Two US marines killed in Iraq

[maddezmom]

Two US marines killed in Iraq


Two marines killed as a result of ‘indirect fire’ while conducting security operations in Hit.


BAGHDAD - Two US marines have been killed while conducting security operations in Hit, 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of Baghdad, the US military announced Monday.


According to a statement they died as a result of "indirect fire" on Sunday, a term usually employed to describe a mortar attack.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13978


and buried in this article:

Two U.S. Marines were killed during combat operations in western Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said. The Marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2 of the 2nd Marine Division, were killed by "indirect fire" in the volatile town of Hit. Indirect fire usually refers to mortar shells.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050711/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_

[Roland99]

1. Look at how the faux-patriot Freepers have rated that down to 2 stars

Fucking assholes.

They don't give two shits about our men and women dying over there. They just don't want the Propagandist to look bad.

[u2spirit]

6. That is part of it

I also read somewhere on DU that there is an NSA black box that is automatically rating these things down. Can someone help me out so I don't look like a :tinfoilhat:

[Roland99]

11. I've heard that mentioned up here, too, and it wouldn't surprise me at all

400 votes for an article not even an hour old?

[sabra]

2. Two U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq Clashes

<<SNIP>>
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/07/7d2b63b3-b279-4b32-9114-8e050e69af2d.html

Two U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq Clashes
11 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. military says its soldiers have killed 14 insurgents in separate clashes over the past two days in northern Iraq.


It says American troops killed 10 militants today in Tal Afa, 150 kilometers east of the Syrian border. In a separate operation in the town on 10 July, soldiers from the same unit killed four. There were no U.S. casualties.

But the military also announced that two U.S. marines were killed while conducting security operations in Hit, 150 kilometers west of Baghdad on 11 July.

And at least seven Iraqi soldiers were reported killed today in a dawn attack on a road checkpoint at the town of Khales, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.

<</SNIP>>

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. That's the same story...and a terrible headline: Marines are not soldiers

n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

5. I didn't know that

:shrug:

Learn something new everyday....

[expatriot]

7. IMO: Marines are a "type" of soldier.

A soldier is "one who serves in an army," note that army is not capitalized. Most often the distinction is made but I do not think it is incorrect to refer to Marines as soldiers in the generic sense.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

10. Well now

just for fun, I can explain the difference. While in the long run you are probably correct, meaning a dead military person is a dead military person, regardless of which branch they came from, there is a difference.
Marines are trained to strike quickly and hold the ground for the much larger (about 10x) army to occupy. Every Marine is trained to shoot the rifle. In a pinch, every Marine is a rifleman. Why do I care? Not sure since I've not been a Marine for some 30+ years.Not sure since I now believe, generally, the Marine Corps is the muscle for big business (google Marine general Smedley Butler).
But the biggest difference is if I am in the Marines and when my time is up want to go into the army, I can, straight across.
However, if someone in the Army gets out and wants to join the Marine Corps they must go through boot camp...........

[brentspeak]

18. There's long been power struggles between the two branches

A friend who's a marine told me that marines insist on being called "marines" because they don't want to be lumped in the soldiers in the Army, whom they often consider inferior warriors. He said that's what they're trained to think in boot: Marines are the "elite"; soldiers are "blunderers". Something like that.

It also might be because the Army often tried to get the Marine Corps disbanded between WWI and WWII. Things got so bad between the two, that the Army prevented the Marines from serving in the European theater in WWII.

[tabasco]

24. Another difference.

Marines are dirty legs.

If you ain't Airborne, you ain't shit.

Just jokin', Mac. Semper Fi.

RIP to our fallen comrades.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Call a Marine a soldier and see what happens

n/t

[expatriot]

21. the problem they have with it is they want a distinction between them

and a soldier in the Army, but in the generic definition a Marine is a type of soldier, an armed combatant in an organized military ground force.

[alcibiades_mystery]

23. Yeah, I understand all that

Still, the generic definition is so contrary to common usage now that it's dead. With respect to the US military, soldier is reserved for the army, while Marine is used for the Marine Corp.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

8. As an ex-Marine

thanks for that! :)

[ElectroPrincess]

13. There's no such entity as an ex-Marine - It's Former Marine ...

My Retired USMC hubby has reminded me of that numerous times throughout our 20+ year marriage.

However, being a Former US Army Soldier, I will elaborate -

Army Soldiers are called Dough-boys
Marines are called Jar-heads and/or Water-babies.

But yes, they're all TROOPS and/or SOLDIERS in the generic.

Don't fret, I still haven't been successful at teaching my retired Jarhead, that it's always been the US Army in charge, but the Marine Corps are the best damn helpers that we could hope for. :P

But seriously: May God Bless the United States Marine Corps!

Semper Fi and RIP to our recently fallen MARINES. :loveya: :patriot:

[DS1]

16. For the life of me I can't tell the difference

I think we've had this discussion before. Former sounds so.... poncy

[catmandu57]

12. We've made another 140 "insurgents"

For every death there are ten new people with a reason to hate and kill americans. This is going to go on for generations, any neocon pipedream of declaring mission accomplished next year and cutting out is going to bite us in the ass hard.

[dutchdoctor]

4. insurgency in its last throes...

The sooner the U.S. get out of there, the better

[goforit]

9. Insurging CONTRACTORS ....maybe?

What war is really occuring in Iraq?

[WhiteTara]

14. thanks for the graph

it really tells the story.

[JoFerret]

15. Great chart

Thanks

[dutchdoctor]

19. The chart is more sad than great,

but it IS very clear: nothing the U.S. can say or do will stop the killing of soldiers, marines, whatever, that has been going on at a very steady rate since the invasion of Iraq

[are_we_united_yet]

20. I hate getting this news

[The_Casual_Observer]

22. Major combat operations are over, yet the US Marines are being

slaughtered just about every day. In my way of thinking, if Marines are being killed, it's major combat.