Insurgents Kill 2 Coalition Soldiers (Anbar prov., 2 aircraft forced down)

[markses]

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/07/28/two/index.html

July 28, 2004 | BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents in Iraq's violent Anbar province killed two coalition troops during clashes Wednesday, and enemy fire forced two U.S. military aircraft to make emergency landings, the military said.

A spokesman from U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Marine forces clashed with insurgents in several areas of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, during the day.


The spokesman said initial reports indicated that two multinational force members died from wounds received during clashes in the province, while two coalition aircraft were forced to make emergency landings.

It was not immediately clear if the two troops died during the aircraft landings. No details were provided on the nationalities of the troops killed nor what type of aircraft that made the landings.

----------snip-----------------

Pretty clearly Marines killed, and this is different from the one Task Force Danger killed in northern Iraq this morning. Looks like we have three KIA for the day, plus many wounded and two aircraft forced down. heavy assaults across Ramadi and al-Anbar province more generally. US forces have reduced patrols, but it looks like the insurgents are now coming for the bases. If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain, as it were.

[Flagg]

1. The shit has hit the fan

[salinen]

2. Confusing to be sad by death of

soldiers and citizens, and proud that the people oppose colonial masters.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. "speaking on condition of anonymity"

No more daily briefings since the "Handover"? I guess the war is over, except we keep sending people over to die!

[Downtown Hound]

4. Wow, aircraft now

That's new. Maybe they're getting some new, more powerful stuff in their arsenal.

[jayfish]

5. They Don't Need It.

It's laying around all over the place. All they need is the will (which they appear to have) and someone to show them how to use it. Like a displaced former Iraqi soldier for instance.

Jay

[markses]

6. The reports say small arms fire

Helluva shot, huh? One pilot wounded, which may explain the emergency landing.

[DrWeird]

8. No, it's not new.

They've been shooting down helicopters since the beginning.

Even got a couple of low flying fighter jets, including, if I'm not mistaken, an A-10.

[Downtown Hound]

10. Helicopters yes

You can take out a helicopter with an RPG. And I think that the A-10 was shot down in the early days of the war, but I could be wrong. This is the first time I've heard of other aircraft being hit. But if the reports say small arms fire, then maybe it was just somebody who's a damn good shot.

[markses]

11. Helicopters are aircraft, just as Marines are "multinational coalition

members."

The US is more and more cagey about its details, since this catastrophe grows more and more embarrassing every day.

[rinsd]

18. AC-130 gunships a possibility...

They are slow moving targets and used for fire support of ground forces.

[bpilgrim]

22. some resistance footage

http://news.globalfreepress.com/movs/iraq/resistance/

check out the small arms at the end... and i've seen video of them firing shoulder fired MISSLES.

just think how many in the world would love to supply them arms now :argh:

peace

[Cocoa]

7. Rummy said things were "calming down" in Iraq

since the handover. :shrug:

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. Freedom just a little "untidy" over there today

:eyes:

[UpInArms]

15. "sloppy and messy" and "untidy"

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20040707064455467

Bremer spoke to the American FOX news channel and stressed that democracy in Iraq will be "sloppy and messy".

"We shouldn't kid ourselves," Bremer said. "It will be sloppy and messy at the beginning. People forget it took us 12 years to write our own Constitution. It wasn't very pretty around here either between 1776 and 1787."

http://www.detnews.com/2003/metro/0304/29/b01-150256.htm

"Freedom's untidy," as Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, remarked recently.

[teryang]

17. Ass backwards comparison

America, in the 18th Century forming a representative and independent government.

America in the 21st Century imposing colonial rule over Iraq.

[daleo]

13. Maybe he meant to say things were "coming down" in Iraq

Things like aircraft for example. Also, Bushco's poll numbers and Allawi's credibility.

[saigon68]

12. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

Its a good day for profits---- oil is up to $43.00 per barrel --A RECORD", he continued.

[lottie244]

14. I sure wish the Dems or Kerrry would make a point about the lost lives

and the fact that we can't even see the flag-drapped bodies returning home.

[markses]

16. Kick

n/t

[teryang]

19. It's 911

...American active duty dead in Iraq.

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/

[daleo]

21. Good eye to notice the symbolic number

It won't last long, though.

[jmcgowanjm]

20. I'm waiting for Mafkarat al-Islam

There will probably be at least 25 US KIA.

We control almost nothing of Ramadi now.

a chilling remark this, for all would-be travellers in and
out
of Baghdad, the Americans believe “recent attacks on
air
assets suggest that all types of aircraft, civilian, fixed-
wing
and military … are seen as potential targets
of
opportunity”.

Robert Fisk: Baghdad is a city that reeks with the stench of
the dead