14 US Marines killed in Iraq

MSNBC/Imus in the Morning

[leadpenny]

Roadside bomb in western Iraq.

[Just A Nobody]

I feel like there are moonbat infiltrators all around us.

Yes, which is I have been "missing" you. I just can't stand it some days. They sure are swarming around here today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLEGRA!!!

[Liberty Valance]

check the Texas home page. :o)
You are missed and appreciated.
We pray for you and all the fine folks
making a stand. It breaks my heart to hear of the Marines killed in Iraq but we are all aware that Freedom is not Free.

[section9]

Oh, Jesus God, plenty. Our guys get kills every day. You just don't hear about it.

Haji doesn't win battlefield victories against us. He does set off IED's against us, which accounts for most of our casualties now.

Haditha lies along their main infiltration route from Syria into Baghdad central along the Euphrates River. They'd like to be left alone to do their business. We don't want to leave them alone. So they are contesting the area. Expect heavy casualties as we clean them out. Haditha has always been the world's armpit. Saddam had problems with that place, as I recall.

Yesterday, we lost two sniper teams to an ambush job. It's bad business in Haditha. II Expeditionary Force command now knows that Haditha is important to Mr. Z. They're probably going to stay awhile.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Alberta's Child]

Which was before SEPTEMBER 11, 2001.

Please spare me the bullsh!t. For one thing, "regime change" in Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. More importantly, 9/11 simply provided this administration the public support it needed to do something it had every intention of doing anyway.

If you have any doubts whatsoever about that second point, just go back and run down a list of the key architects of this war back in late 2002 and early 2003 -- Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, John Bolton, Robert Kagan, Michael Ledeen, Frank Gaffney, etc. These people were all hired to administration positions or advisory roles in the Pentagon long before 9/11, and in their prior careers none of them had any kind of reputations or policy expertise in any area ther than their incessant calls for regime change in Iraq throughout the 1990s.

If you think Richard Perle, for example, was named as head of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board for his "expertise" in anything other than Iraq (a potential emerging threat in China, political developments in Russia, NATO expansion to eastern Europe, etc.), then you are delusional. In fact, there is plenty of evidence to indicate that despite their pathological obsession with Iraq, this group of individuals was utterly ignorant about the threat posed to the United States by radical Islamic terrorism.

[iconoclast]

We could start with IRAN, SYRIA and SAUDI ARABIA.

We started with Afghanistan. IMHO, we should have then proceeded to Pakistan, and then if necessary, to Saudi Arabia.

Colonel David Hunt puts it this way (pg 34):
Al Qaeda had killed close to three thousand human beings. They had killed more than the Japanese killed at Pearl Harbor. The weapons used were simple box cutters and our own planes. All the walls were down; we were naked and vulnerable.

Now we would have to get serious. Now we had no choice. We would finally strike back; strike at them all; kill those that killed us; an eye for an eye - biblical justice. We would surely make all involved pay, which would of course include all those countries that supported the murderers. We would leave no stone unturned. There would be no place to hide. No more politics; just do the right thing.

Right? Wrong.

We did finally attack al Qaeda and its host, the Taliban, in Afghanistan. Some very brave CIA and Special Forces guys jumped in the middle of the night; got on horses; spread some money around; and took this country in less than three weeks. Perfect. Nice going!

Then there were speeches. "No place to hide." "We will hunt the terrorists down, wherever they are." We heard this over and over. Except it didn't happen.

We not only did not hunt down bin Laden, we allowed him to hide in Pakistan, the country right next door to the one we had just invaded.

So much for "Whupass" talk.

[Alberta's Child]

Iraq in the long term view is a battle in the War against Radical Islamicism.

See my last statement in Post #164. There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that this is the case. If anything, the evidence indicates that the U.S. Department of Defense was absolutely naive about what exactly this "radical Islamic" threat was all about.

[Just A Nobody]

You are not new on FR. Why don't you sign up for the "Daily Terrorist Round-Up" or "Operation Phantom Fury" so you know what is going on everyday and see what a great job our honorable military is doing.

[Eagle Eye]

FYI

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

During the American Revolution, our rag-tag army fought for their own nation and for freedom. We were outclassed, but it was the desire and passion and leadership that won the Revolution for us.

The "poor Iraqi" lame excuse (not your words) doesn't cut it. If they can't get their national act together to fight terrorism, they will never be able to run their own country themselves. If this is the case, we are wasting our time and dying unnecessarily.

I have two nephews in Iraq (one Marine nephew has been there twice and their unit is on notice of a third trip there soon) and I have a third nephew that has top-secret clearance (ex-Army and now private sector under government contract). Whatt is going on over there is BS. We are not waging war but a politcally correct police action.

In fact, my one Marine nephew is with a heavy artillery unit. Guess what? They are stuffing rifles in their hands and told to go be infantry. They were trained in heavy artillery and now fighting street to street against thugs hiding in mosques that we are not allowed to blow up, even though they are used as bunkers. This is no way for a Marine to die. That are trained to wage war, not LBJ style BS.

[Allegra]

I just can't stand it some days. They sure are swarming around here today!

Yeah..."drop a MOAB." "Nuke it all." Or the worst..."pull out." FR has changed.

Too many people believing everything the media spoonfeeds them, I guess. It's so disconnected from reality.

(Thank you. Wait 'til the next time I see Flyer...he's going to get it.)

[Liberty Valance]

Morning newbie. Enjoy your stay.
Interesting handle you have there.

[iconoclast]

if you happen to look at a map of the Mideast with all its turmoil and said "where is the best geographic place to have troops?", you would point to Iraq.

That's workin for you, huh?

If you're an old fashioned conservative, concerned ONLY with our national interests, you'd have your troops where the enemy is ... in Pakistan!

[91B]

We are a squadron in an ACR (that's Armored Cav Regiment to the uninitiated) and we have tons of tracks in our MTO&E. But over here we use HMMWVs almost exclusively for patrols. Faster, therefor harder to hit, and we don't present a big juicy target. Strykers are hard to come by just yet. But I know for a fact that a lot of deplyed units left their Bradleys at home. The Marines would have to be retrained to use them (especially regarding gunnery), but it could be done fairly quickly.

There is a new TTP about Haji using an improvised "claymore" device. I wonder if this is an example.

[Eagle Eye]

Haditha is a choke point on the east-west roadways.

There's always been a lot of IED action around there. Sometimes we'd even hear the blasts and then see the medevac flights take off.

[Rebelbase]

:-)

[surfatsixty]

I found this on USA Today about the 1/5 Marines in Ramadi. Look past the editor's dissembling and the author wrote a damn fine article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-07-28-infantry-cover_x.htm

Be sure to watch the multi-media presentation. The interview with his father brought tears.

Unfortunately, it seems that the 3/25 Marines have taken the brunt of the casualties the past two days. During their deployment they have suffered greatly.

Prayers for all involved.

[Allegra]

Morning newbie. Enjoy your stay.
Interesting handle you have there.

That's the third handle that same troll has used on this thread...

[MEG33]

My..Don't you read here anymore?

[angcat]

I understand but I get very depressed about this. I feel like an ingrate complaining about everyday crap in life and Americans are dying in our War on Terror. I sit here all day with liberals and they just make sure I know the "count". :(