The New York Times details which weapons coalition forces are using in their bombardment of Falluja. The idea, it would appear, is to “pacify” the city as much as possible before handing counter-insurgency duties over to Iraqi troops. In the past 48 hours, Air Force F-15E and F-16 warplanes, and carrier-based F-14 and F-18 fighter-bombers, […]
From the monthly archives:
April 2004
“A new Iraqi security force made up of former Iraqi soldiers and commanders will replace the American troops now in Falluja and assume responsibility for the city’s security,” the New York Times reports. The new force, known as the Falluja Protection Army, will include as many as 1,000 Iraqi soldiers led by a former general […]
G.I.s in Iraq may not be able to get armor for their Humvees. Their dogs, on the other hand, are well protected. U.S. forces are using K-9s, like the one in this New York Times photo to the left, for crowd control and other duties. To keep Cujo and his furry friends safe from dog-hating […]
Troops in Iraq have rush-ordered thousands of Kevlar shoulder guards and blastproof sunglasses. The reason why: a newly-formed Combat Trauma Registry that tracks exactly where and how soldiers get wounded. Using that Registry, Lt. Col. Kelly Bal, an orthopedic surgeon with the Army’s 82nd Airborne, first detected the pattern of wounds to exposed shoulders, the […]
The shift to a gunship-and-howitzer kind of fight in Iraq is good for American forces militarily. The U.S. has the bigger guns. And, unlike house-to-house, small-arms combat, G.I.s are kept somewhat out of harm’s way. That’s why yesterday’s casualty figures seem particularly lopsided — only a single American soldier dead, compared to dozens and dozens […]
