Another tib bit showing that Harry only knows how to cut and paste.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
From Reuters:

Falluja fighters dent US morale

T
Under cover of darkness, US Marine snipers hunting the fighters of
Falluja have spent a long night on Iraq's desert sand, emerging with
little but frustration.


"We were on some very exposed ground and we didn't get anyone," said an
exhausted Lance Corporal Migel Nunez, 22, of Elgin, Texas.

It was their tenth ambush mission in Iraq, none of which killed or
captured a fighter near the city, site of a weeks-long standoff with
resistance fighters who the US occupation forces say include Saddam
Hussein loyalists and foreign Muslim fighters.

For weeks US Marines operating near the city have been searching houses,
hunting suspected fighters and setting up ambush positions deep in enemy
territory.

Few results

But the operations have yielded few tangible results and despite their
high-tech weapons and draconian discipline, US Marines are struggling
against resourceful resistance fighters with no clear leadership,
structure or supply lines.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and
they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They
are geting better"



Marines say the fighters have mastered the art of attacking them and
then melting away in villages where it is impossible to distinguish
between fighters and civilians.

"They fire their AK-47s from their homes, walk out the back door and
then actually walk up and shake hands with American soldiers when the
fighting is over," said Lance Corporal Peter Johnson, 20, of Wheaton,
Illinois.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and
they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They
are getting better."

Signs of activity

That reality is especially troubling for Marines who had hoped to launch
an offensive in besieged Falluja but have instead been searching for
resistance fighters in nearby villages along roads infested with bombs.

So far they have seen signs of activity only in hamlets where assault
rifles are hidden in wheat fields, while they listen to air strikes and
explosions around Falluja in the distance.

Some Marines have begun
questioning their own tactics

Some Marines have begun questioning their own tactics. Many complain
they alert their enemies long before they enter villages by travelling
in noisy armoured vehicles.

But commanders say moving in small groups is far too risky in a land
where everyone from farmers to soda shop owners could be guerrilla
supporters or fighters.

Overnight on Thursday, the sniper unit attached to Golf Company returned
to a village they left just hours earlier, hoping to ambush fighters who
might have returned.

As soon as their noisy armoured vehicle approached, every household in
one hamlet turned off its lights and then switched them on again when
they left, an apparent signal to fighters.

'They know everything'

"The problem is they know everything about us. They hear us coming, they
know what vehicles we ride in and calculate how many in each vehicle,"
said Private First Class Joseph France, 19, of Batesville, Indiana.

"They hear us coming, they know what vehicles we ride in and calculate
how many in each vehicle"

"We know nothing about them. We don't know who they are. They know how
to surprise us and they are resourceful with their weapons and know how
to escape."

Marines recalled how one resistance unit put ice in a mortar tube and
then pumped the mortar down it. The ice melted and the round was fired
after they made their getaway.

The eagerness to kill fighters showed in a recent skirmish when Marines
entering a village spotted three men running as they approached. They
pursued and fired on the men, killing one, wounding and capturing
another.

Marines said the men fired on them. A senior officer said they had no
weapons, but that with shots coming in the men were legitimate targets
because they ran.


Reuters

It is a good thing for his ability and skill in cutting and pasteing. Do not
discourage it. Its obvious that when he uses his own words, he comes across
like a moron, so do not discourage it. It is interesting to hear what the
other side thinks from time to time.







"John Smith" wrote in message
news:AGelc.18223$kh4.1034431@attbi_s52...
Another tib bit showing that Harry only knows how to cut and paste.


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
From Reuters:

Falluja fighters dent US morale

T
Under cover of darkness, US Marine snipers hunting the fighters of
Falluja have spent a long night on Iraq's desert sand, emerging with
little but frustration.


"We were on some very exposed ground and we didn't get anyone," said an
exhausted Lance Corporal Migel Nunez, 22, of Elgin, Texas.

It was their tenth ambush mission in Iraq, none of which killed or
captured a fighter near the city, site of a weeks-long standoff with
resistance fighters who the US occupation forces say include Saddam
Hussein loyalists and foreign Muslim fighters.

For weeks US Marines operating near the city have been searching houses,
hunting suspected fighters and setting up ambush positions deep in enemy
territory.

Few results

But the operations have yielded few tangible results and despite their
high-tech weapons and draconian discipline, US Marines are struggling
against resourceful resistance fighters with no clear leadership,
structure or supply lines.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and
they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They
are geting better"



Marines say the fighters have mastered the art of attacking them and
then melting away in villages where it is impossible to distinguish
between fighters and civilians.

"They fire their AK-47s from their homes, walk out the back door and
then actually walk up and shake hands with American soldiers when the
fighting is over," said Lance Corporal Peter Johnson, 20, of Wheaton,
Illinois.

"It is just impossible to tell them apart. They can't aim very well and
they don't have lots of weapons but they are resourceful and smart. They
are getting better."

Signs of activity

That reality is especially troubling for Marines who had hoped to launch
an offensive in besieged Falluja but have instead been searching for
resistance fighters in nearby villages along roads infested with bombs.

So far they have seen signs of activity only in hamlets where assault
rifles are hidden in wheat fields, while they listen to air strikes and
explosions around Falluja in the distance.

Some Marines have begun
questioning their own tactics

Some Marines have begun questioning their own tactics. Many complain
they alert their enemies long before they enter villages by travelling
in noisy armoured vehicles.

But commanders say moving in small groups is far too risky in a land
where everyone from farmers to soda shop owners could be guerrilla
supporters or fighters.

Overnight on Thursday, the sniper unit attached to Golf Company returned
to a village they left just hours earlier, hoping to ambush fighters who
might have returned.

As soon as their noisy armoured vehicle approached, every household in
one hamlet turned off its lights and then switched them on again when
they left, an apparent signal to fighters.

'They know everything'

"The problem is they know everything about us. They hear us coming, they
know what vehicles we ride in and calculate how many in each vehicle,"
said Private First Class Joseph France, 19, of Batesville, Indiana.

"They hear us coming, they know what vehicles we ride in and calculate
how many in each vehicle"

"We know nothing about them. We don't know who they are. They know how
to surprise us and they are resourceful with their weapons and know how
to escape."

Marines recalled how one resistance unit put ice in a mortar tube and
then pumped the mortar down it. The ice melted and the round was fired
after they made their getaway.

The eagerness to kill fighters showed in a recent skirmish when Marines
entering a village spotted three men running as they approached. They
pursued and fired on the men, killing one, wounding and capturing
another.

Marines said the men fired on them. A senior officer said they had no
weapons, but that with shots coming in the men were legitimate targets
because they ran.


Reuters