PDA

View Full Version : 10 Marines Killed in Bombing Near Fallujah



thedrifter
12-02-05, 11:02 AM
10 Marines Killed in Bombing Near Fallujah
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
15 minutes ago

Ten Marines on foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah, Iraq, in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in recent months, the Marine Corps announced on Friday.

A brief statement said the Marines were from Regimental Combat Team 8, of the 2nd Marine Division.

They were hit Thursday by a roadside bomb, which the military calls an improvised explosive device, or IED, made from several large artillery shells, the Marines said. IEDs are the most common cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq.

The Marines were attacked outside of Fallujah, about 30 miles west of Baghdad. Of the 11 who were wounded, seven have returned to duty, the Marine Corps statement said. It added that Marines from the same unit continue to conduct counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and surrounding areas.

The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of their relatives, in line with usual military practice.

Pentagon officials said they did not immediately have any information beyond was what contained in the Marine Corps statement.

Fallujah had been a stronghold of the insurgents until U.S. forces, led by Marines, assaulted the city in November 2004. Since then the U.S. military and the Iraqi government have been working to rebuild the city and limit the return of insurgents.

The 10 deaths on Thursday marked the deadliest incident for Marines in Iraq since 14 were killed by a roadside bomb on Aug. 3 near Haditha, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. Those Marines were traveling in a lightly armored amphibious assault vehicle when it hit the bomb, flipped into the air and exploded in a fireball.

Ellie

Rest In Peace

rb1651
12-02-05, 11:06 AM
Rest in Peace, Brothers, Rest in Peace.

Ron

thedrifter
12-02-05, 11:21 AM
HE FINAL INSPECTION

The Marine stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes wew shining
Just as brightly as his brass.
"Step forward now, you Marine,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other check?
To My Church have you been true?"
The Marine squared his shoulders said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't,
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint.
I've had to work most Sundays
And at times, my talk was tough,
And sometimes I"ve been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep...
Through, I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
And I never passed a cry for help,
Though, at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here,
They never wanted around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Marine waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God,
"Step forward now, you Marine,
You've borne your burdens well,
Walk peacefully on Heaven's street,
You've done your time in Hell."

TO ALL THAT SERVE,
SEMPER FIDELIS

:cry:

yellowwing
12-02-05, 11:48 AM
Semper Fi, Bros! Rest easy :(

Osotogary
12-02-05, 01:21 PM
This type of news is never an easy read. May the fallen find the peace and comfort that they so richly deserve. Rest in peace.

thedrifter
12-02-05, 02:58 PM
December 02, 2005
Roadside bomb kills 10 Marines
By Robert Burns
Associated Press

Ten Marines on foot patrol were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb near Fallujah, Iraq, in one of the deadliest attack on American troops in recent months, the Marine Corps announced on Friday.

They were hit Thursday by a roadside bomb, which the military calls an improvised explosive device, or IED, made from several large artillery shells, the Marines said in a brief statement. IEDs are the most common cause of U.S. casualties in Iraq.

The Marines were attacked outside of Fallujah, about 30 miles west of Baghdad. Of the 11 who were wounded, seven have returned to duty, the Marine Corps statement said. It added that Marines from the same unit continue to conduct counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and surrounding areas.

The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of their relatives, in line with usual military practice. The Marines were from Regimental Combat Team 8, of the 2nd Marine Division.

Pentagon officials said they did not immediately have any information beyond was what contained in the Marine Corps statement.

Fallujah had been a stronghold of the insurgents until U.S. forces, led by Marines, assaulted the city in November 2004. Since then the U.S. military and the Iraqi government have been working to rebuild the city and limit the return of insurgents.

Deadly insurgent attacks in the Fallujah area have become less common in recent months, although one Marine died of wounds from small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in the city on Wednesday.

The 10 deaths on Thursday marked the deadliest incident for Marines in Iraq since 14 were killed by a roadside bomb on Aug. 3 near Haditha, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. Those Marines were traveling in a lightly armored amphibious assault vehicle when it hit the bomb, flipped into the air and exploded in a fireball.

Ellie
:(

thedrifter
12-02-05, 03:51 PM
Bush saddened by deaths of marines in Iraq attack

The White House said that President George W. Bush had been saddened by the death of 10 US marines in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq.

"We are saddened by the loss of lives, whether it is one soldier who loses his or her life or 10 or 11," said spokesman Scott McClellan in the first White House reaction to the attack on Thursday near the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families, their loved ones. We are forever grateful for their service and sacrifice," the spokesman added.

McClellan said that Bush had been informed of the attack on Thursday and briefed again Friday.

The US marines said a roadside bomb killed the 10 marines and wounded 11 others in one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq in recent months.

Ellie

JAMarine
12-02-05, 04:32 PM
God Bless Brothers. We'll meet again on the streets of Heaven.


Sempers

BOOGIEMAN44
12-02-05, 05:52 PM
REST IN PEACE MY BROTHERS, UNTIL WE MEET AGIAN. :cry:

thedrifter
12-02-05, 06:11 PM
Scappoose man among Marines killed near Fallujah
Dec 2, 2005, 04:41 PM

UNDATED -- A 21-year old Marine from Scappoose was among 10 Marines killed when a roadside bomb detonated while they were on foot patrol near Fallujah.

Eleven other soldiers were wounded in the deadliest attack on American troops in nearly four months, the Marine Corps said Friday.

Thursday's bomb, which was made from several large artillery shells, struck members of Regimental Combat Team 8 of the 2nd Marine Division near the city about 30 miles west of Baghdad, the Marine Corps said.

In another statement, the Marines reported a U.S. Army soldier also assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died Thursday in a rocket attack near Ramadi. The U.S. command had earlier said four American service members were killed Wednesday, three of them from hostile action and the fourth in a traffic accident.

At least 2,121 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

On Aug. 3, 14 Marine Reserve troops from Ohio were killed when their amphibious assault vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb near Haditha in western Iraq.

Of the 11 who were wounded, seven have returned to duty, the Marine Corps said. It added that Marines from the same unit continue to conduct counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and surrounding areas.

Regimental Combat Team 8 is a part of the II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The unit has been among the hardest hit in the war. In the nearly three years since the war began, 147 Marines from II MEF have died in combat, according to 2nd Marine Division spokesman Lt. Barry Edwards.

Regimental Combat Team 8 has been in Iraq since the beginning of February.

Fallujah had been a stronghold of the insurgents until U.S. forces, led by Marines, assaulted the city in November 2004. Since then, the U.S. military and the Iraqi government have been working to rebuild it and limit the return of insurgents.

The attack came after U.S. commanders reported a drop in suicide and car bombings as a result of increased U.S.-Iraqi operations.

However, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, warned that al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, will likely step up attacks in the next two weeks to try to disrupt parliamentary elections Dec. 15.

Lynch said suicide bombings declined to 23 in November as U.S. and Iraqi forces were overrunning insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital.

Communities along the river are believed used by foreign fighters, who slip into the country from Syria and travel down the waterway to Baghdad and other cities.

"In the month of November: only 23 suicide attacks -- the lowest we've seen in the last seven months, the direct result of the effectiveness of our operations," Lynch said.

Car bombings -- parked along streets and highways and detonated remotely -- have declined from 130 in February to 68 in November, Lynch said.

However, suicide attacks have not consistently decreased in the past year. After more than 70 such attacks in May, the number fell in August by nearly half and then climbed to more than 50 two months later.

And despite the decline in the past month, there has been no letup in the relentless toll of American deaths at a time of growing discontent in the United States over the war.

The fatality toll for November was at least 85, which was down from the 96 American deaths suffered in October -- the fourth deadliest month since the war began. But it was well above the 49 deaths in September. U.S. monthly death tolls have hit 80 or above during 10 of the 33 months of the war.

There also has been no decline in the past six months in the Iraqi death toll from suicide attacks, according to an AP tally. In November, at least 290 Iraqis were killed in such attacks, more than double the figure from the previous month. The count shows the Iraqi toll ranging from at least 69 deaths in August to at least 356 in September.

In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. military launched a counterinsurgency operation code-named Operation Shank, a statement said.

"The purpose of the operation is to disrupt a terrorist group that utilizes an area of Ramadi as its base for attacks on local Ramadi citizens, Iraqi and U.S. military," the statement said. It is the fifth such operation in the area in recent weeks designed to calm the area before the elections.

On Thursday, insurgents allowed a local AP Television News cameraman to film gunmen as they toted automatic rifles and rocket launchers through the streets in central Ramadi. The insurgents appeared to be relaxed and not engaged in fighting. A gunman who did not given his name claimed the insurgents were "controlling the city."

Lynch denied reports that insurgents had staged major attacks on U.S. forces in Ramadi or had taken control of the town. He said there had been only one rocket-propelled grenade had been fired and there were no injuries.

As part of security measures for the elections, Iraq's Interior Ministry has banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country until further notice, officials said.

The decision was taken by Interior Minister Bayn Jabr, said two senior Interior Ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

"This step is part of the security measures taken for the elections," said one of the senior Interior Ministry officials.

"It covers all border points whether airports, land border crossings and ports."

In Baghdad, some Shiites joined hundreds of Sunni Muslims to denounce widespread arrests of suspected insurgents. They prayed together before a joint demonstration in a show of unity ahead of the potentially divisive elections.

Men waved Iraqi flags and women dressed in black robes carried posters of their missing sons. Some held portraits of Sunni clerics who have been killed since the U.S. invasion.

The joint prayer ceremony at Iraq's most famous Sunni shrine was called by Sunni politician Adnan al-Dulaimi, who has been trying to ease tensions between the rival Muslim communities.

Several prominent Shiite clerics who were invited did not show up, and Shiites made up only a small percentage of the several hundred people who turned out. Still, the ceremony was a significant sign that some mainstream religious leaders want to prevent tensions between the communities from erupting into a full-scale civil war.

Shiites make up the majority in Iraq, but were oppressed by former ruler Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni. Since Saddam's overthrow, Shiites have controlled most of the political power in Iraq, while the anti-U.S. insurgency has been dominated by Sunnis.

Sunni suicide bombers have targeted Shiite mosques and gatherings.

Sunni leaders have complained of attacks by Shiite death squads tied to the government. Last month, U.S. troops discovered an Interior Ministry jail filled with 173 detainees, some showing signs of torture. Jabr suggested some making the torture allegations were supporting the insurgency or had a personal score to settle.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-02-05, 06:17 PM
Eleven Marines Killed in Iraq
PENTAGON (AP) -- The U.S. military says 11 Marines were killed yesterday in Iraq, with 10 of those deaths caused by a roadside bomb that exploded near Fallujah.

The military says the other Marine was killed in a rocket attack near Ramadi. Both areas are west of Baghdad. All of the Marines were assigned to the Second Marine Division.

Authorities say the bomb near Fallujah was made from several large artillery shells. In addition to the 10 Marines who died, 11 others were wounded.

According to an Associated Press count, at least 2,121 members of the American military have died since the war began in 2003.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-02-05, 06:21 PM
2 Michigan Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Dec 2, 2005, 04:25 PM

Two Michigan families are mourning after learning their marines have been killed in Iraq. One of those soldiers was Portland native Dave Huhn. Officials at Schrauben Lehman Funeral Home say Huhn's family was notified of his death overnight. Huhn was a 2002 graduate of Portland High School.

Another family in Branch County's Union City is mourning the loss of Marine Craig Watson. The superintendent of Union City High School says Watson was killed Thursday by a roadside bomb. We're not sure if Dave Huhn's death is connected, but the USsMmilitary says it's been an extremely deadly day for US forces in Iraq.

10 Marines were killed and many more wounded in Fallujah. It was a lethal combination that struck US forces in Fallujah, 10 of them killed, 11 more wounded in the deadliest single attack against American forces in Iraq in nearly four months, and a US soldier was also killed in nearby Ramadi. The Marines from camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were taking part in a one-two punch. US and Iraqi forces were pounding suspected insurgent positions in Ramadi, sister city of Fallujah, while Iraqi officials throw down a ban on all foreign Arabs entering the country.

Iraqi officials admit slamming shut the airport and the country's borders will do little to stop most Arab fighters, who don't mess with passport control. They're just sneaking in. 'stopping them' is part of the US-led offensive stretching to the Syrian border. Intelligence officials say non-Iraqi Arab fighters make up the deadliest core of the insurgency, suicide bombers and mercenaries recruited by al qaeda operatives.

Intelligence sources say they use hideouts to slip out of Syria, build bombs and head for Baghdad. US officials say they're shutting them down.

Brig. Gen. Rick Lynch, US Army: "In the month of November, there have been only 23 suicide attacks, the lowest we've seen in the last seven months."

But those attacks killed 290 Iraqis. Double the number from the month before. US troops may be getting better at stopping the attacks, but bombers are proving they're getting better too, in making sure each one that does get through, counts.

Ellie

jryanjack
12-02-05, 06:22 PM
Words cannot express the loss of our brothers - rest in peace, thank you for a job well done.

Semper Fi

Roulette
12-02-05, 11:28 PM
Went to School with a Robert Burns....May the names of those Marines burn brightly in heaven.

thedrifter
12-03-05, 06:57 AM
A NOBLE SACRIFICE
NYPOST.COM

In an apparent ambush Thursday in Iraq, 10 Marines died and 11 others were wounded as a roadside bomb exploded near Fallujah.

It was the deadliest attack on the U.S. military since August, and it came as the number of suicide bombings in Iraq dipped to its lowest level in months.

Let no one have any doubt: These were brave men — and in that sense, typical of U.S. Marines. They were fighting to protect America, which they loved dearly.

Indeed, model Americans, they understood their duty to country — and they died carrying it out.

Their sacrifices, like those of all U.S. troops who have given their lives in Iraq, will be remembered by a grateful nation.

Nor will those sacrifices be allowed to have been made in vain.

Rather, they will be honored when America achieves victory in Iraq, leaving behind a free and secure country, no longer a threat to U.S. national security.

President Bush this week reiterated his vow to stay the course and finish the job in Iraq — as many of America's fighting troops in Iraq hope the country does.

But the war is not over. Not by a long shot. And it is indeed a bloody war.

This month, things are likely to heat up again, as insurgents attempt to disrupt parliamentary elections set for Dec. 15.

But Iraqi voters won't be deterred.

And neither will America's troops.

What is left for those on the home front is to support their men and women in uniform, to show their gratitude — and to let them know that this not a war America will fight half-heartedly.

To do anything less would dishonor the memory of the fallen.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-03-05, 07:43 AM
10 Marines killed in deadliest attack on American troops in four months
By: ROBERT H. REID - Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 others on a foot patrol near Fallujah, the U.S. military announced Friday. It was the deadliest attack against American troops in four months.

The ambush occurred Thursday against Marines from Regimental Combat Team 8, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marine unit has suffered some of the highest casualties of the Iraq war.

The unit's latest losses were among 14 new deaths in Iraq announced by the military Friday. With at least 793 American lives lost since January, 2005 appears on track to become the deadliest year for the troops since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. There were 846 deaths in 2004, and 485 the previous year.

Altogether, at least 2,127 have died since the beginning of the war, according to an Associated Press count.

The attack in Fallujah came a day after President Bush outlined his strategy for victory in Iraq, and at a time when there are growing calls for an exit plan for U.S. troops.

Hours after the military announced its grim news, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape and statement in which the kidnappers of four Christian peace activists threatened to kill the hostages -- two Canadians, an American and a Briton -- unless all prisoners in U.S. and Iraqi detention centers are freed by Dec. 8.

The roadside bomb in Fallujah, the former insurgent headquarters west of the capital, was fashioned from several large artillery shells, the military said.

Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the ambush a "very serious attack," saying "it appears that this group of Marines had collected -- which is always a dangerous thing -- in sort of one location."

The military statement said seven of the wounded later returned to duty and that the rest of the team was conducting "counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and the surrounding area" to improve security for the Dec. 15 elections.

Names of the victims were not released pending notification of their families. The statement also did not give the precise location of the attack -- the single deadliest against U.S. troops in Iraq since 14 Marines were killed Aug. 3 when a bomb destroyed their vehicle near Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Maj. Cliff W. Gilmore, a spokesman at Camp Lejeune for the II Marine Expeditionary Force, said the victims of Thursday's ambush probably came from hometowns across the country rather than from one area.

"Here at Camp Lejeune, we pause, we stop, we feel it, and then we carry out with the mission," Gilmore said. "Those folks in Iraq, they probably didn't even have time to pause and think about it. ... The folks that are on patrol right now might not have even heard of it."

Also Friday, three U.S. soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were killed in a traffic accident south of Baghdad, and the military said an Army soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died of wounds suffered the previous day when his vehicle was struck by a rocket in Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital.

U.S. forces have stepped up military operations throughout the Sunni Arab regions west of Baghdad to cut off the flow of weapons, ammunition and foreign fighters entering the country from Syria and to reduce insurgent activity.

As part of that campaign, the U.S. military on Friday launched a new offensive -- Operation Shank -- in Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-ridden Anbar province. About 200 Iraqi army soldiers and 300 U.S. Marines were taking part in the offensive, the fifth in Ramadi since Nov. 16.

On Thursday, insurgents allowed a local AP Television News cameraman to film gunmen as they strolled briefly through empty streets, kneeled with their weapons at the ready and issued a declaration claiming they were "controlling the city." Ramadi has been the scene of repeated insurgent attacks but the U.S. military disputed claims the rebels control a significant area of the city.

Fallujah, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, was an insurgent bastion until U.S. forces overran the city in November 2004 in the most intense urban combat of the Iraq war.

Since then, the U.S. military and the Iraqi government have been working to rebuild Fallujah and limit the return of insurgents, many of whom slipped out of the city during the siege and moved into nearby towns and villages outside the security cordon.

Regimental Combat Team 8 is a part of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. In the nearly three years since the war began, 147 Marines from II MEF have died in combat, according to 2nd Marine Division spokesman Lt. Barry Edwards. Regimental Combat Team 8 has been in Iraq since the beginning of February.

U.S. officials hope the operations will enable Sunni Arabs to vote in the parliamentary elections without fear of insurgent reprisals -- which the Americans blame in large part for the Sunni boycott of the January balloting.

Washington hopes a big Sunni turnout will produce a government that can win the trust of the Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, and convince more of them to lay down their arms. That would hasten the day U.S. troops could go home.

However, many Sunni politicians fear that military operations so close to the election will have a negative impact by frightening voters away from the polls and deepening hostility to the Americans and their Iraqi partners.

A major Sunni clerical group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, appealed to the Arab League and human rights organizations to intervene with the Americans to stop "the massacres in Anbar." The Association is believed to have ties to some Sunni insurgent groups and is an outspoken critic of the American role in Iraq.

U.S. casualties have been increasing in recent weeks at a time of growing discontent within the United States over the Iraq conflict.

American commanders say they have been making gains in the war. On Thursday, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, said suicide bombings declined to 23 in November because of successful military operations in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital.

However, U.S. and Iraqi officials have also predicted an increase in insurgent attacks as the election approaches. As part of security measures for the vote, Iraq's Interior Ministry has banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country, officials said Friday.

The decision was made Tuesday by Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, said two senior ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media. They said the ban is expected to be lifted two days after the election.

On Friday, Jordan's airline prevented an Associated Press correspondent of Egyptian nationality from boarding a plane to Baghdad. Royal Jordanian officials said they had orders from Iraqi authorities.

Associated Press Writer Margaret Lillard in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-03-05, 01:14 PM
December 3, 2005
Al-Jazeera airs tape of attack against US marines in Fallujah
CANOE

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Al-Jazeera television Saturday broadcast a videotape from the Islamic Army of Iraq showing a huge explosion against a U.S. foot patrol near Fallujah although it did not explicitly link it to the attack that killed 10 US marines.

The Al-Jazeera announcer, however, noted the 10 marine deaths Thursday near Fallujah as the tape aired.

It showed ground troops walked down a street on both sides of a Humvee when a huge fireball engulfed the scene, sending terrified Iraqi bystanders scrambling for their lives.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-03-05, 01:26 PM
Twentynine Palms mourns 10 Marines
Kakie Urch
The Desert Sun
December 3, 2005

The 10 Marines killed Thursday by a roadside bomb outside Fallujah were based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, the base announced this morning.

The Marines, members of the "2-7" or 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, were attached to Regimental Combat Team 8 based at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.

"Words will never describe accurately the honor, courage and commitment of these fallen Marines and sailors. Seventh Marine Regiment is deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. These men did not give their lives in vain and we will not soon forget our fellow brothers," the commanding officer of the 7th Marine Regiment said in a statement released by the base.

The deaths took place when an amphibious vehicle carrying Marines traveling on combat operations outside Fallujah hit an improvised explosive device.

Eleven other Marines were injured in the incident, but Lt. Christy L. Kercheval of the Twentynine Palms base could not confirm whether the wounded were from the base, which about 60 miles from Palm Springs.

"I can't release any info on the wounded," Lt. Kercheval said, citing medical confidentiality laws.

According to news releases issued by the Twentynine Palms base, those killed in action in the incident include:

Staff Sergeant Daniel J. Clay, 27, of Pensacola, Fla. (Platoon Sergeant)

Sergeant Andy A. Stevens, 29, of Tomah, Wis.

Lance Corporal John M. Holmason, 20, of Surprise, Ariz.

Lance Corporal David A. Huhn, 24, of Portland, Mich.

Lance Corporal Adam W. Kaiser, 19, of Naperville, Ill.

Lance Corporal Robert A. Martinez, 20, of Splendora, Texas

Lance Corporal Scott T. Modeen, 24, of Hennepin, Minn.

Lance Corporal Andrew G. Patten, 19, Byron, Ill.

Lance Corporal Craig N. Watson, 21, of Union City, Mich.

Corporal Anthony T. McElveen, 20, of Little Falls, Minn.

Initial national media reports had said the Marines killed were based at Camp LeJeune -- but that base is simply the home of the combat group to which the "2-7" was assigned.

The total number of Twentynine Palms Marines killed in action in Iraq now stands at 75.

Thursday's deaths are the most deaths in one day for the Marines since 14 Marines from an Ohio unit were killed four months ago.

Read a complete report in Sunday's edition of The Desert Sun.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-03-05, 01:34 PM
N.C. military town mourns fallen Marines
Saturday, December 03, 2005 02:11:32 PM

The grim news that a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines in Iraq arrived at Camp Lejeune just days after President Bush outlined his strategy for victory, a speech delivered in the face of increasing calls to bring the troops home.

But even after learning about Thursday's ambush _ the deadliest against American troops in four months _ this city's embrace of its Marines, their base and their job remains resolute.

"Even when people differ in opinions, you're still respectful to the Marine mission," said Pat McLane, a retired master gunnery sergeant from Jacksonville whose Army officer son was expected to begin his first deployment in Iraq on Saturday. "We're still going to take care of our Marines."

The 10 Marines assigned to the Lejeune-based 2nd Marine Division were on foot patrol outside Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold, when a bomb fashioned from four large artillery shells exploded.

They attached to the unit once in Iraq; all those who died _ with hometowns stretching from Tomah, Wis. to Surprise, Ariz. _ were from 1st Marine Division, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif.

That none ever spent time at Camp Lejeune, a sprawling base of 25,000 service members and the Corps' largest on the Atlantic coast, didn't matter in Jacksonville. They were Marines.

"We are one community and one family here," said Reid Flinchum, 65, who has lived in and around Jacksonville for more than 40 years.

It's a place familiar with mourning so many, so quickly. On March 23, 2003, during the earliest days of the ground war, nine Marines from Camp Lejeune died during an ambush as their company crossed a bridge at Nasiriyah.

And most of the 241 Marines and sailors who died in the Oct. 22, 1983, barracks attacks in Beirut were based at Lejeune and the adjoining Marine Corps Air Station New River.

Bush came to Camp Lejeune within two weeks of the Nasiriyah attacks, cheered on by 20,000 Marines, their families and locals. Support for the president and his Iraq policy remains high.

"We all have our opinions, but the best capacity of a Marine is a mission accomplished," said Sgt. Paul Mancuso, 22, who returned two weeks ago from nine months in Iraq as a combat videographer. A tattoo artist drew the outline of a knife with "USMC" inside on his left forearm Friday night.

The feelings in Jacksonville stand in contrast to those of some families who lost loved ones when 14 Ohio-based Marine reservists died in August, killed in a roadside explosion similar to the one that took the lives of the 10 Marines on Thursday.

Paul Schroeder and Rosemary Palmer founded a group called Families of the Fallen for Change. The group wants a bipartisan plan that includes benchmarks to draw down troops in Iraq as soon as is reasonably possible.

"We do not believe that if you speak against the war, you are not supporting the troops," Schroeder said. "You can support troops and yet speak against the policies that put them in that predicament."

Other relatives of the slain Ohio-based Marines have continued to speak in favor of the war. And in Jacksonville, where late-night barber shops and tattoo parlors interspersed with faded yellow ribbons tied around trees line the main drag leading to Lejeune, loud dissent is a rarity. No one wants to suggest any lack of appreciation for Lejeune and its Marines.

"It's a shame that we lost 10 people, but these people all volunteered to serve our country," said Bryce Emerson, a member of a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Jacksonville. "We should give them all the support that we can by ensuring that since they paid the ultimate price, we should never dishonor them by saying 'Oh my God' and running home."

That's not to say the deaths _ more than 2,000 America troops have died fighting the war _ don't give pause.

"It has an overall effect on the troops' morale," said Marine Pfc. Josh Coughlin, 19, of Albany, N.Y., who may deploy to Iraq in February. "While I'm confident in our leader, it reinforces the fact that there needs to be some kind of reform on how we're handling the situation."

Coughlin was at the Jacksonville Mall on Friday night with his friend, Pfc. Quintin Garza, an 18-year-old from Brownsville, Texas. Like the others who live and work at and around the base, he said there's only one solution now in Iraq.

"We've got a job to do. And if we don't do it, then nobody's going to do it."

Associated Press writer Natalie Gott contributed to this article from Raleigh, N.C.

Ellie

thedrifter
12-03-05, 03:19 PM
Militant group says kills 10 Marines: Web
1 hour, 39 minutes ago

An Iraqi militant group posted a video on Saturday which showed what it said was an explosion against a U.S. patrol near Fallujah that killed 10 U.S. Marines.

The U.S. military had said 10 U.S. Marines were killed near Fallujah on Thursday.

The group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, is among several insurgent organizations battling U.S. troops and Iraqi forces.

The brief video shows a Humvee, flanked by what look like U.S. troops, traveling slowly down a street when an explosion engulfed the vehicle, sending clouds of dust into the air and bystanders fleeing. An off-camera voice was heard saying "Allah is Great" repeatedly.

The video's authenticity could not be verified but it was posted on a Web site generally used by insurgents to claim attacks. Al Jazeera television had earlier aired the video.

An accompanying statement by the group said it had also killed and injured other U.S. troops in a battle on Saturday in Duluyia, a town north Baghdad.

The group also claimed the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Nassiriyah.

Analysts say the Islamic Army in Iraq is believed to be linked the Saddam Hussein's deposed Baath party.

Ellie