The death was the first reported among U.S. forces since Wednesday when five soldiers were killed

[rodeodance]

Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, attributed the reduction in violence not only to the increased security presence but also to an apparent decision by the militias and insurgents to lay low for a while.

"But make no mistake, we do not believe ... that's going to continue, and we do expect there are going to be some very rough, difficult days ahead," Fil said. "And this enemy knows how — they understand lethality and they have a thirst for blood like I have never seen anywhere before."

The U.S. military said Saturday that a Marine was killed during combat operations in western Anbar province. The Marine, who was assigned to Multinational Forces-West, died Friday, the statement said, but no further details were released.

The death was the first reported among U.S. forces since Wednesday when five soldiers were killed — all but one of them in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ArrQ5PLvZaTQXYwxy7gJINes0NUE

[Aviation Pro]

1. They are performing tactical recon....

...observing our troops and reporting back through their dynamic chain of command. Analysts are pouring over the data, the best intelligence in warfare - HUMINT, and they will adjust their tactics accordingly. The counter-insurgency effort is being hampered by too few SF elements on the ground and too many ex-SF operations from the military contractors. If Bush and Cheney were thinking human beings, they would federalize the contractors and put them under military control (there is a precedent for doing so in my field).