In Taking Falluja Mosque, Victory by the Inch

[thedrifter]

WITH THE EIGHTH MARINES
In Taking Falluja Mosque, Victory by the Inch
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: November 10, 2004

FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 9 - After nearly 16 hours of fighting, the United States marines thought they had finally won their battle for the green-domed mosque, which insurgents had been using as a command center.

Then a car drove up behind a group of the marines on Al Thurthar Street. Seven men bristling with Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and black ammunition belts spilled onto the street, ready to fight at point-blank range. The marines turned and fired, and killed four of them immediately, blowing one man's head entirely away before he fell on his back onto the pavement, his arms spread wide.

Three more fled. Cpl. Jason Huyghe cornered two of them in a courtyard. One of them, he suddenly realized, was wearing a belt packed with explosives.

"I saw the guy roll over and pull something on his jacket," Corporal Huyghe said, "and he exploded."

The seventh man limped into the dark streets of the city and escaped.

The battle for Falluja does not fall into any neat category, and even the messy label of urban warfare does not capture the intensity and unpredictability of this battlefield. In some places, the insurgents appear to fire and fall back, perhaps trying to tease the marines into ambushes or dissolve into the grimy fabric of the city to fight another day.

But elsewhere, they hold their ground until the buildings around them are obliterated, or open fire abruptly from exposed positions and are literally cut to pieces. Nothing here makes sense, but the Americans' superior training and firepower eventually seem to prevail.

This fight started around 8 p.m. on Monday, with the troops, from the First Battalion, Eighth Marines, pinned down only 50 feet from where they had poured across Falluja's northern boundary. Under heavy fire, they called in artillery and airstrikes but were still there at 4 a.m., battling insurgents in a water tower 600 yards away. Finally, the Americans annihilated the tower with rockets, machine-gun fire from AC-130 gunships and other weapons, and started to move again.

Gradually, they worked their way toward the Muhammadia Mosque, which was about halfway to the center of the city. They had to fight for every inch of ground; one insurgent with an AK-47 could pin down the whole company. Insurgents were firing from an entire row of buildings, including the mosque. Tens of thousands of rounds cracked through the air in all directions.

At one point, 40 marines ran across a street in front of the mosque. One fell, and Cpl. Jake Knospler rushed to drag him away. "By the time I got to the street, two more marines were down," Corporal Knospler said later, his pant legs smeared with blood.

In fact, five marines were wounded in that one incident. The advance ground to a halt again: although the marines had four Abrams tanks, quarters were too close for their guns to be much good during most of the fight.

The confusion was such that at one point, a tank fired a phosphorous round that rained down on the American troops, breaking into a hundred flaming pieces and burning backpacks and gear but seriously hurting no one.

The wounds and the exhaustion were taking their toll on the marines. At one point, Capt. Read Omohundro, the company commander, turned to speak to the young man who was always at his side with the radio to find that only the man's aide was there.

"Where's Sergeant Hudson?" the captain asked.

"He's been shot, sir,'' came the reply.

In the end, the tanks fired at least eight rounds at the perimeter of the mosque; a dozen Howitzer shells followed. The marines opened the doors of the mosque for Iraqi security forces to clear out the interior; it was thought better to let the Iraqis go into the holy place, even though it had been transformed into a kind of barracks.

The Iraqis entered, their uniforms crisp and spotless because they had done none of the fighting until then, and fought with the insurgents and won.

The day was not all destruction. As the marines fought their way through a town seemingly empty of civilians, it was a surprise when the troops leaped into a house during a firefight to find a confused elderly man seated on the front porch. He was dressed in brown pajamas and he was alone. The marines gathered around him, with the bullets zinging past.

"Afwan,'' he said in Arabic, the word for "excuse me." "Afwan."

The marines moved on and left him standing on the porch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/international/middleeast/10mosque.html?oref=login

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Posted on Wed, Nov. 10, 2004





When disaster strikes, these ex-Marines shine

Unit's latest mission took them to Florida after series of storms

MELINDA JOHNSTON

Special Correspondent


They served with honor while active Marines. Now the 30 members of the Marine Corps League Disaster Relief Unit-1 are still serving with the same sense of pride and dedication, this time on a volunteer basis.

Disaster Relief Unit members come from Stanly, Union, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Iredell counties. All are former Marines, and all belong to their local Marine Corp League. But these 30 chose to step up their service a notch and volunteer for the Disaster Relief Unit that provides hot meals and water for folks in natural disasters.

Last year, members of the group traveled to Virginia to help with hurricane relief.

This year they traveled more than 1,900 miles and provided more than 4,300 hot meals during their 13-day stint in Florida in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes.

Working with the Salvation Army, they are ready to go at a moment's notice.

Disaster Relief President Robert Burroughs says their Marine Corp training enables them to respond quickly and effectively when called.

"We're taught from the beginning to find out what needs to be done, then do it. There's no complaining, no questioning. You're told what's wrong, you're told how to fix it, and you go do it."


http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/gaston/10141816.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Illinois Marines killed near Fallujah

Blandinsville, Belvidere men die in separate incidents

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

BY ANDY KRAVETZ AND JODI POSPESCHIL

OF THE JOURNAL STAR

BLANDINSVILLE - A member of a Peoria County-based U.S. Marine Corps Reserve unit was killed Monday morning in Iraq when the ground beneath the bulldozer he was driving collapsed, sending him and another man into the Euphrates River.
Cpl. Joshua D. Palmer, 24, of Blandinsville in McDonough County, was building a fighting position on the Fallujah peninsula when the ground gave way, sending the Caterpillar Inc.-built D7 dozer into the river, said Lt. Col. Steven Melbourne of Company C, 6th Engineering Support Battalion.

Also killed was Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lam, 22, of Queens, N.Y., who was not part of the Peoria reserve unit. The cause of death for the two men was not known, though drowning was suspected.

Nearby, Lance Cpl. Branden Ramey, 22, of Belvidere was killed near Fallujah, one of at least 10 U.S. casualties Monday as troops pushed to retake the insurgent stronghold. Ramey's fiancee, Stacey Lee, said the family had been notified of his death but didn't know how he died. He had proposed to her in a phone call just last week, she said.

Ramey was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines G Company, based in Madison, Wis.

Flags flew at half-staff Tuesday at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center near Bellevue, where Palmer's unit is based.

In Hancock County, flags in downtown LaHarpe and at the town's high school were lowered to half-staff Tuesday as word spread of Palmer's death.

He was a 1999 graduate of LaHarpe High School and a native of rural Blandinsville.

LaHarpe Superintendent Jo Campbell said school officials met with the faculty early Tuesday morning and told them the news. Campbell wasn't sure how students in the district were told.

His parents still live in rural Blandinsville but could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

One of Palmer's high school classmates, Jesse Jones, 23, of LaHarpe remembered him as a "good guy." Jones said he learned of Palmer's death Monday from a co-worker at the motorcycle shop where he works, east of LaHarpe.

"(Palmer) loved to work on motorcycles," Jones said Tuesday. "He was always there when people needed them, and he was up for anything. He was always ready to hang out with his friends."

Palmer's death is the third suffered by Company C in Iraq and the second military death in Iraq connected to LaHarpe, which has fewer than 1,400 residents.

In March 2004, Marine Cpl. Evan James, 20, of LaHarpe drowned in the Saddam Canal in southeast Iraq while swimming across the waterway. Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 28, of Davenport, Iowa, also drowned.

"You don't even think of it happening once. But happening twice, that's what really shakes you up," said LaHarpe Mayor Kenneth Brown.

Melbourne described Palmer as an "outstanding" Marine who had joined the reserves after serving last year in Iraq as an active duty Marine with another unit. While in Iraq last year, Palmer earned the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a combat "V" for valor, Melbourne said.

Palmer had been back in the area visiting between tours.

"He came back to his small town atmosphere and had time to reflect and think about it," Melbourne said. "He was in the first OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and felt there was unfinished business there.

"He wanted to go back and be part of the rebuilding effort," Melbourne added.

A heavy equipment operator, Palmer joined Company C in late June but the Peoria unit had no room for him. While he joined "Charlie" Company, he was attached to a similar reserve unit, Company A, 6th Engineering Support Battalion, of Battle Creek, Mich.

The military often reallocates troops as needed, so it's not unheard for a member of one unit to be assigned to another one. Lam was an active duty Marine from a New York unit but was also attached to the Battle Creek unit, Melbourne said.

Based on initial reports, Palmer was driving the bulldozer and Lam was his "ground guide," one who stands in front of or behind the equipment to make sure no one gets run over. At some point, the earth gave way. It was unknown whether the two Marines were involved in the assault on the city of Fallujah or just working in the vicinity.

The D-7 is a standard military bulldozer, equipped with some armor but not as much as those used by the Israeli Defense Forces, Melbourne said.

The two were part of a four-man detachment crossing the 100-meter-wide canal to set up a security post on the other side.

Some say that as combat engineers, the reservists do the three B's - build, blow things up or breach obstacles. Last year was the first time Company C was mobilized since the Korean War, when it was an infantry unit.

This year, the unit was mobilized again for its second tour of duty.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/111004/REG_B4MIB3NE.046.shtml


Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. Marines push through rebel area in Falluja
Wed 10 November, 2004 07:08

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines have pushed through a key rebel area in Falluja, but are still facing some insurgent resistance, a Marine officer says.

"We've reached the heart of Jolan," Major Clark Watson said of a northwestern district of the Iraqi city where insurgents have long had a strong presence.

"We have pushed through four square kilometres, but it's too early to say we are controlling it," he told Reuters on Wednesday. "That will take time because there will always be pockets of resistance."

Watson, of the 1st Battalion of Marine infantry, said guerrillas were fighting back, but not as hard as expected.

"It wasn't as much as we thought it would be, but they have put up resistance," he said.

U.S.-led forces spearheaded by Marines launched an assault on Falluja on Monday night aimed at clearing the city of insurgents and foreign fighters said to be holed up there.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=618293&section=news

Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S. Forces Hold 70 Percent of Fallujah

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - American forces bottled up guerrillas in a narrow strip of Fallujah's alleys and streets Wednesday after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the insurgent stronghold. In Baghdad, kidnappers abducted two members of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family, the government said.


A militant group calling itself Ansar al-Jihad claimed in a Web posting to have carried out the kidnapping and threatened to behead the hostages within 48 hours unless the siege of Fallujah was lifted and prisoners were freed. The claim's authenticity could not immediately be verified.


Armed men snatched one of the prime minister's cousins, Ghazi Allawi, and the cousin's daughter-in-law from their home in Baghdad's western Yarmouk neighborhood Tuesday night, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said. "Ghazi Allawi is 75 years old. He has no political affiliation, and is not holding a government post," al-Naqeeb said.


Ansar al-Jihad said in its Web posting that it abducted three people — a cousin of Allawi, the cousin's wife and another relative. "We promise Allah and his messenger that if the agent government doesn't respond to our demands within 48 hours, they (the hostages) will be beheaded," the statement said. Police had initially said that three relatives were kidnapped.


Insurgents have been trying to open a "second front" with a wave of attacks to divert U.S. forces from their offensive in Fallujah.


In Fallujah, the military said U.S. troops pushed insurgents into a section of the city flanking the main east-west highway that bisects the rebel bastion. At least 71 militants had been killed as of the beginning of the third day of intense urban combat, the military said, with the casualty figure expected to rise sharply once U.S. forces account for Iraqis and foreign fighters killed in airstrikes.


As of Tuesday night, 10 U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi security force had been killed, a toll that already equaled the number of American troops who died when Marines besieged the city for three weeks in April.


Major Francis Piccoli, of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, characterized fighting overnight as "light to moderate" and said U.S. casualties were "extremely light."


Piccoli said U.S. forces that pushed south through Fallujah's central highway overnight now control 70 percent of the city. He said troops would move on Wednesday into the strip of territory where guerrillas were bottled up. "The heart of the city is what's in focus now," he said.


The northwestern neighborhood of Jolan, the historic warren of crooked streets where Sunni militants and foreign fighters had rigged boobytraps, was now "secured and under control," he said, although Marines were expected to continue house-to-house searches for fighters and weapons.


About 100 men, women and children left their homes in Fallujah and made their way to American positions in the south of the city where they gave themselves up Wednesday, an officer from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division said. The group was to be searched for weapons and questioned, and all military-age men would be detained, the officer said.


Most of Fallujah's 200,000 to 300,000 residents are believed to have fled the city before the U.S. assault. Civilian casualties in the attack are not known, though U.S. commanders say they believe they are low. Officers on Tuesday said few civilians have tried to leave during the fighting, though a funeral procession was allowed to exit the city.


Marine reports Wednesday said 25 American troops and 16 Iraqi soldiers were wounded.


Also Wednesday, one U.S. soldier was killed and a second was wounded by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. In northern Iraq (news - web sites), six Iraqi soldiers died and two were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near an Iraqi military camp.


Guerrillas trying to open a "second front" have launched a wave of attacks that have killed at least 13 Americans since Monday — apart from the Fallujah operation. For the first time in a year, Allawi declared a nighttime curfew in Baghdad and its surroundings.


U.S. troops in Fallujah advanced a block or two behind a curtain of firepower laid down by as many as eight attack aircraft — including jets and helicopter gunships — which blasted guerrilla positions and raked the streets with rocket, cannon and machine-gun fire.


Small groups of guerrillas, armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns, engaged U.S. troops, then fell back. U.S. troops inspected houses along Fallujah's streets and ran across adjoining alleyways, mindful of snipers.





Despite resistance being lighter than expected, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Tuesday he still predicted "several more days of tough urban fighting" as insurgents fell back toward the southern end of the city, perhaps for a last stand.

"I'm surprised how quickly (resistance) broke and how quickly they ran away, a force of foreign fighters who were supposed to fight to the death," Lt. Col. Pete Newell, a battalion commander in the 1st Infantry Division, told CNN.

The U.S. advance in Fallujah was more rapid than in April, when insurgents fought a force of fewer than 2,000 Marines to a standstill in a three-week siege. It ended with the Americans handing over the city to a local force, which lost control to Islamic militants.

This time, the U.S. military has sent up to 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops into the battle, backed by tanks, artillery and attack aircraft.

"The enemy is fighting hard but not to the death," Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the multinational ground force commander in Iraq, told a Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference relayed by video from Iraq. "There is not a sense that he is staying in particular places. He is continuing to fall back or he dies in those positions."

Metz said Iraqi soldiers searched several mosques Tuesday and found "lots of munitions and weapons."

Although capturing or killing the senior insurgent leadership is a goal of the operation, Metz said he believed the most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had escaped Fallujah.

It was unclear how many insurgents stayed in the city for the fight. Metz said troops have captured a very small number of insurgent fighters and "imposed significant casualties against the enemy."

Before the major ground assault that began Monday night, the U.S. military reported 42 insurgents killed. Fallujah doctors reported 12 people dead. Since then, there has been no specific information on Iraqi death tolls.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington; Jim Krane near Fallujah; and Tini Tran, Mariam Fam, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Corporal Receives Purple Heart

By U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. G. Lane Miley
2nd Force Service Support Group

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Nov. 8, 2004 — Marines from Headquarters and Service Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group, gained new realization of how real the possibility of being a casualty of war is, Oct. 22, when one of their own was awarded the Purple Heart.

Cpl. Gaozoua D. Lo, a radio operator with Communications Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, received the medal during a formation before her battalion’s Marines and sailors.

Lo earned the medal when her seven-ton transport vehicle was hit with an improvised explosive device Aug. 26, while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom II with Marine Expeditionary Unit Service Support Group-24 in Iraq. Lo’s convoy was en route to Fallujah to pick up vehicles at the time of the attack.

The native of Fresno, Calif., said when the vehicle was hit she was tossed around and bombarded with many feelings including pain, disorientation and fear. There was blood everywhere, she added. “There was white smoke surrounding me and I saw blood dripping. The next thing I heard was somebody yelling to get a (medical evacuation),” Lo recounted.

The attack, which sent shrapnel into her head and face, also injured five other Marines and killed one. Despite the confusion the Marines faced, they quickly employed their training by setting up a security perimeter and caring for their wounded.

Lo said the more able-bodied passengers in her convoy would not allow her to aid her other fallen comrades. An Army Blackhawk evacuated the injured to a local hospital in Iraq, to sustain the patients who were taken to Germany for further treatment.

Now, two months later, Lo’s wounds have healed and she has been returned to full-duty status. After presenting Lo with the Purple Heart, Lt. Col. John R. Gambrino, commanding officer, shared a few words with the Marines and sailors.

He stressed that Lo and the others involved in the incident were support Marines just like them; radio operators, vehicle drivers, an engineer and two military policemen. He told them to keep that fact in mind next year when they deploy and not to become complacent or think it is one of those things that cannot happen to them.

“Take some motivation from this…she is now back to full duty and wants to go back,” Gambrino said.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

U.S.-Led Assault Marks Advances Against Falluja <br />
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br />
By DEXTER FILKINS and ROBERT F. WORTH <br />
The New York Times <br />
...

[thedrifter]

Marines sweep into rebellious city of Fallujah


AGENCIES , BAGHDAD AND FALLUJAH, IRAQ
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004,Page 1

US Marines punched to the heart of Fallujah yesterday after fierce fighting with guerrillas in Iraq's most rebellious city, a US military source said.

The source gave no details about the advance to the center, the furthest US forces have penetrated in the Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad in seven months.

A total of 14 Americans have been killed in the past two days across Iraq -- including five in an around Fallujah and nine others killed as guerrillas launched a wave of attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere.

A senior Pentagon official said yesterday the nine were killed Monday southwest of Fallujah and in the capital.

Residents confirmed US-led forces were near the middle of Fallujah. Terrified civilians stayed at home, nerves stretched by the crash of bombs.

As battles raged in Fallujah, insurgents hit back elsewhere with bloody attacks in Baqubah and other cities, in which some 60 people have been killed since Monday night.

A US Marine tank company commander -- part of a US-led force at least 10,000 strong -- said guerrillas were battling hard in Fallujah's northern Jolan district.

"They are putting up a strong fight and I saw many of them on the street I was on," Marine Captain Robert Bodisch said.

A thunderous explosion shook northern Fallujah, witnesses said. Black smoke billowed from the scene.

"There are heavy air strikes everywhere and heavy clashes in the Jolan district," one resident said.

Many families fled the city of 300,000 to escape air raids before the offensive. It is not clear how many remain.

Residents said they had no power and used kerosene lamps at night. They kept to ground floors for safety. Telephones were erratic. Even food shops had been closed for six days.

"My men have reached their designated area 1km inside Fallujah on foot and have liberated one neighborhood," said a senior Iraqi army officer.

Iraqi troops brought nine handcuffed prisoners to a railway station on the northern edge of the Jolan area where US and Iraqi forces are based. They said two of them were Egyptians and one was Syrian. The rest were Iraqis.

The interim Iraqi government and its US backers say foreign Muslim militants led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are holed up in Fallujah along with Iraqi rebels.

Doctors said at least 15 civilians were killed in Monday's fighting.

The offensive launched after dark on Monday was the second assault in seven months to try to pacify the rebel stronghold.

After a day of air strikes, shelling and tank fire, US troops launched the ground assault two hours after sundown, when Muslims break their daily fast in the month of Ramadan.

Fighters trying to show their muscle after the Fallujah assault bombed two churches, a hospital and other targets in Baghdad, killing 11 people on Monday night.

They also struck at British troops south of the capital, killing a soldier and wounding two with a roadside bomb.

In other news, a curfew will be imposed on Baghdad and surrounding areas from 10:30pm to 4am until further notice, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/11/10/2003210422

Ellie

[thedrifter]

HBO and New York Times Partner to Honor Soldiers Killed in Iraq
In Association with Life Books, HBO and New York Times present "Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq," a Veterans' Day Tribute
November 3, 2004

On Veterans' Day, November 11, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, HBO will air "Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq, a one-hour HBO Documentary Special produced by HBO and The New York Times, in association with LIFE Books. In an effort to reach as many Americans as possible, HBO has invited its affiliates to open the signal for "Last Letters Home" so this moving tribute can be shared with the widest possible audience.




Built from the words of troops who were killed in Iraq, these final letters sent home are read by the wives, mothers, fathers, children and friends who received them. Full of pride, idealism, wonder and regret, the letters by these troops stand as a lasting memorial to the spirit and humanity of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country.

A companion LIFE book entitled Last Letters Home: Voices of Americans from the Battlefields of Iraq is in-store and online now, and a DVD will be available in 2005. All net profits from these releases will be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The fund provides unrestricted grants to the families of military personnel who have given their lives in the current operations in defense of our country.

We encourage all our members to watch this moving tribute and, if possible, purchase the book now.

If you wish to receive information or have questions about the upcoming broadcast, please email lastlettershome@cegny.com. Additional information is also available at http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/lastlettershome.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

New York Post
November 10, 2004

Fortunate Son

By William McGurn

Forgive Mindy Evnin if she's not up for cake and candles today. Even if she
knows how important this birthday was for her son.

On this day in a Philadelphia tavern, the Continental Congress gave birth to
the Marine Corps almost a full year before the Declaration of Independence.
More than two centuries later in Fallujah, America still looks to the
Marines to do the job no one else can.

And no one knows better than Mindy Evnin the price: On a dusty Iraqi
roadside in April 2003, her son, Cpl. Mark Evnin, gave his life wearing that
same uniform.

But you hear only admiration for the corps from Mindy.

Until the Marine recruiter came to her home the day after Thanksgiving
during Mark's senior year at South Burlington (Vt.) High, his mother didn't
know what her son would do with his life. And once he did know, it was
sometimes hard to explain to her social circles: "At a book club where the
other mothers were all talking about which college their children were going
off to," says Mindy Evnin, "I shared that Mark wanted to go to sniper
school."

Mark's recruiter had given Mindy a Marine bumper sticker - which, he noted,
she had no right to affix to her car until Mark had made it through boot
camp. As she confesses over lunch in Manhattan, "I told Mark I wasn't sure
then I could ever put it on my car."

Gradually, however, as she watched the changes in her son and his pride in
his achievements, she realized that the little boy who wore fatigues to
Hebrew school was finally where he was meant to be: with his fellow Marines.
In Iraq last April, a San Francisco Chronicle correspondent embedded with
Mark's unit let him use his satellite phone to call home. Two days later,
Cpl. Mark Evnin was killed in action while returning fire in an Iraqi
ambush.

And that's when Mindy really learned about the Marines. When Mark's buddies
came back from Iraq, they wrote her as they might their own moms, and Mindy
flew out to the base at 29 Palms, Calif., to spend some time with them. The
young Marine recruiter who was in Burlington when Mark was killed recently
invited Mindy to his wedding - and insisted on seating her in the row
reserved for his family.

The sergeant-major whom Cpl. Evnin was driving when he was killed invited
Mindy to his wedding. And on the first anniversary of Mark's death earlier
this year, Marines sent her a bouquet of crimson-and-gold. (Actually, they
had them delivered the day before, so she wouldn't be disturbed that painful
day.)

Mindy's done her own work. She tells me she was particularly taken with a
book by novelist Frank Schaeffer, "Faith of Our Sons: A Father's Wartime
Diary," written after his son joined a Marine Corps that was initially as
alien to him as the Navajo.

"I was able to relate to him," she says, "because he describes himself as a
Volvo-driving eastern-establishment parent who did not know anyone in the
military before his son enlisted, and whose friends wondered what was wrong
with his son's private-school education that allowed this to happen."

Like Frank Schaeffer, Mindy was well aware of the Marine reputation for
ferocity in battle. Nothing either has learned since changes that. But they
have also learned what few outside the corps seem to appreciate: That
Marines' heroics have mostly to do with the courage and pluck shown in
looking out for one's fellow Marine.

So, the next time you hear of a hopelessly polarized America, remember Cpl.
MarK Evnin, USMC, and the life he freely gave for something larger than
himself.

And on this special birthday, with Marines fighting for Fallujah, remember
too the Jewish mother in Vermont, a self-described product of the '60s,
whose car now sports a bumper sticker that not so long ago would have been
inconceivable: Proud Parent of a U.S. Marine.

William McGurn, a veteran of the Wall Street Journal editorial page,
National Review and the Far East Economic Review, is now writing a weekly
Post column.


Ellie

[Doc Crow]

Great posts. Did anyone ever notice that you never hear these great stories in the Liberal Press

[thedrifter]

U.S. Casualties Rise In Iraq
Associated Press
November 10, 2004

WASHINGTON - American casualties in Iraq are mounting as the U.S.-led offensive in Fallujah unfolds. As of Tuesday evening there, 10 American troops had been killed in action and an undisclosed number wounded - a toll described by a senior U.S. commander as very light.

The U.S. military command in Baghdad said that besides the 10 U.S. troops killed in Fallujah, two members of the Iraqi security forces also had been killed. A brief U.S. military statement said there could be delays in reporting combat casualties in Fallujah "in order to prevent the anti-Iraqi forces and other terrorist elements from gaining useful battlefield intelligence."

Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the senior American commander for the Fallujah operation, said he was pleased that U.S. casualties so far were relatively light, considering the dangers of urban combat.

Speaking by video teleconference from his headquarters in Baghdad, Metz told reporters at the Pentagon that insurgent casualties were "significantly higher than I expected." Most of the rebel force, estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000, was "fighting hard but not to the death," he said.

Casualty reports, particularly in a combat zone like Fallujah, sometimes are slow and imprecise because of the chaotic conditions.

Tommy Franks, the retired four-star Army general who commanded U.S. forces when President Bush ordered the invasion in March 2003, said Tuesday it was too early to conclude that American casualties would remain light.




"There can be an inclination to say, "Hey, this is going just right.' I'd caution against that," he said in an Associated Press interview. "This enemy is capable of putting up a big fight."

Franks also said he expected the level of violence in Iraq, as well as the number of American casualties, to begin to decline now that the U.S. elections were over and Bush had made clear that the United States would remain on course.

On Monday, 11 U.S. service members died across Iraq - among the highest for a single day since last spring - as the insurgents escalated the violence in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The death toll for Iraqi civilians has been higher in recent days than the U.S. death count, as it has been through much of the war. Many have been killed by car bombs.

Dan Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute think tank, said Iraqis present an easier target for the insurgents, and he expects them to continue to bear the brunt of the violence.

Goure said the relatively light American casualties in the opening days of the Fallujah offensive may not hold as the fighting escalates. But he noted that so far the toll is less severe than last April when 135 U.S. troops died, the worst month of the war.

"If casualties in November start approaching that number, then there's some significant reason to worry," Goure said.

After a decline in U.S. deaths in May and June, the toll began rising again. There were 54 in July, 65 in August, 80 in September and 63 in October. By the Pentagon's count, 1,139 Americans have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Metz said it was remained unclear whether insurgents were consolidating in parts of the city that U.S. forces had not yet reached. In any case he foresaw "several more days of tough urban fighting."

U.S. officials have been predicting for weeks that violence in Iraq would escalate as national elections scheduled for January drew closer. They believe the rebels' main goal is to prevent the elections.

The U.S.-led assault on Fallujah, while risking a spike in casualties, is intended to stabilize that city so that a major population center is not excluded from the January voting.

The insurgents remain a problem in several other cities in the "Sunni Triangle" that runs north and west from Baghdad, where deposed President Saddam Hussein grew up and had his strongest support. These include Ramadi, Baqubah, Samarra and the Iraqi capital.

The Fallujah fighting is among the most dangerous for U.S. troops, who are battling bands of guerrillas in the city's streets. Among the threats they face are hidden roadside bombs and car bombs, in addition to small arms like AK-47 assault rifles and machine guns.

There also is an increased risk of "friendly fire" casualties in urban warfare, although there was no indication Tuesday that this had happened.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines are also the naval force of the desert
Texas native goest to Iraq for second time
Published Tue, Nov 9, 2004

By MICHAEL KERR
Gazette staff writer
Cpl. Michael A. Dowling had no idea what to expect when he shipped out to Iraq earlier this year.
The 21-year-old Texas native didn't know what type of combat he'd see or what his living conditions would be like in the Iraqi desert.

"Even in meetings it was, 'We're going to Iraq and that's all we know,'" Dowling said of life leading up to the deployment. "We knew nothing about the environment other than it's Iraq, so it's gonna be desert."

And desert it was.

Battling sandstorms and temperatures hotter than 100 degrees, Dowling and about 360 other members of Marine Wing Support Squadron 273, The Sweathogs, spent five months performing support duties at al-Asad, Iraq. They provided communication, motor transportation, chemical defense and weather services to the other units stationed at the base, including helicopter and F/A-18 Hornet squadrons.

For the first month of the deployment the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort-based unit slept in tents as they waited for room to free up in the expeditionary base's living quarters.

"It was a complete desert," Dowling said, sitting comfortably in an air-conditoned office at The Sweathogs' Beaufort headquarters. "We were out in the middle of the desert."

The deployment was Sgt. Antwan Maxwell's second in as many years with The Sweathogs. He left for Kuwait in January 2003 returning that May. He was home for less than a year before duty called again.

And when insurgents attacked the al-Asad camp with mortars and rockets, the 25-year-old Savannah native said he was glad to have had combat experience already under his belt.

"It's just like an adrenaline rush," the six-year Corps veteran said of the attacks. "You just try to make sure you have everyone properly prepared. You have to make sure everybody is where they need to be. You have to have accountability of all your people."

Responsible for keeping track of 675 Marines scattered all across Iraq, Dowling said ensuring accountability was one of his most important responsibilities.

"Accountability is a major thing in a combat zone," he said. "You have to make sure everyone is still alive and kicking ... You can't just send Marines somewhere and not have contact. You have to make sure they got where they were going, especially in a combat zone."

While both Dowling and Maxwell said they'd rather be in the United States than Iraq any day, both Marines are ready and willing to deploy again if they receive orders to do so.

"I've been to OIF 1 and 2," Maxwell said, referring to Operation Iraqi Freedom. "If they ask me to go for 3, I guess I'll go."

Contact Michael Kerr at 986-5539 or mkerr@beaufortgazette.com.

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/military/story/4165067p-3936785c.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq Troops Find 'Hostage Slaughterhouses'

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - Iraqi troops have found "hostage slaughterhouses" in Fallujah where foreign captives were held and killed, the commander of Iraqi forces in the city said Wednesday.


Troops found CDs and documents of people taken captive in houses in the northern part of Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan told reporters.


The most notorious abductions in Iraq (news - web sites) have been by the al-Qaida-linked group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was believed to be in Fallujah but who commanders now say likely fled the city before the huge offensive launched this week by U.S. and Iraqi forces.


Mohan did not say that remains of captives were found and did not comment on whether the houses were believed linked to al-Zarqawi or any of several other militant groups that have claimed kidnappings.


"We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages," the general said at a military camp near Fallujah.


Mohan was unsure if the hostage records included the names of any of the at least nine foreigners still in the hands of kidnappers — most notably, British aid worker Margaret Hassan, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot and two Americans.


"I did not look closely" at the documents, he said.


More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped this year, and more than 30 of them have been killed by their captors.


Al-Zarqawi's followers have beheaded three Americans, two Britons, a Japanese and a South Korean, usually releasing grisly videos showing the decapitations.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=6&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostages


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Starbucks, Red Cross 'Bring a Bit of Home' to Overseas Troops
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2004 – The coffee giant Starbucks and the American Red Cross are teaming up to deliver hot java to U.S. servicemembers serving overseas in the war against global terrorism.

Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Jim Donald said during a Capitol Hill press conference today in the office of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks that his company would provide 50,000 pounds of free, whole-bean coffee that will be brewed and distributed by Red Cross workers to troops serving in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"It's important that we show the support – and we have shown support -- for our troops overseas," Donald explained. In fact, he said, Starbucks, headquartered in Seattle, has 80 employees in the military now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And many of Starbuck's 85,000 employees, Donald pointed out, have friends and family members serving overseas in the military. Starbuck's partnership with the Red Cross, he noted, "is just a way of reaching into the community and supporting troops from all over the U.S."

Starbucks will ship the coffee to overseas locations as directed by the Red Cross, noted Alan McCurry, chief operating officer for the American Red Cross.

"We will make coffee and distribute it," McCurry explained, noting that the Red Cross will also ensure that forward-deployed ground troops will get their share.

The Starbucks-Red Cross coffee distribution partnership will boost military morale, McCurry predicted, while bringing "a little bit of home to the troops."

McCurry estimated that coffee shipment to overseas troops should begin in about three or four weeks, in time for the holiday season.

Dicks, who represents the district that includes Seattle, said many employees at Starbucks stores across the country had already been sending "care packages" of free coffee to U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

According to Starbucks officials, local company representatives recently donated 10 gallons of freshly brewed coffee and pastries to support a family support group event held at Fort Sheridan, Ill., near Chicago.

Other Starbucks employees from 90 stores in the northeastern United States, including New Jersey and Philadelphia, donated their free weekly coffee allotment – totaling 2,000 pounds – to U.S. servicemembers serving overseas. Federal Express shipped the coffee for free to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where it was then distributed to troops in the Balkans and the Middle East.

And the daughter of a Starbuck's store manager in Newark, N.J., who was corresponding with reservists from Morristown serving in Iraq, played a role in ensuring they received free Starbucks coffee. The soldiers forwarded a letter of thanks, noting the coffee reminded them of home.

At a recent meeting featuring representatives from about 100 Starbucks stores in northern Ohio and Michigan, store managers and partners collected more than 500 pounds of coffee that was then shipped to American soldiers in Iraq.

In Texas, the Rangers baseball team and north Texas Starbucks stores recently teamed up to send coffee and Rangers' teddy bears to troops serving in Iraq.

A Starbucks customer with a son serving with a Maryland National Guard unit in Iraq complimented Starbucks stores in Arlington, Va., for donating free coffee to troops serving in Iraq, noting the company "is doing a great job supporting our (military) men and women."

Now Starbucks' corporate headquarters in Seattle wants to "do something of significance" to support the troops, Dicks noted.

Washington State, Dicks pointed out, is home to several military facilities, including Fort Lewis, where U.S. Army soldiers train with the transformational Stryker vehicle.

The congressman said he appreciates the difficult work performed by U.S. servicemembers deployed overseas in the war against global terrorism, noting they "are doing a great job for our country."

"We hope that having these 50,000 pounds of coffee will make life a little better" for deployed servicemembers, the congressman remarked, noting that he wishes them success in their missions and that they safely return home to their families.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

City battlefield erupts in crazy, bloody chaos
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Dexter Filkins
New York Times

AL-FALLUJAH, Iraq -- After nearly 16 hours of fighting, the U.S. Marines thought they had finally won their battle Tuesday for the green-domed mosque that insurgents had been using as a command center.

Then a car drove up behind a group of the Marines on Al-Thurthar Street. Seven men bristling with Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and black ammunition belts spilled onto the street, ready to fight at point-blank range. The Marines turned and fired, and killed four of them immediately, blowing one man's head entirely away before he fell on his back onto the pavement, his arms spread wide.

Three more insurgents fled. Cpl. Jason Huyghe cornered two of them in a courtyard. One of them, he suddenly realized, was wearing a belt packed with explosives.

``I saw the guy roll over and pull something on his jacket,'' Huyghe said, ``and he exploded.''

The seventh man limped into the dark streets of the city and escaped.

The battle for Al-Fallujah does not fall into any neat category, and even the messy label of urban warfare does not capture the intensity and unpredictability of this battlefield. In some places, the insurgents appear to fire and fall back, perhaps trying to tease the Marines into ambushes or dissolve into the grimy fabric of the city to fight another day.

But elsewhere, they hold their ground until the buildings around them are obliterated, or open fire abruptly from exposed positions and are literally cut to pieces. Nothing here makes sense, but the Americans' superior training and firepower eventually seem to prevail.

This fight started about 8 p.m. Monday, with the troops, from the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, pinned down only 50 feet from where they had poured across Al-Fallujah's northern boundary. Under heavy fire, they called in artillery and airstrikes but were still there at 4 a.m., battling insurgents in a water tower 600 yards away. Finally, the Americans annihilated the tower with rockets, machine-gun fire from AC-130 gunships and other weapons, and started to move again.

Gradually, they worked their way toward the Muhammadia Mosque, which was about halfway to the center of the city. They had to fight for every inch of ground; one insurgent with an AK-47 could pin down a whole company.

Insurgents were firing from an entire row of buildings, including the mosque. Tens of thousands of rounds cracked through the air in all directions.

At one point, 40 Marines ran across a street in front of the mosque. One fell, and Cpl. Jake Knospler rushed to drag him away. ``By the time I got to the street, two more Marines were down,'' Knospler said later, his pant legs smeared with blood.

In fact, five Marines were wounded in that incident. The advance ground to a halt again.

Although the Marines had four Abrams tanks, the quarters were too close for their guns to be much good during most of the fight.

The confusion was such that at one point, a tank fired a phosphorous round that rained down on the U.S. troops, breaking into a hundred flaming pieces and burning backpacks and gear but seriously hurting no one.

The wounds and the exhaustion were taking their toll on the Marines.

At one point, Capt. Read Omohundro, the company commander, turned to speak to the young man who was always at his side with the radio, to find that only the man's aide was there.

``Where's Sgt. Hudson?'' the captain asked.

``He's been shot, sir,'' came the reply.

In the end, the tanks fired at least eight rounds at the perimeter of the mosque; a dozen Howitzer shells followed. The Marines opened the doors of the mosque for Iraqi security forces to clear out the interior; it was thought better to let the Iraqis go into the holy place, even though it had been transformed into a kind of barracks.

The Iraqis entered, their uniforms crisp and spotless because they had done none of the fighting until then, and fought with the insurgents and won.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Reality of Combat Hits U.S. Platoon
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 10, 2004

FALLOUJA, Iraq - The two dead insurgent fighters lay face down in the muddy road.

"There must be [more] bad guys around here," said Staff Sgt. Dennis Nash as he guided the 1st Platoon of Charlie Company past the bodies.

What followed was an hours-long series of firefights between the 1st Platoon and an often unseen rebel force firing from windows and alleyways in a neighborhood of stately two-story stucco houses and palm tree-lined streets.

Most residents appeared to have fled their homes in the upper-middle-class northern districts of Fallouja before the U.S. Marines began their assault.

No civilians were on the streets and many homes were already reduced to rubble, either from past U.S. airstrikes or an intensive barrage that preceded the attack on the rebel-held city.

"From what we've seen so far, the only people left are the bad guys," said Lt. Christopher Conner, executive officer of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

In their first day of combat in the current Fallouja assault, the Marines were met with sniper fire and mortar rounds as they swooped down from the north toward the center of the city.

"We've seen fire every step of the way," said 1st Sgt. Jose Andrade, who compared the experience to the action he saw in Somalia.

Much of the 1st Platoon was pinned down for hours at a traffic circle immediately upon entering the city limits of Fallouja around midnight. Fighting the rain and cold as well as the unseen enemy, the Marines dug in to avoid rocket-propelled grenades and mortar and machine-gun fire.

At one point, the attack intensified and the Marines feared they had been encircled by an enemy invisible except for its tracer bullets and the impact of its rounds.

"They're enveloping us," Nash told his troops. "Everyone has to be on the alert."

As dawn approached, the platoon was finally able to move forward, heading down a dark street where the two dead insurgent fighters were found on the ground. A third was gravely wounded and would die later. Most likely, Marines said, they were the victims of a U.S. airstrike.

After checking the bodies for booby traps and removing the weapons, the platoon moved on.

At daybreak, the shooting again began in earnest. At first, it appeared someone on a sidestreet had opened fire, but suddenly the bullets were whizzing from every direction.

"You train for this all the time," said Lance Cpl. James Miller, "but until you experience it, it's hard to know what it's like."

Looking for cover, the Marines commandeered one of the many empty houses - a two-story whose roof had a cement wall around it and seemed to make for a good defensive position.

It didn't take long for the troops to draw more fire. At some points, the rounds seemed to be coming from 360 degrees. The Marines fired hundreds of rounds back at the attackers.

"I see a sniper behind a curtain," one Marine said as he spotted a foe and opened fire.

The insurgents, Marine commanders said, seemed comfortable striking at the Marines on home terrain. They know the streets and alleys - and where their arms are stored. Indeed, many houses in Fallouja appeared to be nothing more than weapons caches.

"The enemy wants to draw us in, then strike on his terms," said Lt. Matthew Rhoades, commander of Charlie Company.

Outside the house, a white car parked in a nearby alley drew the Marines' attention. Dozens of cars were said to have been rigged with explosives meant to be detonated by remote control as Marine patrols passed.

The troops decided to fire at the car, which blew up, sending artillery shells and other munitions into the sky.

For the young Marines, such victories relieved some of the tension that had built up in recent weeks as they anticipated the invasion.

But then reality again intruded.

A team from Charlie Company left the house during a break in the fighting to remove some mortar tubes that had been set up in an adjacent field. As they looked down, however, they discovered a dead Marine from another unit. He'd been shot through the head by a sniper.

"It makes you realize how real this all is, how real the threat is," said Lance Cpl. Shane Short.

For the rest of the afternoon, the platoon was more somber, and during a lull in the fighting, several Marines took a long-needed rest.

A sudden burst of gunfire roused them.

A group of six to eight insurgents had shown up on the street outside the building, poised to attack.

One made it as far as the front gate before he was shot dead from inside. His body lay there for the rest of the afternoon. Another was found dead nearby and the rest fled.

At dusk, the Marines finally left the house and headed to the Al Hadra al Muhammadiya mosque, a gathering point for insurgents that had just been seized by Charlie Company in conjunction with Iraqi government forces.

It was a walk of about 500 yards - a dangerous expedition. This time, however, the 1st Platoon was joined by other squads, along with two Abrams tanks and a giant bulldozer.

The procession made its way slowly to the mosque, the menacing 60-ton tanks holding up the rear.

They arrived without incident.

And for once this day in Fallouja, not a shot was fired.

---McDonnell is traveling with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines let loose on streets of Fallujah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Kevin Sites
Correspondent, NBC News
Updated: 12:46 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2004

FALLUJAH, Iraq - The streets were deserted, except for the dead.

"This is a frigging ghost town," said Corporal Steven Wolf, a squad leader with the CAAT (Combined Anti-Armor Team) Platoon.

On Tuesday, these Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment were ebullient; the American forces appeared to gain the upper hand quickly against the insurgency in Fallujah, the Iraqi city that has been home to a fierce anti-coalition resistance.

One joked that they'd all be sipping "pina coladas by the Euphrates River by fifteen-hundred."

In Fallujah, the Marines are operating with liberal rules of engagement.

At first light, tanks and heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles blasted cars and buses parked down side streets, in case they might be booby-trapped and packed with explosives.

"Everything to the west is weapons-free," radioed Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer of Seattle, Wash., which means the Marines can shoot whatever they see - it's all considered hostile.

The Humvee passed by the body of a man in the center of the street. There was a hole through his left eye socket, evidence of the clean shot by Marine sniper.

Down another side street was the body of a second man. This one was dressed in clean white sneakers and athletic pants. He was on his back, with his arms behind his head, his face seemed nearly peaceful, content. Not far from the body lay a Russian-made Dragonov sniper rifle. Loose rounds of ammunition spilled from the black vest strapped to his chest.

There was the occasional popgun crack of an AK-47 being fired. Usually just single rounds, so the shooter could avoid detection.

These "nuisances" were met with overwhelming firepower. The concussion from the main gun on an Abrams M1 tank is powerful enough to knock you off your feet at close range.

The deep "whoomps" flashing from their long muzzles echoed across the city, while Bradleys wound down their 25-millimeter cannons on suspicious targets.

Down every other alleyway a vehicles was engulfed in furious orange flames. Black smoke billowed from a building in the distance.

Almost to a man, the 3.1 Marines have all lost friends in this protracted war of attrition.

They are eager "to get some," payback for the car bombs and IED's (improvised explosive devices) that have killed or maimed so many of their brother "Devil Dogs."

These young Marines were full of bravado and easygoing about the danger that surrounds them. Some thumbed through Maxim magazine, others the Bible as they waited patiently to rein down death and destruction on their enemies.

"We're going to let loose the dogs of war," said Staff Sgt. Mortimer. "It will be hell," he said with a smile.

This levity continued until the Marines turned the corner onto a main street they'd tactically dubbed, "Elizabeth."

Despite the constant weapons fire and explosions that accompanied the advance - this one was different - it was directed at the Marines.

Suddenly, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded nearby.

One Marine' face was burned by the powder and hot gas, another caught shrapnel in the leg, and a third was shot in the finger by the small arms fire that followed.

The Marines were outraged. They turned their M-16's on the building to the west where they believed the shooter was hiding. But that was just the beginning.

A gunner sitting in the armored turret of a Humvee fired 40-millimeter grenades non-stop into the building - until the gun jammed.

Staff Sgt. Terry Mcelwain of Burden, Kan., was angry. He grabbed the bazooka-like AT-4 rocket launcher from the back of another Humvee.

It's fire trail zipped into the now-smoking building. Mcelwain wanted Weapons Company to fire a tow missile as well, but low-hanging electrical wires made it impossible - so he called up the tanks.

Two Abrams lumbered toward the target. They stopped and fired their main guns in unison. The explosion shook the street. But the Marines weren't done yet. They poured in more rounds from 50-caliber machine guns and their M16's.

But as the unit moved past the building, going from east to west, another RPG exploded behind them, then a third. More casualties.

A Navy Corpsman cut the pants leg off one of the injured and wrapped a gauze dressing around the bleeding wound, while another Marine provided cover with a 249-SAW (Squad Assault Weapon).

Regardless of how much firepower the Marines brought to bear - they were unable to silence this phantom enemy, which continued to fire on them from the rear.

Then insurgent snipers began firing in front of the Marines as well. One round pierced the Kevlar helmet of a 21-year-old Mark 19 gunner in the vehicle carrying this reporter. The gunner was badly wounded. He was put in a canvas stretcher and six Marines ran through the streets carrying him to a waiting military ambulance.

A little later another RPG round hit a Humvee, but didn't explode. The Marines were rattled, but uninjured.

A Marine who caught shrapnel in the face was led to the safety of an empty storefront, his eyes bandaged shut and his hands outstretched, probing the air in front of him.

The Marines knew they were being hunted.

They were boxed from the east and the west in a treacherous kill zone by an enemy they could feel but not see.

Their superior firepower was checked by the insurgents' knowledge of the city, their cunning in using blind alleyways and the crooks and crannies of buildings.

The gun battle continued late into the night - eventually an AC-130 gunship was called in and strafed what the Marines called Elizabeth Street with its mini guns.

With eight of their men wounded - it was a bloody and disappointing start for these Marines -and a reminder that to win the battle for Fallujah, they will likely have to win the fight, block by block, street by street.

Kevin Sites is an NBC News correspondent on assignment in Iraq. For more of his observations from Iraq, see his blog at kevinsites.net.


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Militants Allegedly Hold Iraqis Prisoner

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape Wednesday with a militant group claiming to have captured 20 Iraqi soldiers in Fallujah. Men wearing Iraqi uniforms were shown with their backs to the camera.


A masked militant read a statement on the tape, but the Qatar-based station did not carry the audio. The station said the militants promised not to kill the prisoners shown on the tape but threatened to kill others captured in the future.


The videotape showed armed men pointing rifles toward men wearing Iraqi National Guard uniforms. The faces of the uniformed men were not visible.


Al-Jazeera said 20 guardsmen had been captured, but the camera panned so quickly it was difficult to verify the number. It appeared only about a dozen were visible.



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Many Insurgents May Have Fled Fallujah

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - The rapid U.S. push into Fallujah has come without the sort of fateful showdown that would break the back of the insurgency. In fact, advance U.S. and Iraqi government warnings gave the militants plenty of time to get out of town, and it appears many did just that.


Military reports say small bands of guerrillas, with no more than 15 members each, fled the city in the weeks before the U.S.-led onslaught — which was widely telegraphed by public statements and news reports.


"That's probably why we've been able to move as fast as we have," one officer in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division said Wednesday.


Insurgencies typically succeed by avoiding face-to-face battles with stronger military forces and by staging attacks where armies are weakest. The guerrillas who fled Fallujah may simply be repositioning themselves to fight elsewhere, said the officer, who agreed to discuss the Fallujah situation only if not quoted by name. Under embed rules, military officers have the option of refusing to be identified in news reports for security reasons.


The development may mean the world's most powerful army is chasing a smaller band of insurgents than previously thought. Before the assault, the 1st Cavalry estimated 1,200 guerrillas were holed up in Fallujah, with as many as 2,000 more in nearby towns and villages. It was unclear how many were left inside or had been killed.


U.S. military leaders, including Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the Fallujah operation, and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave plenty of warnings that the assault was imminent, in part to encourage civilians to leave. Authorities also didn't hide the movement of U.S. reinforcements from elsewhere in Iraq (news - web sites) to take up positions around the city.


"We gave them so much fair warning that the only ones who stayed had a death wish," the 1st Cavalry officer said.


There were unconfirmed reports that two top insurgent leaders, Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi and Omar Hadid, had been killed. But the officer said prominent insurgent leaders and fighters were thought to have fled the city, leaving behind defenders willing to fight to the death with a force of 15,000 American soldiers and Marines and Iraqi troops.


There was no word on the whereabouts of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida-linked extremist believed behind a wave of car bombings and beheadings of foreigners across Iraq and thought to be using Fallujah as a base. Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, commander of the multinational force in Iraq, said Tuesday he believed al-Zarqawi had left the city.


U.S. commanders built up a big attacking force to prevent a repeat of April's failed siege of Fallujah by 2,000 Marines, when insurgents were able to leave the city to mount attacks on U.S. bases outside the city and also resupply themselves with manpower and weapons.


This time, planners brought in the 1st Cavalry's 2nd Brigade, which blocked bridges and choked off routes into and out of the city seeking to trap fighters inside, but only a few days before the offensive began Monday.


There is little conclusive evidence that guerrillas who fled Fallujah are behind a surge in attacks on U.S. forces and supply convoys elsewhere, the 1st Cavalry officer said. Islamist Web sites have been full of calls on militants across Iraq to attack U.S. facilities in retaliation for the assault on a city that had become the symbol of Iraqi resistance.


U.S. troops have advanced relentlessly from Fallujah's north side, fighting through two of the three rings of insurgent defenses. The fighters, mainly local Sunni Muslims with a few foreigners among them, were reported bottled up in Fallujah's sparse southern neighborhoods Wednesday.


It isn't clear how many foreign fighters were among the insurgents in Fallujah. Before the attack, U.S. military officials estimated foreigners comprised about 20 percent of a militant force in the low thousands, while Iraqi government officials insisted the percentage was much higher.


Fallujah's defenses have crumbled faster than U.S. analysts expected, with resistance lighter than expected. Intelligence indicated fighters' defenses in disarray, and command networks broken down, with bands of three to five guerrillas fighting for self-preservation rather than as part of a larger, coordinated force.


Some militants have surrendered. At a prison camp at the main U.S. base outside Fallujah, troops dropped off more than a dozen men and boys, appearing to range in age from around 12 to around 50. Most were wearing traditional Arab dishdasha robes, including the black robes the U.S. military says is characteristic of the insurgents.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Vets Return With No Healthcare <br />
Christian Science Monitor <br />
November 10, 2004 <br />
<br />
After serving 410 days in Iraq with the 1st Armored Division, Spc. Stuart Wilf came home to Colorado on Oct. 2. He...

[thedrifter]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of November 10, 2004
This week, the Army and Air Force announced an increase in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization, while the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard had a decrease. The net collective result is 590 more reservists mobilized than last week.

At any given time, services may mobilize some units and individuals while demobilizing others, making it possible for these figures to either increase or decrease. Total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 154,184; Naval Reserve, 3,377; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 10,236; Marine Corps Reserve, 11,296; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 1,091. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to 180,184 including both units and individual augmentees.


A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel, who are currently mobilized can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2004/d20041110ngr.pdf.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Smithsonian Opens 'Price of Freedom' Exhibit
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2004 – Heroes of the past met the heroes of today during the dedication ceremony here for the Smithsonian Institution's exhibition "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War."

Today's ceremony dedicated the Kenneth E. Behring Hall of Military History at the National Museum of American History. Behring provided the funds for the exhibition.

Before the event began, soldiers wounded in Iraq undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center met nine Medal of Honor recipients. "It's a honor to meet you, sir," said a young 2nd Infantry Division soldier to Army Maj. Al Rascon.

"No, corporal. The honor is mine," replied the man who received the Medal of Honor for actions in Vietnam.

The global war on terror was not far from anyone's mind at the dedication. "It's always humbling to be around these heroes," said Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers. "All have paid a price for our freedom and the freedom of millions around the globe. I think if you talk to our troops who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, you'll see that they really understand what our freedom is worth. They make me proud to wear this uniform."

Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small said that war causes changes in society, in economics and in attitudes. "And wars always come with a price, and the price is paid by individuals, not statistics," he said.

Behring said the United States is about freedom. "I know my ancestors, like yours, traveled to this country, and they went through many hardships," he said. "They had no money, lost babies on the way, but they came because this country is free. This country is opportunity."

Behring said Americans pulled together because the idea of freedom is so strong. "When we really get pushed by somebody, we all get together, and we make sure that our country remains free," he said.

The exhibition has more than 850 artifacts, but it is not the things that tell the stories; rather, it is the people. "Some memories are bittersweet, some are difficult to bear," said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. "Yet many of us know the best footpath beyond war is not to dwell on our experiences, but to draw from them.

"That is the gift of this exhibition," he noted. "It tells a story that is uniquely American and that will embolden and enlighten as only the American experience can."

Ridge asked people to look at the faces in the photographs in the exhibition. "It is there that you will find the real story of America," he said. "Because while the uniforms and weaponry of war have changed over the years, the people and the soldiers of this great republic have not."

He said the exhibition depicts the legacy of freedom handed down by veterans, and that Americans are not about to let that legacy be dishonored. He said Americans will continue to do everything protect freedom. "We will meet brutality with justice, we will protect our people with all our effort," he said. "We will live in freedom and we will never let that freedom go."

Myers said America's sons and daughters have indeed paid a high price for freedom. "We must remember that war is never glorious, that it is a terrible thing, and brutal and tragic," he said. "And many of you in this audience know it firsthand. But the flag behind me and the people whose stories that are told in this exhibit and the countless American graves around the world serve as reminders of the willingness to bear this burden of defending liberty.

"As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," the general continued, "I can tell you this legacy is being carried on very honorably by our current generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen."

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2004/n11102004_2004111016.html

Ellie