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Iraq
2nd Recon Battalion Marines stir the hornetÂ’s nest in Operation Rubicon
2006-09-19
AoS note: Golf Bravo, please provide a link or future posts won't be accepted.
By Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva, 1st Marine Division

Marines from B Company's 3rd Platoon stand next to one of the many weapons' caches they dug from the ground during Operation Rubicon in Mushin, Iraq, west of Habbaniyah. The Recon Marines unearthed hundreds of mortars, artillery shells, rifles, machines guns, ammunition and improvised explosive device-making materials. Marines found so many caches, they said they could barely make it 100 meters before discovering another buried weapons' site.

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Aug. 29, 2006) -- Marines from 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion kicked over the hornetÂ’s nest during Operation Rubicon in Mushin, west of Habbaniyah. What they found underneath was a lot deadlier than a stinger.

They battled insurgents in running gunfights lasting nearly an entire day and scored hundreds of weapons finds in a several-day operation.

Recon Marines, working in support of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, uncovered hundreds of weapons, artillery and mortar rounds, improvised explosive device-making material, small arms and ammunition.

In all, they recovered more than 500 mortars rounds, nearly 100 artillery rounds, more than 130 rocket-propelled grenades, more than 120 grenades, 22 mines, 10 mortar tubes, 20 rifles and machine guns, 18 sets of body armor and various other items including binoculars and bayonets.
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#21  Don't feel bad, GolfBravoUSMC. We all had to climb the same learning curve here. At least I did. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-09-19 22:45  

#20  What the article does not make clear is that Mushin is in Al Anbar Province, heartland of the Sunni Triangle. That is why there are so many weapon caches, and so much hostility to the US/Iraqi Militaries - SaddamLand. We need to be bringing in Kurdish and Shiite units as the local backup, and then just get out of their way. THEY will do what is necessary to convince the Sunnis to cease and desist; we just don't want to be too close or observing methods used. Believe me when I say that the Kurdish and Shiite units will make believers in peace out of the surviving Sunnis.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-09-19 18:57  

#19  CC 7867, all of them are involved. We're delusional if we think this isn't a regional action.

Regional? Code Pink helped fund the AQ nutters in Fallujah; odds are the "charity" raided yesterday funneled cash to the "insurgents", and we know the European Muslims *AND* leftists have been raising money and men for them.

Posted by: Rob Crawford   2006-09-19 17:50  

#18  AoS I got it, put it in the headline. Please excuse the new guy. While many were attending college I was developing an allergy to hot lead. But, I can still learn and take constructive criticism.
Link
2nd Recon Battalion Marines stir the hornetÂ’s nest in Operation Rubicon

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2006-09-19 17:43  

#17  AoS Where do you want the link? In the source box?
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2006-09-19 17:25  

#16  Bobby lots of engineers are civil, but sum of 'em drive us contractors nutz!!
Posted by: RD   2006-09-19 16:59  

#15  Sorry, Frank; it'd didn't seem very 'civil' of you!
Posted by: Bobby   2006-09-19 16:43  

#14  did I have to do the
"/tongue in cheek"?
Posted by: Frank G   2006-09-19 15:23  

#13   OK Skip the salt. Using a 2nd Century Roman solution on a person with a 7th Century mentality would be beyond their depth.

More Humane solution:

The farmers and the terrorist are sharecropping weapons. With Marine supervision, have the farmers harvest the weapons crop. Since the farmers do not have a weapons crop allotment, confiscate the crop.

The confiscated weapons crop should be made part of the School Lunch Program for the Madrassas in Pakiland. Well fused and carefully placed they will wipe out hunger.

The boys in the Madrassa will have a shortcut to martyrdom. They will have 72 virgins each to lead them through puberty. No dry humping in the back of a jitney.

Net/Net The farmers will have cover from the terrorist. The weapons are put to good use and out of circulation. A more dangerous crop, Jihadis, is short circuited around the process of achieving Paradise.

It's a win, win, win situation.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2006-09-19 15:16  

#12  How do we know the intelligence that led to all these finds was not provided by the farmers? Supposing we find out some farmer did rat out the islamic crusaders? Would we hear about it if he was tortured and killed, his family ... well, you know. Would we? It's be lost in the '50 bodies discovered today' story.

And what if one guy ratted and six families were rubbed out by the terrs, 'cuz they wanna be sure they got the rat?

Ya remember reading about empty houses in Baghdad with the note left that said, "clear out"? Remember reading about folks getting wacked trying to leave? I can't imagine what the terror of being Iraqi and wanting to help save my country is like. Hope I never have to. Remember the doctor who leaked the location of the captured American girl -- oh, what's her name? the kids that have told our soldiers and Marines that there's a bomb in the middle of the road? The Iraqis that tried for hours to recover our guys from a Hummer turned over in a canal, after our guys were exhausted?

Let's not be so quick to judge all 25 million Iraqis, eh?

/tolerance lecture

Posted by: Bobby   2006-09-19 14:36  

#11  yeah, kill the farmer. There's a lot of them available to restock
Posted by: Frank G   2006-09-19 13:28  

#10  No salt sowing, please. There's limited enough arable land, and much too much desert, as it is. There are plenty of other effective interdiction methods, I'm sure.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-09-19 13:27  

#9  The Operation ended the first week of September.

Many of the weapons were displayed in freshly plowed fields. (Winter crops) The farmers had to know they were there and where the mines were located.

We need a little Roman Carthage treatment here. Sow salt on the fields where the caches were found.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2006-09-19 13:17  

#8  Is this operation over or ongoing ?
Posted by: wxjames   2006-09-19 12:52  

#7  Bravo Zulu lads. Keep up the good work.

I am sure the Regimental S-2 is getting good intel on where said weapons originated from and supply routes there of. I would also not be surprised if the G-2/J-2 of MNF-W Iraq has not contacted some "higher" ups and let them know where the ammo is being supplied from. A few U.S. cruise missiles need to "malfunction" and hit said suppliers by "mistake."

Posted by: Broadhead6   2006-09-19 11:56  

#6  CC 7867, all of them are involved. We're delusional if we think this isn't a regional action. Even the ones remaining quiet like Egypt and Turkey are assisting covertly. I don't see anything positive developing here, even with all the blood and toil expended. These Marines are doing a great job. It'd just that when they are out of sight, the scumbags slink back. The locals have no motivation to stop them. "You can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink." I just object to the overall strategy coming out of the Pentagon/White House. It ignores history in revealing the proper method of dealing with this area.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat   2006-09-19 11:23  

#5  Whos paying for all these Caches-Saudi, Iran or Syria come to mind!!!!
Posted by: Cheregum Crelet7867   2006-09-19 11:03  

#4  Cordon the whole area, forcemarch all those there out of the perimeters.

Then "Clear by fire" the caches: MOAB the area.
Posted by: Oldspook   2006-09-19 10:25  

#3  Excellent story! Thanks, GolfBravoUSMC!

Now, didn't someone mention arclight the other day? Can there be a place more deserving than al-Anbar and Baghdad and Basra and Tehran and Qom and Bandar Abbas and everything in between? To be closely followed by OP's desire to level the mountainous region on the Afghan - PakiLand border, of course...

So many targets, with the Sunnis now screaming for arms and protection (LOL, YJCMTSU), so few iron bombs left...
Posted by: flyover   2006-09-19 10:16  

#2  Best way to deal with these idiots. Kick the nest they live in and then kill them all with MarineRaid!

Go get 'em!
Posted by: DarthVader   2006-09-19 10:13  

#1  Linky thingy no workee
Posted by: Bobby   2006-09-19 10:12  

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