US COMMANDER RELIEVED OF DUTY

sky news ^ | 04/04/2003 | sky news

[MIKEinGA]

A US commander who was leading a push by marines through southern Iraq towards Baghdad has been relieved of his post.

No reason has been given for the decision to relieve Colonel Joe Dowdy, commander of the Marines First Regimental Combat Team, Public Affairs Officer Steven Schweitzer said.

"He was responsible for the regiment until three hours ago," Schweitzer said.

More follows...

Last Updated: 15:46 UK, Friday April 04, 2003

[Nix 2]

This is the First Marines, running just ahead of Third LAR. They are currently stuck in the mud and had to stop moving forward. According to *this news item, Dowdy had already been relieved and replaced with no fanfare, sent back to Kuwait. It might well have been that he cared more about his people than take stupid chances at Nasiriyah and the river crossing and did his job too well. No good deed goes unpunished. Marines break things and kill.
I've heard some definite grumbles about all units in the First not getting any mail at all from home for quite some time even after it had been promised twice and not delivered. He might have staged a bitching session that makes the rest of his record moot.
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*Baghdad - A US commander who led a fierce push by marines through southern Iraq towards Baghdad was relieved of his post on Friday for an undisclosed reason, a US military spokesperson told AFP.

Colonel Joe Dowdy, commander of the Marines First Regimental Combat Team, was removed as head of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force's Regimental Combat Team 1, said public affairs officer Steven Schweitzer.

"He was responsible for the regiment until three hours ago," Schweitzer said.

Officials at the US Central Command (Centcom) war headquarters in Qatar declined comment.

"At this time we have no information about anyone being relieved of command," Centcom spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Joshua Rushing said.

#Colonel flown back to Kuwait

But another senior officer, who declined to be named, said a replacement for Dowdy had been announced and a helicopter had arrived Friday with orders to ferry the colonel back to Kuwait.

Dowdy was in command of 5 000 men and women and had led the regiment's advance through southern and central Iraq, including a bloody passage through the Euphrates River town of Nasiriyah.

He was described as a popular commander who kept casualties down in leading his troops to some 130km from Baghdad by Friday.

[Nix 2]

PS, Dowdy was the name they gave on all the news except for on the video with Ollie North. If this was Downy, it might have something to do with that chopper crash that was under investigation.
Wondered about the Dowdy, but the article I dug up was about Dowdy. They report, I just copy.

[Happy2BMe]

Have you got a link please?

Thanks for the info!

[budman_2001]

Here's the live Freeper Thread going on at that moment the other night, that included Arnot's asking the officer what his name was. I think might be the same guy.

Bob Arnot in hella firefight on MSNBC right now.

See post #59.

[Godebert]

"I'd vote for Gore again over Bush jr. It was a no-brainer that if Junior was elected, we'd have Senior running things, and I bet he is. Surely no one thinks that Junior has enough brains to get all this rolling. Cheney and Powell are going to run the war -- to clean up the mess they made 12 years ago."---Whiskey Papa

I see Jim Robinson is still letting you hang around, eh?

[canalabamian]

The H.M. Smith commotion started during the Tarawa/Makin operation. Howlin' was really bent about the slow Army progress on Makin against a much smaller Japanese garrison. I believe the actual reilief didn't occur until Saipan, and was probably why Howlin' didn't get to play during the invasion of Okinawa (lots of USMC/Army intersevice political bitterness after Saipan). As, for Geiger and the X Corps, that didn't happen until a few days before Okinawa was secure. Simon B. Buckner was killed by Japanese artillery fragments.

[AlextheWise1]

... a tank drove off a bridge... and no one noticed for a day that it was missing...

http://www.iht.com/articles/91695.html

[dcwusmc]

I was in contact for a while with the author of that book... Somewhere I have most of them... He has some interesting seastories....

[Sam Cree]

I'd be interested in seeing your artwork, if you have it posted anywhere. I'm pretty interested in the fact that lots of freepers are artistic.

[jackbob]

Shame on anyone who makes kneejerk assumptions about why this man was releived.

I'll second that!

[MIKEinGA]

tanks ,
too slow i suppose

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

"What the troops wlll hear ...

"Colonel Dowty just had a heart attack, our new commander is ..."

That's the way it's done, folks."

Actually it used to be Colonel lipschitz was found to be a homo. We decided to get him outa here before someone fragged is ass.

[MIKEinGA]

bump

[2Jedismom]

Or family emergency.

One of those POWs that was recovered where Lynch was has been identified as Robert J. Dowdy. Maybe a family member?

[KC_Conspirator]

One of bodies just identified at the hospital where Jesse Lynch was rescued was a Master Sgt. Dowdy. If there is a relation than this could be the reason why he was relieved.

[jellybean]

In my entire Career I only saw 2 officers relieved of duty. One was for missing a movement...

I know the Marines are strict, but man!!

[eno_]

Well it sure is plausible - and important - that enemy casualties remain a mystery. The doofus Arabs will never admit so many died, and we don't need that score in the newspapers. Best to just STFU.

[jriemer]

bttt

[LibertarianInExile]

He's definitely a troll. DU city.

See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/879168/posts, where the moonie talks about how we need to quit using GPS.

Flake-o-rama.