Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Trying to make a failed attack scary

The Washington Post has another story with more details on the dump truck fire truck attack on the Marine base on the Syrian border.

...

This true-life nightmare occurred on Monday last week. The attack on this remote Marine outpost abutting the Syrian border caused only minor injuries, but it signaled a dramatic change in the methods of the insurgents, who have staged mostly guerrilla-style hit-and-run attacks against the U.S. military for two years. (Emphasis added)

...

Husaybah is a dusty smuggling hub in the barren reaches of western Iraq, a desert moonscape of dirt and rocks, its visibility frequently obscured by sandstorms. Camp Gannon is situated in the city's northwest corner.

The base's northern perimeter is the Syrian border, marked by a 10-foot-tall barrier of sand bags and razor wire. To the south and east are low-slung concrete houses and unpaved streets, neighborhoods so hostile the Marines cannot venture into the city without being attacked. The austere base is shelled so frequently the Marines never leave their barracks without helmets and armored vests, even when visiting the urinals -- mortar tubes hammered into the ground. (Emphasis added.)

...

The battle here began around 8:15 a.m., shortly after India Company's 2nd Platoon set up for guard duty on the base's eastern perimeter. Four mortar rounds overshot the base and landed about 300 yards inside Syrian territory, said Cpl. Roy Mitros, the senior Marine on guard, who climbed into a tower to register where they landed.

Inside Post 8, a bunker on the southeast corner of the base, Lance Cpl. Joe Lampe, 22, of Lacey Township, N.J., and Cpl. Anthony Fink, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, began to receive reports that other guard positions were taking sporadic fire. Then, at 8:25 a.m., a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into their bunker.

Lampe and Fink were unharmed, but the bunker filled with dust from dozens of protective sandbags. "You couldn't see like an inch in front of us," Lampe said. "It's like it just went 'whoof,' and then it was just dust collapsing all around us."

Moments later, Lance Cpl. Diego Naranja, 22, of the New York City borough of Queens, radioed from a guard tower just north of Post 8 that he had spotted a white dump truck moving north on a one-lane road the U.S. military calls West End. "But as soon as he called it in, it was like, Blam!" Lampe said. "That's when we got hit by another blast. That one knocked us to the ground."

This last few paragraphs describes Marines doing their job, and also explains how they were able to repet the attack.

Fink said he was convinced that the insurgents concentrated fire on Post 8 as a diversion. "There's no doubt in my mind," he said. "They knew that was the closest post to them. If they could keep us down, then they could pull the [explosives-laden vehicles] out onto the road." Naranja said he managed to shoot several rounds at the dump truck but it soon disappeared.

The dump truck reached a fork, then turned west. It traveled beneath four concrete arches and sped toward the base, located next to the border crossing. The U.S. military closed the border for security reasons before the January elections and has not reopened it. The area is now a ghost town of abandoned customs and insurance houses and a 30-foot concrete mural painted with the Iraqi flag.

The dump truck headed directly toward Butler, who was standing guard under camouflage netting in Tower 2. Butler opened fire, and the truck veered left, ramming a cluster of trucks the Marines had wired together to block access to the base entrance. The dump truck then exploded, sending Butler flying into the tower's ledge as concrete debris rained on him.

...

About 45 seconds after the dump truck exploded, its purpose became clear: It was to serve as a battering ram to clear the base entrance for the fire engine.

The firetruck had become something of a phantom for India Company. The Marines had heard that insurgents might use one as a suicide bomb. For two months, they had been warned by commanders to be on the lookout for a firetruck, but it had never been seen and some Marines had concluded it wasn't real.

Now, the fire engine was roaring north along the West End. "When I seen it, my heart stopped," said Lance Cpl. Sebastian Lankiewicz, 20, also of Queens. "It was like I was looking at the Grim Reaper himself coming down freakin' West End."

It appears that the Marines had some intelligence that suggested a fire truck might be used in an attck.

The vehicle exploded near the "Welcome to Iraq" mural, which absorbed some of the blast. So did a huge corrugated metal overhang that had provided shade for vehicles waiting in line at the border. It was obliterated, along with a low-slung blue-and-white building that also took some of the blast.

Only three Marines were wounded, none seriously. A piece of shrapnel pierced Butler's plastic goggles but did not penetrate the helmet they were attached to.

First Sgt. Don Brazeal, 39, of Riviera Beach, Md., was inside the company command post when the firetruck exploded. He had also feared the worst and rushed out to the base perimeter. "It's kind of a parental instinct that took over," he said. "A lot of these guys are young enough to be my sons. Right away I had a mental picture that my kids were not in a good way."

Brazeal arrived at Post 8 to find Fink firing at about a dozen insurgents. They were shielded by a wall on the other side of the road.

Brazeal grabbed a rocket launcher and climbed atop a dirt barrier, exposing himself to enemy fire. He fired the rocket at the wall. Fink then did the same. Then the shooting stopped, they said.

Again Marines doing their job. The one question I would have for the commander of this unit is why rockets were not fired at the attack trucks. They are much more effective than M-16 rounds at stopping truck attacks.

While the WaPo would like to leave the impression that this scary new tactic is a threat to US forces, its practicle eefect was less than an IED. What is also clear is that the Marines were alert to the danger and unlike events in Lebanon in the 1980's the bad guys were not able to get close enough to do the dmage they wanted to do. The Marines had also improvised a vehicle barrier that also protected their base from the attack. Overall, I would say well done Marines. Semper Fi!