Quick Iraq Question...

[kato13]

pmulcahy 05-25-2008, 10:38 AM Anybody know if (at any time during Bush's current misadventure in Iraq) US Marines and British troops were literally fighting in the same battle (not fighting each other, but on the same side, I mean). I'll explain when I get an answer.


BTW, I updated my site the other day. Take a look at the M-1 Abrams update -- it's a big one. (Make sure I didn't screw anything up of course, as usual...I rely on you guys and other emailers to help me fix things I mess up! It's appreciated, even if I don't email you back for a while or fix things right away!)

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Grimace 05-25-2008, 05:04 PM This is about the extent of what I could find:



Sunday, 30 March 2008


The US is facing a new crisis in Iraq that may determine the outcome of the presidential election, as American military forces are drawn into supporting the Iraqi government's faltering attempt to crush the main Shia militia.



A US warplane strafed a house in Basra killing eight civilians, including two women and a child, Iraqi police said yesterday. The house was in the city's Hananiyah district, which is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.


British forces became directly involved in the battle yesterday after artillery in the British headquarters at Basra airport fired on a mortar crew in the city. Previously, the British Army had limited itself to providing logistical and air support for the assault on the militia.



That pretty much explains things as far as I can tell. British forces do operations on their own or they support American forces, but normally do not directly conduct combat operations with each other.

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pmulcahy 05-25-2008, 05:17 PM The reason why I asked is because I had another one of those weird news sightings. On MSNBC, they were showing some MOUT fighting that was labeled "Stock Footage" during a story; the footage showed several US Marines and British troops fighting from the same position. I know they were British, because they were using SA-80s. What drew my attention was one of the Marines -- he was using an SA-80. I'm guessing his M-16 did what M-16s tend to do, which is jam at the wrong moment, and he picked up the nearest functioning weapon. Since it was stock footage, it could have happened pretty much any time in the past 5+ years.

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Grimace 05-25-2008, 05:21 PM yeah, it could have been back when they were first dealing with the fracas, such as going into Baghdad or some other city/town a few years back. I think back then there were a few more "joint operations".

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Matt Wiser 05-25-2008, 06:30 PM Earliest combined op with USMC and Brits was in the opening days of the invasion, when 15th MEU was under OPCON of the British 3rd Commando Brigade Royal Marines. They fought with the Brits to clear the Faw Peninsula and take Umm Qasr. One of their fire-fights was live on CNN and MSNBC, as the Marines ran into some opposition in a cluster of buildings and bunkers, and after exchanging fire, called in tanks and Cobras to deal with the situation. You saw M-1A1s rolling up to this compound and blasting the building and bunkers at point-blank range and Cobras hosing a nearby warehouse complex with guns and rockets. You had an ITN guy with one squad up front, and a guy from NBC and another from another network further back with the Platoon Sgt. and Platoon Leader, and I remember CNN having Gen. Wes Clark analyzing the fight live.

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Hangfire7 06-01-2008, 02:46 PM If you recall some of the first casualties on the eve of the invasion was a joint op with Brithish Royal Marine Comandos and USN/USMC helo assets being lost.

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Gen.Lee 06-02-2008, 12:01 PM In the first six months or so of post-invasion, the Marines and British had the southern (Shiite) third of the country as their AOs. I think the British operated in the Basra area, the Marines everything north of that, to near Baghdad, and the US Army divisions everything Baghdad and north.

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