Not Even Close

Here’s what CNN posted on their website after the incident in Mosul on Wednesday.

"Mosul clashes leave 12 dead. Clashes between police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul left 12 Iraqis dead and 26 wounded, hospital and police sources said Wednesday. Rifle and rocket-propelled grenade fire as well as explosions were heard in the streets of the city. The provincial governor imposed a curfew that began at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT), and two hours later, provincial forces, police and Iraqi National Guard took control, according to Hazem Gelawi, head of the governor's press office in the Nineveh province. Gelawi said the city is stable and expects the curfew to be lifted Thursday."

Here’s what actually happened.

Two Stryker Brigade Soldiers seriously injured, fifteen more suffered minor wounds. A force of approximately 100Iraqi insurgents wearing black attacked from multiple points within the city. Twenty-two mortar rounds impacted on the FOB in Mosul. Every available Stryker Soldier and Stryker vehicle swarmed out of the FOB likes hornets from a hornets nest. Nearly two thousand US troops hit the streets of Mosul that morning. As the Strykers rolled out other Soldiers were laying prone at the perimeter firing back at the insurgents who attacked the FOB.

Stryker Soldiers in Mosul describe the “clashes” as something right out of Black Hawk Down. Black clad insurgents scurried between buildings and down alleys. One Stryker at the front of the counter attack survived three RPG strikes in rapid succession – and kept on fighting. Another Stryker Soldier described the streets as layered with brass shell casings from 50 cal machine guns and M-14 carbines. Three and four story buildings on one Mosul street looked like Swiss cheese after the battle. Apache and Kiowa helicopters hovered over the city adding their steel to the rain of fire. The “clash” lasted almost nine hours.

Peace was then returned to the city as Iraqi National Guard and police assisted SBCT with a mopping up operation.

After the “clashes” Stryker Soldiers who were at the front of the US attack picked mushroomed AK rounds off their Strykers like bugs from a radiator after a hot summer’s night drive in the country. The Strykers returned to the FOB only after they had completely expended all of their ammo and water. There was no report of how many insurgents were killed. The killed and wounded in the CNN report were all civilian.

The CNN report doesn’t even come close. So much for factual and truthful reporting…