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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Coalition faces army of imported suicide bombers |
| 2004-11-07 |
| AS at least 12,000 coalition and Iraqi forces massed in preparation for an all-out assault on Fallujah last night, insurgent commanders inside the rebel stronghold warned that hundreds of suicide bombers had been primed as part of planning for a ferocious counter-attack. With all eyes on Fallujah, west of Baghdad, insurgents struck a devastating blow in nearby Ramadi, rounding up 21 officers at two police stations and shooting them dead execution style. "A large number of attackers, estimated at about 200, ambushed the main police station in Haditha and another smaller one in Haqlaniya," said a police officer from Haditha who was not on duty during the attack. "The attackers disarmed the police, gathered them together and then shot them dead." As US troops gathered to pray outside Fallujah, rebel leaders said more than 100 cars laden with explosives had been distributed throughout the rebel Sunni stronghold to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive. One commander said 300 foreign fighters had volunteered for suicide bombings as US forces laid siege to the stronghold of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq. Some of the foreign fighters would be used in 118 vehicles already rigged with explosives, he said; others would be waiting in booby-trapped homes for US and Iraqi soldiers hunting from house to house for Zarqawi's fighters. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #7 ...FNC has an article that says the ROE allow them to shoot at ANYBODY driving...pretty much covers it.*S Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-11-08 12:50:47 AM |
| #6 ..insurgent commanders inside the rebel stronghold warned that hundreds of suicide bombers had been primed as part of planning for a ferocious counter-attack. This is not a problem. A safe assumption would be that during the buildup, most of the non-combatants have left, and all that remains are largely jihadis, so any individual encountered that doesn't do as they are clearly told to do by coalition forces should be dropped immediately, no ifs, ands, or buts. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-07 8:27:49 PM |
| #5 Phhft. The heck with tanks - sweep the streets clean with air strikes. It's a wide-open city, and the sky has to be saturated with UAVs. Just blow up every vehicle in the city. You'll miss anything under cover, but that'll clear the boobytraps, leaving only suicide-drivers for the ground troops to deal with. I've seen numbers that suggest that Fallujah's a ghost-town these days, with no more than one-sixth the population it had prior to the current troubles. If the remaining locals have a brain in their heads, as soon as they hear sustained explosions, they're going to be living underground. Now that I think about it, I predict that this is going to be a mole's war - clearing the town basement by basement. Hope they're ready to look out for basement-bunkers and the old grenade-on-a-string gag. Anybody know what the water table is like in Fallujah? Exactly how extensive could basements be in this town? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-11-07 8:17:26 PM |
| #4 think raisins |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-07 6:57:26 PM |
| #3 300 suicide bombers @ 72 virgins; Does Allan have 21,600 available? |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-11-07 6:55:04 PM |
| #2 ... rebel leaders said more than 100 cars laden with explosives had been distributed throughout the rebel Sunni stronghold to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive. Simple solution; Sweep all streets with tanks whose gunners are instructed to shell or strafe each and every car in sight, moving or not. Any dissatisfied residents should be told to direct their complaints at the insurgents who made this move necessary. Until Iraqis finally realize the high cost of sequestering these terrorist thugs in their midst, measures such as this will be required. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-11-07 6:22:57 PM |
| #1 Oopps, this should have been 'Page 1' news. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-11-07 5:59:31 PM |