From: Sonny Heath (sonny@defuniak.com)
Date: Tue Nov 23 2004 - 18:08:24 PST
You got your "Dig" in again Steve.
Sonny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Grammont" <islander@midmaine.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] OT - Bradley's fighting in Fallujah
> Hi Jack,
>
> Thanks for the send around, even if it is off topic. Reports like this
> from the front are not as easy to find as I would like. It is good to
> get a glimpse, even if superficial, into what is going on over there.
> Having said that...
>
> >My thoughts... The Battle of Fallujah ranks right up
> >there among the toughest and best one fights the USMC
> >has been in since Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Bloody Ridge.
>
> Spilling American blood for something that never should have been lost
> in the first place should be regretted, not celebrated. If the Army had
> the boots on the ground they requested I'm sure the nearly 2 dozen dead
> Marines and Army soldiers and hundreds of wounded would be sitting around
> shooting the breeze instead of being dead or recovering from wounds. I
> won't even comment on the infrastructure and civilian destruction that
> could have been avoided.
>
> >They killed and wounded 2000 insurgents and lost 56.
> >They took out over 35% of the estimate forces causing
> >havoc and beheading civilians in Iraq.
>
> Unfortunately, unless we get every single last one of them, especially
> their leadership, this doesn't amount to anything more than a short term
> setback for the insurgents. The beheadings, bombings, and assassinations
> will continue because their leadership is intact, their numbers are still
> large, and they are still recruiting new members. In fact, no sooner had
> victory been declared than top US commanders who fought and won Fallujah
> sent warnings to higher commanders that if local troop levels are reduced
> things will slide right back into chaos like it was before. In other
> words, we'd lose Fallujah a SECOND time. A real concern since we are
> stretched so thin that US forces have already pulled out from Fallujah to
> handle the other uprisings, like in Mosul.
>
> >The Bradley
> >was a kick-ass vehicle, one that "60 Minutes" called
> >uncessary and too expensive.
>
> Not to make too much of a point about this, but you do realize a LOT of
> people wanted to kill off the Bradley, including the guys that were to
> crew them and the Army brass that was to procure them? Cheney even tried
> to kill off further production of the Bradley (along with AH-64, F-14,
> and F-16) during his tenure as Defense Secretary. Congress overrode him.
> The Bradley might be a great vehicle, but it is expensive and has its
> drawbacks.
>
> >Not much of their stories about this victory are
> >making it to the mainstream media...imagine that?
>
> The story was written by a reporter for the mainstream newspaper, the
> Chicago Tribune, so it is getting out there. I certainly was well aware
> of the progress of the fighting through mainstream media.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
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