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Michael Yon Dispatch

Jul-26-2007 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Yon, who is embedded with the 3/2 SBCT, has published a new dispatch on his site called Bird's Eye View. Excerpt:

The 3-2 is combat seasoned—many 3-2 soldiers have served three or more combat tours—but if such relaxed rules were extended to a brigade without a similar depth, the results might be muddier missions from commanders whose soldiers had either sticky trigger fingers, or were too quick on the draw. Either extreme could result in catastrophe.

A week after serious fighting began on 19 June, I watched as Michael Gordon of the New York Times and Alexandra Zavis of the Los Angeles Times tried to tally civilian deaths. After being out and seeing the battle first-hand, Gordon and Zavis were a few feet away from me, talking with Major Robbie Parke and comparing notes, trying to figure out the civilian deaths, and finally arriving at a consensus of about 7. Their earnestness was not an agenda-driven hunt for collateral damage victims. A number that low—and five of those deaths were from a single explosion that locals said had come from a US bomb—is almost unbelievable, considering the amount of firepower that had been used. Except when commanders have made avoiding civilian casualties a primary part of the battle plan, which is a basic tenet of counterinsurgency warfare. It’s hard to build civic relationships out of body parts.


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