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| Iraq |
| Michael Yon - Operation Arrowhead Ripper: Day One |
| 2007-06-21 |
| The first day of operation Arrowhead Ripper was intense. The Army is giving full access to the battlefield, and while on base full access to the TOC (HQ) which means I see the raw truth on the ground, and as it feeds through the TOC. They are hiding nothing. Or if they are, it’s in plain view. (Special operations notwithstanding.) A reporter can see as much as he or she can stand. Civilian casualties are occurring, despite much discretion being used on the firing. I saw three MLRS rockets hit targets downtown today (June 20) and more were fired. Watched the video feed from the TOC as some of them hit. The targeting was perfect. Our guys had cleared out the civilians, but the enemy starts shootouts using civilians as cover. American officers are trying to account for civilian casualties; media is asking and command is still unable to answer, which of course looks like a cover-up. From what I see on the ground, there is no cover-up. The number is unknown but certainly there must be some. GPS Guided MRLS Rockets-Cool! Michael Gordon is a NYT reporter who is in the battle. Gordon will be an important resource. The commanders take a break from fighting each day to have meetings with each other, and Iraqi officers, and he comes off the battlefield with one of the commanders to the briefings. I saw Gordon today, his shirt stained white from sweat. Gordon and I were at a commander briefing when one of the battalion commanders, LTC Smiley, talked about how his soldiers shot some terrorists today (June 20); on different occasions today, women and children came out and “gave aid” to the wounded terrorists. My guess is that the number of civilian casualties is not high. Gordon has been running with other soldiers, so it will be important to hear his accounts. From what I’ve read so far, Gordon has been very accurate and on target. By the end of the first day (June 19), about 30 enemy had been killed, 1 U.S. killed and 5 WIA. At least two soldiers were heat casualties, including one who was with my group. The combat has only just begun, and media has now figured out this is serious business. During the morning brief (June 20th), Major Robbie Parke mentioned that CNN, TIME, Reuters and some others, are trying to get out here now. Problem is space. Looks like Gordon and I are mostly alone for now. Others are said to be in Baqubah, but if they are here, they are missing some of the most important parts, and if they were at the important commander’s meetings, I would have seen them. The heat is intense for the enemy and for us. Soldiers, during any chance, would lay-down during the heat of day, and in complete body armor and helmets, fall asleep in the dirt. I took photos of course. Our guys are tough. The enemy in Baqubah is as good as any in Iraq, and better than most. That’s saying a lot. But our guys have been systematically trapping them, and have foiled some big traps set for our guys. I don’t want to say much more about that, but our guys are seriously outsmarting them. Big fights are ahead and we will take serious losses probably, but al Qaeda, unless they find a way to escape, are about to be slaughtered. Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and that’s the plan. A positive indicator on the 19th and the 20th is that most local people apparently are happy that al Qaeda is being trapped and killed. Civilians are pointing out IEDs and enemy fighters, so that’s not working so well for al Qaeda. Clearly, I cannot do a census, but that says something about the locals. Much going on here in Baqubah. Unfortunately I have no assistant with me, and so no time for photos or video. More soon. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #19 Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and thatÂ’s the plan. Echoing, Tony. Go team! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-06-21 18:49 |
| #18 Shield, This kind of 'aid-giving' means we need to be kind of careful about letting loose on those who move into the battle space after the shooting dies down. They might be coming to salvage weapons or retrieve their down fighters, or they might be 'on our side', |
| Posted by: Austin Powers 2007-06-21 18:45 |
| #17 Actually, the idea that the women and children slaughter enemy wounded is quite common among tribal societies. A popular revenue-producing activity enjoyed by camp followers after a Napoleonic-era engagement. The Portuguese and Spanish gals were quite efficient. |
| Posted by: mrp 2007-06-21 18:42 |
| #16 Actually, the idea that the women and children slaughter enemy wounded is quite common among tribal societies : reference Apache women and Rudyard Kipling's warnings about Afghanistan. And if the US and Iraqi armies are sweeping an area with the support of certain Sunni tribal militias, it would be a very bad thing to be a wounded Al-Q left behind for the women to police up - a very slow and painful death would await. Arab women have been noted before for their knife skills on wounded enemies. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-06-21 17:31 |
| #15 "Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and thatÂ’s the plan." *Totally* works for me. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2007-06-21 14:19 |
| #14 #7 Our guys want to kill them, and thatÂ’s the plan. Good plan. Dead men hire no lawyers. Posted by: eLarson 2007-06-21 09:52 what eLarson said re. al-Qaeda, "Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and thatÂ’s the plan." |
| Posted by: RD 2007-06-21 12:52 |
| #13 The Berber tradition is that the women and children follow and slit the throats of the wounded. There are no Berbers in Irak. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-06-21 12:33 |
| #12 Now the Rooters Reporter has got something that he can get his negative left wing teeth into: BAQUBA - A U.S. air strike on a booby-trapped house in Baquba north of Baghdad on Wednesday missed its target and hit a nearby structure, wounding 11 people, the U.S. military said, adding that the incident was under investigation |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2007-06-21 11:51 |
| #11 The Berber tradition is that the women and children follow and slit the throats of the wounded. Before stealing their boots. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-06-21 11:42 |
| #10 I wonder what this meant, "... I were at a commander briefing when one of the battalion commanders, LTC Smiley, talked about how his soldiers shot some terrorists today (June 20); on different occasions today, women and children came out and “gave aid” to the wounded terrorists..." were the words "give aid" supposed to mean 'beat up' or something similar? |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-06-21 11:26 |
| #9 the MSM has already found a way to spin it. A/P, CBS, et al are simply attributing American casualties to "Continuing Iraqi violence" |
| Posted by: Justrand 2007-06-21 10:48 |
| #8 TW: Don't bet on it. The NYTs will find a way to make all this negative as possible. Remember the chattering classes on the west side need more pessimism to go with their champagne. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-06-21 09:54 |
| #7 Our guys want to kill them, and thatÂ’s the plan. Good plan. Dead men hire no lawyers. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-06-21 09:52 |
| #6 Hopefully Yon can make some good money from the photos and interviews! He deserves it. ...but our guys are seriously outsmarting them. That is why our military is so damn deadly. It isn't only the technology, it is the fact that individual initiative and non-orthodox thinking is still encouraged. Our guys play to win. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-06-21 09:41 |
| #5 Michael Gordon is a NYT reporter who is in the battle. Gordon has been running with other soldiers, so it will be important to hear his accounts. From what IÂ’ve read so far, Gordon has been very accurate and on target. The New York Times senior editors must be sweating bullets. It's going to be awfully hard to twist the words of one of the only two reporters on the scene; Messers. Gordon and Yon are going to be quoted and giving interviews to all the news outlets world wide. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-21 09:01 |
| #4 I'm sure that any rocket is an MLRS rocket to a journalist. These are the ones that identify flares as rockets, too. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-06-21 08:45 |
| #3 Excalibur is in use,also, according to a report I saw. Another 15 AQ dead so far today. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2007-06-21 08:26 |
| #2 Those guys deserve a good turkey shoot. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-06-21 08:13 |
| #1 Good luck, good hunting, and stay safe. |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-06-21 07:23 |