# New Tactic?



## pegasus (Jan 21, 2007)

This, after Maliki requests more equipment from the US  !



Link

KARBALA, Iraq - Chilling details emerged Sunday of gunmen posing as American and Iraqi soldiers in an ambush on U.S. troops in Karbala a day earlier that killed five Americans and wounded three.


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## Polar Bear (Jan 22, 2007)

> Iraqi guards at checkpoints


 *and here is the first mistake*

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16515453.htm

*Deadly ambush new way to attack*

*The latest ambush of U.S. troops by Iraqi insurgents showed a sophistication not seen before in the war.*

*BY ERNESTO LONDONO*

*Washington Post Service*

*BAGHDAD - *The armored sport-utility vehicles whisked into a government compound in the city of Karbala with speed and urgency, the way most Americans and foreign dignitaries travel along Iraq's treacherous roads these days.
Iraqi guards at checkpoints waved them through Saturday afternoon because the men wore what appeared to be legitimate U.S. military uniforms and badges, and drove cars commonly used by foreigners, the provincial governor said.
Once inside, however, the men unleashed one of the deadliest and most brazen ambushes of U.S. forces in a secure, official area. Five American service members were killed in a hail of grenades and gunfire in a breach of security that Iraqi officials called unprecedented.
The attack, which lasted roughly 20 minutes, came on a day when the United States lost at least 20 other troops, including a dozen in a helicopter crash. Saturday, the third-most lethal day for American forces in Iraq, coincided with the arrival of 3,200 troops of the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the first unit to reach Baghdad as part of a 21,500 troop increase that the Bush administration hopes will restore order in the violent capital.
''Soldiers from the 82nd come to us ready to engage in a wide variety of operations in support of the Iraqi Baghdad Security Plan,'' Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said in a statement. ``The brigade adds operational flexibility that will assist in securing the population.''
U.S. military officials said Sunday that they could not discuss the attack in Karbala in detail because it remained under investigation. But they said the version of events provided by the governor's office was consistent with their preliminary findings.
After arriving at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, in southern Iraq, the attackers detonated sound bombs, Iraqi officials said. ''They wanted to create a panic situation,'' said an aide to Karbala Gov. Akeel al Khazaali, who described the events with the governor's permission but on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals.
The men then stormed into a room where Americans and Iraqis were making plans to ensure the safety of thousands of people expected to visit the holy city for an upcoming holiday.
''They didn't target anyone but the American soldiers,'' the governor's aide said.
After the attack, the assailants returned to their vehicles and drove away. It was unclear how many people participated, and the men's identities and motive remained unclear, but the attack was particularly striking because of the resources and sophistication involved, Iraqi officials said.
The men drove toward the city of Babil, north of Karbala, where they shot at guards at a checkpoint, said Capt. Muthana Ahmad, a police spokesman. Vehicles later recovered contained three bodies and one injured individual. The U.S. military took possession of the vehicles, the spokesman said.
In December 2004, a U.S. base in Mosul was penetrated by a suicide bomber who killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members. But Saturday's attack appeared to present a new danger: assailants who disguise themselves as officials and travel in convoys.
''The way it happened and the new style, the province has not seen before,'' said Abdul Al al Yasri, head of the provincial council in Karbala. ``And this will make us insist on carrying on the security procedures even on official delegates and diplomats when they are coming to Karbala province.''
Military officials said Sunday that the cause of the helicopter crash, which killed 12 soldiers northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, remained under investigation. They said they could not confirm accounts by Iraqi officials and civilians who said it was shot down by insurgents in a Sunni Muslim-dominated area of Diyala province. U.S. officials initially reported 13 soldiers died in the crash.
Reports of carnage targeting Iraqis also continued Sunday. A passenger stepped off on a public minivan in central Baghdad, leaving behind a bomb that exploded, killing four police officers and three civilians, said Gen. Sadoun Qasim of the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, at least five people were killed by two improvised explosive devices.
Four Iraqis, including a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old, were killed Friday by an improvised explosive device in the city of Yusufiyah, south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. An ambulance transporting one of the wounded struck another roadside bomb en route to the hospital. The second blast caused no injuries.
In Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a hospital official said the body of a fighter from the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq was taken to the hospital after being discovered in a house. The 31-year-old man had been carrying a fake Iraqi passport and a real Saudi one, according to Muhammad Ismail, a doctor at the hospital.
The parliamentary bloc of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr announced an end to a boycott that has kept Iraq's National Assembly semi-paralyzed for two months.
The Sadr bloc returned to the assembly after a parliamentary committee and the speaker, Mahmoud al Mashhadani, agreed to a series of demands, said Falah Hasan Shenshel, a member of the Sadr bloc.
The demands included establishing a timetable for the buildup of Iraqi troops and the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and a condition that the presence of foreign troops would not be extended without a vote by the assembly, Shenshel said. U.S. troops should retreat from Iraqi cities and return to their bases by the end of August, he said.
''By doing so, America would confirm that it came to Iraq as a liberator and not as an occupier,'' Shenshel said.


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## Typhoon (Jan 22, 2007)

This is a bad deal.

Okay, so how did the bastards get a hold of the SUV's?


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## pegasus (Jan 26, 2007)

More details coming out.... RIP.  

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2838

Karbala Attackers Used U.S. Army-Styled Uniforms to Gain Access
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2007 – Insurgents who attacked the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, Iraq, were dressed in U.S. Army-styled combat uniforms and carried U.S.-type weapons, convincing Iraqi checkpoints to allow them passage, military officials released today.

During the Jan. 20 attack, the enemy fighters captured and killed four U.S. soldiers. Another soldier was also killed and three others wounded in the attack on the center, located about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Local officials and Iraqi and coalition security forces meet at the center to address security needs.

"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Army Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multinational Division Baghdad. "The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound."

At about 5 p.m. that day, a convoy consisting of at least five sport utility vehicles entered the Karbala compound and about 12 armed militants attacked the American troops with rifle fire and hand grenades, officials said.

One soldier was killed and three others wounded by a hand grenade thrown into the center's main office. Other explosions within the compound destroyed three Humvees.

The attackers withdrew with four captured U.S. soldiers and drove out of the Karbala province into the neighboring Babil province. Iraqi police began trailing the assailants after they drew suspicion at a checkpoint.

Three soldiers were found dead and one fatally wounded, along with five abandoned vehicles, near the town of Mahawil. Two were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the vehicles. The other two were found nearby on the ground. One soldier was found alive but died en route to a nearby hospital. All suffered from gunshot wounds.

Also recovered at the site were U.S. Army-type combat uniforms, boots, radios and a non-U.S. made rifle, officials said.

Officials are investigating the breach in security at the center. "We are looking at all the evidence to determine who or what was responsible for the breakdown in security at the compound and the perpetration of the assault," Bleichwehl said. "Our hearts go out to the families of the fallen warriors from Karbala. They were true heroes who fought to the last.”

The names of four of the soldiers have been released. The fifth name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Killed were:

-- Army 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Neb.;

-- Army Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, La.;

-- Army Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, N.Y.; and

-- Army Pvt. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Ala.

The soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

(From Multinational Corps Iraq and DoD news releases.)


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## Gypsy (Jan 26, 2007)

Rest in peace...


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## tova (Jan 26, 2007)

RIP, Godspeed, PBS....


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## pardus (Jan 27, 2007)

Well what a surprise...

I stunned people arent anticipating this stuff.

Are there not specialists working on this all day everyday?

This is Counter insurgency 101   


The tragady is that our guys are dying through lack of imagination by people who are paid to be imaginative and people who are paid to ensure we are a step ahead, we are not and we should be.

Sad and frustrating 

RIP


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## Chopstick (Jan 27, 2007)

Im wondering..how many times has this actually been happening and not reported accurately?  Didnt this story start out differently in the first reports?
Seems to me that this crew had to have a lot of inside helpers in the Iraqi ranks.  Just my:2c: 
RIP Soldiers.


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## Queen Beach (Jan 27, 2007)

So do we put these types of reports out..about tactics and such to let the bad guys know we know what they are up to and to not try it again?  Then what they go back and say..oh we can't do that again....Let's try something else they wont expect.  

Yes I realize it isn't that easy..but damn!


Seems to me there should just be a lock down on this information.  :2c: _(and probably not even worth that!_


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## pegasus (Jan 27, 2007)

Does this tactic suggest external influence/training/planning? Say Iran? 
It's a fine line, but is this info being released as an explanation for the next logical step? Bush still needs Congressional backing and Congress is all about public opinion and polls. I don't think the info is being released for the insurgents. However, the MSM is not exactly putting this on the front page. 

The video for Pelosi's trip to Baghdad is out and it is a farce. Link. The audio is not always clear, but you can plainly hear the Brig. Gen. say he is optimistic. Later when Pelosi is talking to an Intel Analyst she asks: "Let's talk about the intelligence that got us into the war. That would be interesting to start with.". 

:2c:


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## Marauder06 (Jan 27, 2007)

Typhoon said:


> This is a bad deal.
> 
> Okay, so how did the bastards get a hold of the SUV's?



I remember hearing about a couple of tractor trailers bringing them in-country got jacked.  This would be ~SEP02 I guess, could be residuals from that or could have jacked someone else.


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## Gypsy (Jan 28, 2007)

Interesting article here about the attack in Karbala.

http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/01/the_karbala_attack_a.php

The Karbala attack and the IRGC



The Iranians may be responsible the conducting the attack that resulted in the murder of five American soldiers in Karbala

On January 20th, a team of twelve men disguised as U.S. soldiers entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, where U.S. soldiers conducted a meeting with local officials, and attacked and killed five soldiers, and wounded another three. The initial reports indicated the five were killed in the Karbala JCC, however the U.S. military has reported that four of those killed were actually removed from the center, handcuffed, and murdered.

The American Forces Information Service provides the details of the attack in Karbala. Based on the sophisticated nature of the raid, as well as the response, or cryptic non-responses, from multiple military and intelligence sources, this raid appears to have been directed and executed by the Qods Force branch of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps. My sources agreed this is far to sophisticated an operation for the Mahdi Army or Badr Corps, while al-Qaeda in Iraq would have a difficult time mounting such an operation in the Shia south. "The Karbala Government Center raid the other day was a little too professional for JAM [Jaish al-Mahdi, or the Mahdi Army]," according to a military source. 

This raid required specific intelligence, in depth training for the agents to pass as American troops, resources to provide for weapons, vehicles, uniforms, identification, radios and other items needed to successfully carry out the mission. Hezbollah's Imad Mugniyah executed a similar attack against Israeli forces on the Lebanese border, which initiated the Hezbollah-Israeli war during the summer of 2006. 


Imad Fayez Mugniyah

The details from the Karbala raid from AFIS:

"The precision of the attack, the equipment used and the possible use of explosives to destroy the military vehicles in the compound suggests that the attack was well rehearsed prior to execution," said Army Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multinational Division Baghdad. "The attackers went straight to where Americans were located in the provincial government facility, bypassing the Iraqi police in the compound." 
At about 5 p.m. that day, a convoy consisting of at least five sport utility vehicles entered the Karbala compound and about 12 armed militants attacked the American troops with rifle fire and hand grenades, officials said.

One soldier was killed and three others wounded by a hand grenade thrown into the center's main office. Other explosions within the compound destroyed three Humvees.

The attackers withdrew with four captured U.S. soldiers and drove out of the Karbala province into the neighboring Babil province. Iraqi police began trailing the assailants after they drew suspicion at a checkpoint.

Three soldiers were found dead and one fatally wounded, along with five abandoned vehicles, near the town of Mahawil. Two were found handcuffed together in the back of one of the vehicles. The other two were found nearby on the ground. One soldier was found alive but died en route to a nearby hospital. All suffered from gunshot wounds.

Also recovered at the site were U.S. Army-type combat uniforms, boots, radios and a non-U.S. made rifle, officials said.


Mahawil is in Babil province, about 27 miles directly east of Karbala [corrected]. While it is impossible to prove, the attackers may have been making a bee-line towards the Iranian border.

The Karbala raid makes sense in light of the U.S. raids on the Iranian diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Irbil, where Iranian Qods Force agents were captured, along with documentation that divulged Iran's involvement with and support of Shia death squads, the Sunni insurgent, and al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah. Five Iranians from the Irbil raid are still in U.S. custody, and captured U.S. soldiers would provide for excellent bargaining chips

IF it is confirmed that Iran's Qods Force was responsible, the news that the United States has authorized the death or captured of Iranian agents inside Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan and Lebanon makes all the more sense.


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