Can we call the press sheep

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
this is just stupid

'Just like Apocalypse Now'
By Hugh Dougherty in Qatar, Evening Standard

An eyewitness tells today of the heaviest battle of the war so far which has left 750 Iraqis dead.

Sean D Naylor of the American Army Times quotes a US soldier describing the fighting as so intense that "it looks like Apocalypse Now".

Naylor reports the destruction of American tanks, rocket-propelled grenade assaults and deadly air strikes called in on the Iraqi attackers.

So intense was the fighting that at one stage the 3rd Squadron commander's driver, Private First Class Randall Duke Newcomb, was forced to steer his Humvee with one hand while firing out of the window with the other.


The battle on the Euphrates came when a US armoured column of the 7th Cavalry was caught in a deadly ambush by hundreds of Iraqi soldiers on the road to Baghdad at Najaf.

Although first reports suggested there were no American dead, intelligence sources in Washington say it is feared the Allies may have taken "heavy casualties".

US Abrams tanks were hit by Iraqi missiles fired from tripods on pick-up trucks, and vicious close-quarters skirmishes continued even after the Iraqis took heavy losses. Meanwhile, a large contingent of Republican Guard was reported to be heading south from Baghdad to meet US troops head on.
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the most pathetic thing i saw on the news was a lame ass reporter of CNN interviewing a soldier while he was firing at iraqi soldiers....
the reporter asked the guy "what do you see over there?"

at that point i'd most likely would have pointed my gun to my right and fired.
 
Ya know, it would seem the defenders in a completely hopeless situation tend to hold a certain advantage. If they can take out a tank with a pick-up truck and a rocket launcher, we're in for a lot of trouble. How many tanks do we have? How many pick-up trucks and rocket launchers do they have? I still think they may be seriously understimating the length and cost of this war. I sure hope its worth it :rolleyes:
 
Tanks, I'm not sure it's been announced. The thing that blew me away is, we have 1,000 aircraft in the theatre. That's a lot of precision bombs.
 
I was assuming they were using those Russian anti-tank missles. By bad, I assumed hit, meant destroyed. I'm not sure its a bad assumption in this case though, because why would you mention it if it didn't cause much damage.
 
I sure hope those 1000 aircraft get out there and take care of that 1000 vehicle strong convoy of Iraq Republican Guard you mentioned in the other thread! Btw, I think most of those are support aircraft. The number of fighters and bombers was much much smaller. Furthermore, the Apaches seem to be having a difficult time of things too. An army full of men willing to die for their country carrying anti-tank and surface-to-air missles can cause a lot of damage, especially if they aren't all concentrated and easy to eliminate. It could get really ugly this time!
 
The Apache is the greatest hilo ever invented. Until it goes to war. :shrug:
 
Some people here give way too much credit to what the media has to say. They have a handful of our guys as POWs. How many of theirs do we have?
We've blown through the country like crap through a goose, and have suffered total casualties of about... 0.05% of our total force.
 
WASHINGTON, March 25, 2003 -- Coalition aircraft flew more than 1,500 sorties in the continuing air war against the regime in Iraq on March 24, coalition officials in the region said today.

More than 800 were strike sorties, with 200 of those being flown against "preplanned" targets. The rest were flown against "emerging targets" -- targets of opportunity.

Coalition aircraft strike to suppress ballistic missile threats, to degrade Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard units, to support special operations forces and to strike targets of opportunity as they arise, U.S. Central Command officials said.

Coalition air operations are aimed at the regime of Saddam Hussein and not against the Iraqi people, officials stressed.

They said specific targets in and around Baghdad include the government control center, the offices of the Special Security Organizations, the headquarters of the Special Republican Guards and the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

Unsung heroes in the war are the flying gas stations, according to Air Force officials, who say that "no bomb gets dropped without refueling." The tankers fly about 15 percent of the total sorties; aerial refueling allows strike aircraft to race in at high speed and get back to base safely.
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Source

1500 sorties a day means a shitload of strike and front-line aircraft, RD, even when 15% are tankers.
 
This morning, FoxNews had a story with the B-2 pilots. Those guys are flying for 26(?) hours straight out of MO. dropping pre-planned ordinance & going home without being seen or hit. *salute*

Greatest example of precision bombing I've seen. An Iraqi tank was hit under a bridge & the bridge was undamaged.
 
MitchSchaft said:
Some people here give way too much credit to what the media has to say. They have a handful of our guys as POWs. How many of theirs do we have?
We've blown through the country like crap through a goose, and have suffered total casualties of about... 0.05% of our total force.
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But if you didn't notice, they aren't even gonna really start fighting until we get to Baghdad. Then we have the same problem we did in Vietnam, we can't tell the enemy from the civilians. Don't worry, this strategy WILL be employed again! They remember our weaknesses from Vietnam! They are already using such tactics as you've already stated!
 
War is not easy. I feel for the folks over there.
Bush better stick to his word when he says we're going all the way this time.
 
Well, I can agree with you on that. It'd be a shame to do this again :rolleyes: Its daddy's fault we have to do it THIS time!
 
It is though! The headlines just sounded better. The 100 day war wasn't it, or something to that effect? 100 days and 12 years as you guys keep pointing out.

Lets hope this is the LAST time if nothing else!
 
RD_151 said:
Lets hope this is the LAST time if nothing else!
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Agree 100%.

The US led coalition of UN mandated agression was to remove the Iraqi military from Kuwait. We even went beyond that with the no fly zones. Daddy was following teh rules & look where it got us.
 
Please do some homework!
Last time our issue was to get Saddam out of Kuwait. We did that and left.
This time we've vowed to get Saddam out of Iraq and hopefully off of this planet.
2 totally different issues.
 
yes, but if you have issue with him THIS time, why didn't ya make the same argument LAST TIME. Clearly there was more justification (in the court of world opinion if nothing else) last time than this time. If we can't agree on this, then I'm really missing something!
 
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