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Record
Injury Toll for US in Iraq, Tactics Change
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US forces are not well-trained for street fighting
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BAGHDAD,
September 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The number of US
military casualties in Iraq is steadily growing as the American forces
are still facing uphill resistance in various areas of the country,
press reports said Sunday, September 5.
About
1,100 US soldiers and Marines were wounded in Iraq during August, by far
the highest injury toll for any month since the invasion of Iraq began
and an indication of the intensity of fighting flaring in urban areas,
according to the Washington Post.
The
paper quoted US medical commanders as saying that the sharp increase
reflects more than three weeks of fighting by two Army and one Marine
battalion in the southern city of Najaf.
At
the same time, US units frequently fight in a sprawling Shiite Muslim
slum in Baghdad and in the Sunni cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Samarra,
all of which remain under the control of Iraqi fighters two months after
the transfer of political authority, it added.
Further,
anti-American sentiments are growing among ordinary Iraqis, who question
the US claims for invading the oil-rich country - namely finding weapons
of mass destruction, none of which have been found so far in Iraq.
The
fact no such weapons have been found raised fears the US-led invasion of
Iraq was based on false pretexts.
Press
reports say the number of US troops killed in Iraq is also steadily
approaching 1000 and almost 7,000 wounded since the March, 2003
invasion.
"They
were doing battlefield urban operations in four places at one
time," said Lt. Colonel Albert Maas, operations officer for the 2nd
Medical Brigade, which oversees US military hospitals in Iraq.
Major
Dellone Pascascio, who compiles tallies of US wounded across Iraq, was
quoted by the Post as saying injuries sustained in conventional
fighting may tend to be slightly less severe than those inflicted by the
improvised explosive devices planted along roadsides that continue to
kill and maim US forces by spraying shrapnel upward.
Click
Here To Read Washington Post Article In Full
Changing
Tactic
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Bad treatment of Iraqis make matters worse for US troops
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The
mounting injury toll of US occupation forces in Iraq was set have a deep
impact on the Pentagon's strategic and military planning for current and
future conflicts.
Within
this context, US officials have said Washington would emphasize the use
of special forces in guerrilla conflicts against fighters rather than
fighting large-scale wars against traditional enemies under a broad
change in defense thinking.
US
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers were
briefed on the proposal last month by Christopher "Ryan"
Henry, a senior official in the Pentagon's policy office, but no
decisions have been made, officials were quoted by Reuters as saying
Friday, September 3.
"We
have very large deficiencies in the areas of irregular warfare and
catastrophic challenges and disruptive challenges. And we have maybe
moderate risk in traditional (warfare). So it's a question of striking
the right balance across the board but not leaving yourself naked in any
of those areas," a senior defense official said.
After
the US forces occupied Iraq, some Iraqis resorted to innovative
resistance operations to eject foreign forces out of the country,
including strapping explosives to dogs to bomb sensitive targets.
Heavy
Fighting
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A car bomb went off near a US military convoy in the north of Iraq
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Meanwhile,
US troops and fighters battled in the northern Iraqi town of Tall Afar
on Sunday for the second straight day, leaving a number of Iraqis and
American soldiers killed and wounded.
Fighting
erupted after gunmen fire on a US army convoy outside the town, 60
kilometers (40 miles) west of Mosul, police lieutenant Ghaith Mohammed
Al-Obeidi told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
US
soldiers and Iraqi national guardsmen then poured into Tall Afar and
clashes broke out in the town center, lasting for about two hours before
the US and Iraqi forces withdrew, he said, adding that US helicopters
opened fire on the fighters.
The
fighters are currently in full control of Tall Afar, Obeidi said.
Thirteen
Iraqis were killed
and 53 wounded Saturday, September 4, when a US army battalion, backed
by Iraqi national guardsmen, launched an offensive in Tall Afar.
Amid
the heavy fighting, an F-16 war plane dropped a bomb near the town,
while the fighters hit a US helicopter with gunfire and two soldiers
were wounded as the chopper made an emergency landing.
One
US soldier was also wounded overnight, when American forces detained 14
Iraqis in a raid on the road between the Iraqi city of Fallujah and
Mahmudiya, the military said.
Mahmudiya
commands access to the main road linking Baghdad to several major cities
to the south, including the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, and has
become a virtual no-go zone for foreigners and Iraqi police.
Also
a car that exploded Sunday near a US military convoy in the area of
Al-Dujail, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. One US soldier and up to six
Iraqis were lightly wounded in the attack.
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