Iraq's Thermal Brigades

[jcustis]

I almost never post hotlinks, but this is important for you meat-eaters out there. Not sure if it is a new tactic, but it doesn't matter. If you haven't heard about or seen this tactic, take heed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKBTN-mBY4U

All the more reason why I tell Marines every day that you have to respect the enemy for his moments of daring...or he will jack your stuff up.

When I was in Tikrit in Apr '03 a teenager threw a sheaf of paper at my turret. It honestly feaked me out because I didn't see it coming at all, and he'd been standing right on the road shoulder.

Stop and think about it..how many times have you driven past some IZs on the road and just been glad there wasn't an abandoned car on the shoulder. We've come to connect the presence of people with less of a likelihood that an IED will go off. Gotta rethink it again, eh?...

One of the immediate downsides of the M1114 series, and probably MRAVs as well.

edited: If you look closely, you can see drogue chutes deploying from the end. There's a warsaw pact handheld AT grenade IIRC that does that.

[Maximus]

Sir,

Thanks for the post. First I've seen of this. Will adapt accordingly.

Is it bad when YouTube's providing our intel updates?

[Abu Buckwheat]

I've seen the raw footage of the "Thermal Brigades" video from the Islamic State of Iraq (Lovers of Death for the Cause of Allah) and have heard about this TTP in 2006 and AT grenades being used by the Saddam Fedayeen - I've seen them in country as well as it was a standard weapon in the Iraqi pre-war inventory ... its daring and a simple tactic (standing on side of road, throwing multiple RKG-3 AT grenades at a single Hummvee and running).

For me it reveals that some AQI insurgents feel extremely comfortable and are willing to take daring risks to get a hit. They thought this through and found the right spot to execute it. The real caution should be that they probably had other ambush assets in the area along with the video team to ensure the three guys get out ... they say they love death but they also love a good egress in an effort to brag about it later or perform a real marytrdom attack in a SVBIED ... This is a good propaganda piece.

[Shek]

Good thing YouTube is shutoff to DoD users. There couldn't possibly be legitimate uses for its use on DoD computers :rolleyes:

[FascistLibertarian]

AlJazeera got a youtube channel! That makes a lot of sense actually.

[Uboat509]

I am very familiar with this TTP and I have some choice things to say about it but unfortunately not without violating OPSEC.

SFC W

[Bill Moore]

The clip is definitely worth watching from a professional stand point on emerging tactics (though it appears to be a high tech molatov cocktail).

What really bothered me was the numerous posts to Utube cheering the terrorists on. I don't know where these kids are from, but if these are American College kids, then our academic community has been seriously degraded by the extreme left. We all know they would be singing a different tune if they had to live with these terrorists.

[SWCAdmin]

Is it bad when YouTube's providing our intel updates?
Not at all. It's only bad when we're not getting them.

COTS is good. COTS Intel is just as good.

[davidbfpo]

The video currently refuses to load on You Tube and the initial link fails too. Too popular or withdrawn?

davidbfpo

[John T. Fishel]

Hi David--

I hit the link and it came right up.:)

JohnT