Article

2004-11-11 Iraq-Jordan

70 insurgents killed in mosque battle - details

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Posted by Bulldog 2004-11-11 8:10:56 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 ....and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished. A final assessment on who died has yet to be made.

Yeah, we're still trying to put the pieces together - heh.

Posted by Doc8404 2004-11-11 9:01:23 AM|| 2004-11-11 9:01:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Wow, over an hour to confirm an artillery strike. Good to hear that they are at least trying to be polite about it, and even better to hear the political and military command said, "Screw 'em!"

Posted by mmurray821 2004-11-11 10:05:46 AM|| 2004-11-11 10:05:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 "20 155mm high-explosive" rounds?

Break out the DNA kit - you'll only be testing body parts, if there is anything left. Arty has come a long way since my day: they probably put them in a TOT, finishing half into the building then the rest air burst for the nice "Steel rain" shrapnel effect.

Artillery is the one thing we have not used until now. And now the criminals in Fallujah will learn why even the mighty German army of ww2 with it spnazers fears the US Army: Our ability to put artillery on anything and do it damned quick.

They dont call it "King of the Battle" for nothing...

Posted by OldSpook 2004-11-11 10:22:22 AM|| 2004-11-11 10:22:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Oh, one other thing - "They apparently thought the smoke would obscure them from view."

You pop smoke to mark your position - asshats.

Posted by Doc8404 2004-11-11 10:30:27 AM|| 2004-11-11 10:30:27 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 LOL Doc

Posted by Frank G 2004-11-11 10:38:04 AM|| 2004-11-11 10:38:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 OldSpook >> 10 years ago they still had those copperhead rounds that were laser designated/guided type rounds. At first I cringed when they used the term mosque...and 155mm rounds.

Just like Virginia Slims...."Arty, you've come a long way baby!"

"I saw him fall off, hit the ground and bounce up. There were about five bodies that went three, four, five storeys up in the air..."

ROFLMAO!!! Good job men!

Posted by 98zulu 2004-11-11 10:57:48 AM|| 2004-11-11 10:57:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 The press isn't telling you the half of it, Old Spook can confirm. This is a small example of how quickly and efficiently our Marines and soldiers have been killing them, and literally leaving them no time to regroup. After the battle you'll finally hear about how many IEDs there were, and yet they've had minimal effect on us. These jihadis are literally clueless and helpless against this offensive. When it's finished (including Ramadi, Baquba, al Bilal), the game will be up for Zarkawi, even if he lives. He'll have no chop houses, no video facilities, no factories to build bombs or car bombs. Some shit will continue to happen, but in sharply reduced numbers, and once the elections have passed, there will be no question of the legitimacy of the elected government.

Regrettably, the only thing we did wrong was not doing this a long time ago. But if we'd done it then, we wouldn't have been able to do it with all the Iraqi forces that are in the game now. Yes, we lost face in Arab world for stalling earlier, but the Iraqi forces get to gain serious credibility as a result of these operations. They've been on the losing end of the US stick and it sucks; now they get to work with us on the winning end of the US stick, and they get to win. Winning becomes a habit, and it's a habit they'll want to feed. Belmont Club needs to write this more poetically, but you're seeing the tide turn, even if the press has no clue what's happening. Can't promise that Iraq will become a rosy, happy arab democracy, but the nation is well on its way to fending off the predators who would claim it, from Syria and Iran to the jihadinazis and FRE. A year from now the insurgency will be a fading memory, and the Iranians will be shitting bricks as all those Iranian Shia make their pilgrimages across a peaceful, free Iraq to Najaf, and wonder why it can't be that way back home in Tehran.

And the jihadis, unable to affect Afghanistan, Pakistan, greater Russia or Iraq, will move to where they can operate more freely, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and North Africa. In the end, they will eat their own.

For all of you who've turned the Arab world upside down in the last three years, Thank you very much on this fine, fine Veterans' Day, and here's a belated Happy Birthday to our US Marine Corps (from a squid who's happy to have you on board).

Posted by longtime lurker 2004-11-11 11:17:01 AM|| 2004-11-11 11:17:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 You pop smoke to mark your position - asshats.
Now, now, smoke is still used as a screen. Modern imagers are not much troubled by it though.

Posted by SteveS 2004-11-11 11:29:56 AM|| 2004-11-11 11:29:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 1 hour!! now i start to think we can loose it....

Posted by anon2 2004-11-11 11:31:47 AM|| 2004-11-11 11:31:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Anon2: Naw, if the enemy is dumb enough to stay under observation for over an hour, they got what they deserved. They knew we saw them. They stayed put. Cause, meet effect.

Posted by Chuck Simmins 2004-11-11 11:35:05 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2004-11-11 11:35:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 I sure hope it's not like Gettysburg. Kill every last one of them now.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-11-11 11:43:56 AM|| 2004-11-11 11:43:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 sounds like the US has purposely bypassed Jolan and is circling back to surround/drown the terrs there, also using the main e-w highway and the river as lemming-points

Posted by Frank G 2004-11-11 11:49:45 AM|| 2004-11-11 11:49:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 There's nothing quite like US artillery, trust me on that one.

Posted by Bobby Lee 2004-11-11 12:25:05 PM|| 2004-11-11 12:25:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Great article, but I don't get the Gettysburg reference. There was no surrounding or last stand made at Gettysburg.

I hope it's more like Custer's Last Stand--Zarqawi's Last Stand has a nice ring to it.

Posted by Dar 2004-11-11 12:26:39 PM|| 2004-11-11 12:26:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Lieutenant Neil Prakash. Haaahahahaha, I love it.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-11-11 12:43:14 PM|| 2004-11-11 12:43:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Don't know about the accuracy,but I heard aquote attributed to Napolleon that goes"Only thunder and lightning are prefferable to cannon".From the classic western:Major Dundee.(Fall in behind the Major)

Posted by raptor 2004-11-11 1:54:57 PM|| 2004-11-11 1:54:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 Nice analysis LL. I hope you are right about the good guy Iraqis getting a taste of victory and the confidence to handle these jihadi clowns on their own.

What's happening right now is so lopsided it sounds more like very high stakes pest eradication than it does traditional warfare--even of the urban variety. I'm sure the jihadi's thought they could turn this into another Grozny. I'm very proud of our people that it's not.

Posted by Classical_Liberal 2004-11-11 2:40:25 PM|| 2004-11-11 2:40:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Mow Em down like rabid dogs!!

Posted by smn 2004-11-11 10:39:58 PM|| 2004-11-11 10:39:58 PM|| Front Page Top

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