New rebel tactics emerge in Fallujah

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1112/p01s02-woiq.html

Marines faced a tough fight Thursday as insurgents began a counterattack timed with an Islamic holy night.

By SCOTT PETERSON | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

FALLUJAH, IRAQ – After three days of measurable progress, American forces trying to take full control of Fallujah are confronting an insurgent force that has renewed energy. snip

Despite a day of steady US tank and artillery fire that rumbled across Fallujah like a thunderstorm ready to pour, insurgents began their work.

One armored unit was ambushed in the south center of the city by militants who struck with rocket-propelled grenades. Separately, another vehicle was hit with gunfire, wounding a marine.

Those involved in the ambush said a trap had been laid, and that the area was marked with earth berms in defensive posture, and metal-box firing positions. Shortly after the firefight, US-fired artillery rounds crashed into the area.

"They have been working on it, an L-shaped ambush," said one corporal, whose face was blackened by smoke from the attack. "It looks like something out of Mad Maxx."

"We walked right into a hornet's nest today," said a sergeant with the worn look of a survivor. Their names and units involved could not be released, in line with military rules that prevent such details until the wounded's next of kin have been notified. "They were probing us and fired six RPGs before we went for it. They lassoed us right in."

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[IndianaGreen]

1. Holy cow, they hit the jackpot!

Let's not wear rose colored glasses, like many of us did during the Vietnam War, some of those people our troops are fighting are real terrorists and have no qualms about killing and torturing Iraqis.

Should I mention the pukes that kidnapped Margaret Hassan? They are terrorists, not freedom fighters!

[Zynx]

2. Sounds like some unit got chewed up

[Mizmoon]

3. war, what is it good for?

How terribly sad.

[YDogg]

4. I suspect that more than 18 ...

... "non evil-doers" have died. Just a sneaking suspicion.

[DemoTex]

5. "We walked right into a hornet's nest today..."

Don, we have said it here ad nauseum: Iraq-nam. Hue City. Lost cause. Been there, done that. We are screwed. I know that and you know that. By Christmas, the American people who voted for Bu$h will probably know that too. By early 2005 they will know about a draft that will get the home-boys, po-boys, redneck crackers, and the lucky Latinos (the US Army now has more soldiers with the surname "Gonzolez" than the Honduran National Army). I need to back off, I guess. My B/P is dangerously high since 11/2 and meds are not getting it down. Thanks for your untiring posts.

Mac

[IndianaGreen]

7. There are foreign fighters in Iraq as there were in Vietnam

such as the North Korean officer that was found among the NVA killed in an American ambush.

[DemoTex]

8. Ironically, my compounds in Nha Trang and, later, Cam Rahn, had ROK guards

Lean, mean South Koreans. ROKs.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Charlie was afraid of the ROK soldiers

There was one battle in which they engaged Charlie in hand-to-hand combat. The South Koreans kicked ass that day!

[DemoTex]

14. I witnessed one such battle. Rt. 1 between Nha Trang and Cam Rahn.

I got stuck as convoy officer several times, as our unit moved from Nha Trang to Cam Rahn. On the first convoy, our 20-truck element got slowed down by a 15-truck ROK convoy. The ROK trucks had to stop at the railroad crossing where Route 1 cuts through the Nha Trang pass, and the railroad crosses Route 1. Bad scene. High hills. A train (a train? Strange scene indeed). We were behind the ROKs. They got raked by VC in the hills. Heavy weapons. Heavy casualties. The VC stopped the strafing at the last ROK vehicle. I was two jeeps behind that, in the command jeep for our convoy. Weird. The train passed and we passed the smoking ROK vehicles. Of course US medivac was on the scene.

[beanball]

16. Vietnam

were you there?you seem to know so damn much about Nam,bet my last peso you never served.

[IndianaGreen]

17. My gender kept me from combat, but I am a veteran

My brother served in 'Nam, and survived (sort of).

[Deja Q]

6. They may not have liked Saddam, but for some reason they don't like us

either.

Did we not tell them that we were coming to liberate them and not take their land and what lies underneath?

We walked into a hornet's nest in March 2003, based on lies and deception - lies for going in, and if it was for liberation (uh-huh :eyes: ) we certainly didn't let the people who became insurgents know the truth.

[phillysuse]

9. The Iraqis fighting our troops are not insurgents; they are freedom fighte

Could you not use the word insurgents.

These people are not insurgents, they are freedom fighters
just like the American colonists who fought against a
technologically superior occupying army from across the ocean.

With apologies to Longfellow;

Listen my children for it is said
Of the ride of the patriot Mohammed Ahmed
On the 10th of November, in Zero Four
No one is alive any more
Who remembers the Fallujah Dead.

He said to his friend, "If the Americans attack
By land or air from Baghdad tonight
Hang a flare in the minaret at the back
Of the Holy Mosque as a signal light--
One if by land and two if by air
And I on the Tigris Shore will be there
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Sunni village and farm
For Al Anbar province to be up and to arm....

They are not insurgents; they are freedom fighters and nationalists.

[Redleg]

12. Are they fighting for the freedom of all Iraqi people or for their own

ends? I call 'em insurgents until I know better. I'm not going to equate anybody with George Washington just because you say so.

[hughee99]

13. Are you sure insurgent and freedom fighter are not the same?

It seems from the hyperdictionary that they are synonyms... and if they are, then we would be correct to call them insurgents, would we not?


http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/insurgent

Meaning of INSURGENT
Pronunciation: in'surjunt
a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and harassment
a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions)
in opposition to a civil authority or government

Synonyms: disloyal, freedom fighter, guerilla, guerrilla, insurrectionist, irregular, rebel, seditious, subversive

http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/freedom+fighter

Meaning of FREEDOM FIGHTER
Pronunciation: 'freedum 'fItur
Definition: a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions)

Synonyms: insurgent, insurrectionist, rebel


Perhaps Nationalist is more what you're looking for.

Meaning of NATIONALIST
Pronunciation: 'nashunlist

Definition: an advocate of national independence of or a strong national government
one who loves and defends his or her country
devotion to the interests or culture of a particular nation including promoting the interests of one country over those of others; "nationalist aspirations"; "minor nationalistic differences"

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

11. Mad Maxx?

The large-sized condom maniac?

[kodi]

15. sounds like the US is destroying the city to save it

.