Another e-mail from a US Soldier in Iraq

[Skyrad 0]

Samarra: soldier's e-mail devastates Pentagon's account

"The convoy which was attacked while driving through Samarra was not a supply convoy as reported, but was carrying large amounts of new Iraqi currency to stock local Iraqi banks and US greenbacks used to pay for goods and services the US forces need to accomplish their missions in Iraq. This convoy was heavily guarded by Abrams Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was akin to a huge Brinks Truck delivery.

The reports of 54 enemy killed will sound great on the home front, but the greater story is much more disturbing and needs to be told to the American Public. When we received the first incoming rounds, all I could think of was how the hell did the Iraqis (most of these attackers being criminals, not insurgents) find out about this shipment? This was not broadcast on the local news, but Iraqi police knew about it. Bing, Bing Bing, You do the math.

Of greater importance in the scale of the attack and the co-ordination of the two operations. Iraqi Rebel Guerrilla Units elements still retain the ability to conduct synchronized operations despite the massive overwhelming firepower 'Iron Hammer' offensive this month.

Hack, most of the casualties were civilians, not insurgents or criminals ... During the ambushes the tanks, brads and armored Humvees hosed down houses, buildings, and cars while using reflexive fire against the attackers. One of the precepts of 'Iron Hammer' is to use an Iron Fist when dealing with the insurgents. As the division spokesman is telling the press, we are responding with overwhelming firepower and are taking the fight to the enemy. The response to these well co-ordinated ambushes was as one would expect. The convoy continued to move, shooting at ANY target that appeared to be a threat. RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire from a house, the tank destroys the house with main gun fire and hoses the area down with 7.62 and 50cal MG fire. Rifle fire from an alley, the brads fire up the alley and fire up the surrounding buildings with 7.62mm and 25mm HE rounds. This was actually a rolling firefight through the entire town.

The ROE [rules of engagement] under 'Iron Fist' is such that the US soldiers are to consider buildings, homes, cars to be hostile if enemy fire is received from them (regardless of who else is inside). It seems to many of us this is more an act of desperation ... We really don't know if we kill anyone, because we don't stick around to find out ... the logic is to respond to attacks using our superior firepower to kill the rebel insurgents. This is done in many cases knowing that there are people inside these buildings or cars who may not be connected to the insurgents.

The belief in superior firepower as a counter-insurgency tactic is then extended down to the average Iraqi, with the hope that the Iraqis will not support the guerrillas and turn them in to coalition forces, knowing we will blow the hell out of their homes or towns if they don't. Of course in too many cases, if the insurgents bait us and goad us into leveling buildings and homes, the people inside will then hate us (even if they did not before) and we have created more recruits for the guerrillas.

The Commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Colonel Frederick Rudesheim, said after this battle that 'We are going to continue to take the fight to this enemy. This is the most significant contact we have had to date in the city of Samarra. We are going to have to respond accordingly.'

This is a great attitude for a combat commander to have when fighting an armored force, but Colonel Rudesheim is not trained in Counter-Insurgency and my soldiers are taking the heat. We drive around in convoys, blast the hell out of the area, break down doors and search buildings; but the guerrillas continue to attack us. It does not take a George Patton to see we are using the wrong tactics ... Much of Samarra is fairly well shot up. The tanks and brads rolled over parked cars and fired up buildings where we believed the enemy was. This must be expected considering the field of vision is limited ... Not all the people in this town were hostile, but we did see many people firing from rooftops or alleys that looked like civilians, not the Feddayeen reported in the press. I even saw Iraqi people throwing stones at us, I told my soldiers to hold their fire unless they could indentfy [sic] a real weapon.

Since we did not stick around to find out, I am very concerned in the coming days we will find we killed many civilians as well as Iraqi irregular fighters. I would feel great if all the people we killed were all enemy guerrillas, but I can't say that. We are probably turning many Iraqi against us and I am afraid instead of climbing out of the hole, we are digging ourselves in deeper."

A Combat Leader

See. www.hackworth.com
Or the Independent newspaper UK.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[quade 3]

Source? I took a brief look at Hackworth, but couldn't find it there.

Just to be fair, I'm also very skeptical about the authenticity of this letter.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skydiverbob 0]

Just knowing how rarely the troops get access to the internet over there leads me to discount this entirely. Maybe things have changed in the last week or so and they have access to email, without waiting in lines for 4-6 hours, and then surely wouldn't have the time to write this. The most you have time for is a quick answer to a email, and then its usually just access to ako accounts.

Who Dares Wins

[Skyrad 0]

You can find the e-mail at


http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?command=viewone&id=96&database=Special%20Reports%20Hack%2edb

Hackworth claims to have known this man for eight years. The e-mail was picked up by the Independent a reputable British newspaper who then interviewed Hackworth and ran a story on both his views and the e-mail.

I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of either the e-mail or doubt Col Hackworths intergrity.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[skycop 0]

David Hackworth has done nothing but bad mouth the military after he left. I understand he is a highly decorated veteran, but he has a huge chip on his shoulder.
He is the same guy who predicted thousands of allied casualties during the first gulf war.
I have no faith in what states. He has an agenda, what it is, I'm still trying to figure out.

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[Skyrad 0]

Interesting, so why does he seem to be so popular with the troops? Looking in from the outside it seems that anyone who critisizes the US Gov these days is labelled a subversive or a traitor. He wasn't the only one that predicted massive casualties.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[billvon 2,435]

>He is the same guy who predicted thousands of allied casualties
>during the first gulf war.

Looks like he was one war off. (We're already at 445 and several military commanders are predicting violence will increase.)

>I have no faith in what states. He has an agenda, what it is, I'm still
trying to figure out.

Looks like pretty much the opposite of the pro-war people's agenda.

[Luv2Fall 0]

I think he has a huge chip also. Highly decorated or not, maybe he should have stayed the fuck out of the military.

[billvon 2,435]

>Highly decorated or not, maybe he should have stayed the fuck out of the military.

Why? Because he has a different political opinion than you do? Decorations are awards for jobs well done; means he was a good soldier. We need more, not fewer, of them.

[Chute 0]

Quote

David Hackworth has done nothing but bad mouth the military after he left. I understand he is a highly decorated veteran, but he has a huge chip on his shoulder.
He is the same guy who predicted thousands of allied casualties during the first gulf war.
I have no faith in what states. He has an agenda, what it is, I'm still trying to figure out.

Sounds like he is a big mouth A**hole. 60's are over dude. Grow-up!!

Bottomless Beers and Blue Skies!

* Brother_Brian *
D.S.W.F.S.B. #2

[jkm2500 0]

Hey I just want to add a little info to the situation. I wasn't downtown, but I am in Samarra, Iraq with the same Task Force as this combat leader. For Operational Security reasons, I cannot go into the exact happenings. I know of what happened, hearing it firsthand from the soldiers who were there. I know that it was a coordinated attack by unfriendly personnel. It was literally the gunfight in the O.K. Corral. From what I have heard, 54 is a light count btw.

And the soldiers here have very liberal use of the phones and internet. I am the one that makes sure of that.

josh

The primary purpose of the Armed Forces is to prepare for and to prevail in combat should the need arise.

[Luv2Fall 0]

His constant bad mouthing the military goes beyond his political opinions, I feel. His political opinions has no bearing on my response.

Medals.......after having made a career in the Army myself, I can say that many medals are handed out like candy.........I know......I have a few that were awarded me I felt wasn't fully warranted if you read the regulations. I've seen quite a few handed out like candy.....not only in the officer ranks, but to the enlisted as well.

[skycop 0]

For 9 months of war, less than 500 casualties KIA is militarily insignificant and does not affect the mission, (unless you're a casualty). Cold hearted but true. I have several friends who are there or have been there. They all agree this mission is important to national security, and the right thing to do.
So I guess it's all in who you talk to.
Col. Hackworth has turned into a Hollywood style hob-knobber. I respect his combat experience, not him personnally. Read Michael Durant's new book and you'll get a little insight into Mr. Hackworth.

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[quade 3]

Quote

I have several friends who are there or have been there. They all agree this mission is important to national security, and the right thing to do.

Pawns rarely have a overall view of the board.

I'm not discounting your associates feelings or beliefs, but is it possible that perhaps they are too close to the fight to see it for what it is? Fog of war and all that.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Luv2Fall 0]

Quote

Quote

I have several friends who are there or have been there. They all agree this mission is important to national security, and the right thing to do.

Pawns rarely have a overall view of the board.

I'm not discounting your associates feelings, but perhaps they are too close to the fight to see it for what it is.

Although our opinions vary, I will admit that your statement could very well be true........a sound perspective.....certainly plausible.

[flyhi 24]

Quote

many medals are handed out like candy

I received three medals when I was in grad school.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[skycop 0]

Yea,
Those stupid pawns don't know anything about winning wars.
Keep sitting safely behind your computer, keep having fun skydiving, while those "pawns" fight a war many people feel they have no stake in.
In these times, I'd much rather be a pawn taking a side, than being an armchair quarterback watching from the side, enjoying the things those (us) pawns provide!

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[skycop 0]

Back to work.........plus I just made "Old Hand"
I'm somebody now!!!!!!!

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[quade 3]

Quote

Yea,
Those stupid pawns don't know anything about winning wars.

I didn't call them stupid and I didn't say they didn't know anything about winning wars.

What I am suggesting is that very good soldiers do what they are told to do. WHY they have been told to do something is usually not something they can really know.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[billvon 2,435]

>Those stupid pawns don't know anything about winning wars.

Sounds like you're thinking that the "stupid pawn" that wrote this letter doesn't know anything. Or are only soldiers who agree with you worthy of your respect?

[ScubaSteve 0]

I dont agree with (Ret.) Col. Hackworth but he is consistant. Unlike the atni-war (i mean anti-bush) croud today. This guy just plain hates the hell that is unleashed by any form of war.

*********************
Col. David Hackworth

Turn off the war junkies

From his column "Defending America" April 30, 1999

On the first day bombs dropped on ex-Yugoslavia, Mrs. Albright said, "I don't see this as a long-term operation."

Pardon me, Madeleine, it's already been a 30-day-plus nightmare, and unless the fumbling NATO bureaucracy manages to drop a bomb directly on Slobodan Milosevic and his inner circle of criminals, we can expect a much longer siege.

The superior firepower and skill of NATO -- read U.S.A. because we're already carrying 80 percent of the load -- will eventually take out the second-rate Serbian conventional army. But when there's nothing left to bomb but rubble, NATO ground troops will be stuck into the mud of Albright's not-exactly blitzkrieg war.

And it won't be Desert Storm-easy, nor as bloodless. The absence of a decent launching pad, the rugged Kosovo terrain, the lousy weather and the Serb fighting spirit and skill are sure to take their toll and slow down our high-tech punch.

The destruction of the Serbian conventional army will not usher in an end to the fighting, either. The Serbs invented the word "hardcore" and aren't big into white flags. The next phase will be a guerrilla effort that could last for years. Hit and run. Much like the tactics Tito's soldiers employed against the Nazis, and the Vietnamese used against the French and then us.

The Serb insurgents will have nothing to lose. And they'll be fighting for sacred ground against an opponent they'll now hate as much as they did the Nazis.

Sun Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago, "In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close."

Clinton, Albright, Cohen and their NATO counterparts know nothing of war or they wouldn't have erred so badly when they called so quickly for the military solution.

This is the second time in my lifetime that a war has made me deeply ashamed of my country's policies. The war in Southeast Asia, where we were ultimately responsible for killing more than three million Vietnamese, one million Cambodians and a half-million Laotians, was the first. And now this. The Serbian and Kosovar people are not our enemies. Milosevic and his thugs and the KLA terrorists are the bad guys. Both evil camps could have been removed without the death and destruction so far wrought at less than was spent on the first day of the bombing campaign.

Of course, not using the military solution would have taken wisdom, statesmanship and patience -- traits never easily found among world leaders during the 20th Century, where over 160 million human beings have been killed in conflicts because shooting is so much more profitable for the weapon makers than talking.

What surprises me most about this latest mayhem is how little public protest there's been. The nation rightfully weeps and builds yellow-ribboned memorials when buildings are blown up by homegrown terrorists or when kids imitate Hollywood in Colorado. But we seem big into denial when confronted with the mass murder, destruction and chaos being perpetuated by our tax dollars and wreaked on our behalf by our sons and daughters and politicians upon a land that's endured strife for hundreds of years.

While the American people shut their eyes or allow themselves to be brainwashed by a superficial TV news apparatus, driven by ratings and sensationalism, the U.S. Congress is spurred on by the likes of war cheerleader Senator John McCain, who, like Albright, has seen few wars that didn't push his buttons.

Both are driven by early experiences of war. As a child, Albright saw her native Czechoslovakia invaded by the Nazis and again by the Soviets. McCain was shot down on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam and spent the next five years as a prisoner of war -- during which, by his own admission, he violated the soldier's sacred Code Of Conduct by providing military information to the enemy (U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973).

Both Albright and McCain might find therapy more helpful than playing out earlier traumas at the world's expense. For that matter, maybe the whole country should shut off the tube and get shrunk.

[Luv2Fall 0]

Agreed. Interesting read - thanks.

[skycop 0]

Nope,
I SAID I respect Hackworth's service even though I don't care for him.
I have my doubts about the entire letter. My comment was not directed at the individual who (may) have written it.
If it did happen in the manner described, then I may have felt the same way. I wasn't there, he or she was, and that my friend I DO respect.

"Just 'cause I'm simple, don't mean I'm stewpid!"

[downwardspiral 0]

To me this email is ridiculous and a direct result of dissentiion. All this "combat leader" does in this email is badmouth his commander's tactics and yet doesn't give any better ideas on how to fight this war. I would be brave enough to guess the reason for this is because he is just a pawn and doesn't know much about tactics.

Now if i was in a combat zone and my unit started receiving fire from someone in civilian clothing you better believe i'm gonna put rounds down range. i would expect the same from anyone in my unit as well.

Quote

I told my soldiers to hold their fire unless they could indentfy [sic] a real weapon.

Well duh. does a muzzle flash constitute a real weapon? how bout an rpg?

I do agree that an area shouldn't be "hosed" but then again i was in the marines and the USMC has a different opinion about accuracy. you know...one shot, one kill.

This email is just another form of propaganda IMO. Afterall this "combat leader" doesn't seem to know hackworth that well. Unless of course he intended for this email to go public.

www.FourWheelerHB.com