OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan, April 28, 2008
Marines Strike Taliban-Controlled City
Force Of Several Hundred Launches Operation In Southern Afghanistan
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Photo
U.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit leave in convoy from a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan on Monday, April 28, 2008. The Marines launched an assault on the southern city of Garmser Tuesday, their first operation in the country in several years. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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Ambush In Afghanistan
U.S. Army Special Forces say they were shocked by military tactics used by Taliban fighters who ambushed them near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in their first account of the unreported battle. Lara Logan reports.
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Lara Logan's Reporter's Notebook
Lara Logan discusses a group of U.S. Special Forces who were ambushed by hundreds of Taliban fighters in a previously unreported attack in Afghanistan. "60 Minutes," Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
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Preview: Ambush In Afghanistan
U.S. Special Forces say they were shocked by the disciplined military tactics used by hundreds of Taliban fighters who ambushed them in Afghanistan, in their first account of the unreported battle.
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Several hundred Marines, many of them veterans of the conflict in Iraq, pushed into the town of Garmser in predawn light in an operation to drive out militants, stretching NATO's presence into an area littered with poppy fields and classified as Taliban territory.
U.S. commanders say Taliban fighters have been expecting an assault and have been setting up improvised explosive devices in response. It wasn't known how much resistance the Marines would face in Garmser, where the British have a small base on the town's edge but whose main marketplace is closed because of the Taliban threat.
The assault in Helmand province - backed by U.S. artillery in the desert and fighter aircraft in the sky - is the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived last month from Camp Lejuene, North Carolina for a seven-month deployment. Another 1,200 Marines arrived to train Afghan police.
Maj. Tom Clinton, the American commander at Forward Operating Base Dwyer, a British outpost 10 miles west of Garmser, said the Taliban had undoubtedly seen the Marines moving into the area in recent days.
But he said the fact that the Marines were assaulting the town by helicopter and were moving through by foot was likely a surprise.
"There's all kinds of reports of (Taliban) commanders telling their guys to grab their stuff and get out there" to fight, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Massachusetts. "It's no secret they know we're here. It's just a question of when and where" an assault would happen.
The Marines' mission is the first carried out by U.S. forces this far south in Helmand province in years. An operation late last year to take back the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala on the north end of Helmand involved U.S., British and Afghan forces.
Helmand province is the world's largest opium poppy-growing region and has been a flashpoint of the increasingly violent insurgency the last two years. British troops - who are responsible for Helmand - have faced fierce battles on the north end of Helmand.
Most U.S. troops operate in the east, along the border with Pakistan, but Britain - with 7,500 troops - and Canada - with 2,500 troops in neighboring Kandahar province - have not had enough manpower to tame the south.
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More than 8,000 people died in insurgency related violence last year. Militants set off more than 140 suicide bombs. Taliban fighters have been increasingly relying on roadside bombs and suicide attacks after being routed in force-on-force battles in the past.We've been waiting a while to get this going.
Corp. Matt Gregorio"I think if it was me I'd be laying a ton of IEDs down and leaving some guys behind to shoot and run. I don't expect a lot of leaders to stay around," Clinton said of the number of fighters the Marines might face.
Marines had prepared on Monday by cleaning weapons and handing out grenades. The leader of one of three companies involved - Charlie Company commander Capt. John Moder - said his men were ready.
"The feeling in general is optimistic, excited," said Moder, 34, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. "They've been training for this deployment the last nine months. We've got veteran leaders."
Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once al Qaeda in Iraq's stronghold before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.
Moder said that experience would inform how his men fight in Afghanistan. "These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (war fighting) but it's reconstruction and economic development."
But on the initial assault, Moder said his men were prepared to face mines and improvised explosive devices and "anybody that wants to fight us."
One Marine in Charlie Company, Corp. Matt Gregorio, a 26-year-old from Boston, alluded to the fact the Marines have been in Afghanistan for six weeks without carrying out any missions. He said the mood was "anxious, excited."
"We've been waiting a while to get this going," he said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Taliban your toast!
The only reason this tactic as not been used must be because there are those in Washington who treasure the Poppy more than they do our young men.
Get rid of the Poppy and you get rid of the Taliban and the funds for Osama.
Did you not see the videos? What about the manifests, and those who lost family on those planes? A conspiracy across the entire country? And now hundreds of people are gone from the very planes that hit WTC? Where did all of them go? Into hiding? I don''t think so.
Posted by tbweb at 03:31 AM : Apr 29, 2008
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That''''s not true. The population distribution in the Nation varies significantly different from the small subset of personalities joining the Marine Corps so by definition the National Trend does not follow the Marine Corps way of thinking.
Posted by FloydZepp at 05:12 AM : Apr 29, 2008,,,
What I said had nothing to do with thinking, obviously you didn''t get it! lol But your answer is funny just the same. Translated: Without the Marines the U.S. would probably not exist! Sooooo, as the Marines goes, so goes the U.S.! Get it now?
Marine Mom
Without you guys, there wouldn''t be any USA.
Posted by FloydZepp at 09:02 AM : Apr 29, 2008,,,
Only Marines guard the U.S. President and U.S. Embassies, I''m not going to knock the Army, however Secretary Gates did just that to the Air Force recently! I know for a fact Marines are being held back from fighting the way they are capable of in Iraq for political reasons.
Previous Afghan invasions which failed:
Persia - Darius the Great. Failed.
Greece - Alexander the Great. Failed.
Scythians, the Sassanians, the Hephthalites (or White Huns), and the Turks (or Gvkt|rks) Failed.
Mongols - Ghengis Khan. Failed.
The British. Failed.
Soviet Union. Failed.
Has Bu$h not been partying so hard in college, he may have learned this. Going AWOL in the reserves didn''t help either...
So here we are. Failing...
Very Proud Marine Mom
There is no money going to them for the biggest fight, nation building reconstruction & economics. McCain & his Tax Cuts are a disaster to any warfare
Guess What ??? ----- It wasn''t Jesus like you said
Not to mention over charging on government contracts up to 80% & the lives of our contract workers & our militay is put in peril --- Republicans & this Administration refuse to prosecute them.
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by j-whitman
April 29, 2008 8:51 PM PDT
- guadalcanal3,,, Another black stain our our country is surfacing now ---- GITMO prosecurtor was told, "No aquitals, the President needs convictions for election"
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See all 22 CommentsBush should be thrown in prison