I noticed the following entry in the DoD's
News Releases
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on Oct. 16 in Karbala, Iraq. The soldiers were attempting to negotiate with armed men who were congregating on a road near a mosque after curfew. The Iraqis opened fire killing three soldiers and wounding seven others.. Killed were:
Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, 43, of Tennessee.
Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia, 28, of Wakefield, Mass.
Cpl. Sean R. Grilley, 24, of San Bernardino, Calif.
The soldiers were assigned to the 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based in Fort Campbell, Ky. Orlando was the commanding officer of the 716th Military Police Battalion.
A quick search revealed that Orlando is the highest ranking soldier to die of hostile action in Iraq. Two other Lt. Colonels have died, one of "illness" the other of a "vehicle accident" (See Iraq casualty count)
The way I read this announcement it sounds like the Iraqi's opened fire while talking to the Americans. That means that a group of Iraqi's decided to shoot at a group of at least 10 better armed, better armored, better trained MPs at point blank range. Unless there was something else involved (accidental weapons discharge caused people to just start shooting like crazy, etc) that sounds REALLY gutsy. From what I've read the resistance is usually ambushing our guys at a distance in quick hit and run attacks. So this incident really seems strange to me. Did the Iraqi's specifically target Orlando? Did they lead him and his men into an ambush? How are our soldiers going to respond to the constant threat that everything they do will lead to an ambush? How will their commanding officers act if they know that they are being targeted?
From what I've read it sounds like our guys really aren't treating Iraqi's with a lot of courtesy (massive understatement). That's understandable, they're young and scared, the older, more experienced officers are supposed to be the sane ones, but what if those officers are even more afraid, knowing that they are targets? What if they stop interacting with Iraqi civilians? At this point I'm engaging in wild speculation based on very limited evidence, but there is so little useful information coming out of Iraq that I don't think I can help it.
