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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Shells From Syria Fired at Troops in Iraq |
| 2004-10-14 |
| American troops stationed along Iraq's border with Syria are coming under increasing mortar attack from shells fired from Syrian territory, but it's unclear who's responsible, U.S. officers said Thursday. The 82 mm mortar rounds have been fired at U.S. and Iraqi positions in and around Husaybah in the far west of Iraq's Anbar province, said Lt. Col. Chris Woodbridge, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. "Who exactly is firing these mortars, we do not know. But what we do know is that the point of origin of these rounds is on the Syrian side of the border," said Woodbridge, 39, of Brooklyn. There has been no evidence linking the Syrian military to the attacks, he said. However, the Syrian military has the capability to determine who is launching the mortars and act against them, Woodbridge said. "Syrian authorities should be the ones to go after them, no question about it," he said. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #15 tw - Followup to OF's comment: Summary AC-130 in action in Afghanistan Cool AC-130 Links Check out the armament options... It covers the spectrum from mini-guns to a phreakin' Howitzer. This boxy-looking freight hauler was turned into one of the most devastating ass-kicking ground attack weapons ever. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-14 10:57:54 PM |
| #14 Spooky is the grandson of Puff the Magic Dragon from VietNam era. A C-130 loaded up with guns of various calibers up to 105 mm. The guns point out one side of the plane at a downward angle. The plane can circle an area directing fire on a continous basis at a single point. Usually operates at night. Makes a sound like no other. |
| Posted by: Old Fogey 2004-10-14 10:17:21 PM |
| #13 BaR -- for the civilians amongst us (meaning me), who/what is Spooky? Y'all have been mentioning him lately, and I suspect he isn't Caspar the friendly ghost, or Halloween trick-or-treaters. Thanks! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-10-14 9:48:31 PM |
| #12 Sounds to me like a good case can be made for Spooky to pay the Syrian border more frequent visits. A rain of minigun fire on the origin point of the shelling should be enough. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-14 9:36:40 PM |
| #11 Rounds fired == Act of War. 100's of extra troops on frontier == POWs on the hoof. If we're feeling polite. I for one am not. Boy Assad wants to play games = Boy Assad gets videotaped being checked for head lice. 'nuff said. |
| Posted by: Darth VAda 2004-10-14 9:26:45 PM |
| #10 While Syria has posted hundreds of extra troops along the frontier, its officials have said it is impossible to seal off such a large area. Especially when you don't want to... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-10-14 9:03:02 PM |
| #9 I still prefer carpet MOAB bombing. Minimum of 1 MOAB per 100 square meters. If we have insufficient MOAB's, nukes work fine. Time to remind the world again that if you shoot at American Soldiers/Airmen/Marines/Sailors....YOU DIE! |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2004-10-14 8:37:29 PM |
| #8 Exactly. But don't limit return fire to the mortar batteries. Target Baath party, secret police, and military headquarters, the underpinnings of Assad's regime. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-10-14 7:30:11 PM |
| #7 Here we go again with postmodern obfuscations. Too right. Why not take Quarterdeck's suggestion and state a non-nuanced policy of 'rounds were fired, we returned said fire' and dispense with the bullshit? Most of us would agree that Syria needs to be thumped; let's start with some of their artillery batteries. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-10-14 7:24:56 PM |
| #6 "...unclear who's responsible(!)." _________________________________ Here we go again with postmodern obfuscations. WTF? |
| Posted by: borgboy 2004-10-14 6:55:19 PM |
| #5 This shit needs to stop post haste. Likely freelancers, but it is nearing time to take out a barrack. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-14 5:44:31 PM |
| #4 Luckily our guys over there have a sophisticated system that uses radar triangulation to pin point exactly where the round was fire from. After a morter shell lands it takes only seconds for the system (usually in the back of an M2 Bradley) to find the shooters and for the M110 howitzers to obliterate whoever the heck was dumb enough to shoot at our boys. Hoooraaagh! |
| Posted by: Quarterdeck 2004-10-14 4:48:20 PM |
| #3 I agree Frank G |
| Posted by: Quarterdeck 2004-10-14 4:45:08 PM |
| #2 walk the counter-fire right back to Damascus |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-14 4:44:37 PM |
| #1 "Fire mission!..." |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-10-14 4:42:43 PM |