Firing Up New Weapon in Fallouja: The Bulldozer

[Robbien]

FALLOUJA, Iraq — As U.S. aircraft mounted heavy fire against Iraqi snipers Wednesday, Marines began building an earthen barrier around this Sunni Triangle city, suggesting that the U.S. does not anticipate an immediate resolution of the standoff.

The barrier ringing Fallouja will enable the Marines to further restrict the flow of people and vehicles in and out of the city. Marines have been operating checkpoints on major roads, but the U.S. forces are spread thin in open stretches. "It opens up our options, both short-term and long-term," said Maj. Brandon McGowan, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, one of three battalions assigned to Fallouja.

<snip>

That shooting intensified Wednesday as fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades at a U.S. Cobra attack helicopter. Early Wednesday, an American AC-130 gunship fired on a row of buildings on the outskirts of the city that Marines said was a staging area for ambushes. A similar attack in the evening set off an explosion believed to be an arms cache.

During the day, American fighter jets hit two other insurgent targets, sending clouds of thick smoke into the air. Marines aiming .50-caliber machine guns at a row of houses several hundred yards away guarded the construction crews on the barrier project.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-barrier15apr15,1,7382872.story?coll=la-headlines-world

[jamesinca]

1. Now they are using bulldozers

Italians are protesting because of the assassination of one of its citizens in Iraq. Poland is considering pulling out of Iraq. Iran has stepped into settle down the religious leaders in Iraq. A cease fire was negotiated. More troops are being asked for. bin-Laden has supposedly released a tape saying he would leave Europe alone but not the U.S. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

[saigon68]

4. where else did they use bulldozers?

was it in germany to bury jewish bodies at "the camps"?

[truthspeaker]

15. also in GW1 to fill in trenches and bury Iraqi soldiers alive

[daleo]

17. Don't forget Jenin and other areas of the West Bank

I hope I spelled that right

[lostnfound]

2. What's next -- a wall? i.e., 24 foot variety?

I hope someone wakes up and realizes that these tactics haven't been successful before.

Seems that the training they have been receiving in urban warfare is being put to use. :(
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=484072

[sam sarrha]

18. halburten will sub contract Israel for that job just to piss them off..

and because they probably couldnt build a wall themselves..

[maddezmom]

3. "barrier project"

That's a new term. :eyes:

[molok555]

5. Here come the Rome Plows!

nt

[saigon68]

9. Heard that one

Destroyng the jungle in the Iron Triangle. An idea that cost a lot of lves to kill a jungle.

[Judi Lynn]

6. From the L.A. Times article

(snip)
In one stretch, bulldozing was being done by Marine combat engineers from Camp Pendleton and Army troops from Oklahoma.

"We did plenty of berming last year," said Marine Chief Warrant Officer Wayne Duree, 30, of Houston, a reference to the months after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime when Marines assumed responsibility for a southern portion of the country.

Many of the bulldozers were similar to those seen on civilian construction projects. But others looked like iron pyramids and were specially built for the military to protect the operator from gunfire.

"It's just a massive, mean-looking bulldozer," said Marine Lt. Paul Krumenacker, 33, of New York.
(snip/...)

So is this the beast? It's what fell out of google.images:Army bulldozer



Looks scary.

On edit: Here's the Israeli bulldozer which killed Rachel Corrie. I doubt it was reinforced for battle use, however.

[western mass]

7. Let the strategic hamletting begin! N/T

[dusty64]

8. Winning hearts and minds

and escalation, where have I heard of these before?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Did the Israelis train the Marines on the proper use of a bulldozer?...

When do they begin bulldozing buildings with people in them?

[treepig]

11. perhaps a "new weapon" per se, but the concept is not new

modified abrams tanks were used as "bulldozers" in gulf war I:

there were no bodies, no stench of feces that hovers on a battlefield, no blood stains, no bits of human beings. "You get a little firefight in Vietnam and the bodies would be stacked up like cordwood," Daniel said. Finally, Daniel found the Division public affairs officer, an Army major.


"Where the hell are all the bodies?" Daniel said.


"What bodies?" the officer replied.


Daniel and the rest of the world would not find out until months later why the dead had vanished. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, some of them alive and firing their weapons from World War I-style trenches, were buried by plows mounted on Abrams main battle tanks. The Abrams flanked the trench lines so that tons of sand from the plow spoil funneled into the trenches. Just behind the tanks, actually straddling the trench line, came M2 Bradleys pumping 7.62mm machine gun bullets into the Iraqi troops.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14633

[Judi Lynn]

13. I've heard of this before.....

First time I've read a story of this quality. Obviously there are witnesses, and it's not a fabrication.

There's so much it adds to our picture of what was happening there with _{Bush I.} Isn't it funny we learn of critical things so many years later?

Yeah, Hussein really buried people in mass graves, didn't he, as in Republican charges? Too bad they never linger long enough to fill in the rest of the story.

[0007]

12. The Ring Master running the show is the dumbest son-of-a-bitch

the world has ever seen.

I don't know how, but this will be turned around to junior in the ass.

[tlcandie]

14. ACEs- Armored Combat Earth Movers....fancy name for bulletproof bulldozers

<snip>
Daniel and the rest of the world would not find out until months later why the dead had vanished. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers, some of them alive and firing their weapons from World War I-style trenches, were buried by plows mounted on Abrams main battle tanks. The Abrams flanked the trench lines so that tons of sand from the plow spoil funneled into the trenches. Just behind the tanks, actually straddling the trench line, came M2 Bradleys pumping 7.62mm machine gun bullets into the Iraqi troops.

"I came through right after the lead company," said Army Col. Anthony Moreno, who commanded the lead brigade during the 1st Mech's assault. "What you saw was a bunch of buried trenches with people's arms and legs sticking out of them. For all I know, we could have killed thousands."
<snip>

<snip>
FC Joe Queen of the 1st Engineers was impervious to small arms fire inside the cockpit of the massive earth mover. He remained cool and professional as he smoothed away all signs of the carnage. Queen won the Bronze Star for his efforts. "A lot of guys were scared," Queen said, "but I enjoyed it." Col. Moreno estimated more than 70 miles of trenches and earthen bunkers were attacked, filled in and smoothed over on Feb. 24-25.
<snip>

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14633

Thanks for this link...HORRIBLE, simply horrible :cry:

[CabalBuster]

16. Israeli tactics, this is really sick n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. Israeli advisors on board no doubt.

Meanwhile, this was great: The "War President" is on the ball

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Yes folks, we're Israel

Forget the mere conflation of the two states, equating "terrorist" acts against them as being terrorist acts against us, the Neocons want us to BE Israel. Let's just make this the sister state, polish off the First Amendment, establish a Christian Theocracy and get it over with; the shilly-shallying is tiresome.