Kimmitt on Today Show:Those were secondary explosions in Fallujah

A bit of a synopsis below.

Apparently this is their story. They broadcast warnings into the neighborhoods were insurgents were known to be, followed by sounds of laughter. Then they broadcast warnings to the civilians that an attack...er sorry..a defensive attack might be about to take place. Twenty minutes later they called in "precision" strikes by a C-130 gunship toward TWO trucks thought to have ammunition on them. So the explosions we saw were the trucks exploding.

When Lauer asked him if an all out offensive might be in the works and quoted Marine commanders who said that basically it is inevitable- Kimmitt said that the politic angles are still being worked but that if need be they would use their incredible military strength (he was really in his full cowboy mode) and take the city...but they are still working the political angles....

Nothing against him personally but this bravado really seems to be misplaced. Maybe he is playing to the "turn it into a parking lot" crowd back here or maybe someone told them that the "insurgents" would respect that kind of talk but when he makes comments like that I just wince.

I will try to find a link to the Today Show (usually takes them a while) but his answer to a question about failure to turn over weapons lead me to believe he really thinks he is John Wayne or he is just tired and reverting back to the first thing he can think of.

http://www.wtvo.com/Global/story.asp?S=1821223

Baghdad, Iraq-AP -- Coalition troops have not begun an all-out offensive in Fallujah, Iraq. That's according to Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, who appeared this morning on N-B-C's "Today" show.

Kimmitt calls explosions in the city last night "a sound and light show." He tells "Today" there were many "secondary" blasts of weapons and ammunition in two trucks targeted by a U-S warplane. New explosions and gunfire were heard in the area today.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040428/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the battle was sparked when troops saw two trucks moving through the city with their lights off in an area where insurgents had been active earlier in the day.
The AC-130s destroyed the trucks, and ammunition in the trucks exploded, Kimmitt told NBC's "Today" show.

"I was pinning some hope on the truce. The American air bombing dashed my hopes," Ali Muzel said as he escorted his wife and five children to Baghdad.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that continuing negotiations in Fallujah was "worth the try."

1) Lay down and die as our tanks run over you and your family
2) Fight and die as our tanks run over you and your family

but Brig. Gen. Kimmett is the master of "bravado". It doesn't take much courage to call in gunships to fire on a home filled with terrified civilians from 8000 feet. You should of heard him after the massacres of 600 civilians over Easter, you would have thought he had stormed the beaches of Normandy. Commanders like Kimmett are responsible for the entire mishandled Falluaja disaster, and I DO take him personally. As a nation we need to hold him accountable.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/outdoor/od11a.htm

SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 132 ft. 7 in.
Length: 96 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 124,200 lbs. max.
Armament: Two 7.62 miniguns plus two 20mm and two 40mm cannon
Engines: Four Allison T-56-A-9D turboprops of 3,750 equivalent shaft horsepower ea.
Serial number: 54-1630


I was a gunner on a Bradley with a 25MM gun and I can tell that even on the ground shooting at targets on the ground there is no precision-you fire the first round just to adjust off of it. I can't see the 20MM or 40MM cannons being very precise when you add in the fly aspect. Oh by the way I never missed a target so I do know I am talking about with regard to the 25MM.

Callous, dimwitted bastard.

it is just sound and light......nothing actually happening on the ground oh no just sound and light.

:eyes:

he noted that the Marines (who are, of course, preparing and probing for the "all-out assault") have an "inherent right to self-defense." I was sitting in the service area of the car dealership. The three other people in waiting room started laughing, as did I.

"I expect those guys in Fallujah think they have the right to self-defense to," one guy said. To nods.

Kimmett is such a blatant Orwellian that only the most demented can believe a word he says. Amazing.

everyone can see this for what it is.