Masked Guerrillas Battle U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

Reuters ^ | 9-11-03

[PatrioticCowboy]

Masked Guerrillas Battle U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

Thu September 11, 2003 02:17 PM ET

KHALDIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Masked guerrillas attacked U.S. soldiers repairing a broken-down truck on Thursday, prompting a firefight that left buildings burning in a town in Saddam Hussein's former heartland, witnesses said.

The U.S. military could not immediately give details of the incident, which took place in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," and it was unclear if anyone was hurt.

The attackers fired two rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers working on the truck in the afternoon, after which two U.S. tanks arrived and fired at nearby buildings in Khaldiya, about 45 miles west of Baghdad in a Sunni Muslim area where anti-U.S. resistance has been strongest.

There was also heavy machine-gun fire on both sides, the witnesses said.

"This is a warning to any army which wants to come and take over our country," one local man shouted as flames blazed from the vehicles and a building behind him. "Any troops coming here, we will attack them like we attack Americans."

U.S. troops occupying Iraq are attacked 15 times a day on average and have lost nearly 70 soldiers in combat since major hostilities were declared over on May 1 after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Saddam's heartland was in the Sunni Muslim areas to the north and west of Baghdad.

After the incident in Khaldiya, a crowd of Iraqis gathered chanting: "We sacrifice our blood and soul for you Saddam."

[boxerblues]

we did from Sept 1 to Sept 7 http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/

[Dialup Llama]

>There is a reason the Marines suffered no KIA after May 1.

Why is that?

[section9]

The Marines conducted intense foot patrolling and ambushes. In addition, the Marines didn't do "smash and grab" raids against households. They were more discreet and catered to the authority of the tribal elders and the heads of individual households. The Army has recently begun adopting Marine tactics.

That's the nice guy part. The badass part is what keeps people friendly. When a Marine convoy took an RPG, their doctrine was to dismount infantry and begin an immediate counterattack that would almost invariably lead to overtime work for the 72 Virgins. The Army, otoh, would tend to speed up to try to get out of Dodge. Bad doctrine: that merely encouraged the local goons to try different ambush tactics.

Both services report that the average jihadi stages "miss and run" attacks, poorly coordinated assaults led by teams of gomers with Kalashnikovs and RPG's. These people are not the Viet Cong, folks. In point of fact, these clowns couldn't wipe the sandals of an NVA Regular.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Dialup Llama]

>That's the nice guy part. The badass part is what keeps people friendly. When a Marine convoy took an RPG, their doctrine was to dismount infantry and begin an immediate counterattack that would almost invariably lead to overtime work for the 72 Virgins. The Army, otoh, would tend to speed up to try to get out of Dodge. Bad doctrine: that merely encouraged the local goons to try different ambush tactics.

I read a briefing given by a Marine General in which he said that he explained to the local authorities that you don't shoot at troops and that if he ever got shot at he would fire back. I'm trying to imagine exactly how that got operationalized- probably nowhere near as laid back as his explanation.

The Army tactic made sense when you were trying to get somewhere fast like Baghdad. But it sounds like the Marines have the correct tactic for now.

Wish the Army would learn from the Marines and special forces and do what works. And get your HQ out of the boonies and stop giving AQ predictable convoys to shoot at.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? But .. we have only lost 1 soldier in the last 9 DAYS!! Things are changing.

[Coop]

We lost two on the same day a couple of days ago. God bless them and their families.

[CyberAnt]

Yes, I know that - but there had been a 9 day interval. This constant statement of "we're losing a soldier a day" is just not relevant.