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| Iraq |
| US helicopter foils Iraqi strike |
| 2003-11-14 |
| Edited for freshness. US troops using helicopter gunships have killed seven Iraqis suspected of preparing rocket attacks on a US base in northern Iraq, the US military said. The attack near Tikrit appears to be part of a more forceful coalition response to increased Iraqi resistance. US officials said the Apache attack late on Thursday targeted an encampment with bunkers about 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit. One Iraqi suspect was wounded while another escaped, said a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division. US soldiers later went to the area and discovered more than 600 missiles and rockets in two bunkers and on a flatbed truck, one of three vehicles destroyed by the Apache fire, the spokeswoman said. She said the suspects had targeted the US army’s Speicher base when they were spotted by the Apache, which was on a reconnaissance mission. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #5 Also nice to get the word out there that, contrary to what ABC-CNN-CBS-NBC want you to believe, every helicopter incountry isn't being blasted out of the sky by RPG wielding Iraqis that hate America. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-11-14 8:26:10 PM |
| #4 In a guerilla war destroying enemy's morale is of still greater importance than in conventional war. That is why you have to make everyone (both the fighters and the sympathisers) know when the guerillas suffer setbacks, that ten or twenty guerilleros fall for very soldier. The second thing is that you have to try to avoid giving soft targets (like Italian carabinieri, who are closer to police than to real army) to the guerilla: not only because they provide them with morale-boosting successes but because they allow the guerilla to "learn the office" against the soft troops until they can stand against your elite troops: it is far better to force the guerillas to learn against your crack units so they are killed and don't live to improve. |
| Posted by: JFM 2003-11-14 3:58:41 PM |
| #3 It also lookes like a change in policy at Central Command. In the last two weeks, increasing number of news reports, and news releases, refer to enemy casulties. This is a change from a policy where nothing was ever said about enemy losses. In at least two e-mails to CentCom over the last several months, I begged them to make this change. A careful reading of e-mails and blogs from Iraq, and the odd news story or two, told us that the enemy was suffering disproportionate casulties, but CentCom policy was to avoid body counts. With the mood in the United States at a delicate stage, they appear to have decided to let us know how well we are doing, in all respects. Hooray! IT IS VITAL TO THE MORALE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND TO THE CONTINUATION OF OUR SUPPORT OF THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ THAT WE KNOW THAT OUR MEN AND WOMEN ARE NOT DYING IN VAIN. WE MUST KNOW THAT FOR EVERY AMEARICAN KILLED OR WOUNDED, THE TERRORIST ENEMY IS SUFFERING MULTIPLE DEATHS AND INJURIES.
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| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-11-14 10:15:02 AM |
| #2 Unfortunately, the evidence is that the Baathist/criminals/Islamofascists have plenty of money left and plenty of weapons left. However, the coalition is finally becoming more adept at using Iraqi informers. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-11-14 8:40:04 AM |
| #1 At a certain point you have got to wonder just how much money was spent on all these armaments. Sadaam could have but plenty of shares of Microsoft with his cash. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-11-14 8:08:00 AM |