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| Iraq |
| Highway Skirmish Turns Into Turkey Shoot |
| 2003-04-09 |
| Edited for length: In one of many small-scale engagements in and around Baghdad on Tuesday, two Marine snipers on a rooftop and others in tanks and Humvees topped with machine guns killed approaching Iraqis one by one throughout the morning, often from hundreds of yards away. When members of the 3rd battalion, 7th Marine Regiment reached the elevated cloverleaf in the southeastern part of the city before midnight Monday, all was quiet but for bombs exploding in the distance. Then, about 4:30 a.m., two Marines snipers on a rooftop noticed a truck pull up a few hundred yards away. Using his night vision scope, Sgt. Joshua Hamblin, 26, of Wichita, Kan., saw the silhouette of a man with a rifle, took aim and shot him. He fired again at another man, and a Marine machine gunner also opened fire. The remaining men from the truck grabbed the two bodies and sped off. About two hours later, another man wandered into the street carrying a rifle. "He had no idea we were here," Hamblin said. After he was hit, Hamblin said, another man grabbed the rifle and ran off as the dying man begged for help. For the rest of the morning, armed Iraqis, often alone or in pairs, wandered toward the Marines only to be shot by the snipers. Many died instantly, others were wounded and dragged by comrades into alleys or driven away. At one point, a man in a black ski mask with a rifle in the bed of a truck pulled up behind a group of civilians. The snipers said they aimed high to scatter the civilians, then shot him. Reach out and touch someone About 7 a.m., a truck with a machine gun mount — but no machine gun attached to it — raced down the highway, and the Marines started firing, using machine guns, grenade launchers and their rifles. The truck flew into reverse, racing back about 100 yards before stopping. One man opened the a door and fell out. Then another, apparently missing an arm, ran down the highway. Some Marines prepared to shoot, but their commanders stopped them. Behind a sand berm facing the highway, Kelley and Cpl. William D. Palmer, 22, of Kansas City, Mo., suddenly felt bullets flying past and turned to see a minibus racing less then 200 yards away. As heavy gunners raked the bus with gunfire, a man in an Iraqi uniform jumped out and was chased through the street by rounds from a machine gun, kicking up dust at his feet and then killing him. Medic Brent Cook, 23, of Houston, raced out to help the other two Iraqis in the bus and discovered military identification in one man's pocket. "You are a soldier?" he asked. "Please don't kill me," the man responded. Palmer said he thought the soldiers were probably heading home, discovered too late the Marines were there and fired in fear. Near the underpass, a Marine vehicle with speakers blasted a message in Arabic: "People of Baghdad, do not attempt to pick up the weapons. Any attempt to pick up the weapons will be a threat against us and have serious consequences." Good advice |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #9 The nickname Pogey Bait 6th is referring to the 6th Marine Regiment, not the 7th Marines. However, It wouldn't be wise to make that remark to a Marine in that regiment. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-09 21:27:13 |
| #8 Please name the German example... I survived it. Plus the Soviet one a few years later. If you read my posts you'd know that I have all sympathy for the liberation of Iraq. What stuck in my throat is that until the Turks refused the cooperation they were the wonderful allies that the US wanted to push into the EU. Only after that the Armenian genocide and the oppression of the Kurds was brought up. The Kurds in Anatolia may not have been gassed but they suffer a slow, silent genocide. I have been in Kurdish villages and have seen what this means. Frankly I'm not sure who has killed more Kurds: Saddam or Turkey. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-04-09 19:59:06 |
| #7 TGA - 1. Turkey has no WMD, or related legal issues 2. "democratically elected Kurdish members of the Turkish parliament who serve prison times of up to 15 years just for using the Kurdish language in parliament" Surely you understand the difference between this violation of cultural rights, and the genocide perpetrated by the Saddamist regime in Iraq? Surely you dont mean to suggest that because we destroyed the worst regime on the planet we are obliged to deal with every violation of cultural and language rights? Surely, as a German, (sorry, I cant resist) you can understand the difference between a military dominated,semi-democratic regime that culturally oppresses a minority (EG Imperial Germany,which oppressed its Polish minority) and a totalitarian genocidal regime (I hope I dont have to name the German example) |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-09 15:33:11 |
| #6 They ran. They died tired. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-09 14:28:11 |
| #5 If you move on into Turkish Kurdistan you might liberate some more innocent prisoners and maybe find some torture chambers there, too. Although to liberate the democratically elected Kurdish members of the Turkish parliament who serve prison times of up to 15 years just for using the Kurdish language in parliament you might have to move on a little further to Ankara. Just a suggestion... |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-04-09 14:28:05 |
| #4 Sounds like Marine Rifle 101. Looks like the Poogy Bait 7th is doing the job |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-04-09 13:15:14 |
| #3 If you want to call Turkish people something that doesn't make them sound like turkeys, you could call them Anatolians. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-04-09 11:21:39 |
| #2 Pleeeease, OldSpook, don't bait Murat. He's having enough emotional problems right now. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-04-09 11:13:04 |
| #1 Turkey Shoot? We shooting the cowardly Turks now? Better watch out Murat. Nah - the Turks, erm Turkeys, dont get into war with people who can shoot back (when they do, they lose, like they do to the Greeks), they prefer to pick on unarmed minorities like Armenians and Kurds. Actually, this shows how the years of ruling via fear have addled the minds of the Iraqi overlords. They just cannot believe that they have lost, and are still tying to act as if they still have their old power. Seems a .308/7.62 round in the head from 700 yards is teaching them otherwise. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-04-09 10:21:02 |