[SoldiersGirl]

It was a live phone report with Arnot, and it was crazy. He was in the middle of a firefight for the bridge in El Kut (sp) and you could hear the hellfire, hear him yelling jesus christ, oh my god, etc, he said he saw an RD soldier get his head blown up, and then a civilian family (I think it was 8 people all togehter) got rescued from the middle of the firing, there were kids and a 3 year old baby girl wearing a french language t-shirt. The woman was crying and petrified, wouldn't let go of Arnot, he got food for them and the Colonel in charge came over to check on them, in the middle of crying the woman laughed because Arnot asked her if she wanted a choice of chicken or beef to eat. Then the firing came over to where Arnot and the family were and they had to move, you could hear the baby screaming and crying....it was insane
then the bridge was secured and the troops pulled back to await further orders.
You could also hear the translator yelling to the Iraqi's "Surrender now and live, why fight and die, you will lose, look around all your comrades are dead"
The Marines also would not fire unless fired upon first, they were being very cautious of harming civilians.
It was honestly so scary to be listening to.

[SoldiersGirl]

RD=RG

my typing just plain sucks

[Green]

Thanks for the recap. I went back in the thread and read all the posts about it. Amazing!!!

Off to work now....

[Quilla]

Good morning Situation Room!

Thanks SG, for the Arnot recap - I hate I missed the live feed but your description is an excellent portrayal of the events.

And once again, RC, I'm in your debt for the Centcom briefing recap. Superb as always.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Wow. Just read your #1216...wow. Thanks for the detailed report. What a snapshot of the war!

[prairiebreeze]

wow. Thanks for this recap SG.

Prairie