Marines 'find hostage imprisoned in Fallujah' [Archive] - Marine Corps

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:04 AM

Ruth Holladay
Marines' 229th birthday bash prompts tears as well as cheers

November 9, 2004

In the midst of the war and on the eve of a deadly battle for Fallujah, the Marines threw a party.

You knew it was a good shindig by the enthusiastic "OohRah's!" and warm, beery greetings -- "Happy Birthday, Marine!" and "Hey, Jarhead."

You could tell the 300 guests at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Indianapolis were having a ball. Young men stood ramrod straight and looked mature in dress blues, beaming at dates in glittery gowns. You almost forgot how young they were until a DJ broke into the Surfaris' hit, "Wipe Out." A dozen uniformed guys went down on their backs on the ballroom dance floor, wiggling arms and legs like cockroaches -- just a crazy, blow-off-steam Marine tradition.

You could measure the camaraderie not only by the presence of the 4th Division Reserves in Indianapolis and Terre Haute but also by the veterans, who outnumbered current Marines. Their waists may be thicker and hair thinner, but they wouldn't miss this party for the world.

Despite such joy, men and women wept. That's understandable, considering this small, elite military unit with 177,000 active-duty troops and 40,000 reserves has been fighting and dying for this nation since Nov. 10, 1775, when it formed at a tavern in Philadelphia.

Saturday's annual U.S. Marine Corps 229th Birthday Ball was only a history lesson away from all our wars -- and a phone call away from somewhere near Fallujah.

Around 7 p.m. Indy time, four Hoosier Marines near Fallujah were able to hook up on a speaker phone at the front of the ballroom with wives and girlfriends. Spouses typically talk every other day. This was the first time they've done so at the ball. By Monday, Saturday's conversations had become even more precious. Families learned that from now on communication from Iraq has been shut down.

Of the 10,000 American troops gearing up for Fallujah, about 8,000 are Marines, said Lt. Col. Charles A. Haislip, a 4th Division reservist who heads the local family support group. His son, Sgt. Shawn Haislip, is in Iraq. Daughter-in-law Kacy gratefully talked with her husband Saturday, then retreated to a table of eight young women, all wives and fiancees of deployed Marines.

Such instant communication with loved ones wasn't dreamed of when Noble L. Beck joined in 1942 after graduating from Tech High School in 1939. He fought on Guam and Iwo Jima, came home a lieutenant and served 32 consecutive years, retiring a colonel. His two grandsons and one granddaughter are Marines. "It's in the blood," he says.

Beck, who attended the ball with his wife, Novella, and other World War II veterans, was honored as the oldest Marine there, at age 83. The youngest, also cited, was Pfc. Ernest S. Hurt, 19.

Two men were guests of honor -- Russel L. Eaglin, commandant of the Marine Corps League, and John L. Baker, past commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Ernie Pyle Post. The Vietnam vets raised $3,600 to buy slings for 4th Division Marines in communications units. The slings, supplied to infantry, are used to carry weapons.

Eaglin's speech was about applying the Marines' motto, Semper fidelis -- "always faithful" -- to today's world. He cried only once, when he addressed Jeff and Pam Hallal, of Indianapolis, who attended the ball. Their son Pfc. Deryk Hallal was killed in April in combat in Iraq.

Baker also wanted to say something publicly Saturday to the Hallals, but he was too choked up. By Monday, he could get it out. "I know you lost a son, but you gained a million brothers. As long as there is a Marine Corps, your son will never die."

Ruth Holladay's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. You can reach her at (317) 444-6405 or via e-mail at ruth.holladay@indystar.com

http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/193071-2630-009.html

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:05 AM

U.S. Marines set up new Fallujah base at one-time Iraq reconstruction project
By Edward Harris, Associated Press, 11/11/2004 01:54

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) Marine staff officers are following the battle for Fallujah from a crumbling housing complex where $700,000 in U.S. reconstruction funds weren't enough to win over insurgents.

The money was spent to fix buildings, a clinic and a mosque. But the effort wasn't enough to prevent the neighborood and the rest of the city from falling under the control of hardline clerics and their armed followers, including some religious extremists who came to Iraq to join the jihad.

''It's unfortunate it didn't work as we planned. We gave them money so they could do it themselves,'' said Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Garcia of Tampa, Fla., a member of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. ''It's too bad we had to come in because it was overrun (by rebels). But we're happy to do it. And we'll give it back to them again and give them more money.''

Marines said they took the collection of multi-story buildings in a firefight that was among the first skirmishes in the battle to retake Fallujah. U.S. and Iraqi officials hope to restore law and order in Sunni Muslim insurgent areas so that national elections can be held by the end of January.

But figuring out how to win over the people of Fallujah and other Sunni militant areas has proved challenging. Neither the carrot nor the stick has proven entirely successful.

Following the brutal murder of four American contractors, U.S. Marines laid siege to Fallujah for three weeks until the Bush administration ordered them to stop because of widespread public outrage for civilian casualties.

The Americans turned over security duties to an Iraqi force and offered financial incentives to the city. Money was disbursed through the Fallujah city council to repair schools and clinics.

But as hardline clerical power in the city increased, the city council dissolved along with the Iraqi security force. As Fallujah became a center of anti-American hatred, the funds were stopped.

By the time the Marines rolled back into Fallujah on Monday, only about 30 families remained in the housing complex separated from Fallujah's main population by a wide, dusty expanse.

The civilians were given the option of leaving or moving to a technical college in the area, where the Marines would give them food and water, said Capt. P.J. Batty.

The buildings were spared the artillery fire that continued nearby on Wednesday. Civilians apparently left in a rush, with one apartment showing broken eggshells and unwashed dishes still resting in a sink. Many rooms, while in disorder, were undamaged.

''Once we got in, we tried to be respectful. We try to be warriors, not war criminals'' said Batty, 33, from Park City, Utah.

On Wednesday, loud blasts still sounded in central Fallujah, where smoke billowed into the sky. Cobra attack helicopters buzzed over the city and air ambulances landed in the apartment complex, covering the area with dust kicked up by its rotor wash.

Trucks packed with mail and packages and armored Humvees rolled past the community's mosque, the sanctity of which Americans hadn't violated by entering, Batty said. Iraqi special forces searched the building for weapons, instead.

A medical clinic which had received lots of the U.S. aid money has become quarters for a group of Marines who celebrated the Marine Corp.'s 229th birthday on Wednesday, posing for pictures in front of a camp fire.

Marines said they hoped to leave Fallujah soon and hand the buildings back to their rightful owners. They hope a torrent of reconstruction funds will stream into the complex, leaving its inhabitants with the lesson that a new era had arrived in their country.

''We're trying to teach them that Saddam is gone and they can take care of their own cities,'' said Batty.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/316/world/U_S_Marines_set_up_new_Falluja:.shtml

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:06 AM

U.S. Forces Batter Southern Fallujah

By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. forces hammered southern Fallujah with renewed airstrikes and artillery on Thursday, hitting mortar positions and sniper nests, in preparation for a ground assault on insurgents trapped in this part of the former militant stronghold.

Meanwhile, U.S. troops found a hostage imprisoned in Fallujah, the military said Thursday. The man, who appeared not to be a Westerner, was chained and malnourished.

Marines spokeman Maj. Francis Piccoli said the man was chained and shackled at his wrists and ankles when troops discovered him Wednesday afternoon in a building in a northeastern district of the city.

Loud explosions rocked the city throughout the morning as gunfire reverberated across town. Smoke rose above Fallujah as helicopters hovered overhead. Marines were seen perched on rooftops. Many buildings were heavily damaged with few signs of civilians.

In the past 24 hours of fighting, three American troops were killed while another 17 were wounded in Fallujah, the U.S. military said. The number of enemy fighters killed was not available, with U.S. officials saying rebel casualties from airstrikes was difficult to confirm.

U.S. troops were steadily advancing through the city from the northern end, pushing militants slowly into the southern half of Fallujah. With U.S. units positioned to the south and east, and the Euphrates River on the west, insurgents are being squeezed into a corner, the military said.

American troops, on the verge of gaining control of the city, have been fighting pockets of resistance in this former militant stronghold as an Iraqi commander reported the discovery of "hostage slaughterhouses" in which foreign captives had been killed.

Insurgents have sought to open a second front elsewhere in Iraq (news - web sites), mounting attacks outside Fallujah and kidnapping three relatives of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Militants also claimed to have abducted 20 Iraqi National Guard troops in Fallujah.

The latest kidnappings were part of a surge of attacks outside the city — an attempt by militants to divert U.S.-Iraqi forces.

On Thursday, a car bomb hit central Baghdad around 11:40 a.m., sending out huge plumes of black smoke over the heart of the capital. Police said the bomb detonated along Saadoun Street, a densely populated commercial area with major hotels housing foreigners. At least one body was seen being pulled from the rubble, as bloodied and burned victims were carried off.

Another car bomb exploded in northern Iraq near a convoy carrying the governor of Kirkuk province, killing one bystander and injuring 14 others. Police said Governor Abdul-Rahman Mustafa, a Kurd, was unharmed.

Early Thursday, Al-Jazeera television reported 32 people were killed and about 50 injured in politically motivated violence Wednesday throughout Iraq, but it was unclear if the figures included deaths and injuries in Fallujah.

A day earlier, American warplanes fired on the city's main street and market as well as Jolan, one of several neighborhoods where troops were skirmishing with militants.

In what could be a sign of progress, the Marines began turning over the northern neighborhood of Jolan to Iraqi forces, signaling that Marines consider the area relatively secure. Jolan was considered one of the strongest positions held by militants inside Fallujah.

In one of the most dramatic clashes Wednesday, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of the Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, the military said. U.S. Marines called in an airstrike, and an F-18 dropped a 500-pound bomb on the mosque, destroying both minarets

Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs.

"When they're using a mosque to do command and control for insurgents and kill my fellow Marines and soldiers and airmen that are out here — no holds barred, the gloves are off," said Marine Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, told President Bush (news - web sites) on Wednesday that his troops were "making very good progress" securing Iraq.

"He said that things are going well in Fallujah," Bush said, adding that his Iraq commanders had not asked for more troops. 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.

Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said insurgents had been reduced to "small pockets, blind, moving throughout the city. And we will continue to hunt them down and destroy them."

"When they attempted to flee from one zone to another they were killed," Sattler said. "We feel very comfortable that none of them moved back toward the north or escaped on the flanks."

Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, is the centerpiece of the Sunni Muslim insurgency that has stymied U.S. efforts to secure Iraq and prepare for national elections that are scheduled for January.

At least 28 people died across the country Wednesday — including 10 who died when a car bomb targeted a police patrol in the capital after sunset. U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in Baghdad and the cities of Ramadi, Mosul and Latifiyah.

"As we put the clamp on Fallujah, we expect stepped-up attacks elsewhere in the country," said Capt. P.J. Batty, of the 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment.

"But then we can stop their command and control," he said. "Once we see where their fires are coming from, no problem, we just call in air support or artillery."

One Marine officer estimated U.S. and Iraqi forces controlled about 70 percent of the city, but the commander of the Iraqi force said he believed the figure was closer to 50 percent.

U.S. troops were also skirmishing with insurgents late Wednesday in Fallujah's Wihdah and Muhandiseen neighborhoods, according to Iraqi journalist Abdul Qader Saadi, who said he saw some damaged and burnt armored vehicles and tanks.

Saadi and other witnesses reported bodies on the streets, with dogs hovering around them. Residents said they were running out of food in a city that had its electricity cut two days ago.

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 the numbers are low.

The Iraqi commander, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan, announced the seizure of the abandoned houses in northern Fallujah that he said contained hostages' documents, CDs showing captives being killed, and black clothing worn by militants in videos.

It appeared troops did not find any of the at least nine foreigners still in kidnappers' hands. "We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people," he said.

But in a reminder of the relative inexperience of the Iraqi contingent, Al-Jazeera television broadcast a videotape Wednesday with a militant group claiming to have captured 20 Iraqi soldiers. Men wearing Iraqi uniforms were shown with their backs to the camera.

Gunmen also kidnapped three of Allawi's relatives from their Baghdad home — his cousin, Ghazi Allawi, the cousin's wife and their daughter-in-law, Allawi's spokesman said. A militant group calling itself Ansar al-Jihad threatened to behead them in 48 hours unless the Fallujah siege is lifted. The claim's authenticity could not be verified.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Krane near Fallujah; and Tini Tran, Sameer N. Yacoub, Mariam Fam, Sabah Jerges, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:07 AM

U.S. Marines Resume Shelling Falluja After Lull
Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:57 AM ET

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines resumed artillery shelling of targets in Falluja on Thursday after an overnight lull pierced by sporadic attacks, a witness said.
At least four artillery rounds were fired toward rebel targets in northwest Falluja, where U.S. military officers say Marines have gained a large presence but still face some guerrilla resistance.

A U.S. Marine spokesman said on Wednesday U.S. and Iraqi troops had taken 70 percent of Falluja since the assault began on Monday night, but full control required combing the city.

"(We) still need to go house to house in that area to ensure there aren't any anti-Iraqi forces left," he said.

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:07 AM

Central Baghdad Car Bomb Kills 17, Wounds 20
Thu Nov 11, 2004 08:02 AM ET

By Waleed Ibrahim
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded near a police patrol in busy central Baghdad on Thursday, killing 17 people and wounding 20, police said.

A police source said the blast missed a convoy of suburban cars of the kind used by foreign security contractors, which had just passed through the commercial Saadoun Street district.

A Reuters reporter saw four charred bodies in burned-out cars at the scene. Doctor Raad Jabbar said seven bodies arrived at al-Kindi hospital, six of them burned beyond recognition.

"A car bomb hit a police patrol, wounding several policemen," a police officer at the scene said. "There must also be civilian casualties because it is a busy area."

The blast gouged a crater in the road and caused a nearby building to collapse into a pile of rubble and twisted metal. Passersby and rescue workers searched the ruins for survivors.

Reuters pictures showed a group of young men carrying a blackened corpse away from the scene.

The blast set several cars ablaze, sending black smoke billowing into the sky. The impact blew one car into a building, its tangled remains clinging spiderlike to the brick wall.

A line of cars had been queuing at a nearby petrol station when the car bomb detonated. The petrol station itself did not catch fire.

Debris and shards of glass littered the area near Nasr Square, where a statue of a former Iraqi prime minister stands. Police cars and U.S. troops rushed to seal the area.

"My clinic shook and is now filled with sand and dust," said doctor Anwar Barnouti, who works nearby.

The U.S. military had no information on the blast, which took place about 11:30 a.m.

A car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint near the culture ministry in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing seven people.

Insurgents bent on undermining Iraq's U.S.-backed government have stepped up attacks on security forces across the country in the past week as the government launched a major ground offensive to retake the rebel city of Falluja.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6785995&section=news

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:08 AM

Posted on Thu, Nov. 11, 2004

2 Marines from same unit killed

Robert Warns of Waukesha, Shane O'Donnell of DeForest die south of Baghdad

Associated Press

WAUKESHA, Wis. — A local Marine who always wanted to be in the military was killed south of Baghdad on the same day another Wisconsin Marine from the same unit was killed in the area.

Chief Warrant Officer Terry Bellis said he didn't know whether Cpl. Robert P. Warns, 23, of Waukesha, was killed in the same incident Monday as Lance Cpl. Shane K. O'Donnell, 24, of DeForest.

They died in enemy action in the Babil province, south of Baghdad, Bellis said.

Warns and O'Donnell were the 23rd and 24th from the state killed in Iraq. They were from the Madison-based Gulf Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

"The family of Robert P. Warns II is incredibly proud of him and his service in the Marine Corps and to this nation," according to a statement Wednesday from the Marine Corps.

Warns and O'Donnell were among 340 Marines in two Wisconsin units stationed in Iraq. Their unit of about 175 Marine reservists was mobilized June 1 and went to Iraq in mid-September.

O'Donnell, who was single and a construction worker, joined the Madison unit Oct. 30, 2002, and had recently attended Madison Area Technical College, said Sgt. Michael Reiland, who served with the Marine.

Warns joined the Marines in June 1998, about a year before he graduated from Catholic Memorial High School. He was a ground soldier doing security, Bellis said.

Patrick Farrell, the school's vice principal, said Warns always wanted to be a soldier.

"That was his main thought," he said Wednesday. "He always wanted to be the best soldier."

He described him as driven and a quiet gentleman.

"The school is taking this very hard," he said. "He was a great kid who threw himself into things."

Kathleen Cepelka, the school's principal, said they planned to do a prayer over the public address system.

The Warns' two-story home in Waukesha had two large yellow bows stuck on a window and tree, and three smaller ones tied around some lights. A blue-star banner hung in another window. A note on the door said the family did not wish to speak with news media.

Also killed Monday in Iraq was Lance Cpl. Branden Ramey, 22, a Marine reservist from Belvidere, Ill., who was in the same Madison-based unit.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/10150026.htm

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:09 AM

The perpetual gloom of Fallujah not easily forgotten by Marines

By Alex Roth and Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 10, 2004

TEMECULA – Marine Staff Sgt. Robert Talley has a term for the sniper fire his platoon encountered in Fallujah this year: "Spray and pray."

As he remembers it, the insurgents in Fallujah were highly determined, if not necessarily accurate, firing from the windows of mosques and hospitals.

Fresh Marines from Camp Pendleton are back in Fallujah, but Talley and others who fought there in the spring are sure the fighting is the same old story.

The city exists in a perpetual gloom, full of darkened alleys and stairwells, where the sound of gunfire competes with mosque loudspeakers broadcasting Arabic chants and prayers.

As U.S. and Iraqi troops continued their invasion of the insurgent stronghold yesterday, Camp Pendleton Marines who have returned home are closely following the news.

They are acutely aware of the dangers of storming a city filled with snipers, makeshift bombs and booby traps. A place where the enemy, in the words of one Marine, has a kamikaze mentality.

"There are so many roads that you didn't know which one to take to get to where you wanted to go," said Lance Cpl. Jeremy Palmer. He fought in Fallujah with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which returned to Camp Pendleton last month.

"The sunlight would shine, but mostly the city would stay pretty dark, and you never knew what was around the corner that could come and get you," Palmer recalled.

Most of the Marines contacted also expressed regrets that they didn't get the chance to quell the uprising in Fallujah in April. The city had spiraled into chaos after militants killed four U.S. contractors and mutilated their bodies.

A few said they wished they were back there now, helping the other Camp Pendleton-based Marines who began storming the city Monday. Others are doing their best to keep their distance emotionally.

In Temecula, Talley relaxed in his living room Monday, watching MSNBC on his 57-inch television. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling reporters: "These folks are killers. They're determined. They chop people's heads off."

Talley, whose platoon was involved in several firefights in Fallujah, seemed slightly uneasy watching the coverage.

"I mostly watch the Golf Channel," he said. "I don't want to see the casualty reports."

Urban warfare can be intense and terrifying, Talley, 43, said, leaving some Marines so wired with adrenaline that they can't eat or sleep for days.

Before entering combat, everyone goes through a routine, he said. Some cross themselves. Some make sure they carry a good-luck charm. A Marine in Talley's platoon carried his grandfather's dog tags.

Once the fighting starts, Talley said, Marines are told to "stay as low as (they) can and then get even lower," keeping their heads on "a swivel" and their "eyes going click, click, left, right."

One of the biggest threats comes from IEDs – improvised explosive devices – that can be hidden almost anywhere. Then there is the danger when Marines move from building to building, storming through closed doors without knowing what's on the other side.

Lance Cpl. John Flores, who lives near Los Angeles, was in a firefight in Fallujah when a Marine next to him had his arm blown off.

"He just kept saying, 'Help me, help.' But we were taking too much fire for me to do anything," Flores said in a telephone interview. "Fighting in the city was crazy, and I'm sure it's like that now."

Flores, who returned from Iraq last month, said four Marines from his company were killed and seven were seriously wounded as his unit pushed just three blocks into the city.

Palmer, who lives in Commerce City, Colo., remembers being unpleasantly surprised at the resourcefulness of the Fallujah insurgents, whom he calls "crafty people."

"I don't know how, but they had training, and they are suicidal," he said in a phone interview. "They are kamikazes. For me to survive, I was on the edge the whole time. Being afraid kind of helped me survive."

The experience in Fallujah was a sobering one for many Marines who arrived in Iraq with hopes of handing out toys and candy, repairing the country and receiving thanks and smiles in return.

Talley, for one, is somewhat bitter. He calls the insurgents "cowards" who will "hide behind women" while fighting.

He says the members of the Iraqi National Guard in Fallujah who were supposed to be helping U.S. troops were either too lazy to do their jobs or simply couldn't be trusted.

The married father of two watches the news on TV, recognizing landmarks and hoping his fellow Marines can conquer the city with as little bloodshed as possible.

"We know it's impossible," he said, "but we'd like everybody to come home."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20041110-9999-1n10pendle.html

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:10 AM

Confusion and Ambushes As Marines Take Fallujah Mosque
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday 10 November 2004

The battle for 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.

Fallujah - After nearly 16 hours of fighting, the U.S. Marines thought they had finally won their battle on 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 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 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 watertower 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 one 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.

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 and 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.

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:52 AM

THE INSURGENTS
Hard Lesson: 150 Marines Meet 1 Sniper
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: November 11, 2004

ALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 10 - American marines called in two airstrikes on the pair of dingy three-story buildings squatting along Highway 10 on Wednesday, dropping 500-pound bombs each time. They fired 35 or so 155-millimeter artillery shells, 10 shots from the muzzles of Abrams tanks and perhaps 30,000 rounds from their automatic rifles. The building was a smoking ruin.

But the sniper kept shooting.

He - or they, because no one can count the flitting shadows in this place - kept 150 marines pinned down for the better part of a day. It was a lesson on the nature of the enemy in this hellish warren of rubble-strewn streets. Not all of the insurgents are holy warriors looking for martyrdom. At least a few are highly trained killers who do their job with cold precision and know how to survive.

"The idea is, he just sits up there and eats a sandwich," said Lt. Andy Eckert, "and we go crazy trying to find him."

The contest is a deadly one, and two marines in Company B, First Battalion, Eighth Regiment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force have been killed by snipers in the past two days as the unit advanced just half a mile southward to Highway 10 from a mosque they had taken on Tuesday.

Despite the world-shaking blasts of weaponry as the Americans try to root out the snipers, this is also a contest of wills in which the tension rises to a level that seems unbearable, and then rises again. Marine snipers sit, as motionless as blue herons, for 30 minutes and stare with crazed intensity into the oversized scopes on their guns. If so much as a penumbra brushes across a windowsill, they open up.

With the troops' senses tuned to a high pitch, mundane events become extraordinary. During one bombing, a blue-and-yellow parakeet flew up to a roof of a captured building and fluttered about in tight circles before perching on a slumping power line, to the amazement of the marines assembled there.

On another occasion, the snipers tensed when they heard movement in the direction of a smoldering building. A cat sauntered out, unconcerned with anything but making its rounds in the neighborhood.

"Can I shoot it, sir?" a sniper asked an officer.

"Absolutely not," came the reply.

This day started at about 8 a.m., when the marines left the building where they had been sleeping and headed south toward Highway 10, which runs from east to west and roughly bisects the town. At the corner of Highway 10 and Thurthar, the street they were moving along, was a headquarters building for the Iraqi National Guard that had been taken over by insurgents.

Almost immediately, they came under fire from a sniper in the minaret of a mosque just south of them. Someone in a three-story residential building farther down the street also opened up. The marines made 50-yard dashes and dived for cover, but one of them was cut down, killed on the spot. It was unclear what direction the fatal bullet had come from.

"I don't know who it was," Lt. Steven Berch, leader of the fallen marine's platoon, said of the attacker, "but he was very well trained."

After two hours of bombardment, the sniper at that mosque ceased firing. But just around the corner at the famous blue-domed Khulafah Al Rashid mosque, another sniper was pinning down marines, and airstrikes were called in on it, too. The issue of striking at mosques is so sensitive in the Arab world that the American military later issued a statement saying that the strike on the Khulafah mosque was unavoidable and that precision munitions merely knocked down a minaret.

By noon, the marines had worked their way down to the national guard building, still taking fire from the sniper, or snipers, on the other side of Main Street. Inside was a sign in Arabic that said: "Long live the mujahedeen." Soon the marines had spray-painted another sign over it: "Long live the muj killers."

But for the next five hours, they could not kill whoever was running from window to window and firing at them from the other side of Main Street, despite the expenditure of enormous amounts of ammunition.

"We're not able to see the muzzle flashes," said Capt. Read Omohundro, the company commander. "As a result," he said, "we end up expending a lot of ammunition trying to get the snipers."

At one point, they thought that they had a bead on someone running back and forth between the two buildings. Then Capt. Christopher Spears exclaimed: "He's on a bike!"

And somehow, through a volley of gunfire, whoever it was got away.

At 5 p.m., the marines finally crossed Highway 10 and searched the smoking remains of the two buildings. At 5:30 p.m., a sniper opened up on them.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/11/11/international/fall.walk.184.1.jpg[img]

Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times
Marines from Company B, First Battalion, Eighth Regiment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force entered a mosque from which they were being fired on Wednesday in Falluja. Fighting in the city was intense.

[img]http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/11/11/international/sniper.184.4.jpg

Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
Enemy fire trapped a marine inside a building Wednesday as forces moved to the center of Falluja.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/11/11/international/falluja184.jpg

Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times
A marine from Company B took up a position as fighting continued to drive insurgents from Falluja.

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

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 09:03 AM

US Marines chase fighters in Falluja's alleyways

November 11, 2004, 13:15

US forces unleashed mortar barrages against a guerrilla stronghold in Falluja today as Marine tanks tried to squeeze down narrow alleyways in the hunt for insurgents. Marines fired an almost continuous barrage of mortar bombs at insurgent targets in the Jolan district, the hub of rebel opposition, from several directions amid sporadic artillery fire.

The sounds of firing were followed by impacts that sent up towering clouds of black smoke, blanketing part of the city, 50km west of Baghdad. Guerrillas responded with only a few mortar rounds, and occasional gunfire could be heard from the direction of houses believed to be the hideouts of insurgent snipers. Once in a while, the menacing buzz of a tiny unmanned spy plane could be heard overhead as it crisscrossed the battered city to inspect the damage or home in on suspected guerrilla positions.

US officers said Marines and army units had established a large presence throughout Falluja but were still facing some resistance from foreign militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists. They say followers of the toppled Iraqi leader are heading the resistance in Jolan, which has been subjected to a torrent of air strikes, artillery bombardment, helicopter missiles and machinegun fire since the US-led offensive began on Monday.

Chasing down insurgents
Marine tanks have punched through Jolan to the Euphrates river and are now trying to chase down the remaining insurgents, pushing down narrow, dusty lanes in their attempt to take control of the whole city. Seventy-tonne tanks with shells that can demolish much of a building face the daunting task of tracking down guerrillas who have mastered the art of moving deftly down Falluja's tight backstreets and alleyways.

"There is a car on the right - take it out," ordered a tank commander over the radio. However, US Humvee vehicles suddenly appeared on a nearby street, making it too risky to open fire with a tank cannon or machinegun. "There is some guy over there who fired an RPG," said another commander. However, that unit faced the same problem - friendly forces emerged along streets where insurgents can dart out at any moment and fire a rocket-propelled grenade or attack from a rooftop.

An hour after identifying a suspicious car, tank commanders finally gave the order to fire at it. "Outstanding," said a commander. But the conversation soon turned urgent again. "What the hell was that? Did you just get hit?" asked one of the tank commanders as fresh explosions rocked the Jolan district and US warplanes screamed overhead.

Minutes later several tanks lined up for a combined attack on a guerrilla target. "Stand by. Ready. Fire," ordered one of the commanders, his voice full of enthusiasm as a deafening barrage of tank shells were unleashed on the suspected hideout. - Reuters

http://www.sabcnews.com/article/images/0,1059,29717,00.gif

The explosion brought down the roofs and walls of a nearby building

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/the_middle_east/0,2172,91829,00.html

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 09:43 AM

U.S. forces batter southern Fallujah with airstrikes; military estimates 600 insurgents killed
By Edward Harris, Associated Press, 11/11/2004 10:09

ADVERTISEMENT

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) U.S. warplanes and artillery bombarded southern parts of Fallujah where troops were trying to squeeze Sunni fighters in a smaller and smaller cordon Thursday. The military estimated 600 insurgents have been killed in the offensive but acknowledged success in the city won't break Iraq's insurgency.

The huge Fallujah campaign has also sent a stream of American wounded to the military's main hospital in Europe. Planes carrying around 90 bloodied and broken troops were expected Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. They join 125 wounded soldiers flown there already this week.

The large number of wounded sent to Germany suggests that fighting may be more intense at least in some areas than the military had initially indicated. Only seriously wounded troops are flown to Landstuhl.

At least 13 U.S. soldiers and Marines have been killed so far in the Fallujah operation, according to military reports pieced together since Monday. The military has been slow in releasing official, comprehensive reports, citing security.

Military officials cautioned that the figure of 600 insurgents killed in Fallujah was only a rough estimate. Some 1,200 to 3,000 fighters were believed holed up in the city before the offensive. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers said Thursday that ''hundreds and hundreds of insurgents'' have been killed and captured.

The number of civilian casualties in the city is not known. Most of the city's 200,000-300,000 residents are thought to have fled before the offensive. The rest have been hunkered down in their homes without electricity during days of heavy barrages, with food supplies reported low.

In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded on a central commercial street Thursday morning, killing at least 17 people and wounding at least eight, police said. It was the latest in a wave of attacks that insurgents have unleashed this week, trying to divert U.S. and Iraqi forces and show they can still wage their campaign of violence despite the Fallujah assault.

The car bomb the second one in as many days in the capital narrowly missed a U.S. patrol on Saadoun Street but ripped through the crowded thoroughfare, near major hotels housing foreigners. Huge plumes of black smoke rose in the air as a dozen mangled cars burned, and bystanders pulled bodies and bloodied survivors from the rubble.

Heavy fighting also continued in the northern city of Mosul, where insurgents overran several police stations, the U.S. military said. Militants were roaming the streets amid the sounds of explosions and gunfire.

In Fallujah, U.S. troops were steadily advancing through the city from the northern side, pushing militants slowly into the southern half. With U.S. units positioned to the south and east, and the Euphrates River on the west, insurgents are being squeezed into a corner, the military said.

Loud explosions rocked the city throughout the morning as gunfire reverberated across town and helicopters hovered overhead. Marines were seen perched on rooftops. Many buildings were heavily damaged, with few signs of civilians.

Gen. Myers, speaking on NBC's ''Today'' show, called the offensive ''very, very successful.''

But, he added, ''If anybody thinks that Fallujah is going to be the end of the insurgency in Iraq, that was never the objective, never our intention, and even never our hope.''

U.S. officers in Fallujah have said many insurgents may have abandoned the city long their strongest bastion before the U.S. assault and moved elsewhere to continue their campaign of attacks.

''There has always been pockets of resistance in this type of fighting, just like there was in World War II we would claim an island is secure and fight them for months after that,'' Marine Capt. John Griffin said. ''Claiming the city is secure doesn't actually mean that all the resistance is gone, it just means that we have secured the area and have control.''

In the past 24 hours of fighting, three Americans were killed and another 17 wounded in Fallujah, commanders said. The military on Tuesday put the total American toll in the operation at 10.

Two Marine Super Cobra attack helicopters were hit by ground fire and forced to land in separate incidents near Fallujah, the military said Thursday. The crews were not injured and were rescued.

With American troops in control of large swaths of the city, an Iraqi commander reported the discovery of ''hostage slaughterhouses'' in which foreign captives had been killed. Documents of hostages were found, along with CDs showing beheadings and the black clothes of kidnappers, he said.

U.S. troops also discovered an Iraqi man chained to a wall in a building in northeastern Fallujah, the military said Thursday. The man, who was shackled at the ankles and wrists, bruised and starving, told Marines he was a taxi driver abducted 10 days ago and that his captors had beat him with cables.

In what could be a sign of progress, the Marines began turning over the northern neighborhood of Jolan to Iraqi forces, signaling that they consider the area relatively secure. Jolan, a dense, historic district of tight alleyways, was considered one of the strongest positions held by militants inside Fallujah and parts of it saw heavy fighting.

In one of the most dramatic clashes Wednesday, snipers fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops from the minarets of the Khulafah al-Rashid mosque, the military said. U.S. Marines called in an airstrike, and an F-18 dropped a 500-pound bomb on the mosque, destroying both minarets.

Pool footage showed U.S. forces battling insurgents in a neighborhood surrounding the mosque. Troops were pinned down by gunfire on a rooftop, forced to hit the deck and lay on their stomachs.

U.S. troops were also skirmishing with insurgents late Wednesday in Fallujah's Wihdah and Muhandiseen neighborhoods, according to Iraqi journalist Abdul Qader Saadi, who said he saw burnt armored vehicles and tanks and bodies in the streets.

The U.S. military has sent up to 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops into the Fallujah battle.

Meanwhile, rebels have continued heavy attacks elsewhere. At least 28 people were killed in violence outside Fallujah Wednesday including 10 killed in a Baghdad car bomb.

In Mosul, where authorities announced a curfew a day earlier, insurgents attacked several police stations, overwhelming police and forcing U.S. and Iraqi troops to intervene and prompting the governor to seek police reinforcements from neighboring provinces, the U.S. military said.

Residents saw masked gunmen roaming the streets, setting police cars on fire and controlling some of the bridges. Police and American troops were not visible in those neighborhoods.

A car bomb targeted the convoy of the governor of Kirkuk, who escaped, but a bystander was killed and 14 others were wounded, police said.

Militants kidnapped three relatives of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, and a militant group on Wednesday threatened to behead the three in 48 hours unless the Fallujah siege is halted. Militants also claimed to have abducted 20 Iraqi National Guard troops in Fallujah.

U.S. Marines freed three kidnapped Iraqi contractors in a raid in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border, the military said Thursday. The men were found handcuffed, blindfolded and locked in a room during the raid, in which six suspected insurgents were captured, the military said.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jim Krane near Fallujah; and Tini Tran, Sameer N. Yacoub, Mariam Fam, Sabah Jerges, Katarina Kratovac and Maggie Michael in Baghdad.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/316/world/U_S_forces_batter_southern_Fal:.shtml

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 10:15 AM

Large U.S. Force Storms Southern Fallujah
Thursday, November 11, 2004

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. soldiers and Marines launched a large attack Thursday into the southern half of Fallujah (search), where insurgents were still holding out, opening a second phase in the offensive, U.S. officials said.

The assault began around sundown and followed three days of fighting in the northern districts.

U.S. troops launched their major assault against Fallujah late Monday, pushing into northern districts until they reached the main east-west highway that bisects the city. Fighting has been underway since then to clear pockets of resistance from northern areas, where insurgent positions were believed the strongest.

Commanders say their troops have cordoned off the entire city to prevent fighters from escaping.

Earlier, U.S. warplanes and artillery bombarded southern parts of the city where troops were trying to squeeze Sunni fighters in a smaller and smaller cordon Thursday. The military estimated 600 insurgents have been killed in the offensive but acknowledged success in the city won't break Iraq's insurgency.

The huge Fallujah campaign has also sent a stream of American wounded to the military's main hospital in Europe. Planes carrying around 90 injured troops were expected Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (search) in Germany. They join 125 wounded soldiers flown there already this week.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138256,00.html

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 10:58 AM

Local Major Dismissed From Marines In Prisoner Abuse Case 
Officer Acquitted On Most Serious Charge 
 
POSTED: 8:34 am EST November 11, 2004 
 
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Marine Corps Major Clarke...

thedrifter

11-11-04, 11:30 AM

Reported by Talitha Vickers
Nail-biting Time for Relatives of Local Marines in Fallujah

FRANFORD- The news from the front lines in the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah is mixed, but it is all one Sussex County family has to go on until they hear from their soldier son.

Lance Cpl. John Herwig of Frankford is part of the U.S. force trying to wrestle Fallujah from militants. Herwig's family members say they are trying to cope by keeping up to date on the computer and watching the television. Their son has sent a few helpful hints to let them know where he is every step of the way.

"He sent us Skittles and it's not in American language if you look at it we believe it's Arabic and he also sent me sand from the desert," said John's mother Genie.

John's parents cannot believe one of their sons is really in a life and death struggle. But they know his life-long goal of becoming a soldier is now a reality.

"We don't want our worse dream to ever come true and we just want him home," Genie said. "He's doing what he wanted to do and he's very happy to be there. That was his goal in life."

John's father David echoed his wife's sentiments. He said about his son, "He's played army when he was a little child. Now he's doing the real thing. So that's one of his goals his life long dreams, but unfortunately where he's at now they are shooting back at him."

On Wednesday, the U.S. Marines turned over one area to the Iraqi military. Experts say the handover could signal that Marines think the area is relatively secure. But, the latest numbers show 10 U.S. troops have been killed and another 25 are wounded. And, at least 71 militants have also been killed.

The Herwig family just lives day to day.

"It will be his Christmas present to us when he comes walking in the door," David said. "That's what we're really looking forward to. It may not be December 25th. It may be February or June of '05, but when he does walk in that will be our Christmas just to see him it will be worth it."

For now, the Herwig family is just very thankful for the prayers and support from other Marine families and the community

http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2548734&nav=MXEFT0nf

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 12:19 PM

Street By Street
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Kevin Sites

Even before first light -- U.S. Marines, soldiers and Iraqi National Guard troops swarmed into Falluja. Tanks and heavily armored Bradley Fighting used their main guns to blow up cars and buses parked down side streets -- just in case they might be booby-trapped -- packed with explosives.

"This is a frigging ghost town," says Corporal Steven Wolf, a squad leader for the vehicle the CAAT (Combined Anti Armor Team) Platoon. The streets are deserted. But there are some exceptions. The dead.

The Marines are operating with liberal rules of engagement.

"Everything to the west is weapons free," radios Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer of Seattle, Washington. Weapons Free means the marines can shoot whatever they see -- it's all considered hostile.

Our humvees pass by a body of a man in the center of the street. There is hole through his left eye socket where a Marine sniper round passed cleanly through.

Down another side street is the body of a second man. This one dressed in clean white sneakers and athletic pants. He is on his back -- his arms behind his head, his face seems nearly peaceful, content. Not far from him--a Russian-made Dragonov sniper rifle. From the black ammo vest strapped to his chest loose 7.62 rounds have spilled to the ground.

The Marines I'm embedded with are nearly ebullient. This looks to be a cakewalk.

One jokes they'll be sipping 'Pina Coladas by the Euphrates River by fifteen-hundred.'

There is the occasional popgun crack of an AK-47 being fired. Usually just single rounds so the shooter can avoid detection. These "nuisances are met with overwhelming firepower. The concussion from the main gun on an Abrams M1 tank is powerful enough to knock you off your feet if you get to close.

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

Down every other alleyway a vehicles is engulfed in furious orange flames.

Black smoke billows from building in the distance.

Almost to a man -- the 3/1 Marines I'm embedded with have all lost friends in this protracted war of attrition. They are eager "to get some," to pay "haji" back for the car bombs and IED's (improvised explosive devices) that have killed or maimed so many of their brother "Devil Dogs."

They are extremely likeable -- these young Marines -- full of bravado and easygoing about the danger that surrounds them. Some thumb through Maxim Magazine, others the Bible while the wait patiently to reign down death and destruction on their enemies.

"We're going to let loose the dogs of war," says Staff Sgt. Mortimer, "before the Falluja offensive begins. "It will be hell," he says, smiling after.

This levity continues until the Marines turn the corner onto a main street they've tactically dubbed, "Elizabeth."

Despite the constant weapons fire and explosion that have accompanied our advance -- this one is different -- it's directed at the Marines. As a squad from India Company passes by a way with a spray painted rocket propelled grenade launcher -- a real RPG round explodes against it. One Marines' face is burned by the powder and hot gas -- another has caught shrapnel in the leg, a third has been shot in the finger by the small arms fire that followed. The Marines are outraged. They turn their M-16's on the building to the west where they believe the shooter is hiding. But that's just an appetizer.

A gunner sitting in the armored turret of a humvee fires 40-millimeter grenades non-stop into the building -- until the gun jams.

Staff Sgt. Terry Mcelwain of Burden, Kansas is ****ed. He grabs the bazooka-like AT-4 rocket launcher from the back of another humvee. It's fire trail zips into the now smoking building. Mcelwain wants Weapons Company to fire a tow missile into it as well, but low hanging electrical wires make it impossible -- so he calls up the tanks instead.

Two Abrams lumber toward the target. They stop and fire their main guns in unison. The explosion shakes the street. But the Marines aren't done yet.

They pour in more rounds from 50 caliber machine guns and their M16's.

But as the unit moves past the building, going from east to west, another RPG explodes behind them, then a third. More casualties. A Navy Corpsman cut the pants leg off one of the injured and wraps a guaze dressing around the bleeding wound while another Marine covers with a 249-SAW (squad Assault Weapon). But regardless of how much firepower the Marines bring to bear -- they can't seem to silence this phantom enemy, which continues to fire on them from the rear.

Then insurgent snipers begin firing in front of the Marines as well. One round pierces the Kevlar helmet a twenty-year old Mark 19 gunner -- in my vehicle. He is badly wounded. He's put in a canvas stretcher and six Marines run through the streets carrying him to a waiting military ambulance.

Shortly after -- another RPG round hits a humvee, but doesn't explode. The Marines are rattled but uninjured. A Marine who has caught shrapnel in the face is led to the safety of an empty storefront -- his eyes bandaged shut -- his hands outstretched -- probing the air in front of him.

The Marines know they are being hunted. Boxed from the east and the west in a treacherous kill zone by an enemy they can feel -- but can't see. Their superior firepower is checked by the insurgent's knowledge of the city -- their cunning in using blind alleyways and the crooks and crannies of buildings to pick off the Marines.

The gun battle continues late into the night -- eventually an AC-130 gunship is called in and strafes Elizabeth Street with its mini guns. With eight of their men wounded--it is a bloody and disappointing start for the Marines -- and a reminder that to win the battle for Falluja -- they will likely have to fight as they did today block by block, street by street.

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 12:26 PM

Marines' mother keeps the faith at a trying time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Chicago Tribune
Published November 11, 2004

Jan Strand is determined to keep herself busy, especially now. Staying busy keeps her attention away from the television set, keeps her eyes off the driveway. That's where the government sedans pull up.

She works four part-time jobs near her home in the southwest suburbs--at a women's workout center, at an animal shelter, baby-sitting three little boys (she has raised four boys of her own, so she's an expert on boys) and refereeing high school wrestling. The wrestling season is about to start.

She's a tough woman, but not coarse, just strong.

"I've got to keep busy," she told me on Wednesday in her kitchen, pouring coffee, offering some fresh cinnamon rolls she had just baked. "That's the way I deal with it. I think a lot of moms like me deal with it by keeping busy."

Here's what she deals with: Two of her sons are in the Marine Corps. One son, Sgt. Matt Smith, 25, was selected for officers school and is attending The Citadel. He hopes to become a pilot.

Her other son, Lance Cpl. Ryan Smith, 20, is in Fallujah, Iraq. The Marines have been fighting there for several days now. She hasn't heard from him but she has a feeling he is safe.

"I remember when he graduated from boot camp: He was so skinny, they called him a `double rat,' for double rations. They gave him a tag so he'd get an extra piece of pie and so on, to put on weight," Strand said.

"And when he came home everything was `Yes ma'am' and `No ma'am' and he was immaculate and asked if we had spray starch and bought himself an iron," she said. "This was a kid whose pile of laundry on the floor in his room would walk before he'd do anything about it. Then he became a Marine like his brother. And I was thinking, when he talked about the starch: `Whose kid are you? Who is this young man?'"

She mentioned that Wednesday was the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps. And today is Veterans Day. The petite woman wore a Marine Corps T-shirt. There were photos all over the house of her sons, including of her two boys in their dress uniforms. What do they look like? They look like Marines.

"Ryan's in the thick of it now," she said, and laughed a short laugh, the laugh of a Marine mom staying brave. There was no trembling in her face.

"Some days are good," she said. "Some days are not so good. He's well trained. They have a mission. They're going to accomplish it, and I have this sense that he's going to be OK. Every so often, though, your heart jumps in your throat."

There are two large flags outside her house. One is the flag of the United States. The other is red, the flag of the Corps. In the garage, her black car is covered with decals, and on the trunk there is a yellow ribbon with the inscription, "Keep my son safe."

Her dog, a friendly Rottweiler pup, is named Major. "His full name is Major Payne, from a movie, and he is a major pain," she said. She looked under the table and clapped her hands sternly.

"Will you please stop chewing my furniture?" she demanded of the major pain. "He beats up the furniture, so you've got to stay on him. He's like a boy that way."

Boys are like that, I said.

"This one, especially," she said. "At least he doesn't sit on the chairs and tip them like boys do."

I thought of how many parents were thinking that of their sons or daughters, remembering. We sat quietly for a moment. I was thinking about boys.

"Are you allergic to the dog or something?" she asked.

No, I said.

A few days ago, she wrote me and wanted to talk. Ryan had called her, and by his voice but not his words she figured he might be going to Fallujah, to hunt the terrorists, the decapitators of Americans, the people we in the media call "insurgents."

"We all want our children home. But I just want people out there to think about this mission in Fallujah," she said. "I think it needs to be done. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care if they think we should be there or not. It's too late for that. Let's do it right so we don't have to go back. Let them do it right. Thank God the people there believe in what they're doing. You wouldn't know that from some of the media. But they see themselves as doing good."

I wanted to dodge a question, but couldn't. I had to ask her about looking out the window, to the driveway, and then apologized for asking.

"That's OK. I have to think about it too, about the car coming up the driveway with the officer inside. But I don't dwell on it. I know what I would never do. I would feel horrible, but I would not be angry. I would certainly never dishonor my son's life or service to our country by whining and complaining. I know for a fact that Marines would come and take care of things. They're a family. They're all my family now."

She's a Marine mom, always faithful.

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 01:18 PM

Battlefield to Boardroom

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
National Review Online
Nov. 11, 2004

"In the twelve weeks of hell and transformation that were Marine Corps boot camp, I learned the values of achieving a successful life that have guided and sustained me." - U.S. Senator (and former Governor of Georgia) Zell Miller, in Corps Values: Everything You Need to Know I Learned in the Marines

Veterans Day takes on a special meaning this year as some of our best-trained, most-committed troops are currently rooting out some the nastiest cutthroats in the city of Fallujah. There, the battle has been billed as the worst urban fight since the struggle to retake Hue City during the TET Offensive in 1968. Then, as now, the brunt of the combat has been borne by the best-of-the-best: Marines, Army special forces, Navy SEALs, and other special-operations combatants and members of elite units.

America has been fielding elite units since the founding of this country. They are vital for both our current security and in taking the fight to the terrorists. But elite military forces serve a collaterally equal cause.

Aimless young civilians always have benefited from military service. It has given them direction and purpose; and they are returned to society as better, more-productive men and women. But service in elite or special-operations units, literally has proven to be an investment in the future leadership of America.

"Our Corps is downright good for the manhood of our country," wrote Marine Lt. Gen. Victor "Brute" Krulak in a 1957 letter to Gen. Randolph M. Pate. "Marines are masters of a form of unfailing alchemy which converts un-oriented youths into proud, self-reliant stable citizens - citizens into whose hands the nations affairs may safely be entrusted."

Lt. Col. Howard T. Rowell agrees.

A career U.S. Air Force Reserve officer, Rowell contends his three, short years in the elite Marine Corps shaped him far more than his 23 years in the USAFR.

"I built a multimillion dollar business from scratch, sold it at an excellent price and retired," Rowell tells National Review Online. "Frankly, I couldn't have done that without the experience of the Marine Corps which taught me a unique brand of discipline that has carried over in for everything I have since done in the way of finance, habits and goals."

Rowell's belief mirrors the philosophy of Walter Anderson, the publisher and chief executive officer of Parade magazine, the "largest-circulation" magazine in the nation. "It [the Marine Corps] gave me pride, direction, and confidence, and forced me to believe in myself," said Anderson, then-editor-in-chief of Parade in a 1996 interview for Marines magazine. "They taught me to trust in the importance of knowledge and learning. What I am today is a result of the Marine Corps."

Last year, following his keynote speech at a national media symposium in New York, Anderson was asked what was the proudest moment in his life: He answered, "the day I was promoted to lance corporal [in the Marines]."

Former Navy SEAL commander Richard Marcinko - the author of 13 New York Times bestsellers, including Rogue Warrior - points to himself and others as proof that service in elite units builds the real movers and shakers of American society.

"Look at the success of Jesse Ventura," Marcinko tells NRO. "He made it through UDT/SEAL [Underwater Demolition/SeaAirLand commando] training, tours to Vietnam, got out of the Navy as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. Then he had success as a professional wrestler, mayor of a small town, talk-show host, governor of Minnesota, a visiting fellow at Harvard's elite John F. Kennedy School of Government, a movie star, a TV sportscaster, etc. It is this drive to succeed at anything which is a result of self-confidence, discipline, aggressive attitude, and an absolute inability to accept defeat."

Marcinko adds that special-operations training instills in young warriors the idea that one succeeds in life and war, not for self-gratification, but to advance a personal belief or philosophy that can then permeate a group and be shared with others.

In elite or special-operations units, "the food chain works both up and down the chain-of-command," he says. "Shooters [special operators] attack life daily. They always lead from the front and set the pace and example."

But is membership in an elite military organization - where killing is considered an art form - a plus on a resume for future civilian, executive leaders?

"So many people - when they think of Special Forces - think of terms like snake-eater and knuckle-dragger," Army Brigadier General David L. Grange, a former special-operations commander, tells NRO. "In reality, service in special forces does things that opens up your mind, making you think off the map. Thinking is omni-directional in special-operations units, whereas the mindset is more linear in conventional military units."

According to Grange, "Most special-operations soldiers don't stay in special operations. They move into other branches within the Army, and their mindset and standards of excellence permeate the ranks. In terms of those who pursue civilian careers and how service in special operations contributes to the future of America, former special-forces soldiers learn to deal with stress and uncertainty, and are the ones who often come up with new, unusual, and effective ideas."

Major Neal F. Pugliese, commander of the Maritime Special Purpose Force for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit during Operation Iraqi Freedom, tells NRO that simply "being a Marine, means overcoming overwhelming odds, everyday without exception, regardless of task."

Pugliese, who today serves as the Depot and Eastern Recruiting Region's security manager and antiterrorism force protection officer, says he in fact thrives on storm and stress.

"Like thousands of other Marines, I'm attracted to adversity because of the challenge and the more difficult the better," he says. "When locked in battle or something less, Marines do not think in terms of winning or losing. In the minds of most Marines, victory is always certain and defeat is unacceptable both personally and professionally. It continues to amaze me how much Marines accomplish with very little in the way of resources."

He adds, "When I leave the Corps someday, I will take with me a greatly heightened sense of what is possible, because the Marine Corps has demonstrated, times too numerous to chronicle, that anything is possible."

When asked by a reporter why he left the Corps in 1966, Parade Publisher Anderson responded, "I wanted to be a writer, but I have never not been a Marine."

A former U.S. Marine infantry leader and paratrooper, W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a freelance journalist and the author of four books, including the Alpha Bravo Delta Guide to American Airborne Forces.

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 03:04 PM

Marines celebration bittersweet as troops fight overseas
By Alicia Henrikson, Journal-World

Thursday, November 11, 2004

John McCoin, 73, retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve Corps.

But the Lawrence resident began his military career with the Marines in 1940.

"I'm kind of proud of my service," McCoin said Wednesday. "I joined out of patriotism and comradeship. I'm proud of the time."

After all, as the saying goes: Once a Marine, always a Marine.

McCoin was one of about 50 people who turned out Wednesday to celebrate the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps and have a slice of birthday cake cut with a Marine sword.

Following tradition, Marines on ships, on bases and in combat zones around the world participate in a symbolic cake ceremony to honor the Corps' special day.

It was the 14th year for a Marine Corps birthday party in Lawrence. And for the second year, the tradition for Marines was celebrated at the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University.

Most attendees said they attended the event every year. But this year's celebration, because of the war in Iraq, seemed bittersweet.

"They have a tough job," said Sam Hall, who was drafted in October 1965. "It's going to be a rough road. It's a hard situation to defend."

He said the war in Iraq was very similar to the battle fought in Vietnam. As soon as a place is secure, people fighting against the mission will roll back into the town or village, he said.

"It will take time," Hall said.

On the eve of Veterans Day, some of the servicemen said the traditional birthday party was another time to recognize the sacrifices of the men and women currently serving, to remember soldiers killed in action and to reflect on their time of duty.

Marvin Metzger, 82, joined the Marines because of World War II. He said he considered the Marines to be an admirable group of men, which was something he said was glorified in movies.

"We all kind of looked out for each other," Metzger said.

Hall agreed. He said while he had no choice but to serve, he chose to serve as a Marine.

Metzger and Hall said, however, they could have done without the basic training.

"That's something you don't forget," Hall said. "It's pretty grueling, and they expect a lot out of you."

http://www.ljworld.com/art/apps/pennynews/1100176062_marine.jpg

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo

Marvin Metzger, 82, left, and Dale Kearney, 83, both of Lawrence, cut birthday cake in recognition of being the oldest U.S. Marine Corps members in attendance at the 14th annual Lawrence Marine Corps birthday celebration. Wednesday's ceremony at the Dole Institute of Politics celebrated the 229th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/187375

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 05:20 PM

Father, son share a war bond 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
BY EVAN S. BENN 
ebenn@herald.com 
 
The headline of a Marine newsletter in 1964 read:...

thedrifter

11-11-04, 05:58 PM

Iraq Rebels Hit Back Amid Falluja Battles

By Michael Georgy and Fadel al-Badrani

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops fought to crush resistance in the Iraqi city of Falluja on Thursday, but rebels hit back with an armed rampage in Mosul and a car bomb that killed 17 people in a crowded Baghdad street.

Marines met little opposition in the former insurgent stronghold of Jolan, in northwest Falluja, where guerrillas fired only one or two mortar rounds as tanks pushed through alleys, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene.

But a huge blast sent a fireball into the sky after dark.

Marines had to call in four air strikes after taking heavy fire at their headquarters in central Falluja, the BBC reported. Its correspondent with the Marines said a rifle company had come under continuous fire when it pushed out of the base into the city on a house-to-house search for insurgents.

Jolan, a stronghold for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) loyalists, had seen some of the fiercest fighting of this week's U.S.-led offensive in the Sunni Muslim city, 32 miles west of Baghdad.

"Things are going, I think, as planned. We've got about 70 percent of the city under control," U.S. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS television.

Eighteen U.S. and five Iraqi soldiers have died since the assault began on Monday and 178 U.S. soldiers have been wounded, the military said in a statement in Baghdad.

Two planes ferried 102 seriously wounded soldiers from Iraq (news - web sites) to the main U.S. military hospital in Germany on Thursday, joining 125 who arrived between Monday and Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.

"This is one of our peak periods. We are very busy. It is more than we have seen in the last couple of months because we used to admit about 30 patients a day," hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw said.

HELICOPTERS DOWNED

An estimated 600 rebels have died in the Falluja offensive so far, but the figure had not been confirmed, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Boylan said in Baghdad.

Rebels downed two U.S. Cobra helicopters near Falluja on Thursday, the military said. The pilots and crew were unhurt.

The assault has provoked an upsurge in violence elsewhere, as happened in April during an earlier failed U.S. attempt to subdue Iraq's most rebellious city.

The late morning car bomb that killed 17 people in central Baghdad also wounded at least 20, a police source said.

Rebels took to the streets of the northen town of Baiji, home to Iraq's main refinery, and fought with security forces.

And insurgents in the northern city of Mosul set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and brazenly roamed the streets.

Residents said Iraq's third largest city seemed to slide out of control as grenade blasts and gunfire rang through empty streets and smoke billowed from two burning police stations.

Rebels attacked Iraqi national guards controlling a bridge in the city center, killing five of them, witnesses said.

A cameraman for Reuters filmed gunmen raiding weapons and flak jackets from a police station before setting it on fire.

"It's crazy, really, really crazy," said Abdallah Fathi, a resident who saw one police station attack.

The U.S. military in a statement said local security forces had been overrun in several areas, but added that local authorities were doing all they could to restore order.

A photographer working for Reuters was shot in the leg. Doctors said one civilian had been killed and at least 25 wounded in the past two days of fighting.

Apparently responding to the Falluja offensive, insurgents have also staged attacks this week in the Sunni towns and cities of Samarra, Baiji, Baquba, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad.

Six national guards were killed near Tikrit, Saddam's home town, by a roadside bomb on Wednesday night, witnesses said.

In Falluja, residents said the stench of decomposing bodies hung over the city, power and water supplies were cut and food was running out for thousands of trapped civilians.

Iraqi aid groups delivered food and medicine to refugees sheltering in Habbaniya, west of Falluja, on Thursday and hope to reach Falluja on Friday for the first time.

About 10,000 U.S. troops, backed by 2,000 Iraqi government troops, are engaged in the battle for Falluja.

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who ordered the assault, has come under intense personal pressure from Islamist militants who kidnapped three of his relatives on Tuesday.

The militants have threatened to behead Allawi's 75-year-old cousin Ghazi and two women relatives unless he calls off the assault. The government has said its policy will not change.

Weeping relatives of one of the hostages said on a videotape aired by Lebanon's LBC television that she was nine months pregnant and begged her captors to free her.

Allawi and his U.S. backers have vowed to pacify Falluja and the rest of the country before elections due in January.

(Additional reporting by Maher al-Thanoon in Mosul, Aref Mohammed in Kirkuk, Luke Baker and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad, Joseph Logan in Beirut, Dubai, Washington and Berlin bureaux)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=2&u=/nm/20041111/ts_nm/iraq_dc_863

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 07:01 PM

Young Purple Heart winner applauded at ceremony
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRUCE SMITH
Associated Press

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Dozens of veterans, some into their 80s, stood and applauded one of the nation's youngest Purple Heart recipients, Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Riccio, during a Veterans Day ceremony in a city park on Thursday.

"This young man is truly an American hero," Mayor Keith Summey said. "Not only has he done what he needed to do and paid a price, his attitude is one of thankfulness for the men and women who fought with him."

Riccio, who was born on the Fourth of July and who wanted to be a soldier from childhood, was severely wounded in Iraq in June when shrapnel from a mortar round passed through his brain.

Riccio, who turned 19 this year, is a 2003 graduate of West Ashley High School and shipped off to Iraq with the Marines last March.

"I guess you could say I grew up quick," he said. "I was 18 years old, a gunner, a Humvee driver and engaged in firefights against insurgents in Fallujah."

He described how his platoon was resting under a palm grove near Fallujah in 120-degree heat when mortars fired by insurgents screamed into the towering palms spraying the area with shrapnel .

Riccio found out later how a Navy corpsman held his head together on a 30-mile drive to a first aid station. He was later evacuated to this country and has had numerous operations, the most recent this past Tuesday.

"Thanks to the valor and dedication of my fellow service members as well as the many prayers of the Charleston community, I am still alive," he said.

Riccio's father is a policeman and he hopes to become a policeman himself after his Marine service.

"I am proud to serve my country and am eternally grateful for the service members who saved my life," he said. "Please continue to pray for all our service members fighting for freedom and, most of all: Semper fi."

Semper fidelis is a Latin phrase meaning "always faithful." It is the Marine Corps motto.

During the ceremony, the city bestowed commemorative medals on more than 200 area veterans. Each had a depiction of a flag and eagle.

Nearby, flanked by red, white and blue wreaths, was a sign listing the names of the more than 1,100 U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.

"Each one of you is a hero because you fought to maintain freedom for all of us," Summey said after draping the medals over the veterans' heads.

Joe Lysaght of the South Carolina State Guard said no one has contributed more to the nation's freedom than veterans.

"What you have given to your country is, without a doubt, the greatest gift known to mankind - the preservation of freedom for all," he said.

He urged Americans to say thank you to all veterans.

"Just lean over and say thank you. It will mean more than any medals that could have been awarded or were awarded," he said. "Two little words that mean so very much."

Ellie

thedrifter

11-11-04, 09:24 PM

FANS IN IRAQ GET 'LOUD AND CHEERY' FOR TEAM

By ED MORAN

morane@phillynews.com

MARINE SGT. Anh Nguyen knows what a tough day at work is like.

On missions in Ramadi, Iraq, there is almost no other kind. Getting back to base safely counts as a success. Making a friend among the locals on the way counts as a win.

Losing a football game, even losing as badly as the Eagles did Sunday in Pittsburgh, well, that's just a bump in the road as far as Nguyen, and his buddies from a Marine reserve unit based in West Trenton, is concerned.

They're not about to jump off the Eagles' bandwagon over it.

"The Eagles are my team," Nguyen said Tuesday during an Internet conversation. "They won seven straight games. Can't win them all, I guess."

Now that's fan loyalty, especially for a guy who hasn't seen a game this year, not even a tape. He and his fellow Eagles fans in Iraq follow the team on the Internet.

(Through the Daily News, the Eagles said yesterday that game tapes are on the way to Nguyen and his buddies.)

The 7-1 Eagles have been fun to follow for Nguyen and his pals: Sgts. Joe Rossi and John Ramirez, of Marlton N.J.; William C. Dahm, of Philadelphia; Kevin Ellicott, of Medford, N.J.; Christopher Gimello, of Mount Laurel, N.J.; and Bob Racich, of Conshohocken.

"We get real loud and cheery and all of us get around in a big circle and shoot our M-16s and AK-47s and other guns into the air to celebrate - just kidding," Nguyen said.

Getting serious, Nguyen said, "We're extremely happy and proud to hear news of our Eagles doing so well this season. We try to get group photos of ourselves with the Eagles flag and send them home to show our support."

Nguyen is not the kind of guy who paints his face green, shows up hours ahead of kickoff to tailgate, or lives on a constant roller coaster of highs and lows.

In fact, he's never even been to an NFL game.

He worked a Toys for Tots campaign once in the Meadowlands, but he didn't see the game.

"I stood out in the cold collecting toys from 6 a.m. to about 5 p.m.," he said. "And when they came around to get us, they walked us into the stadium. I saw the field from this huge gate, but then we made an immediate left and that's the closest I came to seeing a game."

But Nguyen, 24, grew up on Oregon Avenue, in South Philadelphia, and always has followed the Eagles. Donovan McNabb is his favorite player.

"That guy is a great leader and, man, can he move," Nguyen said.

Another benefit of following the Eagles for Nguyen and his friends is it keeps them a little closer to home.

"We talk about them a lot and follow them as much as we can," he said.

Keeping a piece of home with them during the day is important when their job includes running "hearts and minds" missions in Ramadi, about 20 miles west of Fallujah, where some of his other friends are battling insurgents.

Ramadi is also a heavily insurgent-influenced region of the country, and it is dangerous.

"We go out pretty much every day," Nguyen said. "It can be dangerous at times. The best way I can sum it up is that it's kind of like back home in Philly or any city in the U.S. You've got nice neighborhoods in one area and if you go just a few blocks over it's not so nice.

"Generally speaking, the people here want to support the U.S., they want the same things in life that you and I or any human being wants - to be safe and watch their kids grow. I know this because it's my job to go out and talk to them, but at the same time they're too afraid of the insurgents to do anything about it. We try and assess their general feelings and see what we can help them with.

"They usually need water, hospital supplies, school supplies, electricity. Insurgents don't seem to care about these things nor do they offer them, and even threaten, hurt or kill the good people of Iraq or their family when they accept our help.

"I do what I can to try and make a difference and keep my mind on the big picture."

The Eagles are a diversion, and a way to feel connected with Philadelphia.

Nguyen was born in South Vietnam and moved to the United States when he was a baby.

His family is still in the city, including his mother, stepfather, brother, four half brothers and three step sisters.

"We're like the Brady Bunch," Nguyen explained. "We're very close."

He attended William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs, at 4th and George streets, and enlisted in the Marine reserves almost seven years ago.

He was looking for a change and a chance to grow and experience new things, but there was a motivating factor that explains a lot about Nguyen and his faith in the Eagles: He's fiercely loyal.

"I've been very fortunate and I felt the need to give back," he said.

Nguyen's term of service in the reserves expired last August, he said.

He had no plans to re-enlist and was planning to continue his studies at Community College of Philadelphia, where he thinks he has enough credits to be a sophomore.

But a lot of his Marine friends volunteered to go to Iraq and he extended his active duty tour for a year to join them.

"Semper fi, I guess," he said.

As it turned out, he was separated from his best friend, who now is involved in the Fallujah campaign.

Like anyone serving in Iraq, Nguyen looks forward to returning home. That isn't scheduled to happen until next August.

He hopes that he can get to an Eagles game next season.

And when he does, he wants to see a championship flag over Lincoln Financial Field.

And to that end, he has a message for the Eagles, coming off their first loss as they head into Dallas for Monday night's game:

"Don't crumble when the time comes. You're better than that. It's your time. Give Philadelphia a championship."

The Eagles organization has been sending care packages to military in Iraq.

http://pdn.philly.com/news.jpg

Ellie