Posted on 11/12/2004 6:45:46 AM PST by TexKat
View from the gunners site in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle as 1st Platoon, Apache Troop, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division entering Fallujah. US marines barged house-by-house through Fallujah finding anything from corpses and weapons to hostages as they battled to secure the rebel enclave after seizing almost total control.(AFP/US Army/Johancharles Van Boers)
Thats what we are hearing Allegra. Good to see you up and at um. But then it is almost your bedtime. LOL.
Let me see if I can raise Eagle Eye.
Eagle Eye ping.
Appreciate all the pictures you post. The 6th and 7th ones down REALLY make me glad these are our guys. LOL, that Foot in the foot search pic still looks mighty lethal.
Thanks for starting the thread TK....My mother is getting out of a rehab center today after open heart surgery ....and I plum forgot to start the thread this am.
Mike is going to try to contact his BN in Iraq before wives and family start calling him for info....he doesn't know if he can get through....
Fri 12 November, 2004 13:45
By Maher al-Thanoon
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A semblance of calm has returned to Mosul after U.S. forces carried out air strikes on insurgents, but residents say Iraq's third largest city remains tense and Iraqi police are nowhere to be seen.
U.S. war planes struck rebel areas in the southwest of the city late on Thursday after two days of widespread violence in which groups of insurgents rampaged, burning police stations, stealing weapons and tipping the city towards chaos.
A U.S. soldier was killed in the fighting on Thursday, along with five Iraqi National Guards blown up in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicles, while doctors said at least 30 civilians had been wounded in crossfire during street battles.
Occasional explosions from RPGs and random bursts of gunfire could still be heard on Friday, but residents said the situation appeared calmer than either Wednesday or Thursday, when the governor's home was also attacked by militants.
At prayers on Friday, some imams called on worshippers to unite with the militants and battle to rid the city of American troops, but others made no reference to the city's violence.
U.S. forces said they were doing what they could to maintain order, and denied that the city was tipping out of control. A spokeswoman said force would be used wherever necessary.
"We have used all assets available to commanders to precisely and proportionately respond to the insurgent attacks, these assets do include air strikes," said Captain Angela Bowman, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces based in the city.
"Iraqi National Guard and multinational forces are restoring security to those areas of the city where terrorists are attacking from, primarily in the southwestern area," she said.
"Mosul is not out of control nor is the city in the control of the insurgents."
SHOOT TO KILL ORDER
But at least one resident who drove around several districts of the city on Friday said he saw no presence whatsoever of Iraqi police or other security forces, and saw only one convoy of U.S. troops, moving rapidly through a northern area.
He said insurgents remained in charge of at least one of the nine police stations attacked and set ablaze on Wednesday and Thursday. Some residents suggested that many police had taken off their uniforms and decided to join the insurgents.
Mosul's governor imposed an immediate curfew on Wednesday as the northern city of three million people exploded in violence.
Anyone attempting to cross any of the city's five bridges over the Tigris river during curfew was to be shot on sight.
The ban on movement is due to be lifted at 4 a.m. on Saturday to give residents time to make preparations for the celebration of the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The fighting came as U.S. troops pursued their full-blooded offensive against insurgents in Falluja. It appeared that some militants may have fled Falluja ahead of that offensive and decided to launch attacks elsewhere, including Mosul.
In the past four days, there has been a step up in violence across the Sunni Muslim heartland of the country, including the towns Baquba, Samarra, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad.
Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of the capital, has seen frequent outbreaks of violence, but residents said this week's outburst was the worst since the end of the war last year.
You are welcome Dog. I knew it had to be something, I thought perhaps you had over slept. I know that when I finally got since enough to shut down my puter and go to bed last night I think that you were still at it.
The moaning in this piece about civilian casualties is notable.
Praying with you, also.
Kudos to both of you. I've been living on these threads at the office.
Best wishes to you Mom's recovery, Dog. My brother had a quad by-pass 2 months ago and is doing great.
The boy's a stooge for the bad guys. "At least one resident said...." F'n bastard is a salamikaze propagandist.
WOW
CNN showing excellent view. Cam over shoulder of soldier/Marine firing at the enemy.
You can actually see the bullets flying through the air.
ROFLMAO
:D
I wondered if it was a decoder ring signal.
http://tv.reuters.co.uk/ifr_main.jsp?st=1100275511692&rf=bm&mp=WMP&wmp=1&rm=0&cpf=false&fr=110404_103413_17d5d2ax10003cb0bf2xw5e6e&rdm=70622.16747431337
What it means is that numerous 'insurgents'(terrorists) were killed in their attempted assault, and the rest ran back to cover.
This was a BBC reporter who was so anxious to find atrocities being perpetrated by our Marines you could almost sense him salivating.
Looks to me like they (US troops) are holding them and not letting them go.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.