[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Related:

8 Military Force May Be Next Option In Fallujah, Myers Says ~ + "Fallujah Standoff Can't Continue, CPA Official Says" ~ Dan Senor, Gen. Kimmitt  ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/16/04 | Sgt. Doug Sample, Gerry J. Gilmore

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

We did take losses that, in our hearts, we will always live with. We can never replace these Marines and Sailors but they will fight on with us in spirit. We are not feeling sorry for ourselves nor do we fear what tomorrow will bring. The battalion has lived up to its reputation as Magnificent Bastards.

Yesterday made everyone here stronger and wiser;

it will be a cold day in Hell before we are taken for granted again. 

 

~ LTC Paul Kennedy and Jim Booker, Fallujah, 4/8/04

 

~~

Eternal Father

 

  ~ Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.

          ~ J. E. Seim (alt verses, 1966)
 ~  ~

[Blood of Tyrants]

I am worried that the terrorists and murderers are using the "cease fire" to set up booby traps for our brave warriors.

[SAMWolf]

"Wars are not won by defensive tactics. Digging is primarily defensive. The psychological effect on the soldier is bad, because if he thinks he has to dig he must think the enemy is dangerous, which he usually is not."

General George S. Patton.

Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose.

What I wouldn't give for the political will to let our soldiers do their job.

[PhilDragoo]

Sattler said efforts are particularly focused in an area known as "the rat line," where foreign fighters were traveling through the countryside around Qaim, near where the Euphrates River passes from Syria into Iraq.

Find, fix, and finish all rats foreign and domestic.

[longjack]

US Drops a 1000 Kilo bomb on Falluja

"Spiegel-Online", a German News site that I have found to be pretty reliable, has had this article up all afternoon. The article says the bomb was dropped on a building in the Northern part of the city into which insurgents had retreated. Smoke and dust covered blocks after the explosion. "Spiegel" says the US Armed Forces released this information this afternoon.

The article text says a bomb was dropped on Najaf (Nadschaf), but I think it is a typo since it doesn't really seem to fit in with the text of the rest of the paragraph, whereas Fallujah does, and the headline says Falluja.

The artcle also says there has been heavy fighting against Sadr's militiamen around Najaf, though,. The Americans engaged militiamen in the village of al-Abbassiat while Sadr held a bellicose sermon 7 kilometers away in the mosque at Kufa.

"Spiegel" says further that an American citizen has been kidnapped near Basra by persons dressed as Iraqi policeman.

The article offers other information as well, but I thought these were the most interesting.

I have searched FR and haven't seen this info, and other German news sites aren't reporting it. "Spiegel" is generally pretty reliable with their stories, IMHO, though. The link to the article in German is here:

"Spiegel-Online"....USA werfen 1000-Kilo-Bombe auf Falludscha

longjack