Life with the 101st Airborne

[Oddball]

The BBC reports on the experiences of the troops in the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, serving in Northern Iraq




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-8cM6cKEAM

[lightcav]

Excellent Documentation. This video is a clear illustration of a classic guerrilla war. I can't believe the scene when the US army starts arresting and questioning the Iraqi army when they are supposed to be on the same side. How are we supposed to win a war like that?

The good parts are how honest and aggressive the US soldiers are. They are excellent in their understanding of warfare and ability to kill mercilessly. I feel very satisfied with my taxpayer dollars that at least we are training our own troops to become the best killers in the world. Its just too bad none of their efforts will ever pay off.

The simple factual truth is eventually we will leave be it 5, 10 or 30 years and when we do the insurgents will take over. All the enemy has to do is wait.

I think we should be fighting North Korea not Iraq. North Korea is the threat that has nuclear weapons and missles that can reach the USA. If that isn't a reason for a pre-emptive strike I don't know what is.

[diplomat]

Excellent Documentation. This video is a clear illustration of a classic guerrilla war. I can't believe the scene when the US army starts arresting and questioning the Iraqi army when they are supposed to be on the same side. How are we supposed to win a war like that?

The good parts are how honest and aggressive the US soldiers are. They are excellent in their understanding of warfare and ability to kill mercilessly. I feel very satisfied with my taxpayer dollars that at least we are training our own troops to become the best killers in the world. Its just too bad none of their efforts will ever pay off.

The simple factual truth is eventually we will leave be it 5, 10 or 30 years and when we do the insurgents will take over. All the enemy has to do is wait.

I think we should be fighting North Korea not Iraq. North Korea is the threat that has nuclear weapons and missles that can reach the USA. If that isn't a reason for a pre-emptive strike I don't know what is.

I don't think that is true

Oddball, thanks for posting but for some reason I cannot view the vid, could you post a link? Thanks

[Big-Will]

Good find. I would believe that the guy who said he would rather have Saddam in power was a Sunni.

[Universe]

North Korea will not attack the West unless it is attacked itself.

[Mountain Man]

Great, yet another thread going off track into the NK problem..........

Interesting vid find!

[SBL]

Very very interesting vid oddball, thanks for sharing.
They should've shot those guys planting the IEDs where they stood.

As for North Korea; it's a non-issue. The situation on the Korean penninsula is fundamentally the same as it's always been.

[rjbhutton]

Wow. That was depressing. It seems like the US forces are chasing their tales. The soldiers are being asked (unfairly) about the big picture and giving naive answers from a grunt's perspective, but it doesn't paint a very good picture of the US army. The solutions to the problems posed by the Iraqi police and Iraqi army seemed to be being solved by pretty naive solutions that may be practical in the short term, but what are they telling the Iraqi people in the long term. This really is very depressing and it seems like the US soldiers are out of their depth.... or that the questions posed by the reporters are questions that should be being answered by the higher ups not the grunts... they're answers appear naive and ill-informed (which they probably are at their pay grade)... It seems like they are fighting fires/reacting to individual events rather than purposefully moving towards a resolution to the problem. I feel sorry for the soldiers in the field... plus trying to communicate through interpreters is hard work and who knows whether the message is really being communicated as intended. Man, I feel sorry for those guys (the soldiers) and this video does nothing to inspire confidence in a lasting, peaceful resolution... I'm going to curl up in bed with a crate of beer and bucket of wings now....

[Bradles]

Hmmmm.....my dad and I watched this last night and he honestly doesent understand why they want the Iraqis to trust the Americans and cooperate etc and yet they raid there houses over and over and they call them cowards and saying crap like " are you scared"!
Trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis is going to be very hard guys with all the bs thats going on.
As my dad said who served in Vietnam, its going to turn into another Vietnam scene.

[lightcav]

The US military is definitely the best in the world but it doesn't matter how good you are in a Guerilla war. I thought we already learned that lesson in Vietnam.

I really admire those individuals who put their lives on the line with the belief that they are protecting this country and I am thankful for it. But it is heartbreaking to watch their efforts turn useless while the situation gets worse everyday.

My father was a Vietnam vet and I saw what he went through as a vet from a war that the US "lost."

The truth is those guys in Iraq are being set up. There is no way they can win. The Bush administration seriously underestimated the complexity of Iraq. I hope we take our troops out and find a better solution to the Iraq problem because this will never work.

I'm not an advocate of Saddam, he is a horrible human being, but how can we say that the situation is any better now. It looks much worse to me because now our guys are getting killed.

Many say that we shouldn't practice isolationist policies by leaving Iraq, but our being there is isolating us from the rest of the world who see Bush as a clown and the US as arrogant hypocrites. We are making fools of ourselves and we need to do something about it or the situation will only get worse.

[GLax]

sad but true, the iraqi army is lazy like that one guy said. anyone whos been over there will tell you that

[Sloppy Joe2]

Very very interesting vid oddball, thanks for sharing.
They should've shot those guys planting the IEDs where they stood.

As for North Korea; it's a non-issue. The situation on the Korean penninsula is fundamentally the same as it's always been.

they are better alive for questioning then they are as the silent dead. thats how we get the big fish.

[SBL]

they are better alive for questioning then they are as the silent dead. thats how we get the big fish.

I was thinking more in terms of making examples of them. And I'm not entirely sure how many "big fish" are involved with roadside bombings, pot-shots, etc. considering how available war-making materiel is.
Of course I'm not disagreeing with you, it's case-by-case I guess.

[Maine Finn]

It's a hard job no matter how you slice it. I'm not sure we're going to come out of this mess on top.

Good find, man. Thanks for sharing.

[Sloppy Joe2]

I was thinking more in terms of making examples of them. And I'm not entirely sure how many "big fish" are involved with roadside bombings, pot-shots, etc. considering how available war-making materiel is.
Of course I'm not disagreeing with you, it's case-by-case I guess.

their deaths only glorify Martydom, and usually those who plant the IED's are low-level and uneducated. if we are able to get info on who gave it to them, you have just taken one Bomb-maker out of the picture.