Posted on 04/21/2006 10:20:47 PM PDT by FreedomCalls
IBRAHIM AL MARKHUR, Iraq — One misplaced cell phone and one savvy interpreter equaled one dead insurgent, several pieces of intelligence and a whole lot of captured weapons.
On a routine patrol, U.S. troops with 1st Battalion, 68th Armor came upon a house in the midst of dense greenery and at the end of a dusty country road.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Nicodemus, 33, said he immediately noticed that no Iraqi men were around.
Suddenly, a cell phone inside the home rang, said Nicodemus, of Altoona, Pa.
“The interpreter went in and answered the phone, and on the other end of the phone the person said, in Arabic, ‘Hey, coalition forces are here, go ahead and run away,’ and he specifically said, ‘Go and run into the palm groves all around here,’ ” Nicodemus said.
The troops then fanned out into the palm groves and found several weapons including several rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades, two AK-47s and a new sniper’s rifle, Nicodemus said.
They also found a hand-written map of a U.S. military base, diagrams on how to build rockets and a CD-ROM with several thousand files written in Arabic, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Greer, 35, of San Luis Obispo, Calif.
If that weren’t enough, the insurgent kept calling the interpreter back to ask what the Americans were doing.
The interpreter kept the act going.
“He’s basically acting like, you know, he’s watching us ... making sure everything is fine,” Nicodemus said.
The U.S. troops knew the insurgents were coming back and decided to lie in wait for them.
Many troops said they were psyched by the prospect of killing the person on the other end of the phone.
“I love this [expletive],” said Sgt. Nicholas Hake-Jordan, 23, of Springfield, Ore.
The troops didn’t have to wait long.
Shortly after U.S. troops set up, the insurgents called the interpreter and said they would be by in about 10 minutes to attack the Americans, said Staff Sgt. Art Hoffman, 30.
When seven insurgents got to the house, they ran into a wall of U.S. fire, said Hoffman, of Baltimore.
“The first guy that came in the door just dropped like a rock. The other two guys behind him got hit pretty hard, too. The rest grabbed their wounded and just ran back off,” said Hoffman.
One insurgent was confirmed killed in the fighting and the other two were in bad shape, he said.
Afterward, the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Fisher, 42, praised his soldiers’ actions.
“The initiative demonstrated at the platoon level is exactly how you win this fight,” said Fisher, of Sioux Falls, S.D.
nelson says "Ha Hah!"
Nelson?
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Yea, it's them all right! More on them:
http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=35367&archive=true
Nice! Really nice!
This story points out something I think we're (that is, the military brass) might be missing. The insurgents have enjoyed quite a bit of success engaging in guerilla warfare, what with their IEDs and all.
Now comes along a situation where our guys get to play that game in their face, and it's great!
Why don't we start adopting the same tactics? Obviously the status quo isn't working, at least not as planned. Why not pull some urban warfare tricks of our own? Why aren't we planting a 1000 lb bomb under the street and waiting for Mohammed Al Kilu to drive by? Why not start our own alternative to Al Jazerra, and show the Ka-Boom of our own IEDs on it? Why not engage in more 'sucker punch' tricks like the one above?
If the insurgents don't want to fight a stand-up battle, we'll need to adapt, right?
Reach out, reach out and grease someone.
LOL
I am so proud of our military. I get to teach them near a Marine base. Many are on their way to Iraq, so this is very personal for me. I give them cigars (past and present military).
what Studs!
God bless them all.
God save our enemies from their evil cult
That is actually a great idea. Let the troops fall back and watch. The only downside would be so many of our troops patrol areas like Ramadi, Biap, and Fallujah. We actually ward off the insurgents and keep them in check by showing our faces. They see .50 cals mounted on gun ships and they certainly become uncomfortable. Weeding out terrorists is a long process. Another downside is the enemy is not marked. It could be anyone. Man. Woman. Child. Everywhere you go there are cameras. Why the military lets reporters follow them around is beyond me. That is all politics I suppose. The troops are not being allowed to do their job. Stand and fight. That is what we need to do. It is a war. The Dems and Republicans need to just let them do their job. Civilians in America do their job. Men and women in uniform sworn to protect ouor country from enemies foreign and domesic, do theirs. My question is, when will the cut and run liberals let us protect the world from these islamo fascist scum bags? We can get the job done. Just let the corp and the soldiers do what they are trained to do. That's serve and protect at all costs. Even a few dead civilians.
I am waiting for some lib govt official to come out and say that this kind of war operaion is unfair to the insurgants. What if thew weren't the bad guys, or why didn't we detain them instead of killing them this is a cowardly barbaic way for our guys to act. (sarc OFF)
I say shoot first and shoot again just for the heck of it. No questions need be asked...
Sweet. PING.
I would like to know who makes this sniper rifle and where did it come from. We all know the "mideasteners" don't know how to manufacture anything except suicide vests and IEDs.
I suppose it's a Dragonuv SVD. Or rather a Iraqi knock-off called a Al Kadesiah that is a hybrid between the Romanian PSL and the Russian SVD.
http://www.dragunov.net/iraq_alkadesiah.htm
I would have given a testicle to be the guy that walked up behind the terrorist on the other end and shot him in the head.
I just thought about that and decided at 51 I WOULD do that to be the one to plug the Islamonazi
That's quite a site. Thanks for the info.
Ping
Good entertainment of the day ping!
"I love it when a plan comes together!"
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