Marine squad suffers 100% casualties, platoon 60%

Yesterday Kos front paged a piece called Progress in Iraq which included a link to a WaPo article of a horrific battle last Sunday/Monday near the Syrian border between Marines and insurgents:

Through Sunday night and into Monday morning, the foreign fighters battled on, their screaming voices gradually fading to just one. In the end, it took five Marine assaults, grenades, a tank firing bunker-busting artillery rounds, 500-pound bombs unleashed by an F/A-18 attack plane and a point-blank attack by a rocket launcher to quell them.

So I was very sad to see another WaPo article about the same unit called Demise of a Hard-fighting squad. The same squad that suffered dead and wounded in the previous engagement yesterday drove their Amtrac over an IED:

In 96 hours of fighting and ambushes in far western Iraq, the squad had ceased to be.

Every member of the squad -- one of three that make up the 1st Platoon of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment -- had been killed or wounded, Marines here said. All told, the 1st Platoon -- which Hurley commands -- had sustained 60 percent casualties, demolishing it as a fighting force.

"They used to call it Lucky Lima," said Maj. Steve Lawson, commander of the company. "That turned around and bit us."

Wednesday was the fourth day of fighting in far western Iraq, as the U.S. military continued an assault that has sent more than 1,000 Marines down the ungoverned north bank of the Euphrates River in search of foreign fighters crossing the border from Syria. Of seven Marines killed so far in the operation, six came come from Lima Company's 1st Platoon.

Lima Company drew Marine reservists from across Ohio into the conflict in Iraq. Some were still too young to be bothered much by shaving, or even stubble.

Every so often I come across an article about Iraq that really gets to me, and the first of these two really did that because of the intensity of the combat, and because the reporter did a good job of relaying the horror and viciousness of war.  So I found the follow up about the same group of Marines doubly so, because now there is a continuing narrative.

These days it seems the only news we can get from the war now is from the print media and from reporters embedded with the troops.

•  only if

  the print reporters aren't being paid by the RW Propaganda M...

  by blueohio on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:19:30 PM PDT

  •  This is not, in any way, exceptional in Iraq

    Just so you know.

    Yes, there are in excess of 130' military personnel in-country. Yet the fighting force is around 17'-19'.

    Now, there's been rotation since this mess commenced, and there are also those who have joined up again, once through with a tour. Others have been kept in place by stop-loss orders.

    The standing fighting force has never been above 20' at any moment, however. (Which is why the British had to come up and cover backs when the US decided to teach Falloujah the Final Solution).

    Why am I making this point?

    Because 1600+ dead, and 10.000 wounded (seriously wounded in the vast majority of instances) puts things in perspective. Iraq is a meat-grinder.

    by SteinL on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:22:33 AM PDT

    •  Wow. No wonder

      that General who got forced out said we needed hundreds of thousands to secure our "occupied" sovreign country.
      

      by gandalf on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:27:49 AM PDT

      •  Modern warfare and its dependencies

        Modern warfare requires enormous support systems. At the same time, force delivery capabilities has increased many times, compared to previous wars. The capability to deliver precisely placed ordnance, on specific targets, has reduced the need for the million-man assaults of WWII, for instance. A much smaller force can achieve a lot more mayhem, when applying force, than ever before.

        Yet, as you point out, Shinseki was looking beyond the squeeze to the letting up. And maintaining control and peace requires substantial forces - those presently in Iraq are at 20% of the ratio to the local population of those needed to keep Kosovo in place, for instance.

        It's a terrible mess, all around.

        by SteinL on Fri May 13, 2005 at 01:58:57 AM PDT

•  Fuck Bush

  Fuck Cheney

  Fuck Rumsfeld

  Fuck Powell

  Fuck Franks

  Fuck Feith

  Fuck Wolfowitz

  Fuck Perle

  Fuck Blair

  Fuck Straw

  Fuck anyone else I forgot who was an architect of this.

  I can't think of anything else to say.

  by Raybin on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:21:57 PM PDT

  •  what raybin said

    goes double for me.

    by James Benjamin on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:24:28 PM PDT

  •  Don't forget Rice. n/t

    by gandalf on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:17:24 AM PDT

  •  how about a blanket fuck the neocon.....

    neo-Trotskyities, who actually believe that hard power politics will destroy the Islamic "umma"

    by mikey9865 on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:56:41 AM PDT

•  Agreed...

  the only thing I don't like about that word is the "greed" part.

  by blueohio on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:29:37 PM PDT

•  And

  John Tierney at the NYTimes had this to say about reporting the carnage.

  I'm not advocating official censorship, but there's no reason the news media can't reconsider their own fondness for covering suicide bombings. A little restraint would give the public a more realistic view of the world's dangers.
  

  It's part of my diary Bombs over Baghdad (Read: US Media)

  by Stand Strong on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:47:59 PM PDT

  •  Yup, Tierney says it all for me.

    Of course, should a suicide bombing happen here in the land of Republicans and the home of the Neocons, Tierney would be frothing at the mouth along with all the other RW pundits.

    by Fabian on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:11:33 PM PDT

•  What Raybin said

  Damn this war, and everyone who started it.

  by Margot on Thu May 12, 2005 at 10:52:20 PM PDT

•  One question

  How does the reporter know the "foreign fighters" the Marines are fighting are "foreign"? Is it just another "take the Marines' word for it" day?

  We've heard a lot about foreign fighters but judging by the constancy and ferocity of the fighters (against what can only be described as hopeless odds, given US firepower), one would half expect to see a mile long line of foreigners at the border...

  by tiggers thotful spot on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:01:47 PM PDT

  •  doubtful

    Over 95% of the people in detention for suspected insurgency are Iraqi. The foreign fighters bit is to make it seem like the Iraqis still like us, only the outsiders don't.

    by bigbay on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:40:36 PM PDT

  •  Army propaganda.

    Chalk the "foreign fighters" bit up to Army propaganda which claims that any native Iraqi fighting against foreign occupation is a "foreign fighter".  

    Same with the term 'ambush'.  Ever notice how the term is applied exclusively to the Iraqis and never to the US military?  

    by KathleenM1 on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:47:38 AM PDT

•  It's a damn shame.

  All for a lie.

  by Stradavus on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:09:57 PM PDT

•  I wonder whether some of these concrete-piercing

  weapons were bought in the good old USA?

  A few months ago a 60 Minutes report profiled a former arms smuggler--an Albanian-American guy, I think--who was buying assault weapons here and shipping them to his home country. It was ridiculously easy to buy them and not too hard to smuggle them either. (He'd successfully transported hundreds over a few years.) He said that the USA was the prime source for insurgents and terrorists to obtain weapons because it was so easy.

  To me I don't see so much difference whether they're Iraqis or "foreign fighters," because I'm sure all of them believe they're in a righteous cause, defending a Muslim land from invasion and occupation.

  Just as the Marines may believe they're fighting a righteous war against terrorists and for Iraqi democracy.

  Has it really only been five years?  

  by wont get fooled again on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:16:52 PM PDT

  •  Fuck.

    I personally think people should at least be able to drink before they can die for their country.

    by coigue on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:18:25 PM PDT

    •  Seventeen Dead Since Saturday.

      Seventeen heartbroken moms since Mother's Day.

      Remember them and remember the liars who put them in their graves.

      Source: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/

      The U.S. military is reeling from escalating casualties in Iraq.

      Since last Saturday at least 15 troops have died in combat in Iraq, mostly from explosions. Another two died in action in Afghanistan.

      The death toll is rivalling that of the six day period following the naming of the Iraq government on April 28. From that day until May 3, twenty U.S. soldiers were killed.

      The latest deaths came Wednesday when two Marines died and 14 were wounded as an armoured vehicle in which they were traveling hit a mine during an offensive against insurgents in north-west Iraq.

      Monday saw Pfc. Stephen P. Baldwyn, 19, of Saltillo, Miss. and Lance Cpl. Taylor B. Prazynski, 20, of Fairfield, Ohio lose their lives as a result of wounds received from an explosion while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Nasser Wa Salaam, and Al Karmah, Iraq.

      Also killed Monday was Lance Cpl. Marcus Mahdee, 20, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who died from an enemy explosion while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of Al Karmah, Iraq.

      Seven soldiers died Sunday. They were Lance Cpl. Lawrence R. Philippon, 22, of Hartford, Conn., who was killed by enemy small-arms fire while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of Al Qa'im, Iraq, Cpl. Dustin A. Derga, 24, of Columbus, Ohio, who was also killed by small arms fire in Ubaydi, Iraq., Cpl. Richard P. Schoener, 22, of Hayes, La., who was killed in action in Alishang, Afghanistan, and Sgt. Gary A. Eckert Jr., 24, of Toledo, Ohio, who died in Balad, from injuries sustained earlier that day in Samarra, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV; and Staff Sgt. Thor H. Ingraham, 24, of Murrysville, Pa. and Pfc. Nicolas E. Messmer, 20, of Franklin, Ohio, who were killed in Khalidiyah, Iraq, when they were conducting combat operations and an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV. Also killed was Lance Cpl. Nicholas C. Kirven, 21, of Richmond, Va., who died as the result of enemy action in Alishang, Afghanistan.

      Three Marines who died after explosions from improvised explosive devices in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on Saturday were Sgt. Aaron N. Cepeda Sr., 22, and Lance Cpl. Lance T. Graham, 26, both of San Antonio, Texas, and Lance Cpl. Michael V. Postal, 21, of Glen Oaks, N.Y.

      A sailor who also died Saturday in combat was identified as Petty Officer Third Class Jeffery L. Wiener, 32, of Louisville, Ky.,

      Also Saturday, Sgt. Michael A. Marzano, 28, of Greenville, Pa., died as the result of an explosion caused by a car bombing in Hadithah, Iraq.

      by mattman on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:06:20 AM PDT

      •  And I think about a patriotic soldier

        named Wesley Clark who conducted a "war" with no American combat casualties - against all odds. What's going on? Are they using Iraq as a training ground for guerilla warfare. At what cost. Where is the love. Billions and billions and billions for what. Oh I forgot -- to spread democracy while B*sh doesn't think about Osama anymore.
        

        by gandalf on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:23:04 AM PDT

      •  God rest their souls.

        My heart goes out to all their families.

        fuck

        by coigue on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:37:16 AM PDT

      •  I also think abou that fateful

        visit from to the parent's or loved one's home to convey the news of their fallen soldier. Heart wrenching. If it was for a noble cause perhaps the grief would be abetted. But for this under these conditons, it's inexcusable.

        by gandalf on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:40:50 AM PDT

  •  PKMs

    The weapons cited in the article were PKMs, machine guns. They're a Russian design, from Eastern Europe perhaps?

    by zyx zyx on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:33:38 AM PDT

•  Did you see this...

  Sailor who wouldn't deploy to Iraq gets three months' hard labor
  

  SAN DIEGO A U-S sailor has been ordered to serve three months of hard labor for refusing to deploy to Iraq.

  Pablo Paredes (pah-REE'-dees) says he disobeyed orders for moral reasons, because he believes the Iraq war is illegal and immoral.

  The judge in the case could have given the 23-year-old up to a year in jail, but instead ordered him to hard labor. The judge also demoted the young man to seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy.

  Paredes has become a passionate anti-war activist, but showed no emotion and didn't speak with reporters after today's sentencing in San Diego.

  found via http://icasualties.org/oif/

  by pacified on Thu May 12, 2005 at 11:19:58 PM PDT

•  So sad. Deaths on both sides.

  It hurts me worse because of so many reservists. They are intended to defend the homeland, not fight and die for B*sh's view of democracy. Does he cry over this wanton slaughter of human beings. Doubt it. He doesn't even want his exercise schedule interrupted when Capital Hill and the First Lady are evacuated. Double Triple Sad.
  

  by gandalf on Fri May 13, 2005 at 12:09:51 AM PDT