'Time to stop being Mr Nice Guy' .. British soldiers are very frustrated !!!

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/ne...ixnewstop.html


'Time to stop being Mr Nice Guy'
By Oliver Poole with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, central Iraq
(Filed: 25/03/2003)


'I lost a scout this morning to sniper fire and my first sergeant was hit by a mortar round yesterday. That means I am taking it a little bit personally. How am I meant to protect my men when the generals are denying me the ability to bomb enemy positions?".

On the outskirts of the central Iraqi town of Samawah, Capt David Waldron and his company of tanks are locked in a defensive formation. His men are under intermittent attack by snipers and mortar fire. They are also increasingly angry and frustrated.

From Basra to Karbala, south of Baghdad, coalition forces are under attack from soldiers in civilian clothes and Saddam Hussein's shadowy Fedayeen paramilitaries.

And yet 50 per cent of the coalition's desired targets are being vetoed by high command for fear of hitting a sensitive "no combat zone".

In the latest insight into the resistance, one of Capt Waldron's patrols stopped a civilian car on a routine search and found an armed Iraqi in the back seat. This was not a trained soldier but a 12-year-old boy, his face stricken with terror as he hugged an AK47 to his chest.

According to the unit that detained him, the boy said he had been given the weapon by men from Saddam's paramilitary forces. They entered his home, forced it into his hands and then told him to confront the American invaders.

US intelligence now believes that the Fedayeen, a paramilitary group under the control of Saddam's second son, Qusay, and loyalists from Iraq intelligence services are issuing weapons to citizens in the cities at the forefront of the American advance.

They are ordering them to fight or face brutal reprisals not only upon them but also their families.

In one incident at Samawah, a city with a population of 200,000 halfway between Basra and Karbala, captured PoWs have told American soldiers that they were herded into taxis and ferried to the front.

There they were forced out at gunpoint and told to charge the stationed Abrams tanks of the 3/7 cavalry unit.

The Americans, seeing that their attackers were in civilian clothes, at first shot above their heads but, as they came closer, they opened fire, killing several Iraqis before the rest surrendered. The unit commander described the assault as "almost a suicide attack".

Saddam knows that Washington, worried about alienating public opinion in the Middle East in particular, is keen to avoid what the military terms collateral damage - innocent civilians accidentally killed in warfare.

It is becoming apparent that he has adopted a plan to try to make it appear that they are doing just that.

From Basra to Karbala coalition forces report facing not the formations of Iraq military they had expected - and which their Abrams tanks and air power could easily cope with - but men in civilian clothing riding in non-military vehicles. The centres of cities are being held by the Fedayeen, preventing the advancing army from using the main roads to ferry fuel, ammunition and water to the troops further ahead.

Before the invasion, US military intelligence learnt that some Iraqi units were packing their civilian clothes with their uniforms.

At the time it was thought this was an indication that they were planning to desert. Now it appears that it may have been an order from high command so that they could blend into the crowd to confuse the Americans. Mortars and artillery are reported to be positioned by hospitals, schools and mosques.

Other targets are being identified by special forces operating in the urban areas - and yet the targets are being vetoed as too "sensitive". As one of Capt Waldron's tank commanders, Sgt Robert Byrd, put it: "It's time to stop trying to be Mr Nice Guy. They are bombing us. Let's start bombing the hell out of them."

Of the more than 300 prisoners taken by Capt Waldron's battalion most have been in civilian clothing.

"I am meant to be in Karbala by now and instead we are screwing around here," he said. "My sentries were so jumpy last night they were getting nervous about donkeys - and we are in tanks, for God's sake.

"We don't want to hurt people if we can avoid it but now it has got to be that if you have got a weapon you have become an Iraqi soldier and we can kill you. This rules of engagement crap is making me lose men."

The American plan of attack had been to seize in one swoop vast stretches of territory and secure Highway 8, the main road from Basra to Baghdad, so that equipment could be moved along it. The marines were to take Basra. The Third Brigade of the Third Infantry Division crossed the desert to take Tallil near Nasiriyah and the First and Second brigades had pushed even farther west to bypass all enemy resistance to arrive just south of Baghdad.

But although American soldiers may now be only 60 miles from the Iraqi capital, men and weaponry meant to support are still hundreds of miles away. The continued resistance in the cities means that convoys of fighting vehicles, fuel trucks and ammunition lorries have been forced to take a smaller road to the south, causing enormous tailbacks.

These have proved easy targets for Iraqi mortar teams. Spotters ride in mopeds directing the fire. In one attack on the Third Brigade's First Battalion yesterday the vehicles had been pushed so close together that when the shells came in the tanks had no space to move.

One of those hit was a medical vehicle clearly marked with a red cross.

The US high command is now determining what step to take next to best subdue the cities on Highway 8.

The hope that there would be a rebellion or that the Iraqi army would turn against Saddam has failed to materialise.

Permission has now been given for all US soldiers to shoot anyone in the black uniforms of the Fedayeen or Ba'ath Party if they are involved in a skirmish.

The invasion is still going successfully. But the next stage may be to enter the cities and clear them of the paramilitaries through house to house fighting. And that could cost lives.

[Arrow]

Although I agree with the sentiment it concerns me thatthese public reportsare counterproductive. It seems to me they are sending a message to the opposition:

"Great plan, Keep up the good work."

Is it possible that we haveto many mouth pieces, to many pictures,and to manyexperts with pointers and screen writers?

Arrow>>>>>>>>

[sn-e3]

You said it sis if they don't have a story they will make one up I hate the media worse then the Iraq's

[phuloi]

CIC told the military brass that this baby was all theirs-BUT...Don`t kill any civilians.Unfortunately,this tact is going to prolong the war and cost us in casualties.You can`t begin to convince me that 40 Apaches couldn`t have smoked the bad guys that brought the one ship down and retrieved the drivers that are now prisoners!AAARRRRRRRGH

[9th Inf. Doc.]

little sparrow,

Unfortuneately it is no secret that the above tactics tend to be highly successful against U.S. troops.Remember winning 'Hearts and Minds" during our late adventure in S.E. Asia?Yep, there is nothing in the world quite so memorable as watching your folks getting chopped to pieces while the voice on the radio is hollering "Don't fire!Don't fire!".Tends to lead to communication problems.Surprised the radios in Iraq have been holding up so well.Suspect that their effencientcy will soon become seriously degraded due to...er..ah...sand damage.