[Fighting Irish]

Michael Fumento (U.S. Army Airborne, 1978-82), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has been embedded twice in Al Anbar.

[SittinYonder]

It's also the capital of Al Anbar province and a favorite stomping ground of al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi until two 500 lb. bombs blew apart his hideout last Wednesday.

Was that just last Wednesday? It seems like a couple of months ago. How time flies. ...

Anyway, thanks for posting, good reading.

[LachlanMinnesota]

Assuming all this to be true, what should be the US response?

[bassmaner]

Dateline of this story is 6/19 - two months ago. It seems like most of the violence *now* is centered around Baghdad: I wonder if Zarqawi's demise has played a role in the apparent shift of the terrorists' focus.

[RushingWater]

There are four minarets within sniping distance of Corregidor, and the gentlemen in these places of worship regularly shoot at the raised observation posts around the camp and sometimes into the camp itself.

Now I would pay to see video of our snipers knocking some of these minaret posted shooters down. I wonder if we are even doing that?

[nj_pilot]

Good stuff. Here's the article with pictures from his blog:
http://www.fumento.com/military/ramadi.html

[Mister Da]

"There are four minarets within sniping distance of Corregidor, and the gentlemen in these places of worship regularly shoot at the raised observation posts around the camp and sometimes into the camp itself."

It is outrageous that these mosques are allowed to remain standing. Or any other building that houses terrorists or their weapons. Not one drop of our soldiers' blood is worth this nonsense. This is not a winning tactic, it is appeasement.

Camp Corregidor sounds too much like the fire bases of old, with their search & destroy missions & no go restricted areas in the city. This is "hearts & minds" bullsh@t.

Our policy should be that ALL buildings containing terrorists or their weapons is subject to instant destruction or bulldozing - our choice. The people of Iraq, Afghanistan, & Lebanon, etc., need to be told clearly & often that if they are in close proximity to a terrorist or his weapons, their lives & property are in imminent danger. We will no longer refrain from attacking the terrorists because of so-called "innocent civilians".

[Billthedrill]

Great read, thanks for posting. I'm sure people more qualified than I made the decision but I can't help but feel that had we publicly obliterated a mosque early on in this thing as an example much less of this would be happening. There has to be some middle ground between giving the enemy a propaganda victory as a destroyer of holy places and giving him a free sanctuary.

[JoeGar]

Excellent article.