One final thought for tonight.
I have designed systems to help keep navy guys and marines in particular alive. It jsut drives me nuts to see ours get killed.
If I could change just ONE thing about this scenario (other than just bombing these houses so our guys dont get killed by machine gun nests- which has happened in this battle)- I would teach our marines to yell "surrender, hands up!" in arabic as they barge into these homes.
Now this terrorist was not responsive, but there may have been a language barrier. Unfortunate in war.
It would not be difficult to design a bullhorn with a recording in it, to do just that.
Funny story. One time on a raid my team was pulling outer cordon security for another team that was clearing a small compound, looking for certain people. As we secured the courtyard, and the other team stacked on the front door, a side door opened up about 3 feet from me. An Iraqi looked out and, seeing what the commotion was, tried to back up and shut the door on me. With one hand I knocked the door back open while keeping the M4/M203 leveled at his chest with my other, and said 'Qif, qif' (Arabic for 'Halt').
He qifed. There was an akward pause. We looked at each other for several seconds, not moving an inch. In the excitement I forgot my next line.
Finally, I called over to my buddy and asked, 'Hey, what's the Arabic for 'Lie down' again?'
My buddy (who's a big guy carrying a SAW) ran up, and yelled, 'GET THE F@%K DOWN!'. The Iraqi lept for the ground without hesitation. Reading the expression on my face, my buddy explained, 'Translates into any language, dude.'