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| Iraq |
| From Iraq: a MarineÂ’s Notes [cliff May] |
| 2006-12-27 |
| Hat tip to NRO. The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. Â… Most were detonated by cell phone, and the explosions are enormous. You're not safe in any vehicle, even an M1 tank. Driving is by far the most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately, they are much more sophisticated "shape charges" (Iranian) specifically designed to penetrate armor. Fact: Most of the ready made IED's are supplied by Iran, who is also providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their use and tactics. That's why the attacks have been so deadly lately. Their concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shape charges, in Styrofoam containers spray painted to look like the cinderblocks that litter all Iraqi roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb disposal guys are unsung heroes of this war. ?Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS units for navigation and "Googleearth" for overhead views of our positions. Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and prevalent. Their explosives and bomb technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision is rare. They are very careless with their equipment and the captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves of Intel when captured. ?Who are the bad guysÂ…? Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly "foreigners", non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.), and then travel down the "rat line" which is the trail of towns along the EuphratesRiver that we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in various "sacrifice squads". Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.). These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.'s, the police forces and the Army. They have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80's. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago. ? 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. ? Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why we're seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit. The new strategy is just simple: attrition. The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for inflicting civilian casualties. They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but can't reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.). The first thing our guys are told is "don't get captured". They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. ? Morale: [M]orale among our guys is very high. They not only believe that they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like "Are we losing in Iraq" on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership. Bottom line though, and they all say this, is that there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can't stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally ... Some excellent commentary for the RBers. |
| Posted by:Brett |
| #11 Sheesh. I was expectin' a lot comments about the "Allah's Waiting Room" section. Did I mistakenly think this would cause a lot of merry comment? Come on, folks. LOL. The fucking stoopid jihadis all run to the same hole to die together. Good call! |
| Posted by: Brett 2006-12-27 23:36 |
| #10 they don't seem to work well around certain sites either. I use it all the time for my youngest's basketball games around the County (SD, CA)to find the gyms, parking. When I was in Lawton, OK, next to Ft Sill. I was unable to get readable grids....go figure? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-27 21:57 |
| #9 only disagreement is GoogleEarth images are at least 2 years old, where they're available.... Yeah, have to wonder about that. Perhaps they're using them for layouts of bases we took over? To give an idea of how out-dated some of the pics on GoogleEarth are, they show a ride at DisneyWorld that shut down before 2001 in operation. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-12-27 21:31 |
| #8 nice note, well said, I only wish the NYT would publish it. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-12-27 21:17 |
| #7 Our armed forces in Iraq need "feedforward", which is a news link to them from the US, telling them what politicians and the media are saying, putting *names* on the individuals that are lying about what is going on in Iraq. Think of it as a giant "enemies list" of names that the troops can access to find out if the pols and "journalists" are: "red", that is, utterly lying bastards who fabricate hate and defeat about the troops, who either work for the enemy, on or their behalf; "orange", who just report the 'bombing of the day' direct from the news wires without comment or fact-checking, and harp on US casualties; "amber", who just repeat whatever stories would benefit their political or foreign national side; "yellow", who make any effort to be "fair and balanced", but are still reliant for their news on "Green zone" reports only; or, "green", who get news, opinion, and speculation from the troops, military experts in the know, objective analysts like 'Janes', and other high grade sources. In turn, the troops no longer complain about the MSM as a group. They can select and *name* who and what news service are lying. This has a lot more impact, if you name names. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-27 20:58 |
| #6 Man that has got to be frustating to read something in the paper every day and know its pure bullshit. Also I heard that Anbar province hasn't seen a MSM type in many many months so whatever reports they are printing is at least second hand and probably third hand story. I love the AWR, I have got to get that on a T-shirt with approapriate picture (Jihadi cowering in a corner). |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-12-27 18:23 |
| #5 Re: the MSM - “If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.” William Tecumseh Sherman |
| Posted by: doc 2006-12-27 18:16 |
| #4 Thanks RD. I was unable o figure out what the specific URL is. |
| Posted by: Brett 2006-12-27 17:46 |
| #3 only disagreement is GoogleEarth images are at least 2 years old, where they're available.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-27 17:45 |
| #2 linky Brett: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTY4YmUxYWJlZTVmNzFkMTE2NzcyNWU2NmRjMDM5NGE= * to add... Bill Roggio: an interview with Captain Coulson Bill Roggio: Without getting into specific numbers or violating operational security, how would you rate the effectiveness of the IEDs being planted on daily basis, and your ability to defeat this threat? Are insurgents changing their tactics on a regular basis to overcome your countermeasures? On October 12, 1984 the PIRA [Provisional Irish Republican Army] set off two bombs in the Grand Hotel, in Brighton, England. Prime Minister Margret Thatcher was there along with her entire cabinet. None of them were killed although several high ranking Conservative MP's were killed. When the PIRA claimed responsibility their statement said 'Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always.' Such is the way with IED's, I can take 5 IED's off the street in one night, but if one IED in another part of the country hits the right vehicle the effectiveness can be rated as high, no one hears about the ones that did not go off. Since we are so cagey about what we have done to fight this battle one big IED hit can look bigger than it really is in the military picture. This war though is about Information Operations as much as anything. Our ability to defeat this threat is about manpower and equipment. Of course we need to be doing more than just looking for IED's - we need to set the conditions where the IED planter is no longer safe. The insurgents change and we change. That's what Counterinsurgency is all about. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-12-27 17:40 |
| #1 All I can say is: "F**k the NYT, WaPo, LAT, SFOC, and CNNABCCBSNMC to H*ll". |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-12-27 17:24 |