Iraqi insurgent snipers gaining skill

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_skilled_snipers

Iraqi insurgent snipers gaining skill

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago

RAMADI, Iraq - Spc. Brent Everson was just a few steps from safety.
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The 22-year-old from Florence, Mont., was climbing out of a tank, near the entrance to a U.S. outpost called Sword when a sniper's 7.62-millimeter bullet hit him just above his Kevlar vest, tearing into his shoulder and through his back. He fell back into the tank — wounded but alive.
...........

"This guy knew what he was doing," said Staff Sgt. Jeremy Gann, who like Everson is assigned to Company C of the Army's 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment. "You get some guys with rifles who wake up and just want to take shots at Americans. But they don't aim around body armor," he said, speculating that the sniper's gun had a telescopic sight.
..............

A problem since the start of the war, soldiers and senior officers say the threat from snipers has intensified in recent months. Insurgent gunmen have honed their skills and acquired better equipment, notably night-vision rifle scopes to target U.S. troops after the sun goes down.

For Marines and soldiers targeted by the gunmen, the shots chip away at their morale, one crack of a rifle at a time.

..........

[Little Wing]

1. Is Brent Everson still able to walk?

And morale weakening is one of the prime jobs of a sniper.

[saigon68]

17. Just Google "Juba the Sniper" to see his work

It is impressive

[Paladin]

2. Oh, Great. Another Opportunity......

....for our resident Sniper Worshipers to put themselves on display. Brace yourselves for some unhealthy stuff....

[rodeodance]

3. ??????

[TabulaRasa]

5. I agree with the ?????

What the hell is this supposed to mean? I have yet to see one DUer not be supportive of an American service member who has been killed or injured in Iraq. This is a far cry from "Sniper Worship". Unless you're being sarcastic, maybe you've landed at the wrong site. Might I suggest: www.freerepublic.com

[Bigmack]

15. Not worship...

but a very healthy respect and fear.

Earlier in this amazing clusterfuck, I was saying to myself "When are they gonna start sniping? Damned effective against patrols and checkpoints."

Is that worship?

I didn't want them to snipe our troops.... I was just waiting for the learning curve to start. That curve has been really steep lately. Earlier than that, I was wondering when they were going to get really clever with the IEDs.

You don't suppose they heard me and I gave them ideas, do you?

There's a whole generation of master snipers and bomb-makers being developed over there.

[jody]

4. Can’t be true because gun-grabbers claim a militia composed of citizens with rifles is no match for

the world’s only super-power and the Second Amendment is no longer needed.

We need to bring our troops home immediately because there are no strategic targets in Iraq to destroy and the tactics our troops use are not working. Our troops are just targets and concerned if they fire against a suspected enemy they may face court martial if they make a mistake.

[Robbien]

6. The country has been under occupation for a long time

of course there will be many very skilled snipers. It doesn't take long to become skilled at being a sniper. It doesn't help that corruption and a ton of US money has allowed the spread of high tech weapons all over the country.

[krispos42]

13. Basic sniper tech isn't high-tech

What's the difference between a sniper rifle and a deer rifle?

What's in the crosshairs.

Mr. Average American can walk into any Wal-Mark and buy a modest rifle/scope combo, brand new in the box, for about $400. It will be in a popular deer caliber. .30-'06 Springfield, .308 Winchester (civilan name for military 7.62x51mm NATO rounds, like captured US machine-gun ammo), .270 Winchester, 7mm-'08, 7mm Remington Magnum, and .243 Winchester are all very popular for deer and would do quite a number on a person as well. Not to mention any old Russian Mosin-Nagat or Turkish Mauser bolt-action rifles that may have drifted across the porous borders.

They will not be tack-driving professional sniper or target rifles. But they will, in the hands of a decent shooter, enable the person to hit a paper plate 90% of the time at three or four hundred yards, especially from a prepared sniper position.

They don't need to go high-tech. Just a decent bolt-action with good "iron" sights will give body-armor-avoiding shots up to a hundred yards or more, and a scope mounted on a rifle can double or triple that, depending on the rifle.

Naturally, our troops will hunt down the snipers as best they can, and will catch (or kill) the less-skilled ones. Being able to evade angry enemy troops after shooting is a key ability for a sniper.

But a sniper has much going for him, being on home soil and all.

[Paladin]

14. You're Contradicting Basic Sniper Worship Doctrine....

....which stipulates that not just any rifle can qualify as a "sniper rifle." Only the Evil And Uninformed Brady-ite Gun Grabbers believe that, doncha know? A real sniper rifle can only be in a certain few calibers---generally the 7.62 that you mention. A .243 sniper rifle? Perish the thought, although, to use krispos42's charming, spittle-flecked phrase, it would indeed "do quite a number on a person."

Also, keep in mind those delightful DU Gun Dungeon threads during the time of the DC Snipers' reign of terror, where our resident gun obsessives stated that said shooters couldn't be considered honest-to-God "snipers," because they just used a lousy .223 (much lip-smacking commentary about how many more people they could have killed if they had just used a Really Cool Gun); and besides, their human targets weren't far enough away to be considered bona fide sniper victims. Thus the demand was made that the DC snipers be referred to as mere "shooters," instead.

Folks, I couldn't make this stuff up. This is where gun obsession in general, and sniper worship in particular, ends up. It's a stain on the respectable forums here at DU, and ought to be confined as much as possible to the depths of the Gungeon. The ongoing diligence of the DU administrators is greatly appreciated in this regard.....

[benEzra]

18. Ummm....

Oh, Great. Another Opportunity......for our resident Sniper Worshipers to put themselves on display. Brace yourselves for some unhealthy stuff....

. . . .

You're Contradicting Basic Sniper Worship Doctrine....which stipulates that not just any rifle can qualify as a "sniper rifle." Only the Evil And Uninformed Brady-ite Gun Grabbers believe that, doncha know? A real sniper rifle can only be in a certain few calibers---generally the 7.62 that you mention. A .243 sniper rifle? Perish the thought, although, to use krispos42's charming, spittle-flecked phrase, it would indeed "do quite a number on a person."

Also, keep in mind those delightful DU Gun Dungeon threads during the time of the DC Snipers' reign of terror, where our resident gun obsessives stated that said shooters couldn't be considered honest-to-God "snipers," because they just used a lousy .223 (much lip-smacking commentary about how many more people they could have killed if they had just used a Really Cool Gun); and besides, their human targets weren't far enough away to be considered bona fide sniper victims. Thus the demand was made that the DC snipers be referred to as mere "shooters," instead.

Folks, I couldn't make this stuff up. This is where gun obsession in general, and sniper worship in particular, ends up. It's a stain on the respectable forums here at DU, and ought to be confined as much as possible to the depths of the Gungeon. The ongoing diligence of the DU administrators is greatly appreciated in this regard.....

You hijacked an Iraq thread in order to bash people who disagree with you about domestic gun control policy? At least wait until the OP is about a politician who supports/opposes rifle handgrip bans or something...

Would you consider SSG Gann (quoted in the OP) a "sniper worshiper"?

FWIW, my reaction to the OP was, "geez, this Iraq situation just gets worse." Not "oooh, here's an opportunity to bash fellow DU'ers on unrelated topics."

"This guy knew what he was doing," said Staff Sgt. Jeremy Gann, who like Everson is assigned to Company C of the Army's 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment. "You get some guys with rifles who wake up and just want to take shots at Americans. But they don't aim around body armor," he said, speculating that the sniper's gun had a telescopic sight.
..............

A problem since the start of the war, soldiers and senior officers say the threat from snipers has intensified in recent months. Insurgent gunmen have honed their skills and acquired better equipment, notably night-vision rifle scopes to target U.S. troops after the sun goes down.

The Iraqi insurgents have, what, 4 years of practice now? And the Sunni vs. Shia civil-war-but-let's-not-call-it-that is just creating more chaos, with our people on the ground stuck in the middle of it.

Most of this was forseeable, and preventable. This is turning into a deeper and deeper hole.

As far as the increase in sniping, that's partly a Darwinian outcome. The insurgents who stand in the street with a short-range automatic weapon and blaze away would get eliminated pretty quickly, while the crafty ones with long-range rifles (or who use RPG's, or IED's) live and learn.

I expect that IED's are still by far the biggest threat, though (and there's no shortage of ex-Iraqi-army mines and artillery shells lying around).

[earlybelle]

7. Who said the US was not doing a good job of training Iraqi military?

[Kagemusha]

8. Longer US troops remain, the more practice insurgents snipers get.

And Iraq's sniper capability when this all started was abysmal.

[HuffleClaw]

9. practice makes perfect

[ashling]

10. Well I guess so !

In service training provide free of charge by the United States military.

[pfitz59]

11. US Sniper harrass British soldiers in Revolutionary War!

One of the British complaints during the Revolution was the 'uncivilized" nature of US warfare! seems like the Iraqis took a lesson from our own past!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper

Timothy Murphy – killed British General Simon Fraser during the pivotal Battle of Saratoga, faltering the British advance and causing them to lose the battle.

Sgt. Grace (Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, 1864) – sniped Major General John Sedgwick at the then incredible distance of 730 m (800 yd), with a British Whiteworth target rifle causing administrative delays in the Union's attack, leading to Confederate victory. Sedgwick ignored advice to take cover, his last words according to urban legend being, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" upon which he was shot. In reality, he was shot a few minutes later.

[hatrack]

12. "I don't think anyone anticipted their snipers getting better."

"No one could have predicted that their aim would improve after only 3.75 years of occupation."

Can't wait for the "Surge".

:puke:

[hayu_lol]

16. The story on this broke about a month ago or so...

The Army is missing a shipment of over 400,000 rifles, including some sniper rifles and ammunition.

Geez, you don't suppose....

[benEzra]

19. Probably not yet...but don't rule it out in the future.

Most of the current snipers have been using old Eastern-bloc rifles, mostly 7.62x54R (the Russian equivalent of .30-06), I think. I know in Afghanistan, the mujahadeen also used .303 Enfield (British) rifles left over from colonial days, and there may be some of those in use in Iraq as well, but the majority will be Warsaw Pact stuff.

[NMDemDist2]

20. that's a LOT of weapons, do you think you find the link? n/t