| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Sniper Attacks Adding to Peril of U.S. Troops |
| 2006-11-05 |
| KARMA, Iraq, Nov. 3 — The bullet passed through Lance Cpl. Juan Valdez-Castillo as his Marine patrol moved down a muddy urban lane. It was a single shot. The lance corporal fell against a wall, tried to stand and fell again. His squad leader, Sgt. Jesse E. Leach, faced where the shot had come from, raised his rifle and grenade launcher and quickly stepped between the sniper and the bloodied marine. He walked backward, scanning, ready to fire. Shielding the marine with his own thick body, he grabbed the corporal by a strap and dragged him across a muddy road to a line of tall reeds, where they were concealed. He put down his weapon, shouted orders and cut open the lance corporal’s uniform, exposing a bubbling wound. Lance Corporal Valdez-Castillo, shot through the right arm and torso, was saved. But the patrol was temporarily stuck. The marines were engaged in the task of calling for a casualty evacuation while staring down their barrels at dozens of windows that faced them, as if waiting for a ghost’s next move. This sequence on Tuesday here in Anbar Province captured in a matter of seconds an expanding threat in the war in Iraq. In recent months, military officers and enlisted marines say, the insurgents have been using snipers more frequently and with greater effect, disrupting the military’s operations and fueling a climate of frustration and quiet rage. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 Good to know, Remoteman, even if we don't know anything more than we did before. Thank you! ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-11-05 17:54 |
| #7 'easy' solutions have not been found Systems will be going over soon that will help address this issue. Not in every case, but in many of them. I can say no more! |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2006-11-05 16:53 |
| #6 Most "snipers" are not. |
| Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-11-05 15:51 |
| #5 I found this particular NYT piece pretty reasonable. Well documented; actual people and events. Not even a ridiculous amount of spin - it is a fact that snipers are a problem and that 'easy' solutions have not been found. NYT does not claim it is a catasrophic or hopeless problem, nor that it leaves the Marines quivering in terror; it's just what war is. On the other hand, I found at least four statements I would call genuinely sympathetic to the good guys. 1) "the Iraqi snipers have showed unexceptional marksmanship" 2) "the sniper fired from the other side of a canal, among civilians" 3) "shot in the back as he helped a small girl across a street. The plate saved him" 4) "the snipers fired from among civilians. The marines did not fire back." I am not familiar with the author - Chevers? - worth looking for again. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-11-05 15:17 |
| #4 Hé hé, NYT. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-05 13:33 |
| #3 Omygod, they're undefeatable! How could anyone stand to those Mighty Lions of Islam? Doomed! No way out! |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-05 13:32 |
| #2 Lord Haw-Haw, Ship? If so, utterly appropriate |
| Posted by: N guard 2006-11-05 08:41 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-11-05 07:28 |