I caught some of the coverage on CNN, but just a little. Is it an all-out assault by our people, or another of the actions we've had off and on there?
MSNBC is saying an AC-130 gunship was hammering targets. Fighting went on for about half an hour with tanks, soldiers, etc... They are showing some of the explosions from Al Jazeera
I'm glad we are negotiating with the only things these animals understand- superior firepower. Ever seen what a Spooky looks like firing that battery of guns? I always thought the Air Farce was for p*****s too weak to join the Army, but this is one bird I do like and a friend of grunts. Above is the original gunship, the AC-47 Spooky, the predessor of our Spectres and Spooky II's, blasting commie bastards in action over Vietnam. The Spooky carried only three 7.62 mini-gun Gatlings, while the newest AC-130U Spooky II carries one 25mm GE GAU-12 gatling, one 40mm Bofors cannon and a 105mm howitzer. So imagine this coming from a Spooky II!
It's a shame this couldn't be negotiated away. The only good thing is a certain percentage of those that we kill will have porobably 'bothered' the new Iraqi government after the transfer. I'm sad for our soldiers and those Iraqis who think that they're fighting for their country.
Seriously that's the picture my dad has as his background. He's the only one to pull a barrell roll in one of those, in full combat mind you.
I heard some crazy stuff that the Spooky gunship can do, especially the latest version...such as putting a round every square inch on a football field sized area in a matter of seconds...and taking out two buildings simultaneously...I almost feel sorry for the terrorists, and those who want no part of the future, better Iraq that is planned to come...
Anyone know how many Spectre's/Spooky II's we have in service? High value/"low tech"... reminds me of how much we tinkered with the original B-52. You sure don't want to be on the receiving end of one of these puppies!
superior firepower usualy defeats traditional standing armies, but it doesn't equate victory when fighting guerrilla style warfare see: Vietnam, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
analysis of urban warfare in Fallujah. http://slate.msn.com/id/2099575/ We will get to judge whether the author got this one correct or not within a few weeks.
But mostly we have learned from this, and we have learned to fight urban combat...we mostly fight urban tactical at night...mostly...
The fight against terror will not stop...war isn't over and we will always have the neccesity to engage terrorism...which really is no new concept...
This may surprise you but apparently our forces haven't learned to superiority of night vision equipped troops and many of these skirmishes happen during the day. If you read the embed reports, they go on patrol at all hours, and convoys don't limit themselves to night time driving.
yeah..yeah, they operte at all hours, but they have the advantage at night due to technology,...and we have made significant body counts in the last day and a half against the terrorists...We are doing well. Relax, be happy...
Remove our ungodly gadgets and we have the best individual fighting men in our Marine Corps of any armed force in the world. I'd stack Leathernecks against any enemy, any time, any place. Add to the mix our technology and we should be invincible. But I think we spent too much time negotiating with this Shiite Don and allowed his fighters time to entrench themselves. We should have gone in there from the get-go and KATN. Our airpower is a big force multiplier for us. I remember in Somalia, the skinny birds (the Iraqi nickname for the AH-1W Cobra or Whiskey Cobra) were called in while my unit was pinned down under heavy fire back in June 92. The Whiskey's tore in like gangbusters and silenced several positions with heavy rocket and 20mm cannon fire.
