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| Iraq |
| Green Berets Routed Iraqi Brigade |
| 2004-02-06 |
| EFL During the April 6 Battle of Debecka Pass fought near between Mosul and Kirkuk, Antenori said, the Americans’ prior training in Kuwait with the shoulder-fired Javelin surface-to-surface missile system turned out "to be worth its weight in gold." During that fight, 31 Americans and 80 Iraqi Peshmerga troops, aided by Navy fighter bombing runs guided by Air Force combat air traffic controllers, successfully dealt with an Iraqi infantry brigade that was equipped with T-55 tanks and armored personnel carriers, Antenori said. The fighting went back and forth, he recalled, but ultimately the Navy jets and Javelins destroyed myriad enemy armored personnel carriers and tanks, taking "the wind out of the Iraqi’s sails" and helping to seal the victory. After two more hours of fighting, the Iraqis left the battlefield, Antenori said, abandoning eight of their tanks and 16 APCs during the withdrawal. Not everything, though, went according to plan, Antenori acknowledged, noting that a Navy bomb mistakenly killed a group of Kurdish soldiers gathered around a disabled T-55 tank. "It was just one of those terrible things that happens" during war, he said. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #11 too bad about the Kurds. It seems that they are good allies and warriors. |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-6 10:12:59 PM |
| #10 It's still a good joke. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 3:21:01 PM |
| #9 Not everything, though, went according to plan, Antenori acknowledged, noting that a Navy bomb mistakenly killed a group of Kurdish soldiers gathered around a disabled T-55 tank. Someone might wanna create some sort of all-clear signal for Kurds that don't understand English and tell them not to venture out until it's given.... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-2-6 2:56:56 PM |
| #8 The joke.... (This gets edited and recycled for each conflict. This version is from Afghanistan) A large group of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a sand dune.... "One US soldier is better than ten Taliban" The Taliban commander quickly sends 10 of his best soldiers over the dune, whereupon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes then ssilence. The voice then call out..... "One US soldier is better than one hundred Taliban" Furious, the Taliban commander sends his next best 100 troops over the dune and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence. The voice calls out again.... "One US soldier is better than one thousand Taliban" The enraged Taliban commander musters one thousand fighters and sends them across the dune. Cannons, rockets and machine gun fire ring out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence. Eventually one wounded Taliban fighter crawls back over the dune and with his dying words tells his commander..... "Don't send any more men....it's a trap....there's two of them |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-2-6 12:25:03 PM |
| #7 CrazyFool, what's the rest of that old joke? (it's older than me, probably) |
| Posted by: (lowercase) matt 2004-2-6 12:10:11 PM |
| #6 "Its a trick! There are two of them!" (from an old joke..). |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-2-6 11:54:16 AM |
| #5 Sure, the iraqis are Keystone Kops, but they did have tanks, aks, rpgs, and everything else that can put out lead. And come on, it's an ENTIRE FREAKING BRIGADE! Thats 111 guys taking on 4500! How many rounds did they send out trying to kill a company? Of course, the iraqi mutts learned the same thing the taliban and soddis learned in afghanistan: the only thing that keeps U.S. troops from dealing incredible death and destruction upon you is restraint. Once the gloves come off, you are in a world of shit. Props to joint operations and SF for doing the job and doing it well. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-2-6 11:23:02 AM |
| #4 The guys they were fighting were pretty bad, but it's still impressive. |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2004-2-6 10:47:29 AM |
| #3 Company-strength (111) dismounted infantry--with a bit of air support--stops a mounted attack by an armored brigade. These guys are good. |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-2-6 10:40:34 AM |
| #2 31 Americans and 80 Iraqi Peshmerga troops, aided by Navy fighter bombing runs guided by Air Force combat air traffic controllers Somebody say jointness? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 10:34:38 AM |
| #1 The Battle of Debka pass????? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2004-2-6 10:17:13 AM |