Al-Reuters, 21 Dec 05 On December 21, 2005, Al-Qaeda fighters, Ba-athist militiamen, and Sunni Insurgents staged an ambush some three miles from FOB Kearny, in the Sunni Triangle. Ordered to rescue a besieged logistics convoy, Captain William J. Fetterman and 80 soldiers were decoyed over MSR Cheyenne by a small number of Insurgents led by the young jihadi warrior, Abd al-Aziz, into a trap where over 1000 insurgents waited in hiding. Fetterman's pursuit over the MSR, in violation of the ROE, led to the death of his entire command.The shooting started about noon, and was over by 12:30. Many of the bodies were found by Capt. Ten Eyck that afternoon. They were stipped and mutilated much in the same manner as were the contractors at the Fallujah Bridge earlier.
If that news item were real, can you imagine the calls for disengagement - how we were losing the war and should just pull out?
The clever among have already figured this out. The event described above happened. On this day in 1866, when the US Army of the Plains was fighting a wily enemy on his own turf.
The situations are different, the motivations are different, certainly on our side (though I'm sure Kossacks will snort at that). I'm sure there are those on the insurgent side in Iraq who would comfortably identify with the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux warriors on that cold December morning in 1866.
But if they do - they should perhaps take a good look at where that fight led...
And we know where that victory led... the Wagon Box Fight in 1867, and ultimately, through Little Big Horn to Wounded Knee.
You can't really push this analogy too far. The stakes and motivations are vastly different - but a salient point remains the same: Far better for the insurgents to win their power through the ballot box, by joining the consensus, and helping shape the future - than fight it and lose.
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