Troops cautioned not to overreact to deadly attacks

By Scott Peterson
The Christian Science Monitor

ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS / AP A Marine of the 1st Division gestures during a patrol yesterday outside Fallujah. American forces are preparing for a major assault on the city as part of an effort to gain control of insurgent-held towns.

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But it was the driver's look that shocked Capt. Jer Garcia.

"I looked him right in the eyes — and when he looked down at his steering wheel, I knew something [was coming]," the company commander recalled. Garcia reached for his handset and radioed a warning to the convoy.

It was too late. The Suburban pulled into the convoy, and the driver detonated the suicide car bomb next to a troop carrier truck, causing eight deaths.

"The next thing I know, I saw the explosion," says Garcia, from Honolulu. "The Suburban was gone, and my Marines were incinerated."

The casualties — nine Marines were injured in the attack and another killed elsewhere in Iraq on Saturday, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces since May — show the necessity of a steep learning curve for U.S. forces as they struggle to prevent a spreading insurgency from spiraling further out of control.

"You have to learn fast in this environment," said Lt. Colonel Michael Ramos from Dallas. "The enemy is willing to sacrifice lives. They are willing to martyr themselves for what they believe is an important cause. ... The rules of war don't apply for them."

As an example, Ramos said, an ambulance that he suspects was another car bomb circled Marine positions Saturday night, but was finally forced away with warning shots and flares.

"It was looking for a weakness, looking for a vulnerability, and it attempted several times to penetrate our lines," he said.

Ramos and Garcia said it is important for the Marines to learn from the deaths, but not overreact, especially as Marine and Army units prepare for an anticipated all-out offensive against the insurgent nerve center of Fallujah that commanders hope will staunch the insurgency.

"We don't know when it's coming; we know it's coming soon," Ramos, a battalion commander, told his staff yesterday. "... Rest your Marines, and get them ready for the fight."
 
"Obviously, [Marines] are going to be frustrated, they are going to show emotion, when they lose their friends, when they lose their fellow Marines," Ramos said later.

Indeed, in the course of his briefing, when the focus turned to compensation paid to Iraqis for civilian damage, one angry officer asked whether that should be a priority when "there are people out there who want to kill us," and so many Marine families are mourning their dead.

"You aim the violence at the people who deserve the violence, not civilians," Ramos told him.

"We're only going to win this fight if we target terrorists, and reinforce and help the common, decent people," Ramos said later. "The majority of Iraqis are common, decent people. They want the same things that we do: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But that is tough for some to accept after the suicide bomb. Garcia said his biggest challenge will be funneling the emotions of his Marines.

"As a commander, it's my job to make sure that anger doesn't turn into hatred, and is focused instead on the task at hand," he said. "If we turn to hatred, then we are no different from them."

A similar message came yesterday from Chaplain Kenny Lee, of Orlando, Fla., as he held a service in a makeshift chapel. He also went to the site of the suicide bomb, to encourage Marines on guard there.

"They need to vent, and it's natural in this environment for them to say, 'We should kill them all,' " Lee said. "I encourage them to vent, to get it out. Now it's just emotions."

The word in the chapel aimed to both console and to bolster for the upcoming battle.

"Have I not commanded you?" Lee read from the Book of Joshua. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."