Street fighters (Baqubah)

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnews/20041101/ts_usnews/streetfighters&cid=926&ncid=1480

<snip>

BAQUBAH, IRAQ--At night, the tension in this city is reflected in the glares that shoot back and forth between the American soldiers on patrol and the Iraqis on the side of the road. After dark, 1st Lt. T. J. Grider patrols the streets. The mission is what the military calls "movement to contact." Grider puts it more bluntly: "We are trying to get attacked so we can find the enemy and kill him."

Nearly every night, Grider's platoon, Punisher, goes out looking to get shot at. The most recent fight was October 22 in Buhriz, a suburb of Baqubah. Teenagers, and even a kid as young as 12, were firing rocket-propelled grenades at him. Grider has been in 15 firefights since he came to Iraq (news - web sites) last March. And that doesn't count the little stuff. Like two nights ago, when he was driving through the Tahrir neighborhood and someone started firing rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s at him. Grider's rule: If a fight doesn't last 30 minutes it, doesn't count.

<snip>
Iraq has quickly made Grider a skeptical interrogator and an expert in fighting an insurgency. "Some units don't take the offense," he says. "But you have to get out and maneuver. Once you dismount, fighting is fun." Always move, always attack, or you may not be able to find the enemy, he says. Grider maintains that in Baqubah, the tactic and the strategy are working. "Baqubah had the potential to turn into Fallujah," says Grider, "but every time something takes shape here, we brought the hammer down."


As dawn breaks, another patrol, the Ghost platoon, heads out on the streets of Baqubah, this one looking for improvised explosive devices, the dreaded roadside bombs. "Come on," says Staff Sgt. Richard Strum, "I am ready to find some bombs." "Or," answers Staff Sgt. Tim Funston, "have the bombs find us." So far in its eight months in Iraq, the Ghost platoon has been hit 18 times with roadside bombs. Indeed, to the soldiers who conduct the IED sweeps, it seems as if their job is to set off the roadside bombs so they don't hit a supply convoy.

[classof56]

1. "Fighting is fun", huh?

And if it doesn't last 30 minutes, it doesn't count. And the enemy consists of teenagers and 12-year-old kids. Good God, what have we done to our troops? I don't even know what to say anymore. I just feel exhausted, emotionally and physically. To think that my grandsons may be out there in the midst of such ugliness and madness in a few years just sickens me. And this is what Bush will do if we give him the chance. If he wins, the entire world and every human being in it loses. It's that simple. What on earth are Bush supporters thinking?? I don't get it, never have and never will. May tomorrow be the day the end begins.

DEFEAT BUSH!!