“The ambush of a seven-man Marine sniper team in Western Iraq sends some disturbing signals that our leaders and field commanders are not taking the war in Iraq seriously. The loss of life of these brave Marine reservists is a terrible blow for their families, who deserve our sympathy and prayers. But as details of their deaths emerge there are some hard questions that need to be answered,” wrote former CIA/State Dept. intel analyst Larry Johnson today.
In “License to Kill” — speaking “bitter truth to pitiless power” — columnist Chris Floyd quotes Bob Dylan, William Rivers Pitt, and E.L. Doctorow:
He worships at the altar of a stagnant pool,
And when he sees his reflection, he’s fulfilled…
Who’ll take away his license to kill?
— Bob Dylan
[Pitt] We are only three days into the month of August, and 22 US soldiers are dead. 54 died in July, 78 died in June, and 80 died in May. … More than two thousand soldiers, almost all of them young American boys and girls, have had the life blasted out of them because they were sent by their commander in chief to find weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. …
[Pitt quoting Doctorow] … [The President] does not mourn. He doesn’t understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”
“But you study him,” continued Doctorow, “you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. …
This is a story I’ve meant to write for two days, but couldn’t. I still can’t but by sheer will — propelled by the courage of Larry Johnson, Chris Floyd, and Patrick Lang — will do so.
Below, from Larry Johnson, what went wrong for the six Marine snipers — with actual videos (highly disturbing) of the attacks — and of how the Marines had inadequate back-up.
Johnson tells us:
A friend of mine who has spoken to members of the unit indicates that the Marines were talking via radio to their base and trying to arrange an exfiltration. While they were talking the sound of gunfire erupted over the radio, then the radio went silent. One possibility is that the insurgents snuck up on the team. In any event, they were wiped out.
The following link provides graphic and horrific photographic evidence of the aftermath. WARNING. The video contains graphic and disturbing images and is not for the faint of heart.
It is important to view the videos to gain an idea of how awry our current strategy on the ground is. Despite happy talk that we are winning the war, we lost this skirmish and the images portray a happy, confident group of insurgents who are operating virtually unmolested.
One particularly disturbing image shows an insurgent inspecting the body of a partially stripped dead Marine. The insurgent bends down and cuts away the dog tag from the soldier’s neck. The insurgent appears to conduct himself in a professional manner to the extent that he does not desecrate the Marine’s body. What is so shocking is that this Marine has been left abandoned, albeit temporarily, on the battlefield while an insurgent leisurely and methodically strips him of uniform and weapons. …
“A second video shows two insurgents with a collection of captured U.S. Marine weapons,” Johnson continues.
Again, with an air of non-chalance, the insurgents provide an impressive equipment display. The fact that they have time to lay weapons out on the ground and pose with them is a reminder that they are operating in territory where they feel comfortable and protected.
A third image from the videos shows two insurgents firing a mortar at an unknown target… [it] appears to be an 82mm mortar. The individuals operating the weapon appear unconcerned about being discovered or being attacked by a counter battery of some sort. While it is not clear whether or not the mortar was being fired during this operation, it is certain that the insurgents intend to deliver the message that they can do what they want, where they want, when they want.
“Taken as a whole,” Johnson emphasizes, “the implications of this action are disturbing.”
“The US Marine reservists were not backed up by a Quick Reaction Force that could respond quickly and decisively to the attack. The reservists appear to have inadequate artillery and air support to cover their operations.
“Unfortunately,” Johnson laments, “reservists have been treated as the red-headed step child as far as the regular military is concerned. Add to this that reservists normally do not operate at the same level of efficiency as regular military units. This is, as we see from the latest action, a lethal combination.”
The more fundamental, long-term problem, is that our force levels on the ground in Iraq are not sufficient to ensure control and command of the battlefield. The task of seizing control is not easy and will require difficult fighting. But this much is certain, without sufficient troop strength, artillery, and air support assets we will lose the insurgency because we will not be able to control the territory.
If we are going to send our young men and women into combat then it is incumbent on the civilian leaders and military commanders to ensure they are prepared and properly supported. The men in this Marine sniper team were not well served by either the political or military leaders. But they cannot complain, they will return home with honor in flag draped caskets to be mourned by family and friends.
God damn it. This makes me so furious. And sick for those who died.
__________________________________
Postscript:
I wanted to include this, but must leave, so I’ll paste this quickly. But I urge you to visit Patrick Lang’s site — Sic Semper Tyrannis — and read it in full.
From Col. Patrick Lang (Ret.) — Johnson’s mentor and a Middle East scholar as well as intel expert — a geographic lesson on why more Marines will die and, as Lang writes, “The fight for this valley will go on indefinitely.”
[SUSAN’s NOTE: See that blue line through Syria descending into Iraq towards Baghdad? That’s the Euphrates … and as you get nearer Baghdad, you run into the Anbar region, where the Marines died.]
“We have lost a lot of people in the last few days along the Euphrates River in western Anbar Province, Iraq,” writes Lang.
“Haditha, all the little towns along the Euphrates near the Syrian border, the Haditha Dam and the Forward Operating Base (FOB) being built northwest of the dam on the Euphrates have all become a major focus of what offensive American military action there is in Iraq at present.”
Why? Guerrillas need water. Drinking and cooking are activities that require a surprising amount of water if men are living in the field for extended periods of time. Bedouins, supermen, highly conditioned soldiers— they all need water, every day and in substantial quantities.
Trudging across the North Carolina hills long ago, learning to be or fight guerrillas in Special Forces it became blindingly obvious to my training course that if we couldn’t occupy a place of human habitation where there would be water available, then we would inevitably be tied on a fairly short leash to whatever source of natural water there might be. Usually that meant a stream.
Western and southern Iraq are huge howling deserts The country from the Saudi border to the river system in interior Iraq is some of the hardest desert in the Middle East. The land from the Jordanian border to the west is just as bad. There is only one infiltration route available across these deserts which has ready access to water and that is the route that follows the Euphrates River Valley. If you want a REAL reason why the Jihadis want to infiltrate Iraq from Syria, this is probably it, the river.
The Euphrates Valley points like an arrow at central Iraq from deep inside Syria. Without the river and its water the Jihadis would have a difficult time trying to traverse the wide deserts in significant numbers. it is for that reason that we find Saudi, African, Egyptian and other international Jihadis traveling to Syria before entering Iraq along the river.
Bottom Line: The Jihadis and their Iraqi Islamist and nationalist allies know well that if this infiltration corridor were closed they would have a much more difficult time trying to enter the country. Turkey is not friendly. Iran is playing its own game with the Iraqi Shia Arabs. The insurgents know that they have to keep this route open. For this they will stand and fight risking decisive engagement whenever they do so. At the same time our side has figured this out and for that reason you see substantial forces devoted to the attemot to control movement in the valley. The construction of a patrol and fire support base near the border on the river, is intended to act like a stopper in a bottle in blocking infiltration along the water corridor.
The fight for this valley will go on indefinitely.
Pat Lang
ALSO: Lang links to a large map that he finds especially helpful to understanding the role of geography in this conflict.
All emphases mine.
Update [2005-8-4 20:26:27 by susanhu]: See Juan Cole’s Vietnam-Speak in Iraq.”
