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Fighting around Fallujah a Marine sniper's 'dream'
LA Times via Omaha World-Herald ^
| April 17th, 2004
| Unknown @ LA TIMES
Posted on 04/17/2004 8:15:10 AM PDT by Hat-Trick
FALLUJAH, Iraq - Taking a short breather Friday, the 21-year-old Marine corporal explained what it was like to practice his lethal skill in the battle for this city.
"It's a sniper's dream," he said. "You can go anywhere, and there are so many ways to fire at the enemy without him knowing where you are."
The role of snipers has become a significant tactic for Marines in this "Sunni Triangle" city. Marine experts say Fallujah is among the most "target-rich" battlefields for snipers since the World War II battle for Stalingrad, during which German and Russian snipers dueled for months.
In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers.
A shaky truce exists between the Marines who surround the city and the fighters within the circle.
But the cease-fire allows the Marines to carry out defensive operations within the city, which, among other things, they define as allowing fire on insurgents who display weapons, break the curfew or move their forces toward U.S. troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: banglist; fallujah; iraq; longrangegreetings; marines; marinesnipers; muslims; scout; scoutsniper; sniper; war
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democ
rats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!
~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~
221
posted on
04/18/2004 7:25:51 AM PDT
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
To: blackie
Using Snipers is the best approach our Military has taken in this war. When a lone terrorist is using hostages or human shields for protection, they get real nervous because a Sniper can take them out in the middle of a crowd with very little loss of innocent life.
One second, here, shaking AK-47/RPG over head to incite hate, next second, maggot bait.
Surgical Jihadi-tumor removal, at co-pay rates!
222
posted on
04/18/2004 7:41:46 AM PDT
by
PSYCHO-FREEP
(Careful! Your TAGS are the mirror of your SOUL!)
To: PSYCHO-FREEP
I love it ~ Zap!
223
posted on
04/18/2004 7:57:14 AM PDT
by
blackie
(Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
To: Hun in the sun
>>>...
The ovens didn`t burn in Germany... Dachau (sp) Is in Germany. I visited there when I was in the Army stationed in Germany.
There are ovens there. Also an execution range where German Officers practiced with thier pistols. A lot of grey-black ash like stuff that used to be people.
To: Smokin' Joe
I joined the Marines because I wanted to go to Vietnam. The war ended and I didn't get to experience that. I guess I did get to experience some of what they went through when they returned home though. Even got in a bar fight with some long haired, dope smoking, Hanoi Jane hippy who was cracking on my USMC high and tight. Told him "your momma liked it."
I guess he took offense to that because he charged me and was then introduced to a couple nice rights to the nose.
(Good beer story) :-)
To: supercat
I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work."........ What exactly does that mean? I would suspect the phrase "use the knife" means something much more specific than "make any use whatsoever of any implements that could be characterized as knives". Also, the language "will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work". Who would those men be? Well, you have to remember that the original Hippocratic Oath was a pagan oath whose text has survived in writing to the present time and dealt with medicine as practiced in ancient Greece.
By "use of the knife" the original ancient Greek oath meant the practice of surgery.
Today, surgery is an integral part of medicine and relatively safe. In the ancient Greek days, medicine was separate from surgey. In other words, the Hippocratic Oath was meant for the "pill pushers" as oposed to the surgeons who, as they like to say, "heal with cold steel".
The Hippococratic Oath required the physician to swear that he would never perform surgery and required them to leave potential surgical problems to "such men as are engaged in this work".
The classic Hippocratic Oath was so specific to it's time and place that any M.D. who is now a surgeon, an abortionist, practices European style euthanesia or does not provide free medical education to his med school professor's children would be in violoation of it. Nowhere does the original Hippocratic Oath prohibit the ancient Greek physician from strapping on his armor and fighting in the hoplite ranks of his fellow Greek citizens if the Persians or some other enemy threatened the freedom and safety of their homeland.
The latest "modern" version of the Hippocratic Oath bears little resemblance to the classic oath and is a collection of common sense platitudes. The "modern" oath again makes no mention of military service. It also has dropped the prohibitions of the original oath in regards to abortion, euthanasia and even engaging in sexual relations with your patients.
To: Hun in the sun
We`ve learned (I hope)....
Really? Seems to me you learned the wrong lesson. In my opinion, it seems the lessons too many Germans learned was "Never fight. The communists were right. And don't have kids."
The lessons you should have learned were: "Don't blindly follow rabid, racist, democracy-squelching maniacs. Socialism (both national and international) is a menace. And if you're going to fight, make sure the cause is noble and just."
I don't think you'll lose your account for your comments, though. I hope you stay on, frankly. I respect true pacificsts. It's the International ANSWER marxist phonies I can't stand.
227
posted on
04/18/2004 2:26:45 PM PDT
by
Antoninus
(In hoc signo, vinces †)
To: Hun in the sun
No human beeing needs to be killed.
You'd be,pardon the pun, dead wrong.
228
posted on
04/18/2004 3:41:03 PM PDT
by
gatorbait
(Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
To: Hun in the sun
....this means... by my Eurowheenie logic.... ...that Americans are barbarians? Regards Hun
It might, it also might indicate you Krauts have lost your manhood, but then, you are neighbors with France , so guess it rubbed off on you. Cordially,
229
posted on
04/18/2004 3:43:56 PM PDT
by
gatorbait
(Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
To: Hun in the sun
Goddam... when will this yanks ever learn?
Yeah, took us twice to get it through your square heads not to try to subjugate decent societies(The French, too)
230
posted on
04/18/2004 3:46:04 PM PDT
by
gatorbait
(Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
Here's a 300 yard target I shot with my 1903 Springfield 30-06.
231
posted on
04/18/2004 4:12:59 PM PDT
by
Poser
(Belly Girl is Still Hot!)
To: Poser
Sorry, that was only 200 yards.
232
posted on
04/18/2004 4:14:19 PM PDT
by
Poser
(Belly Girl is Still Hot!)
To: Hun in the sun
If they are defending their country, then they should put on a uniform, however simple and rudimentary, to identify themselves as fighters and separate themselves from the civilians. They should also stop using mosques, ambulances and hospitals as devices of warfare. They need to stand up and fight and stop whining for the US to pull back the snipers. What whimpering scum!
They are cowards who hide among their civilian populations. They need to distance themselves from their women and children, not hide behind them. They declare their "holy city" of Najaf as off limits to attack. Mmmmkay, um, I don't think so. They can change their identity from soldier to civilian simply by dropping their weapons and strolling down the street.
If it is their right to defend their country, then it is their destiny to die.
Semper Fi, Marines! Keep popping any skulls that poke out of the holes in which they hide.
Keep defending the enemy of America, Hun. You're making a great case for closing our borders permanently.
233
posted on
04/18/2004 8:24:04 PM PDT
by
NorthWoody
(Hey, politicians! Stand up, be men, do your jobs and close the borders while there's still time.)
To: Cap'n Crunch
By the time I turned 17 (and graduated from HS--at 17) it was all over. I had a chance to go to college and took it. I was stunned at the people there who didn't know squat about squat, just diddy bopping through life. I was a volunteer fireman through HS (from 14), and saw enough to know combat is an experience that cannot be imagined, but must be experienced.
No one who has not been there could imagine combat (including me), any more than they can understand being one of two guys with hose nozzles in hand chasing the fire off of 3200 gal of JP4 while standing in the puddle (been there, done that!). All the people around us supported us, no one shot at us. Firefighting may have been good adrenaline-rush material, but nowhere near combat.
Friends from the era include a USMC Sargeant Major. a Navy SEAL, Sherrif's deputies, and a crew of firefighters. Some of the 'older guys' I knew did go to 'Nam, but they didn't talk about it much, and we didn't push them.
234
posted on
04/18/2004 8:33:48 PM PDT
by
Smokin' Joe
(C'est la guerre.)
To: Hat-Trick
BUSHNELL OPTICS !!!
Is it a public company ? Traded as ...?
235
posted on
04/19/2004 8:24:56 AM PDT
by
traumer
To: Hat-Trick
Can John Malvo be let out on parole.... ?
236
posted on
04/19/2004 8:26:40 AM PDT
by
traumer
To: Polybius
Meanwhile, over 90 US Soldiers and Marines have been killed this month, the most of any since the war began. Over 700 have been killed since March, 2003.
237
posted on
04/19/2004 11:50:54 AM PDT
by
johnb838
("I really don't care; they're all gonna die," US Marine in Fallujah)
To: johnb838
Meanwhile, over 90 US Soldiers and Marines have been killed this month, the most of any since the war began. Over 700 have been killed since March, 2003. How many US Soldiers and Marines do believe would killed in house to house, room to room, roof to roof fighting in Fallujah without taking the time to prepare the battlefield?
The "simple" solution would be to turn that city of 300,000 into another Dresden but that would win the battle and lose the war as practically all public support in America would evaporate.
What happens outside of Fallujah in regards to casualties are separate tactical problems that must be addressed individually according to the tactical situation involved in each scenario. Storming Fallujah in house to house fighting is not going to stop the ambush of a supply convoy 50 miles away.
All war have casualties. The Eighth Air Force alone suffered over 50,000 casualties in World War II with half of those being fatalities. The Iranians had one million casualties in the Iran-Iraq War.
Yes, we have lost 90 dead this past month but it seems that many have come to believe that some magical age has arrived when the U.S. is supposed to win wars without sustaining combat casualties.
Up until recently low casualties have been the norm because the U.S. has avoided urban combat like the plague. Well, urban combat can no longer be avoided and the U.S. is taking the necessary steps to ensure that the battlefield is prepared in such a way that the U.S. can still fight on a battlefield prepared to our advantage rather than fighting on a battlefield that maximizes the enemy's advantages.
To: Hat-Trick
A big Semper Fi Bump!
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