It's Game On In Ramadi: Long Awaited Operation Underway, Fierce Fighting in Center of City

Iraq Slogger ^ | March 2 2007 | ROBERT Y. PELTON

[Valin]

Two words Collateral Damage. The idea is to get the bad guys without killing noncombatants and destroying their city.

[JemiansTerror]

With pride!

[freema]

Darryl Sharratt
Theresa Sharratt
Rosemarie & David Wuterich

[freema]

The sector has already been cleared..They're handing out humanitarian aid now..These guys are fast..The 1-9 kicks butt Thank you.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

I'll bump that!

[ichabod1]

Thank you. Our policy on collateral damage stinks. If it's not important enough of an objective to destroy it, it's not important enough for us to be there. Sometimes it is necessary to destroy the ville in order to save it. We aren't supposed to be using our troops as cannon fodder any more.

[Valin]

"Our policy on collateral damage stinks"

Short term...you could say that. Long term it's what will win this war.

"If it's not important enough of an objective to destroy it, it's not important enough for us to be there"

The objective (of Iraq and the GWOT) is not to destroy things, and kill people. If that was we could've done that with one Trident missle. The objective is to drain the swamp. I know a lot of preple don't like to hear this but "Nation Building" & "Hearts and Minds" is a large part and you could say the most important part of the GWOT which Iraq is but one battle.



"We aren't supposed to be using our troops as cannon fodder any more."

Cannon fodder? When you look at the casualty rate in this war the term cannon fodder is...well silly

America's Wars: U.S. Casualties and Veterans
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It's tough arguing with the "nuke em all" crowd....

[Modok]

Give em hell MANCHU ROCKS

[Modok]

Not to pick a fight, but I would not want to tell some MANCHUs that they were not going to be allowed to kick ass. They would be highly pissed.

[ichabod1]

I see what you're saying, but it seems like about the worst duty a warrior could face would be kicking doors and creeping through deserted houses all day, knowing that 95% of them were going to be empty but at some point in the day you're going to find booby traps or hidden rags waiting to ambush you. Talk about mentally exhausting... That's why I have such a problem with door-to-door. There's just no good way to do it.

[piasa]

It's probably because it's not as difficult to clear snipers out of standing structures where they look out of place as it is to find them amid the many more potential hiding places of chaotic rubble where everything looks out of place. [Not that I would know.]

I believe we did something along the lines of what you'd like to do in WW2 Italy- blew some fortress or castle to bits. It was a mistake for which we paid dearly... essentially we gave that bad guys the best hiding places and ambush points they could ask for.

[Ben Chad]

You got that right.