thedrifter
08-13-07, 07:45 AM
Sunday, August 12, 2007
"Another Day in Eye-Rack" [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
THE TANK
BAGHDAD (A little after 1:00 a.m.) — Flew in just after midnight aboard a CH-46 Sea Knight from Al Taqaddum; landing first in Fallujah (dropping off and picking up some Marines), then to Camp Liberty next to Victory out at the airport (dropping off some Marines and picking up some soldiers). Finally, we roared into Landing Zone Washington.
Inside the terminal, waiting for my ride from the Army's press information office, I asked a desk sergeant if there was any news I might have missed from today in Baghdad. He reared back in his chair, smiled, and said:
Nah, brother. A boom here. A boom there. But it's all good. Just another day in Eye-Rack.
I'll be here in Baghdad for a few days.
Recruiting Boy Jihadists [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
AL TAQADDUM — Sat down this afternoon with Maj. Bart Nagle, the 13th MEU's intelligence officer, who shared with me some of what he could, including the names of some of the terrorist subsidiary groups we are facing here in the TQ area of operations:
Al Qaeda in Iraq (we already knew that)
Jayesh Mujahideen
Jamat Tawhid al Jihad
Ansar al Sunna
Those are just a few — not counting the subgroups — and according to Nagle:
The names are often interchangeable, and they do so to throw us off as much as anything else.
As we've mentioned before, most of the bad guys have been run out of town and are operating up in Anbar's hinterlands: Near — and beyond — where our patrol bases and combat outposts are located.
That's the good news, militarily, because it is far easier to find, fix, and destroy the enemy in the desert without collateral-damage issues than it is to fight him in the urban centers. Doesn't mean there aren't bad guys in Anbar's cities and towns. There are. But not in the numbers they once were.
Among the challenges now facing the Marines are that the bad guys — who have survived and are out in the remote desert areas — are the truly hardcore jihadists. There really is no reconciliation for them. We have to kill them.
Another somewhat disconcerting trend is that the MEU is hearing more "chatter" about youngsters becoming involved. Nagle tells me:
We're learning of lookouts as young as 11-years-old, and fighters as young as 14. We've seen this in the past. But we seem to be looking at it again. The Jihadists recruit them [the kids] for several reasons, including perhaps a shortage of fighters, plus they know that boys that young will often be less suspicious to us.
The terrorists here are training the younger recruits to kill using "murder intimidation techniques," Nagle says:
Their signature piece being head-chopping.
Bodies are still being found — including three yesterday — most are shot in the head (though signs of pre-execution torture are evident). Some are found beaten to death with shovels.
The upside, says Nagle:
The Iraqi people have been through hell with this, and they seem to have no desire to take a step back [toward cooperation with the bad guys].
There is more to come on my conversation with Maj. Nagle.
08/12 10:10 AM
Recruiting Boy Jihadists [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
AL TAQADDUM — Sat down this afternoon with Maj. Bart Nagle, the 13th MEU's intelligence officer, who shared with me some of what he could, including the names of some of the terrorist subsidiary groups we are facing here in the TQ area of operations:
Al Qaeda in Iraq (we already knew that)
Jayesh Mujahideen
Jamat Tawhid al Jihad
Ansar al Sunna
Those are just a few — not counting the subgroups — and according to Nagle:
The names are often interchangeable, and they do so to throw us off as much as anything else.
As we've mentioned before, most of the bad guys have been run out of town and are operating up in Anbar's hinterlands: Near — and beyond — where our patrol bases and combat outposts are located.
That's the good news, militarily, because it is far easier to find, fix, and destroy the enemy in the desert without collateral-damage issues than it is to fight him in the urban centers. Doesn't mean there aren't bad guys in Anbar's cities and towns. There are. But not in the numbers they once were.
Among the challenges now facing the Marines are that the bad guys — who have survived and are out in the remote desert areas — are the truly hardcore jihadists. There really is no reconciliation for them. We have to kill them.
Another somewhat disconcerting trend is that the MEU is hearing more "chatter" about youngsters becoming involved. Nagle tells me:
We're learning of lookouts as young as 11-years-old, and fighters as young as 14. We've seen this in the past. But we seem to be looking at it again. The Jihadists recruit them [the kids] for several reasons, including perhaps a shortage of fighters, plus they know that boys that young will often be less suspicious to us.
The terrorists here are training the younger recruits to kill using "murder intimidation techniques," Nagle says:
Their signature piece being head-chopping.
Bodies are still being found — including three yesterday — most are shot in the head (though signs of pre-execution torture are evident). Some are found beaten to death with shovels.
The upside, says Nagle:
The Iraqi people have been through hell with this, and they seem to have no desire to take a step back [toward cooperation with the bad guys].
There is more to come on my conversation with Maj. Nagle.
08/12 10:10 AM
Ellie
"Another Day in Eye-Rack" [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
THE TANK
BAGHDAD (A little after 1:00 a.m.) — Flew in just after midnight aboard a CH-46 Sea Knight from Al Taqaddum; landing first in Fallujah (dropping off and picking up some Marines), then to Camp Liberty next to Victory out at the airport (dropping off some Marines and picking up some soldiers). Finally, we roared into Landing Zone Washington.
Inside the terminal, waiting for my ride from the Army's press information office, I asked a desk sergeant if there was any news I might have missed from today in Baghdad. He reared back in his chair, smiled, and said:
Nah, brother. A boom here. A boom there. But it's all good. Just another day in Eye-Rack.
I'll be here in Baghdad for a few days.
Recruiting Boy Jihadists [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
AL TAQADDUM — Sat down this afternoon with Maj. Bart Nagle, the 13th MEU's intelligence officer, who shared with me some of what he could, including the names of some of the terrorist subsidiary groups we are facing here in the TQ area of operations:
Al Qaeda in Iraq (we already knew that)
Jayesh Mujahideen
Jamat Tawhid al Jihad
Ansar al Sunna
Those are just a few — not counting the subgroups — and according to Nagle:
The names are often interchangeable, and they do so to throw us off as much as anything else.
As we've mentioned before, most of the bad guys have been run out of town and are operating up in Anbar's hinterlands: Near — and beyond — where our patrol bases and combat outposts are located.
That's the good news, militarily, because it is far easier to find, fix, and destroy the enemy in the desert without collateral-damage issues than it is to fight him in the urban centers. Doesn't mean there aren't bad guys in Anbar's cities and towns. There are. But not in the numbers they once were.
Among the challenges now facing the Marines are that the bad guys — who have survived and are out in the remote desert areas — are the truly hardcore jihadists. There really is no reconciliation for them. We have to kill them.
Another somewhat disconcerting trend is that the MEU is hearing more "chatter" about youngsters becoming involved. Nagle tells me:
We're learning of lookouts as young as 11-years-old, and fighters as young as 14. We've seen this in the past. But we seem to be looking at it again. The Jihadists recruit them [the kids] for several reasons, including perhaps a shortage of fighters, plus they know that boys that young will often be less suspicious to us.
The terrorists here are training the younger recruits to kill using "murder intimidation techniques," Nagle says:
Their signature piece being head-chopping.
Bodies are still being found — including three yesterday — most are shot in the head (though signs of pre-execution torture are evident). Some are found beaten to death with shovels.
The upside, says Nagle:
The Iraqi people have been through hell with this, and they seem to have no desire to take a step back [toward cooperation with the bad guys].
There is more to come on my conversation with Maj. Nagle.
08/12 10:10 AM
Recruiting Boy Jihadists [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
AL TAQADDUM — Sat down this afternoon with Maj. Bart Nagle, the 13th MEU's intelligence officer, who shared with me some of what he could, including the names of some of the terrorist subsidiary groups we are facing here in the TQ area of operations:
Al Qaeda in Iraq (we already knew that)
Jayesh Mujahideen
Jamat Tawhid al Jihad
Ansar al Sunna
Those are just a few — not counting the subgroups — and according to Nagle:
The names are often interchangeable, and they do so to throw us off as much as anything else.
As we've mentioned before, most of the bad guys have been run out of town and are operating up in Anbar's hinterlands: Near — and beyond — where our patrol bases and combat outposts are located.
That's the good news, militarily, because it is far easier to find, fix, and destroy the enemy in the desert without collateral-damage issues than it is to fight him in the urban centers. Doesn't mean there aren't bad guys in Anbar's cities and towns. There are. But not in the numbers they once were.
Among the challenges now facing the Marines are that the bad guys — who have survived and are out in the remote desert areas — are the truly hardcore jihadists. There really is no reconciliation for them. We have to kill them.
Another somewhat disconcerting trend is that the MEU is hearing more "chatter" about youngsters becoming involved. Nagle tells me:
We're learning of lookouts as young as 11-years-old, and fighters as young as 14. We've seen this in the past. But we seem to be looking at it again. The Jihadists recruit them [the kids] for several reasons, including perhaps a shortage of fighters, plus they know that boys that young will often be less suspicious to us.
The terrorists here are training the younger recruits to kill using "murder intimidation techniques," Nagle says:
Their signature piece being head-chopping.
Bodies are still being found — including three yesterday — most are shot in the head (though signs of pre-execution torture are evident). Some are found beaten to death with shovels.
The upside, says Nagle:
The Iraqi people have been through hell with this, and they seem to have no desire to take a step back [toward cooperation with the bad guys].
There is more to come on my conversation with Maj. Nagle.
08/12 10:10 AM
Ellie