U.S. Army baits ambushers - with its own soldiers

[Nambe]

NEAR BAQUBA, Iraq, July 8 (AP)

The sweat dripped from Lt. Kurt Chapman's face. The 4th Infantry Division platoon commander had just set a trap for a group of Iraqi ambushers — and he was the bait.

It was now a matter of watching and waiting.

'They want to shoot at us. We'll see if they have the guts,'' said Sgt. Samuel Bailey, of Cedar Falls, Iowa. ''When they started aggressively attacking us, we decided to take the fight to them. We own the night.''

When Chapman's men first ventured out of the base onto the road toward ''RPG Alley,'' a strip of road 45 miles northeast of Baghdad where American forces have come under attacks by rocket-propelled grenades, the two-Humvee convoy kept its lights on — to lure in attackers. ---

Privatize bush It’s a Good Thing

[wtmusic]

1. "We own the night..."

they own the country.

[RapidCreek]

8. Wow....

This dolt actually believes all that rah rah cheerleading shit they pumped him full of in Ranger school! We own the night, eh? How nice. Who owns the other 12 hours of the day? Does this dingus think he will be engaged on his own terms? Jesus these guys are in for a rough couple of years if this is indicative of what they consider strategic superiority.

RC

[w13rd0]

2. It's one thing to set a trap...

...it's quite another to publish the details. Pardon me, but wasn't this the WH that was completely closed lip about operational details, because it was too important to national security or some such blatant lie?

[KeepItReal]

3. Military leaking this tactic on purpose?

Maybe that Lieutenant *wants* us to know that we are using our own troops as bait to "bring 'em on". He might be just calling attention to what's really going on out there.

They cannot disobey orders to be RPG bait, but maybe they don't want to take those orders lying down, either.

[J B]

4. See, this is what "Bring 'em On" means.

Bush and Franks both implied that this is EXACTLY what they had in mind: a battle of attrition against guerillas with US troops as bait to reduce the numbers of the "resisters," who the President and his merry band of neocons believe are few in number.

Of course.. this is sick. Really sick..

[WindRavenX]

5. Life is turning into a Jerry Bruckheimer film

Baiting the enemy with your own soldiers is such a tired cliche for all those action flicks out there...and the US is actually using it. Wow.
It's ugly in Iraq, and boy, I have a feeling it's going to get a lot uglier :(
I just want the troops home...these guys are dying for nothing.

[Moosenose]

6. actually....

it's a time-honored tactic. If you don't offer bait for the enemy to attack, the enemy completely retains the initiative, and you've lost, period.

[Capt_Nemo]

7. Bring' em on

implemented on the ground!

[Bob3]

9. More Viet Nam Flashbacks

They did this in Nam as well. It didn't work there and it had the wonderful side effect of tearing troop morale to shreds - I mean who the hell wants to be a target? This guy maybe but what about the grunts with him?

Bring them home.