Troops Abducted, Killed in Iraq Attack

[echoes]

All I can say is, these gunmen will burn in Hell!

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/new...mt86ho0&src=ap

Troops Abducted, Killed in Iraq Attack

Updated 5:39 PM ET January 26, 2007

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - In perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare, gunmen speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons abducted four U.S. soldiers last week at the provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and then shot them to death.

The U.S. military confirmed a report earlier Friday by The Associated Press that three of the soldiers were dead and one was mortally wounded with a gunshot to the head when they were found in a neighboring province, about 25 miles from the compound where they were captured. A fifth soldier was killed in the initial attack on the compound.

The new account contradicted a U.S. military statement on Jan. 20, the day of the raid on an Iraqi governor's office, that five soldiers were killed "repelling" the attack.

[Snaquebite]

"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."

Exactly what I speculated when first reported here http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...ad.php?t=13145

Failed security procedures, but it also appears they may have inside information , possibly from a day worker or someone else within the compound.

[bandycpa]

Iraqi officials said the approaching convoy of black GMC Suburbans was waved through an Iraqi checkpoint at the edge of the city. The Iraqi soldiers believed it to be American because of the type of vehicles, the distinctive camouflage American uniforms and the fact that they spoke English.

Police, who became suspicious when the convoy of attackers and their American captives did not stop at a roadblock, chased the vehicles and found the bodies, the gear and the abandoned SUVs.

Unbelievable. It's hard to believe that there was such a breakdown in security. And that one breakdown cost four of our soldiers their lives. May God take care of our fallen brothers, and exact vengeance on these so-called "insurgents".

The lesson applies not only in Iraq, but in the States as well. The same complacency that cost those soldiers their lives can permeate our day-to-day lives here just the same. We have to be just as vigilant here. I know that our Bn Commander and our S-2 in VADF keep drumming into our heads that we always have to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. I used to take it with a grain of salt...we're safe and secure here in little ol' SW Virginia. Things like this make it clear that the threat is very, very real.

I'm sad, I'm angry, and I hope our guys get every last one of those gunmen. "Catch and release?". I don't think so.

Bandy

[uboat509]

I wondered if this would come out in the media. Apparently when this happened it was reported in the Iraqi media that Americans had attacked the facility and that they were moving into the Holy city on a religious Holiday, which they apparently later retracted. That would help explain the response or lack there of. Imagine that you are an Iraqi and you come inside the perimeter to find what appears to be Americans attacking the facility. Confusion doesn't quite cover it.

SFC W

[echoes]

Originally Posted by uboat509

Imagine that you are an Iraqi and you come inside the perimeter to find what appears to be Americans attacking the facility. Confusion doesn't quite cover it.

SFC W

What The &*^%$%$? How horrible...

Holly

[JGarcia]

Lets see, we smash up an Iranian spy ring in Iraq.

Then a short time later a sophisticated op takes place in which operatives that convincingly appeared American enter, attack, and snatch 4 paratroopers, and kill one other Soldier.

They then abandon the vehicles, and uniforms(?) leaving the bodies unmutilated, but shot. No time to torture? No plan to be successful in kidnapping? I am just thinking of what ifs.

Maybe its nothing, but the level of planning and complexity, and brasenness, it took to do this... Well, it seems like something a little more complicated than your local ne'er do wells could pull off.

God be with these fallen Soldiers and their families.