I have not denied a VBIED attack - no one has. I have said there MAY have been an ambush of some sort at the VBIED site, although I doubt it - if so, it would be the only one done in that area. The question is what happened on the return to the FOB, since the Marines continued to shoot and kill people the entire distance. There is no physical evidence that they were under attack the entire distance. The people doing the shooting claimed they were, but others disagreed - including Americans.
There have been no ambushes next to the FOB Fenty, nor any ambushes that I heard about anywhere along the highway. IED attacks, yes. Ambushes, no. They are not the same thing.
The FOB border extends along the road for perhaps 1.5 miles...I never measured it.
A VBIED has no need to worry about a helicopter - it is a one shot bomb (often suicidal), not a sustained attack.
Please also note that even the General in the article made no attempt to defend what happened on the drive back to the FOB.
I couldn't disagree with you more. IEDs are a munition used almost exclusively to ambush unsuspecting victims.
They and the insurgents who set them off lay in wait, both hidden, until our forces are within range, then the IED is set off, often accompanied by small arms fire by the insurgents.
I couldn't think of a more accurate description of an ambush than the typical attack which involves an IED.
the Marines continued to shoot and kill people the entire distance
Then why aren't there hundreds of civilians dead?
There is no physical evidence that they were under attack the entire distance.
How do you know that? What physical evidence is there that the Marines were shooting at people the entire stretch, and how has this test been applied to the other side? Have investigators described to you how they can tell which pockmarks on individual buildings came from whose weapon and when it was fired? Have the insurgents involved given statements?
The people doing the shooting claimed they were, but others disagreed - including Americans
Besides the obvious implication that only Marines were shooting, you state that others, including Americans claim these Marines lied.
Name 'em.