Article

2007-03-15 Iraq

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-03-15 18:29|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This is the kind of fight we were hoping for when we chased the baddies out of Baghdad. Many fled due North to Baqouba, where they concentrated and set up defensive positions.

But even before the fight begins, they have lost.

They can't go back to Baghdad, and once they are driven out of Baqouba, there isn't a whole lot of place left for them to run to.

Most likely, they will flee either to the NW, to Al Khalis, Balad and Samarra, towards Tikrit; or to the NE, to Al Mansuriyan, Jalula and Khanaqin.

But in each of those cities, there will both be a warm welcome waiting for them, and more defeats. I suspect that our intentions are just to get them as far out of Baghdad as we can, for as long as we can. Separated from their command, their homes, their support.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-03-15 18:42|| 2007-03-15 18:42|| Front Page Top

#2 I wish I had a map. Good to know where the mosques are, and the possibility of cutting the city into slices. At any rate, keep attacking and the death rate will stay low. Stop to regroup, and the IEDs will appear again. The IEDs are their big kill weapon, so don't stop.

Posted by wxjames 2007-03-15 18:55|| 2007-03-15 18:55|| Front Page Top

#3 Shithead LAUREN FRAYER Associated Press wrote in the SF Comical:

One Stryker was lost in a particularly sophisticated ambush.

Struck head-on by an IED, the rubber-tired armored vehicle was swallowed up in the bomb crater. Insurgents emerged from hiding, firing RPGs in unison.

The Stryker crew was trapped. One U.S. soldier was killed. All nine other crew members were wounded, though six later returned to duty.

The other Stryker was destroyed when a roadside bomb exploded as the armored vehicle drove over it. The nine-man squad got out alive, three with injuries.

My take: Even though the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team assulted into prepared positions thick with enemy, mines, RPGs, mortars and IEDs, The Strykers and our US Soldiers over came that terrorist advantage and did one Hell of a JOB.

The Strykers took the brunt of jehadi attacks, shape charges, IEDs, RPGs etc. within a city no less and saved the lives of all but one Soldier [Gods Speed RIP].

SH LAUREN FRAYER Associated Press Writer wrote: Confidence faded Wednesday in the hail of insurgent fire and news of casualties among comrades

SH: "Hunkered down in their vehicles, the 3rd platoon was itching to get into the fight. They are infantrymen trained for foot patrols, not to ride in armored vehicles, they said. And word of the two lost vehicles fueled their determination."

yeah rite, "Cofidence fading and Hunkered down?" YET itching to get into the fight...

nuff said biyotch.

Posted by RD 2007-03-15 19:25|| 2007-03-15 19:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Good catch, RD. The very point I was going to make.

Posted by Brett 2007-03-15 19:32|| 2007-03-15 19:32|| Front Page Top

#5 Need some armor tougher than Strykers, send in the M-1s.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2007-03-15 19:32|| 2007-03-15 19:32|| Front Page Top

#6 This kind of pre-planned ambushes screams local involvement and responsibility. Surgical clearing operations should slectiviely be replaced by CAS and indirect fires engagement. Pounding the areas where the ambushes were most pronounced sends the message of consequences....

Posted by Angeater Slinemble7044 2007-03-15 20:13|| 2007-03-15 20:13|| Front Page Top

#7 IF the local support angle can be proven, screw the selective firing; level the place. And why did we wait until paryers ere over? should have taekn them while on their knees doing the marble floor head banging thingy....

Posted by USN, ret. 2007-03-15 21:36|| 2007-03-15 21:36|| Front Page Top

#8 Reread the story. The Strykers are protecting their soldiers quite well. Only one dead for the loss of two vehicles.

The enemy has little choice in their options to flee. To the north are the Kurds. The surge is to their west and the Shia's are to the south. To the east is Iran. This is possibly AQ's final stand in Iraq.

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2007-03-15 22:35|| http://northshorejournal.org]">[http://northshorejournal.org] 2007-03-15 22:35|| Front Page Top

#9 Exactly, RD and Brett. This is a fairly typical pattern one sees in the generally awful reporting on this and many other topics. Catchy phrases and stark topic sentences that are ..... either completely unsupported by accompanying details, or refuted by them.

As a good friend (also a long-since recovered journalist) always used to say: "does anybody edit this stuff?" Answer is yes - but New York is just as full of clueless, biased editors as the field is full of similar reporters. There are some good ones (field reporters) - but unless they're senior their stuff often gets forced into the old, distorted templates (saw it myself many times, have many stories of reporters outraged at what emerges from New York/London/Paris compared to what they file).

Angeater makes a great point here. Not sure the best way (indirect fires, or other ways) to do it, but I don't see how, in areas where there is a reasonable suspicion of local support, you can make any progress in this or ANY other war unless you pound the s**t out of the place, make people pay a big price. Every situation has to be assessed on its own merits, but there have been many situations in Iraq where there was a very reasonable conclusion that locals cooperated in preparing atttacks/defenses aimed at our forces. In places like that, unless we take very harsh measures, we're simply killing more US and Iraqi soldiers in the medium term through incompetence.

Posted by Verlaine 2007-03-15 23:04|| 2007-03-15 23:04|| Front Page Top

#10 Stryker Fight In Baqouba

Posted by RD 2007-03-15 23:07|| 2007-03-15 23:07|| Front Page Top

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