***Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - Day 21 - LIVE THREAD***

Multiple ^ | April 9, 2003 | Various

[spectr17]

Where'd they go? I thought our guys had blocked the roads.

That's what I'm wondering. Aaron Brown, CNN, said the Iraqi troops had abandoned their positions and appeared to have left Baghdad??????

He also mentioned attacks on Fedayeen from civilians. Maybe it was getting to the point that it wasn't real smart to keep fighting and they boogied.

[Prince Charles]

Right. Now the picture in question was taken from the hotel... the sniper's nest on the roof is on a building to the north of the Jumhiriya bridge, on the west bank of the river.

[nicollo]

Yeah, I know. It's hard to hear when reading. My fault. Thanks.

[TheConservator]

Shep Smith, media cheerleader.

[Dolphy]

I haven't followed this particular story closely but it wouldn't require shading of the truth by the military. It is a question of judgement under fire, what they perceived. The truth may be something different, but that doesn't mean they didn't react with the best possible intent, self defense, under the circumstances.

[Tree of Liberty]

Fox - Rick's back on. Walking through neighborhoods in the East of the city with about 200 Marines. sniper fire this morning. 9 medivaced yesterday in another company from snipers. Now walking past homes under construction. 3 AAA emplacements to one side. Searching homes for snipers. Fuel tanker in front of them. Explosions in the distance. His group has not been shot at yet. Battalion is very fanned out. Could hear artillery fire from behind them and hit in front of them. Some armor behind them, but alot of infantry walking up front.

[Prince Charles]

LOL, that about sums it up. Regards.

[hobson]

But the fact that he made that statement was proving my point, that they consider it a bigger story than the rest of the war.

It was given 30 seconds at the END of his program. I do not believe that constitutes a "bigger story". Did you see it?

[spectr17]

CNN, Wesley Clark reports 5,000 Syrians have joined the Iraq side according to captured Syrian at airport.

[Fledermaus]

What many in the press don't understand (journalism is almost as bad as education majors in college for the lowest GPA's) is that when a tank is looking at something, they have opticals tied to sattelites and UAV's.

They are also equipped with unbelievable technology that can practically see through walls. Any sniper shot can be seen and they target that shot and fire.

The military warned these Baghdad reporters. Those reporters should have been in the basement or something and not on balconies and rooftops. It's a war zone.

[Tree of Liberty]

Good! Let 'em all go to Iraq so we can deal with them all at once. It'll save us time and resources from having to go country-by-country to kill the enemy.

[Sacajaweau]

bump for morning

[spectr17]

Syrians can have some too if they want to tug on Superman's cape.

[MEG33]

We're set and ready for them.Bring it on..Syria.

[Mo1]

A hotel?

[GOPyouth]

This discussion started with Shep Smith's comments regarding emails he's getting saying that the reporters deserved to be killed for being in Baghdad.

Now, I'll take your statement and try analyze it. Some people in that building said they didn't see any sniper. That probably is very true. If this guy pulled out a gun, fired, then quickly moved, they may have never seen the man. This is not a big surprise that they didn't see the gunman.
Now, as for the military, they were under fire. Somebody in that tank or nearby spotted a sniper. This was either from the eye or from a sensor that picked up that flash/heat/or infra-red on that scope. They had every right to fire back. This is without a doubt.

But, this is not the reason Shep made the statement.