FROM IRAQ: A MARINE’S NOTES

The Corner, National Review Online ^ | Dec. 27, 2006 | Cliff May

[Cincinatus]

I found this interesting.

[Cincinatus]

For some reason, this paragraph got chopped off:

Bad Guy Tactics:

When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing AK's and RPG's directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time (see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit like this often. When engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeo's (Allah's Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast mover's, mostly Marine F-18's, are taking an ever increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre Gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all.

[Long Island Pete]

God bless each and everyone of our fighting forces. We love you and want you all home soon.

[sine_nomine]

Fascinating stuff. Why aren't we hitting the sources of these bad guys and weapons? What kind of war is this?

[woofie]

Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group.

There are some "experts" on FR who have expertly said otherwise

[Cincinatus]

Why aren't we hitting the sources of these bad guys and weapons?

Our beloved Democrat Senators are over there, visiting Syria.

[Bahbah]

When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time.

I have absolutely no doubt in the world about that.

[Cincinatus]

Far be it for me to gainsay the pronouncements of our experts safe at home here with obvious fabrications from someone who's actually there, in Iraq.

[lesser_satan]

They use handheld GPS units for navigation and "Googleearth" for overhead views of our positions.

Why the hell don't they tell Google to black out Iraq from Google Earth coverage, and if they don't comply their satellite will be destroyed? (or maybe on the next shuttle mission they can have the astronauts set up a big picture of Helen Thomas in front of the lens)

[milwguy]

Because they are based in Iran and Syria, and those are off limits to our guys. He is absolutely correct that if we had more troops on the borders, we could strangle the insurgency in fairly short order.

[woofie]

I have noticed that the experts are breeding like rats

[Gator101]

The new strategy is just simple: attrition

I would modify that to say it's attrition with the goal of gaining the attention of the Western media who use it as ammo to turn western populations against the war. At 20-1 I would say the bad guys are losing horribly in a straight up war of attrition. Too bad our traitorous media can't report it that way.

[quantfive]

"Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all."

Perhaps because of the hide and seek tactic back into buildings. Artillery has to go up then down with precise measurements of the enemy location. I did see the Germans just invented a GPS guided artillery cannon meaning no where to run no where to hide. Wonder if you'll see this design in Iraq sometime soon...

[sine_nomine]

It was a mistake to downsize our forces in the first place. I figure if the borders are invisible to them, the borders are invisible to us. Bomb the bombers.

Our weakness encourages them.

I agree about sealing the borders, but we haven't sealed our own borders with Mexico. Weak, weak, weak.

[sine_nomine]

All the more reason.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters (they have been fighting the Russians for years).

That is exactly correct. I know something about Chechens personally. They are not Arab but Caucasian, and mostly Sunni. They have been fighting the Russians for nearly two hundred years, and very nearly defeated the Tzars in the mid-nineteenth century under their legendary chieftan, Shamil, the Lion of Daghestan (pictured below).

Most people make the mistake of assuming that their conflict with Russia was about religion, i.e. Muslim vs. Orthodox Christian, when it fact their motivations were and remain entirely nationalistic. Chechens are bold, fierce fighters and will typically fight to the death. Most Arabs are afraid of them. They were so tough that Stalin had them deported wholesale, along with the Crimean Tatars, to Siberia. Those that escaped ended up in Jordan, where they and their descendants essentially constitute the cream of the current Jordanian Army Officer Corps.

The bottom line is that if our troops are running into these guys, then they truly have their hands full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechens

http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/etnisk_b.exe?Chechenian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imam_Shamil

[elhombrelibre]

It was what I saw and heard when I was there.

[Gunny Gene]

This is supposed to be a "WAR". Why are we still playing pattycake with these assholes? Just level the damn place.

[kinghorse]

Blah blah are bold fearless fighters, blah blah blah. You working for these schmucks? Everyone whose anyone has bold fearless fighters at their disposal. We need fresh propaganda. this stuff is a little moldy. I mean nothing against Cincinatus post but the "correspondence" is about 2 years old. Zarq is still the bad guy on this form letter.

[taxed2death]

"Most were detonated by cell phone..."

You'd think by now some genius on our side would be able to jam these signals locally (within a 300-500 mile range)...
even sat phones.