Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Fall Offensive in Iraq
Fresh on the Iron Fist operation which started early Saturday in the village of Sadah and has since spread to Karabila and Rumana, two nearby towns on the Euphrates River, 2,500 US forces along with Iraqi troops have started an operation called River Gate in the Euphrates river valley northwest of Ramadi. With this news comes the unwelcome announcement that 4 US soldiers have been killed. But we're kicking in doors, discovering arms caches, and killing the terrorists who fight with their faces masked. On the left is a PKM, a light machine gun, belt fed with 7.62 x 54R cartridges. On the right is an RPG 7; both weapons are of Russian manufacture. The photo is from Reuters and was taken in Ramadi yesterday. Who goes to war in red trainers?
More on the last 100 battle deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan in a later post.
UPDATE: There is also a third operation called Mountaineers in Ramadi. Bill Rogio at the Fourth Rail has expansive coverage of these three operations. (h/t Barone Blog)
UPDATE II: Sir Humphrey's Blog has an interesting story about the genesis of the photo above. He's not happy.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:07 PM 
