US Sentry Saves Troops By Killing Suicide Bomber

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 12-10-2003 | Jack Fairweather

[blam]

US sentry saves troops by killing suicide bomber

By Jack Fairweather
(Filed: 10/12/2003)

Sixty soldiers were hurt in Iraq attacks yesterday. One man halted a bloodbath, reports Jack Fairweather in Talaafar

Hundreds of American soldiers owe their lives to the prompt action of a 23-year-old sentry.

In the faint pre-dawn light Specialist James Ross saw a car, its headlights on, accelerate towards his guard tower at the entrance of the Talaafar military base, near Mosul.

The vehicle had already cleared the first line of defence, barrelling over a coil of barbed wire 80 yards away and was heading straight down a corridor of crash barriers.

"I knew it wasn't one of our guys - it was either me or him," said Spc Ross, who began firing his machine-gun in a last-ditch attempt to stop the car entering the compound, where 300 soldiers were just waking.

Spc Ross, from Kentucky, fired almost 100 rounds before the car, pitted with bullet-holes, came to a stop. A second later, the vehicle blew up.

"I saw a blinding white light before I was thrown back inside the guard tower," he said. "After that everything was obscured by dust."

The force of the 1,000lb bomb threw a 10-ton concrete block against a school opposite the base and flattened 40 yards of protective wall.

Parts of the ceiling in the military base caved in and windows were blown out in a mile radius from the blast side. A nine-ft crater left by the suicide bomber was only 15 yards away from Spc Ross's guard tower and the base entrance.

The attack should have been devastating. But thanks to Spc Ross's timely shooting, and the compound's recently strengthened defensive wall, only five of the 54 soldiers wounded had serious injuries.

"I've had a lot of people come up to me today to thank me for saving their lives," said Spc Ross. "But I tell them I was doing my job. It's a miracle no one was killed."

Work had already begun yesterday evening on rebuilding damaged sections of the defensive wall and the crater had been filled in preparation for another possible attack.

Lt-Col Christopher Pease, battalion commander, said: "We've taken the worst the terrorists can throw at us but we don't know what they could do next."

Commanders at the base believe they were carefully selected for the suicide attack - the first of its kind on a US base - while defences at the base were being rebuilt over the past week.

"Thank God we finished in time," said Lt-Col Pease.

The attack ended an apparent trend in recent weeks by terrorists to attack "soft targets".

A tightening of security at US army and government facilities in Iraq was thought to have left insurgents searching more widely afield in their efforts to disrupt the reconstruction process.

Ten days ago, 12 foreign contractors and diplomats were ambushed in separate roadside incidents. Last month 27 Italian military police were killed when a suicide bomber struck their poorly defended headquarters in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

But yesterday's full-frontal assault on an American base will leave commanders in little doubt that the US military presence remains the insurgents' top target.

The attack will also raise questions as to why the security situation in northern Iraq has deteriorated so dramatically in recent months. The area was once seen as a model of reconstruction compared with Baghdad and the troubled Sunni triangle.

Gen David Patreas, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, famously posted a list in the centre of the district capital, Mosul, of the things the US military had done to help the Iraqis.

In the Talaafar district alone, more than $3 million (£1.7 million) has been spent in the past eight months, on schools, clinics and police stations. But since October, attacks on coalition troops in the area have increased from a few a month to almost daily.

"We've done a whole lot of projects to help the people but we haven't eliminated the Ba'ath Party," said Lt-Col Pease. "They're the guys who are attacking us now."

As one officer said yesterday outside a shrapnel-scarred office: "We just painted the building four days ago. Now we're going to have to start all over again."

Leaders of Saddam's regime are to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity after Iraq's interim government voted last night to establish a tribunal. It will be established today when Paul Bremer, the US administrator, will temporarily cede legislative authority to the Iraqi governing council. Former leaders from among the "deck of cards" who are in US custody may be the first to face trial. - AP

[harpseal]

As I stated in a reply to archy. i am impressed with his good shooting. He wa sfaced with a moving vehicle and he stopped it. I note the driver may have been dead prior to teh detonation and the detonation could have been caused by Spc. Ross's fire. Hitting a blasting cap with a fired wound will set off a whole lot of blasting caps. Likewise an electronic triggering mechanism can have teh wiring diagram really messed upo by a few rounds passing through and shorts vcan set off caps. The otehr alternative is a lit fuse mechanism which could have been ignoted by a tracer.

As to the follow up attacks to take out teh responders. This has been SOP in the West bank and Northern Ireland for many years. Sometimes a third and fourth attack is planned. sorta liek chained booby traps.

[ameribbean expat]

if he's a speedy4 hopefully this gets him his corporal stripes. and a beer. and a night with a woman wearing something besides a GP small with an eyeslot.

[tracer]

Has a date been set for Spc. Ross's court martial, or is the lunatic fringe of the DOD busy coming off of another meth high??

[archy]

What no one seems to have mentioned is teh driver might have been dead and teh vehicle still moving as Spc ross kept firing and the additional rounds could have caused teh explosives to detonate by hitting a cap or shorting out the firing mechanism etc. He did well and I don't think any critique of his marksmanship is in order.

Just as likely: the bomber had a dead man's switch to trigger his charge, and SPC Ross got the job done that way, or the bomber had a suicide switch and realized he'd failed his mission and was in enough pain from multiple wounds that he ended his own suffering.

In any event, Ross got the job done. The only concern is that the security measures need to be upgraded so that such an event has far less of a chance of succeeding ever again. But having at least two gunners like Ross on duty seems a real good first start. And maybe add in a recoilless rifle, as well.

-archy-/-

[Travis McGee]

The two vehicle attack was used recently with terrible effect in Chechnya to blow up a Russian govt building. After car one, the dazed survivors are all walking around when in zooms a "Russian ambulance" loaded with even more explosives to really wipe them out and knock down the buildings.

[Travis McGee]

Yep, two MGs at least .30, plus some form of a definitive show-stopper such as a recoiless rifle (if they existed) ready to go would be the ticket. It's a hell of a chance to lay it all on one MG, which could be taken out by a sniper at H - ten seconds, or which could fail to feed etc.

[Travis McGee]

Exactly. And add to that the AQ "signature" of multiple coordinated attacks.

[LibWhacker]

Okay, okay . . . Secretary of Defense as soon as Rummy retires! :-)

[LibWhacker]

BTW, has any Sec'y of Defense ever been special ops? I can't think of a better time than during a war on terror, as much as I like Rummy pushing the high-tech stuff.

[harpseal]

The possibilities you mentioned aqre also very likely and I doubt we will ever know exactly what caused the detonation I was just answering those who were criticising with other possibles.

I note those who critique successful perations with comments about poor marksmanship often have not had to fire in a life and death situation at Oh Dark thiry when one is wishing to get a look at the inside of one's eyelids.

Clearly that was not you

[Travis McGee]

There's never been a specops secdef, but their influence grows by leaps and bounds.

[windchime]

Specialist James Ross bump!

[PhilDragoo]

Rules of Engagement: kill the bad guys first.

Bravo to Specialist James Ross.

[archy]

I note those who critique successful perations with comments about poor marksmanship often have not had to fire in a life and death situation at Oh Dark thiry when one is wishing to get a look at the inside of one's eyelids.

Clearly that was not you

Certainly not!

[Whenever possible, I sleep through the entire shootemup. I did my level best to sleep through the Tet '68 brouhaha, but some USAF NCO kept waking me up.]

[archy]

There's never been a specops secdef, but their influence grows by leaps and bounds.

Truman era SecDef Robert A. Lovett, a Naval aviator who flew with the Marines and the British Naval Air Service, and eventually commanded a U.S. Navy aviation squadron as a Lt Commander comes to mind. Granted, Marines and pre-WWII Naval Air ops aren't quite SpecOps, but were the cutting edge of the armed forces of their day as much as the snakeeaters and sugarcookies today are now. Then, they were the mavericks and miracle workers, now, they're a part of the establishment they once battled.

His real contribution was in arranging the massive buildup od aircraft for WWII though, building up the aviation forces of all services not only with enough aircraft but the right type. At the level of a SecDef, a background in administrative logistics probably really is more of a useful trait than a history of triggerpulling and mudfoot operations. But an understanding of those who do so, if not the specific methodology itself, remails essential.

-archy-/-

[clee1]

God must love His brave warriors - he sure made a bunch of them!

I salute you, SPC Ross. Outstanding work!

[harpseal]

Well Tet 68 found me doing paperwork checking in in Hue RVN so I got to see the Marines coming in to liberate the city up close and personal

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

[Whenever possible, I sleep through the entire shootemup. I did my level best to sleep through the Tet '68 brouhaha, but some USAF NCO kept waking me up.]

Uh, huh. Sure.

Thanks for reminding me, this thread is missing something:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As for the meaning of "hero," what do you call someone who volunteers to go through rigorous training to work long hours a day away from loved ones in a big ammo dump full of sand fleas and Fedayeen and terrorist-wannabes, and desperate victims with few basics, a run down infrastructure, enemy press, NGOs, and little pay (IEDs, RPGs, and homicide bombers)?

Military standards of excellence don't apply to most of the 'world.' Our American free press does shape world opinion and the 'world' doesn't often question what they read, so for the civilian Cronkite/Fisk/Stone 60's anti-military cult members and their civilian customer victims in need of deprogramming, the words "hero" and American "military" should appear together as often as possible today.

Imho. (^:

[archy]

. ... . As for the meaning of "hero," what do you call someone who volunteers to go through rigorous training to work long hours a day away from loved ones in a big ammo dump full of sand fleas and Fedayeen and terrorist-wannabes, and desperate victims with few basics, a run down infrastructure, enemy press, NGOs, and little pay (IEDs, RPGs, and homicide bombers)? . ... .

A champion. Look up the REAL meaning of that word in a serious dictionary.

[going hot]

Indeed, the first round could have incapacitated the perp, all except his trigger thumb for the bomb switch, and the remainder were for the car to stop. Myself, I would have not let off the trigger of the '60 until it did blow up, definately would not be counting or conserving rounds.

The one shot one kill applies to sniping, and other scenarios where time is available for that well placed shot.

When the car runs over the perimeter defenses, and is more than likely accelerating towards the wall and allah, perhaps the M2 would have stopped more efficiently. In this case, the 23 yr old spec did just fine, thank you.