Jonathan S. Landay: ‘We’re Pinned Down:’ 4 U.S. Marines Die in Afghan Ambush
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on September 18, 2009
This war accounting was read aloud by talk radio’s Mark Levin last week during his tribute to America and September 11. Levin knows the journalist, Jonathan S. Landay, who wrote it and said the story had been sent to him.
This story affected me deeply, so I located the print version and have supplied portions of it here to share with you. To date, there isn’t a YouTube version of Levin reading it aloud, which was quite moving, but once/if I locate one, I will embed it.
The link below will take you to the complete accounting of this ambush in Afghanistan… an event that the mainstream media has virtually ignored (I’m getting sick and tired of typing out those words). Four US Marines were killed in this ambush, the most US service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Virtually no mention by the MSM.
For an uplifting story, read about what Sarah Palin is doing to help our troops: Sarah Palin eBay Charity Auction: Chance of a Lifetime (Update).
God bless our brave, honorable men and women serving in the military. Thank you for all you do in the name of freedom. You are our heroes… you are not forgotten. God bless the four Marines who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and God bless America!
‘We’re pinned down:’ 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers
September 8, 2009GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition…
“We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We’ve lost today,” Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter’s repeated demands for helicopters.
Four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday, the most U.S. service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Eight Afghan troops and police and the Marine commander’s Afghan interpreter also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle that raged from dawn until 2 p.m. around this remote hamlet in eastern Kunar province, close to the Pakistan border.
Three Americans and 19 Afghans were wounded, and U.S. forces later recovered the bodies of two insurgents, although they believe more were killed…
…Several U.S. officers said they suspected that the insurgents had been tipped off by sympathizers in the local Afghan security forces or by the village elders, who announced over the weekend that they were accepting the authority of the local government.
“Whatever we do always leaks,” said Marine Lt. Ademola Fabayo, 28, a New Yorker who was born in Nigeria and is the operations officer for the trainers from the 3rd Marine Division. “You can’t trust even some of their soldiers or officers.”
Sniper rounds snapped off rocks and sizzled overhead. Explosions of recoilless rifle rounds echoed through the valley, while bullets inched closer to the rock wall behind which I crouched with a handful U.S. and Afghan officers.
Lt. Fabayo and several other soldiers later said they’d seen women and children in the village shuttling ammunition to fighters positioned in windows and roofs. Across the valley and from their ridgeline outposts, the Afghans and Americans fired back…
…We soon noticed that the insurgent snipers were trying to outflank us again. I saw one up on a small rise fire and miss us by several feet. My companion decided that it was time to go and bolted away across the wash, but the gunfire grew too intense, and again I pulled my body into the dirt and rocks.
I wasn’t as terrified as I was angry: angry at the absence of air support, angry that there was no artillery fire, angry that Williams’ interpreter had been killed, angry at the realization that the operation had obviously been betrayed and angry at myself for not bolting with the others.
I knew it was time to move when I saw a gaggle of Afghan soldiers pounding through the boulders past me, their commander, a bright 26-year-old lieutenant named Ruhollah, hopping between two of them, a bullet wound in his groin. Staying put was no longer an option.
Bundling my legs beneath me and grabbing the small bag I use to carry my pad, pens, glasses and other necessities, I sprang and ran, trying to weave as bullets kicked up dust around me…
ABOUT THE REPORTER
McClatchy’s Jonathan S. Landay, who was ambushed with U.S. Marines in a remote Afghan village Tuesday, is a veteran foreign affairs reporter with long experience in South Asia, Iraq, the Balkans and Washington.
Landay covered South Asia — including Afghanistan — as well as the Balkans from 1985 to 1994 for United Press International and for The Christian Science Monitor. He joined the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau in 1999.
He was part of the Knight Ridder team, with State Department correspondent Warren P. Strobel and Bureau Chief John Walcott, that investigated and disproved the Bush administration’s claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program and ties to al Qaida.
The team won a National Headliner Award for “How the Bush Administration Went to War in Iraq,” a 2005 Award of Distinction from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism for “Iraqi Exiles Fed Exaggerated Tips to News Media,” and a 2007 Edward Weintal Prize from Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy for the Iraq coverage.
The McClatchy Co. acquired Knight Ridder in 2006, and Landay is now the senior national security correspondent in the McClatchy Washington Bureau and a regular contributor to the bureau’s Nukes & Spooks blog. He regularly travels to Afghanistan, Pakistan and other trouble spots.
Related reading on our military:
Miami Herald: U.S. names dead from Tuesday’s Afghan ambush
Michelle Malkin: Maj. Chris Galloway, R.I.P. and Remains of Scott Speicher ID’d and Let’s mourn the real American heroes and “I have the heart of a 21-year-old Army Ranger war hero beating in me.” and “We really are just focused on what lies ahead” and Hero Worship
Capitol Confidential: A Defense Earmark: A Scrapbook in Every Footlocker
The Weekly Standard: Who Leaked Against Obama?
The Anchoress, A First Things Blog: Lib Blog: Afghan support was a political tactic
Jeffrey Jena, Big Hollywood: Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Dithering on Afghanistan
Giovanni’s World: Obama Again – Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War
From the Wilderness: Cindy Sheehan heads to Martha’s Vineyard to Confront Obama on the War
Radio Vice Online: Obama disinterested in foreign policy – including Afghanistan
Sister Toldjah: Obama MIA on Afghanistan – again
Don’t Tread on Us: Cindy Sheehan protesting against Bush is OK! But protesting against Obama is just wrong the liberals say
Gateway Pundit: The Horror! CBS Posts Soldier Party Pictures– Wants You to Feel Outraged
John Nolte, Big Hollywood: Hollywood: Leftist Agenda Trumps Audience Appeal
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Chicago Tribune: Gary Sinise speaks out in defense of military with ‘Brothers at War’
This Ain’t Hell, but You Can See It from Here: Anti-war crowd starving for attention
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Big Hollywood: GI Film Festival: Where Hollywood Fears to Tread
Chuck DeVore, Big Hollywood: What if Tarantino Had the ‘Basterds’ Take Taliban Scalps?
A Solitary Conspiracy: Never forget the real heroes
Jeremy D. Boering, Big Hollywood: USO: How Hollywood Serves
Get Clued: American Heroes: Sorry, MJ, You Don’t Measure Up!
Ned Rice, Big Hollywood: Can Andrew Breitbart Save Hollywood?
The Patriot’s Mind: A True American Hero – Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor
Road2Recovery, Big Hollywood: Profiles in Courage: Army Spouse Edition
Robert J. Avrech, Big Hollywood: Flashback: Hollywood Celebrates American Military Resolve
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Where’s All the Left-Wing, Anti-War Outrage? Majority of Voters Believe Afghanistan War Will Worsen in Next 6 Months and Americans, Never Lose Sight of Our Heroes and Our Nation’s Greatness and Bravo, Lt. Dan Band: Gary Sinise on USO Tour, Headlines Free Concerts for US Troops, Park Renovation Project and Hollywood Patriot: CSI NY’s Gary Sinise Supports Military Wounded & Children of Iraq and Save Money Filling Troop Care Packages: 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendars 99 Cents and Hollywood Angst: Country Music’s Toby Keith Claims Celebrities Fear Peer Backlash for Support of Military and ‘Star Trek’ Cast Meets Our Real Heroes: US Military Deployed in Kuwait, Iraq and Fake Democrat Astro-turf Protesting: Is Code Pink “Too-Well Dressed”? Or Just “Too Pink”? Only Sen. Babs Boxer Knows for Sure…
Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog: Honoring Our Heroes
Blog 360: Gary Sinise: Protector of Children in Iraq & Military Supporter
GayPatriot: Outing Republicans: Formula for Hollywood Success
Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata, Big Hollywood: Hollywood Heroes: Boots On the Ground Report
Robert Davi, Big Hollywood: Burnt Offerings: Teaching Our Children — Pride in Going Red, White and Blue
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