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2006-04-29 Iraq
SpecOps unit nearly nabs Zarqawi
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Posted by ed 2006-04-29 07:16|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 At the rate that they kill these guys, how much longer can they hold out?
Posted by Chutch Jomoque9164 2006-04-29 10:22||   2006-04-29 10:22|| Front Page Top

#2 Wonder who gets dibs of placing Zarq's head on a mantle over the fireplace?
Posted by Captain America 2006-04-29 10:28||   2006-04-29 10:28|| Front Page Top

#3 There is way too much operational information in the Naylor piece.
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2006-04-29 10:53||   2006-04-29 10:53|| Front Page Top

#4 ...The source said Pakistan plays the same role for al-Qaida’s leaders that Cambodia did for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War: “safe haven.”

...
Posted by 3dc 2006-04-29 11:21||   2006-04-29 11:21|| Front Page Top

#5 But McChrystal wants more combat power, and has asked that a battalion task force of the 82nd Airborne Division be placed at TF 145’s disposal, two special operations sources said.

Multi-National Forces-Iraq “does not comment on proposed force deployments,” Army Capt. Bill Roberts, an MNF-I spokesman, wrote in an e-mail response to questions from Military Times.

However, an Army colonel confirmed that MNF-I placed a request in mid-April for a three-battalion light-infantry task force, with communications, transportation, military police, medical, human intelligence and psychological operations “enablers.”

They want to turn the whole 82nd into spec ops support?
Posted by 3dc 2006-04-29 11:25||   2006-04-29 11:25|| Front Page Top

#6 ave when his vehicle came into view. He and his driver blew through a Delta roadblock before nearing a Ranger checkpoint. The Ranger M240B machine-gunner had Zarqawi in his sights and requested permission to fire, but the lieutenant in charge of the checkpoint did not give the OK because he did not have “positive ID” of the vehicle’s occupants, a TF 145 source said.

A JAG?
Posted by 3dc 2006-04-29 11:27||   2006-04-29 11:27|| Front Page Top

#7 Meanwhile, Zarqawi also hungers for more personnel. “Al-Qaida is trying to get some other people to him through Iran — some planners, some trainers,” the special ops source said.

The Iranian government knows about this, and despite Zarqawi’s violence against fellow Shiites in Iraq, the Iranians have decided to allow the transit of al-Qaida personnel, the source said, calling it “a marriage of convenience.”

JSOC knew of insurgent training camps in both Syria and Iran that TF 145 could hit, the source said, but “politics” had kept the task force from launching cross-border missions.

What's the "politics" bs?
Posted by 3dc 2006-04-29 11:31||   2006-04-29 11:31|| Front Page Top

#8 A couple of big thermobaric bombs on those training camps while they are training dropped without warning - say by steath, would leave little actionable evidence and could be denied or ignored.

Posted by 3dc 2006-04-29 11:34||   2006-04-29 11:34|| Front Page Top

#9 Another close but no Cigar.
Posted by FeralCat 2006-04-29 12:17||   2006-04-29 12:17|| Front Page Top

#10 They want to turn the whole 82nd into spec ops support?

A battalion task force is a small part of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Posted by lotp 2006-04-29 12:55||   2006-04-29 12:55|| Front Page Top

#11 "...special operations raid killed five of his men, captured five others ... the day Zarqawi’s video debuted, special ops forces killed 12 more of his troops in a second raid in the same town."

"Ah shucks, we missed Zarky Boy again" is offset by the good news that our boys at least bagged 17 of Zarky's boys.
Posted by Lancasters Over Dresden 2006-04-29 13:03|| http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com]">[http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com]  2006-04-29 13:03|| Front Page Top

#12 '...did not give the OK because he did not have “positive ID”'

Combined with another current article on BBC regarding the Diyala/Baqubah battle(s):
"In one of Thursday's attacks, gunmen reportedly pulled up at a checkpoint posing as a wedding party in a convoy of vehicles, one of which was decorated with ribbons and flowers. They then sprayed the checkpoint with bullets"

show how effective the propaganda war has been for the AIF. We and our Iraqi trainees are so spooked by the threat of more bad PR (whether incidents are real tragedies or theatre) that they are hesitant to pull the trigger, resulting in escaped AQ leaders and dead IA soldiers.
Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore  2006-04-29 13:43||   2006-04-29 13:43|| Front Page Top

#13 Top narrowly escapes, Zaqawai narrowly escapes, everyone narrowly escapes, including Saddam a few times. There are major holes in our intelligence community. Time to figure where the holes are. How hard is that given this much time? We know many self-righteous, self-important people in the CIA would be willing do do this.

Give different information to different people and see which info makes it to the enemy front lines. Then narrow it down to the specific individuals and then track how the information gets there. I'm sure they know how to do that and yet still the information gets out. Must be at a very, very high level which should narrow down the suspects a bit.
Posted by 2b 2006-04-29 16:22||   2006-04-29 16:22|| Front Page Top

#14 Once again, victomized by our own Rules of Engagement (ROE) and legal timidity. I wonder how many JAG officers Zarqawi has on his staff?
Posted by Besoeker 2006-04-29 17:11||   2006-04-29 17:11|| Front Page Top

#15 The U.S. knows of “high-tier” al-Qaida personnel in multiple European countries, he said.

“They’re around the world ... The point is, does the U.S. have the resolve … to go conduct a unilateral operation to get these folks?”

Asked if anyone in JSOC was doing this now, he said, “Not really.”

Part of the reason: Special mission units are already stretched by the mission in Iraq.

“There’s no one left,” he said.


really?
Posted by Hupavitle Elmeretch1915 2006-04-29 19:40||   2006-04-29 19:40|| Front Page Top

#16 A US Army or Marine division at normal or wartime strength, before during and after the Cold War, was always ascribed by analysts as the approxi equivalent of a NATO/Euro-CORPS or Soviet Ground Army(s).
Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-04-29 22:18||   2006-04-29 22:18|| Front Page Top

#17 Army?? Wow. Are y'all really that good? I knew y'all were good, but truly that big a differential?
Posted by trailing wife 2006-04-29 22:52||   2006-04-29 22:52|| Front Page Top

23:48 anon1
23:41 Duh!
23:22 3dc
23:11 djohn66
23:01 trailing wife
22:53 Robert Crawford
22:52 trailing wife
22:49 trailing wife
22:41 trailing wife
22:39 3dc
22:35 3dc
22:33 3dc
22:31 RWV
22:27 asymmetrical triangulation
22:25 trailing wife
22:22 Frank G
22:18 JosephMendiola
22:17 john
22:17 3dc
22:16 Omoluque Flerelet2459
22:14 Spiper Sninetch6938
22:11 3dc
22:10 JosephMendiola
22:09 3dc









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