History Forum / General / British History / April 2004

Semper Fidelis.

DSH
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"Snipers are Strategic Weapons in Fallujah"
By Tony Perry
The Los Angeles Times

Fallujah, Iraq

"Taking a short breather Friday, the 21-year-old Marine corporal
explained what it was like to practice his lethal skill in the battle
for this city.

"It's a sniper's dream," he said in polite, matter-of-fact tones.

"You can go anywhere and there are so many ways to fire at the enemy
without him knowing where you are.

" Sniping, killing an enemy from long distance with a single shot, has
become a significant tactic for Marines in this "Sunni Triangle" city as
three battalions skirmish daily with armed insurgents who can find cover
among the buildings, walls and trees.

Marine sniper teams are spread in and around the city, working night and
day, using powerful scopes, thermal imaging equipment and specially
modified bolt-action rifles that allow them to identify and target armed
insurgents from 800 yards or more.

The Marines believe their snipers have killed hundreds of insurgents,
although that figure alone does not accurately portray the significance
of sniping. A sign on the wall of sniper school at Camp Pendleton,
Calif., displays a Chinese proverb: "Kill One Man, Terrorize a
Thousand."

Semper Fidelis. ---- DSH

"Sometimes a guy will go down, and I'll let him scream a bit to destroy
the morale of his buddies," said the Marine corporal.

"Then I'll use a second shot."

In negotiations aimed at ending the standoff in the city, the insurgents
have demanded that the Marines pull back their snipers.  As negotiations
continued yesterday, a shaky truce existed between the Marines who
surround the city and the fighters within the circle.  But the week-old
cease-fire allows the Marines to carry out defensive operations within
the city, which among other things they define as allowing fire on
insurgents who display weapons, break  the curfew or move their forces
toward U.S. troops.  ******

Good ROE -- President George W. Bush ROE ---- DSH

While official policy discourages Marines from keeping a personal count
of people they have killed, the custom continues.

In nearly two weeks of conflict here, the corporal from a Midwestern
city has emerged as the top sniper, with 24 confirmed kills.

By comparison, the top Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam killed 103 people
in 16 months.

"As a sniper your goal is to completely demoralize the enemy," said the
corporal, who played football and ran track in high school, and dreams
of becoming a high-school coach.

"I couldn't have asked to be in a better place.  I just got lucky: to be
here at the right time and with the right training."  The military has
asked that the names of snipers not be published.  Insurgents were said
to have placed a bounty for the killing of any Marine sniper.  A Web
site, linked to the insurgents, attempts to provide information on
snipers and their family members.

During Vietnam, the Viet Cong also put a bounty on snipers. "If you're
going to be a sniper," said the corporal, "you just have to accept the
things that come with it."

The corporal was a scout  during last year's battle to topple Saddam
Hussein's regime, helping a sniper find a target and align the shot.
This year, he's the shooter, assigned to a scout partner.

He remembers his first time as a sniper in action.  "The first time, you
get the adrenaline rush afterward," he said.  "During the shooting, you
have to take care of your breathing.  It felt good to do my job, good to
take a bad guy out."

Marine snipers, whose motto is "one shot, one kill," fire from rooftops
in crowded urban areas of Fallujah, as well as exploring the city by
foot.

It sometimes takes hours to set up a shot, as the sniper hides in the
distance, waiting for the opportune moment.

Marine officers credit the snipers, all of whom are enlisted men, with
saving Marine lives by suppressing enemy fire and allowing their
comrades greater freedom of movement.

"The snipers clear the streets for us," said Capt. Douglas Zembiec.  "Th
e snipers are true heroes."

Marine intelligence suggests that the insurgents, using Russian- and
Chinese-made rifles and optics, have their own sniper teams, but there
have been no reports of  Marines killed by sniper fire.

Unlike most Marines, the sniper sees his enemy before killing him.  The
enemy has a face.  Most combatants get only a glimpse of their enemies.

The distance is too great, the spray of bullets too rapid.  But the
sniper, with time to set up his shot, sees his victim more clearly
through a powerful scope: Their faces, their eyes, the weapons in their
hands.

And their expression when the bullet hits "their center mass."  "You
have to have a combat mind-set," said the corporal.

Unlike other infantry troops, the sniper thus has a greater confidence
that his shot is not as likely to hit a civilian or a "friendly."
Witnesses inside Fallujah claim than many of the more than 600 Iraqis
believed killed in the city during the siege have been non-combatants,
including a large number of women and children.  The corporal hopes to
get back home by late fall in time to take his girlfriend to a college
football game and go deer hunting with his father.

"When I go hunting for whitetail, it's for food and sport," he said.
"Here, when I go hunting, it's personal, very personal."

"Submitted by:
Jennifer Martinez"
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Good Article.

Semper Fidelis.

D. Spencer Hines

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

Vires et Honor