TIME reporter describes complex attack that resulted in 10 US soldiers killed

[sabra]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1614091,00.html?cnn=yes

<snip>

Word of yesterday's deadly assault in eastern Diyala Province spread quickly among U.S. troops as far away as the western city of Tikrit, where soldiers with the 82nd Airborne kept a close watch on reports of their comrades sent to the Baqubah area to deal with rising violence there. The strike was what U.S. soldiers call a complex attack, one involving elaborate planning to maximize casualties. Initial assessments suggest that first a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle into the gates of a small U.S. patrol base outside Baquba in the same area where single car bomber attacked a patrol base last month. A second suicide car bomber apparently followed the first in yesterday's attack, however. And at the same time insurgents fired small arms and rocket propelled grenades, according to soldiers from the 82nd Airborne. In the end, the patrol base was all or mostly destroyed, with several soldiers dead beneath the rubble.

At least one other U.S. patrol base remains in the same area of the Diyala River valley as American troops struggle against insurgents who appear to be increasingly bent on turning the territory around Baquba into the most deadly front of the war in Iraq for U.S. forces. It remains to be seen whether the dozens of other combat outposts popping up around Iraq amid the surge will come to face similar attacks aimed at sending U.S. troops back into heavily fortified compounds and, in the hopes of insurgents, ultimately home to the United States in defeat.

[Fresh_Start]

1. is this a result of the surge?

US surged Baghdad pushing violence into region outside of Baghdad which was unprepared for the heightened risk in their region...

[sabra]

2. The "Petraeus Plan" aka "Surge" - results in the troops being sitting ducks :-(

[rodeodance]

5. yes, troops in smaller unprotected bases scattered about.

[lyonn]

7. Reid has it right, we have lost the war

No matter what areas we try to protect we cannot do it all. (Where is that damn coalition that bush gathered together?) Some intelligent planning 3 years ago would have helped our cause in this invasion. For 3 years bush has ignored what ME experts told him. Rummy was too senile to understand the facts.

Edit: Again those against us being there appear to be getting their way. They know george has no New war plan. How hard is it to fight an enemy when you know their war plan? George keeps doing the same thing over and over......

[wtmusic]

3. Insurgents increasingly bent on...what?

"insurgents who appear to be increasingly bent on turning the territory around Baquba into the most deadly front of the war in Iraq for U.S. forces."

Or increasingly bent on kicking our ass out of their country.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Apparently the US military guys expect them to use stones

and spears. The US military is getting it's ass kicked on a daily basis.

[bemildred]

6. "In the end, the patrol base was all or mostly destroyed" nt

[lyonn]

8. Telling isn't it.....

[bemildred]

9. Nothing about dead iraqis either.

And this is the result of Petraeus "plan".

[lyonn]

11. As one DUer said a couple of days ago, "this is a siege not surge"

Apparently a siege of Baghdad only. Ugh, Hell, that is a disaster already and no one seems to notice.

[MethuenProgressive]

10. Don't miss the propaganda line inside the story:

It remains to be seen whether the dozens of other combat outposts popping up around Iraq amid the surge will come to face similar attacks aimed at sending U.S. troops back into heavily fortified compounds and, in the hopes of insurgents, ultimately home to the United States in defeat.

That's a lie. They don't want us to go home. They want us there, so they can kill us.

[bemildred]

12. You can bet your booties there will be similar attacks.

The tactics are not new, it's been tried before. What's new is the "leaders" stuck the troops out in the middle of hostile country in outposts small enough that these tactics worked with the sort of forces that the insurgents can bring to bear.
:puke:

[Dhalgren]

16. Didn't the French try something like this in North Africa, with their

Foreign Legion strung out across the desert in small isolated posts? And that turned out well, didn't it? Jesus! Didn't Betrayus and his bone-headed cadres every watch old movies on Saturday morning?

[bemildred]

18. Idiot "leaders" getting troops killed through arrogance and stupidity has a long history.

Certainly you mention one instance. The Spanish debacle at Anual(1921) is another example, and the British surrender at Kut(1916), but there are many. Too many. What annoys me the most is that you have bonehead chickenhawks like Cheney, who have meddled from day one, saying "politicians should not second guess the soldiers", and you know this stupid "plan" of Petraeus is driven by nothing but political considerations, as was the war itself, and the occupation, and all that has followed. Cheney doesn't care a crap about the soldiers, he's scared because his power is threatened.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. I dispute the idea that they don't want us to withdraw.

They have no inherent interest in killing Americans. They do have an inherent interest in fighting the forces that invaded them. Once we withdraw, they will no doubt go on fighting each other until everyone gets tired of the bloodshed and begins trying to negotiate some kind of settlement. Our participation does nothing but delat that time.

[KansDem]

13. This certainly doesn't sound like an insurgency in it's "last throes."

Think Progress

This attack sounds like it was carefully planned:

The strike was what U.S. soldiers call a complex attack, one involving elaborate planning to maximize casualties. Initial assessments suggest that first a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle into the gates of a small U.S. patrol base outside Baquba in the same area where single car bomber attacked a patrol base last month. A second suicide car bomber apparently followed the first in yesterday's attack, however. And at the same time insurgents fired small arms and rocket propelled grenades, according to soldiers from the 82nd Airborne.

[me b zola]

15. I had serious doubts yesterday when the attack was reported as 1 suicide bomber

I fear will be seeing more of this type of complex military attacks.

[TwilightGardener]

17. We're not winning in Baghdad, we're not winning outside of Baghdad--

Can somebody tell me why Petraeus is a genius military strategist?

[jmowreader]

19. Because he stabilized Mosul for a time...

Oh, check this shit out: I think I figured out the REAL reason Petraeus is fucked up. I was flippin' through the Wikipedia entry on Petraeus, and turned up this little tidbit: When Petraeus was commander of 3/187 Infantry at Fort Campbell, he got accidentally shot by one of his troops during a live-fire exercise. (The guy tripped. His rifle went off and hit Petraeus in the chest. No big deal.) They flew Petraeus to Nashville, where he was operated on by...

don't laugh too hard...

Catkiller Frist.

[TwilightGardener]

20. God, that is too weird!

[robbyrob79]

21. Isn't this war mostly

about keeping the price of oil high to ensure big profits for Exxonmobile and BP Amoco? The longer it goes on and the more instability it breeds in the region, the higher the price of oil will go, and the bigger profits these companies will have. Its kind of the writing on the wall isn't it? Cheney doesn't want to end the war, he wants to use it to help concentrate the wealth in this country even more.