If we are going to understand anything about the war underway in Iraq we have got to get the terminology right. The news media–CNN in particular–continue to call last week’s attack on small U.S. Army outpost in the Mahmoudiyah area (wihch is south of Baghdad) an “ambush”. This was not an ambush.
An ambush is defined as:
1. The act of lying in wait to attack by surprise.
2. A sudden attack made from a concealed position
What happened to a squad of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division in the Mahmoudiyah area is something worse and more disturbing. Pat Lang offers this analysis at Sic Semper:
The latest I have heard indicates that these eight men were in an observation post consisting of two up-armored HUMVEES surrounded by concertina wire and that the position was attacked at 0400 (CNN Barbara Starr) from four sides, that the assaulting force breached the wire and overran the position. According to CNN, the “patrol” had been in that oupost for five hours.
If that is so, then this was not a patrol. It was an outpost placed there to watch for the emplacement of IEDs (on a road presumably). The battalion appears to have had other such outposts out that night.
Questions:
– Had this same position been occupied on other nights any time recently?
– Did the squad have adequate night vision equipment and were there adequate fields of fire and observation?
– Were supporting mortar and/or artillery fires plotted in a “box” around the position. Was such fire available? What about armed helicopter support?
– How long did it take the squad’s “back up” (500 yards away?) to get moving and to arrive?
– An armored HUMVEE is basically a big “jeep” with a ton of armor hung on it. Each has an M2 .50 cal. machine gun on it. The armor on this kind of vehcle will stop small arms fire (maybe) but nothing else. Were these men well enough equipped for the job?
– Were radios relied on to an excessive degree in this situation? Hand held pyrotechnics should always be included in a signal plan for this kind of operation.
A CNN military analyst said yesterday that this kind of disaster “in detail” results from having to do “too many things with too few troops.” One of the captured soldiers’ mother said today, “we need a miracle.”
They were both right.
The attackers did not pop up out of spider holes nor did they fall from the sky. They moved against a fixed, defended position. The most likely possibility–the U.S. soldiers were asleep and did not spot the attackers. They apparently did not have time to even call for help over the radio.
The response of U.S. troops in the area–going house to house and taking people into custody–is understandable but counterproductive. The odds are high that we are taking men into custody who had nothing to do with the attackers or the attack. But, by taking them into custody their honor is insulted and they are more likely to support insurgent activities in the future. It is a Catch-22.
I mourn the deaths of these brave young men. It is increasingly apparent that they are dying in vain with no clear objective in sight. It is time to bring our soldiers home.
Mr. Johnson,
I did find it strange that it was called an ambush. I`ve heard news reports that it took over an hour for others to arrive to lend help to the soldiers attacked, yet as you state, they were only 500 yards away. We don`t need a miracle. We need the truth, & we need, the “boys”, home. Every time I see soldiers going “door to door”, the first thing I see is a boot kicking down some families` home door. Talk about disrespect, & the dishonor the must feel. I think the “shock & awe” is biting this administration in the kiester, so they respond, with “they`re not fighting fair, they ambushed these great american soldiers”. The last time something like this happened , not coincidently in the same area, nor coincidently for the same reason, [the rape & killing of a young girl & her family], the scenario was almost identical & it stemmed from some soldiers who drank a bit too much, were not supervised properly, & but for a simple twist of fate, the end result was that the wrong group of ‘soldiers’ died or will die for the stupidity & arrogance of others. Did no one learn from what happened to the soldiers that were killed & booby trapped from that incident or did no one care about them either? I`ve been going over the soldiers that have been identified & can easily see that they should not have been there, left on their own with back-up 500 yards away or 500 miles away. More families ruined, to who incidently, Bush will not give an extra $40.00. When I pointed out to my wife today the picture of the young man they finally identified , she said,” God, he looks just like Peter. I don`t want to see anymore. It`ll make me cry”. These poor youngsters over there have my utmost respect for doing what they`ve been ordered to do, but I`ll never forgive the cowards that sent them there. Bring them back now.
Mr. Johnson: Your last paragraph says it all, better than I could. Thanks.
Larry, you still expect truth from these bozos?
Uh, of course you don’t. My bad.
The incompetents who fiddled with Star Wars while al Qaeda brought down the World Trade Center, who flew over a devastated New Orleans and did nothing, who ignored the advice of competent generals and invaded Iraq on the cheap expecting flowers and cheers, and got dead and maimed young Americans instead now say that we can’t have a time table to get out. Bush has a timetable to get out of Iraq: when he is not President. Democrats have a timetable that will get us out of Iraq while we still have a military and that will saves thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. Bush’s callous hubris is the stuff of biblical evil. Time to cut it out of our body politic. Impeach the son of a bitch that was too cowardly to serve in his and my generation’s war and all too willing to sacrifice our young people on the altar of his pride and ignorance.
Like our own Civil War, this one is being fought with outmoded military tactics that favor those who don’t have to march or drive into the muskets or IEDs.