US troops wounded in attack on convoy near Fallujah: witnesses

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030801/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_attacks_fallujah&cid=1514&ncid=1480

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - An unknown number of US troops were wounded when assailants fired several rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a US convoy west of the rebel city of Fallujah, witnesses said.

"Several rockets were fired on a convoy and two jeeps and three armoured personnel carriers caught fire," witness Mohammad Hamad al-Halboussi told AFP at the scene.

"The attackers ran away and then came back to open fire with Kalashnikovs and pistols on the American soldiers," he added.

The attack, which began at 7:00 am (0300 GMT), and the subsequent gun battle lasted about 90 minutes, in the village of Albu Alwan, seven kilometres (four miles) west of Fallujah, said Majid Ibrahim Allawi, adding that three Iraqi men were arrested.

"I was arrested for two hours by American forces and I saw 12 (US) soldiers on the ground."

more

[expatriot]

1. don't despair... Bush has Jesus on his side....

we have a bunch of Lazarus's for troops over there... there will be only one us combat kia out of the deal and of course an overturned vehicle will claim one life.

[deutsey]

2. 12 bodies....

I hope this is an exaggeration.

:evilfrown:

[expatriot]

4. there are a lot of things 12 bodies can be doing on a ground.

they could be sprawled out on the ground seeking cover behind rubble, they could be wounded, etc. and of course it is probably exaggerated.

what frightens me is that it was a 90 minutes fire fight at a location and a time of the guerrilla's choosing. that is not good. from a military stand point, you can not let them sustain an ambush like that for that long. i guess we do not have the number of troops in iraq to both actively patrol and to have those patrols consist of overwhelming strength.

[htuttle]

6. 90 minutes is a very long time

I wonder if they don't want to send helicopter support due to the danger of SAMs?

The guerillas were probably too close to the US troops for B-52s to be any help, but helicopters should have been able to intercept -- unless there have been a lot more SAM missiles flying around than they've let on.

[expatriot]

8. helicopters suck very much in urban combat support roles...

rooftops, stairwells, windows, alleys.... urban combat sucks for armor support and air support and thus it sucks for infantry.

[rhino91063]

3. Seems to me

The media is no longer interested in reporting the causilites. All the army has to do is say they are not aware of the attacks and the deaths and injuries are no longer being reported. Looks like the right wing media is doing it's best to keep bush's popularity from sagging any lower.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

5. The US military has admitted to a series of troop suicides.

It's safe to assume that the percentage of emotional unstable cases, not to mention physical disabilities, must be reaching rates that would be considered unacceptable to the general public, and so it's best not to report them.

[expatriot]

7. there is only one problem with the theory that KIA's go unreported...

although i am very anti-bush, anti-war and fear for the direction of the country, i find it very hard to believe the pentagon could get away with underreporting KIA's.. for one thing, the families of GI's know that their loved ones are in Iraq... people in that family have internet access... they get a telegram that their loved one died in a traffic accident, or of natural causes.... the name never appears in the list of iraq dead, families would start talking... plus, soldiers in the field do the combat reports... at least many of them are starting to question why they are there... there'd be leaks from the lower-level commisioned officers who would have to be at least aware of the discrepancy... there is no way they could pull it off...

[saigon68]

9. How many purple hearts have been awarded?

I'd like to see the real figures on that one. If you are wounded or killed in combat one is awarded.
If you die in an auto accident= no purple heart.

[Tempest]

15. Re-read his post

Rhino clearly said casualties (even if he spelled it wrong), not deaths.

And there have been many reports of casualties being underreported by the Pentagon and U.S. media.

[Rollins]

17. I agree

There is just no way they could under report though am not sure about the validity of the cause of death. Recently read about a woman whose son was first reported killed by accidental fire then KIA.

Troops must be under so much stress dealing with the fact that we catch very few of the enemy.

[atreides1]

18. Here are some answers

My chiroprator's receptionist has a son in Iraq with the USMC, the last letter she received from him was in June, but the letter was
written in April.

So contrary to popular belief those troops in Iraq don't have as much access to communications to call home or to send e-mails. Most of that
equipment is in higher HQ's or in Kuwait.

So, could a soldier die and the military cover it up for at least a week, yes they could.

[joshcryer]

10. Anyone have any more specifics?

My brother was in a convoy from Kuwait for resupplying today. I hope that he wasn't in this one.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Probably a lot of convoys today. I would not worry. I have looked...

...for other stories and/or follow-ups to this one, but can't find anything else yet. I will post anything I find. Don't worry though. Your brother is fine.

Don

[joshcryer]

12. Heard from him yesterday, he wished me a happy birthday.

Fucking Bush. Hope no one got killed. I hate early reports like this that don't give specifics.

[Rose Siding]

13. Here's another report

I hope your brother is OK. This was west of Fallujah- that's pretty far north, isn't it?

Al Jezeera is quoting wits about casualties also. Who knows?

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2003-08/01/article03.shtml

[joshcryer]

14. Ahh, thanks. "Fallujah, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad"

Eases my mind a bit, since he wouldn't be that far west as far as I know.

[GalleryGod]

16. Interesting? Fallujah is referred to as a "rebel town" !?

:think: that's "newspeak" for "we ain't anywhere NEAR controlling this area". Sounds:wtf: like reports from the Belgium Congo in the late 50's or Cuba under Battista:crazy: