonies come out at the 'fullmoon'?

Get lost.....with all your comments......they're not appreciated!

[niki]

Why did we expend these resources on this person? Was it because she was a 19 yr old female?

Because they knew where she was. (Thanks to locals)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is gonna be a really interesting story as more details come out!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[blam]

"This is gonna be a really interesting story as more details come out!"

Yup. It'll be in the post-war books.

[hole_n_one]

MSNBC reporting that there were dead Americans found during the rescue at that same hospital.....no # as of yet.

[Ymani Cricket]

You know, when this is over and the war crimes tribunals start the U.N. is going to want to be involved, as is everyone else. We should absolutely NOT allow anyone to interfere with our tribunals. Anyone who didn't help us out in this has forfeited any say in this. And there are going to be a LOT of war crimes to account for by the Iraqi gov. and its military commanders. Including crimes against its own people.

Our treatment of POWs doesn't even remotely compare to to theirs.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Number is 9 according to this:

FNC reporting that 9 bodies found in the same compound as Pvt. Lynch

[ClancyJ]

Why did we expend these resources on this person?

Why wouldn't we expend these resources on this person?

Remember, this is the United States - not Iraq.

[hole_n_one]

Thanks for the link.

[antaresequity]

I cant believe you think rescueing her was a waste of resources...

You ought to think a little longer before you type